Transcript: Hearing the Voice of God: Understanding Faith and the Gospel

For most of us, when it comes to hearing the voice of God, We quickly think of Prophet Samuel when he was a young boy, just beginning to hear and distinguish God's voice for himself. Or we reflect on Prophet Elijah, whom we really know very little about in his personal background. But when Elijah heard the voice of God, the scriptures tell us he immediately obeyed him. So, you know, who is mere man? that the creator of the entire universe would stoop so low and condescend to and care to communicate with. Hearing the voice of God is a wonderful privilege. And I am always amazed when I ponder on the goodness of God and how he lowers himself and stoops so low to speak to a rebellious and apostate people for their own good in order to bring them into right fellowship and deep fellowship with himself. God has many means and ways by which he speaks and communicates his heart, his will, and his mind to mere creatures of clay. Scripture says God has put it in the hearts of all men to know him first of all by virtue of his magnificent creation. For those who listen to God, his voice is being heard above them, below, and all around them. And of this there is no escape. In Psalms 19 verse 1, the word declares, The heavens declare the glory of the Lord, and the fervent shows his handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. This is one way in which the Almighty Creator of all things speaks to all people. He is actually inviting men in every nation, every tribe and tongue to come to Him and commune with Him as their God and Father. He is inviting all to come to Him and to know Him as their loving Father who desires to lavish every good gift upon all who will hear His voice. there are so many people in this very age from every walk of life and profession regardless of whether they are an MIT graduate a graduate of a trade school a high school or higher learning of some kind or a common laborer who strolls through this life seeing the beauty of creation all around them and yet do not have one responding emotion to the giver of all things. They appear deaf to the countless notes by which God speaks and by which His power and wisdom and love is proclaimed to their hardened hearts in every possible way. God has been echoing through every generation of time saying, If you will hear my voice, do not harden your hearts when I speak to you. There has been such a great resistance made by man to the voice of God from the very beginning of time. The resistance commonly offered to God's gracious and generous divine call and appeal is one of the fool who says in his heart, There is no God. Or the reckless and irresponsible unbeliever who crows saying, Who is the Almighty? that I should worship and serve Him. And what good does it do for me if I should pray to this God that I do not know or I see? The major bulk and core of the resistance offered by unrepentant sinners is found in Hebrews 3.8, where the warning comes, do not harden your heart. Chapter 3.8 of Hebrews. Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me, tried me, and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation and said, They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, they shall never enter my rest. Verse 12. See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if we hold firmly until the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said, Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion. Verse 16. Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter because of their unbelief. Well, these are the people who delayed and willfully avoided to act on the conviction of their consciences, but held a deeply rooted love of sin in their hearts, like that of the people in the wilderness, who did nothing more than to provoke the Holy One of Israel to pronounce their judgment, which was to never enter into their promised land. When people continually disobey what they believe to be the voice of God, they must always try to find some superficial excuse for their disobedience, or they must be most uncomfortable and awkward and troubled and unstable in their minds because they've been convicted by the Holy Spirit over and over and yet continually ignore His convicting power that their disobedience and rebellion is not okay. It is a terrible place to be when the hardened heart no longer feels or even notices the convictions of the Spirit of God any longer. The individual who is frequently busy at gathering appeals and apologies and excuses for the neglect of their obedience to God's work and conformity to it soon becomes an expert in the work of self by using presumption and compromise and every other excuse to avoid simple obedience to the commands of God Having involved himself in a battle with his reason, his judgment and fondness with his carnal feelings means that he has gained the victory and consequently he believes he has the right to less responsibility than before to any obedience to God's laws and commands. And this is saying that his heart is almost untouchable to any means of conviction by the Holy Spirit. Oh, very dangerous. How dangerous. And this is what the scripture means when it says, do not harden your heart. And this is done every day by those who refuse the good news of the gospel when it comes to them. And yes, even those who sit in church week after week and yet harden their hearts to the commands of God by not obeying His commands and precepts but follow after their own reason and self-justification. Unfortunately, people deprive themselves of moving on in building a relationship and beyond that, a deep and personal fellowship with God through His Holy Spirit who speaks to them in so many and various ways in order to bring them up to stand in the high place with Himself in this unique and divine communion which is afforded to those who truly love God. Dear ones, this is why God has created you. He desires to communicate with you. Hebrews 3, verse 15 declares, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion. This is a command of God to all peoples. The Holy Spirit says to each one of us, Today, when you hear, do not harden your hearts. It is a tragic mistake. and the ruin of many, both young and old, that they believe and obey Satan rather than hear and obey God. The word to us all is today, not tomorrow. And since God uses his human agents to speak and teach these words, much depends in the way by which we regard and treat what they are saying. But you see, hear in these words, these are the words of the Holy Spirit. And these are his words and remarks to the hearers of this word. It is important for us to pay attention and hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying. Just think of much importance is made and attached to what great or well-known people have to say. a man or woman's position give importance to what they have to say the president or king for instance or a judge but how much more important should be the word of the Holy Spirit when he speaks whether it be in the way of warning exhortation encouragement or a command when he comes to you you may be sure it is some important or urgent reason that he has come and speaks to your heart. In all actuality, all scripture is his word to us. But in this special sense and case, these words hold a distinctive and unique significance. When a king speaks, every voice is hushed and quieted out of respect and honor. And it should be so, dear ones, that when the Holy Spirit speaks, there may be the deepest interest and attention and reverence as to what he is saying. Revelation 2 verse 7 declares, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Seven times in the book of Revelation, as the Lord was speaking to the seven churches, he spoke these words, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. I believe it is important for us to heed that when the Spirit of God says something, it is good and right for each one of us to sit up and take notice of what he is saying. And not only that, it is important for us to respond by being obedient to do what he is telling us to do. Sometimes even the words of the wisest and greatest well-known people are not to be trusted. Because even in the trust and best meaning, individuals make mistakes. But we are talking about one who when he speaks has never been deceived nor ever will be. The Holy Spirit is never confused, mistaken or wrong. Nothing he has ever said is untrue. He is known as the Spirit of Truth and he is the living link and author of the words of God which can never be broken. When the Holy Spirit speaks to you, he is kind, even in his loudest warning to awaken you out of your stupor and lethargic. He is still kind. He is the spirit of love as well as the spirit of truth. With his gentle voice, he speaks. He is loving and kind. He is not harsh or abrasive. I don't know if you have ever seen anyone in an anxious state about the condition of their souls. But one of the first things indicating this anxious state is that their happiness or joy is gone. Many people want to sympathize with people in this state and condition. And many even think that the Lord is too hard on people such as these. But dear saint, I want to tell you that this is the kindness of God coming to this individual. This is his love. When he awakens and alarms a soul that has been negligent or rebellious or unbelieving, it is to warn that individual of the pending and coming danger that awaits them. This alarm is to shake them up and lead them into a sudden reality that they need to get back up on the tried and true path and continue walking on the safe way. Can you not see the Holy Spirit as your loving friend and guide? We must see the word that he speaks saying today as an important and urgent word to us in our everyday journey with him. There should not be one part of Scripture that we are negligent with. The word today is a little word in a short sentence, but it is a word with great impact and meaning in it. It may be said to be an immediate warning and also it may be said to be an invitation It sets and proposes a time of repenting for us. Sin is rebellion against God, and each new sin is another act of rebellion, further still endangers the rebel's eternal salvation. The warning in the Word, do not harden your hearts, is a warning to know that the punishment of rebellion is sure to come, if not repented of and stopped. The sin must have an immediate arrest laid upon it. It must be forsaken. Please, let me make a statement here. There are many people who made the confession of salvation, and yet they do not obey God's word. If you do not obey and submit to God's righteous commands, and you consistently rebel against the authority of Scripture, you probably are not saved. Yes, you heard me right. You probably are not saved. Rebellion is evil. No matter if you are a young child, or young in the Lord, or you've been in the church a number of years, God is looking for your obedience, which is the fruit that proves your salvation. There is an analogy that gives a visual picture of the urgency of this sinful and willful state of rebellion in disobeying God's commands and precepts. The story is about a young boy of about 12 to 14 years of age who has begun to be serious about the condition of his soul. He knows that he is lost and would like to be saved. But at the same time, he would like to keep his sins and enjoy them too, at least for a little while more. This boy, while working with his father on a field wagon, injured his leg as the wagon fell on him and crushed and bruised his leg so badly that there was no choice but to have his leg amputated or taken off. But the young boy would not make up his mind to part with the damaged and irreparable leg. Day after day, he asked to have the operation delayed, each day thinking that it would not be so difficult until the next. His whole experience would have proved to be easier at first, but the longer he delayed, the more difficult it became. And at last, the surgeon broke in and said in a kind and wise way, because of the state and seriousness of this condition, we cannot be reckless and foolish with this matter any longer. one day more meant that the boy could have lost his life, not just his leg. And this speaks to us saying, what is your spiritual salvation or eternal life worth to put off another day? The choice lies between your limb and your life. Which are you prepared to lose? Jesus in Mark 9.43 gives the analogy of a sinner. in Mark 9, 43, when he says, If your hand puts a stumbling block before you and causes you to sin, cut it off. What is more profitable and wholesome for you to go into life that is really worthwhile maimed than with two hands and go to hell into the fire that cannot be put out? Verse 45. And if your foot is a cause of stumbling and sin to you, cut it off. It is more profitable and wholesome for you to enter into life that is really worthwhile, crippled than having two feet and to be cast into hell. Verse 47, And if your eye causes you to stumble in sin, pluck it out. It is more profitable and wholesome for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye rather than with two eyes and be thrown into hell. well jesus isn't saying to literally cut off our foot or hands or to pluck out an eye but he is saying when you are tempted you must starve or kill and mortify or crucify the detestable sin that drags you downward these sins are called idols and you and i are to overcome them and give no place nor make any provision for them any longer because they will bring us into final ruin. And this is called mortifying the flesh or dying to the flesh. And whatever needs to be done must be done at once. It must be a matter of now or never sort of thing. It must have the word urgency applied to it or connected to it. And even so, it must be with sin in your life. It is an evil habit, a forbidden indulgence, and it must go at once. It cannot be an excuse one day longer that says, I'll repent one day of these and maybe tomorrow. Then one day goes into the next until at last the Holy Spirit shatters through the darkness once more and says, Today, it must be today, you've lost too much time already. There must be no putting off those sins that easily keep you tethered to the earth and inhibit you from reaching the highest mark in Jesus Christ. What is your soul's salvation worth to you, dear one? You really have one choice if you desire to inherit the promised land. and Luke's gospel gives us the only way possible. In Luke 13, 3, he declares, Jesus declares, I tell you, no, but unless you repent and you change your mind for the better and heartily amend your ways with abhorrence of your past sins, you will likewise perish and be eternally lost. you see the Holy Spirit says today it is not too late yet it may be too late tomorrow but while you have breath today it is not too late to repent of your sinful ways and to make a firm resolve in your heart not to go back to those rebellious and sinful ways again you are not capable of improving yourself and neither am I thinking that you could fix your own problems your way is a hard heart at work that says, I'll do it my own way, thank you. Trying to improve yourself only makes matters worse because there is only one who can fix any problems and kinks in our personality quirks and sinful nature. The humble soul will see the need for getting help at once from the source and author of life. when the Holy Spirit says, Today, it is though He is saying, Now is the time for you to run to Jesus, wherever you may be, run to Him now. And when the Lord speaks, It is time to run to Him, dear ones. What a day and a time it is for those who have done this When they have heard God voice they said Lord I take you at your word today and to you I do run oh my God To hear the voice of God when he speaks to your heart and convicts you and convinces you that your sinful and rebellious ways are wrong and to stop being idle in your pursuit of him is a true day of salvation for you. Idleness of every kind is evil. In fact, it is unhealthy for the body, soul, and spirit. This work and effort in coming to God and actually dying to yourself is not for your total benefit, dear ones. There is a future generation who needs to hear the words in Hebrews 4, verse 7, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Just as these words are pronounced to you, they need to be spoken to others. We need to get out of the me, myself, and I mentality and be doing the work that God has for us to do. We need to keep our own souls in a healthy, a vigorous, and lively, upright state. You are never at a point in your Christian walk. no matter how young you are in the Lord, where you cannot be of encouragement or a help of some kind for others. It is pleasing and brings honor to God when he sees his children at work in these ways for him. Did you know that when this is genuine, it is one proof of your love to God? This is evidence of your active love for God, and it's shown while you live on this earth, not when you get to heaven sort of thing. These acts of love are to be demonstrated not only by seasoned Christians, but also by those who are young in the Lord. This is a now time for us all to be busy about the Lord's business. Many people think that they cannot demonstrate the Lord's goodness and kindness in acts of love for their fellow man or neighbor. until they grow up in the Lord. And I'm speaking even the young children in our midst today. We are all to be demonstrating Christian grace to those around us. These acts of God's goodness are shown in our caring concern for others, especially for the brotherhood of believers. Our kind deeds and words and giving as we are able in both our time and finances ought to be the hallmark of our Christian behavior and love as part of our involvement in our churches and congregations as we reach out to touch the world for Jesus. The Holy Spirit says, Today, not when you are older, but now while you have breath and you are able. The Lord asks us to do this kind of work now when He speaks to our heart, not to think we'll do this work when we get to heaven. It is finally important that we obey the voice of God and not put off responding to him one minute longer. At this point, you may be asking, will God and does God really speak to me? Well, I'm happy to tell you, yes, God will and does speak to his people. And when God speaks, He expects us to listen. He expects us to react to His voice. We talked at the beginning of this word how God speaks to all mankind through His visible creation. And God speaks to us generally at first through His providence. by virtue of his creation. He shows us his continual activity in sustaining the entire galaxy system by his almighty hand as he preserves and governs the entire universe. God speaks to us in this way and affirms his absolute lordship over his creation and confirms the dependence of all creation on his almighty care and providence. He makes it clear and plain to our hearts that his lordship over all the universe and that it is not governed by chance or fate. And then he makes it clear to our spirits that his presence and power is more than enough for us to be successful in having victory and overcoming every obstacle in our Christian journey as he protects us on the way. these too are the ways that God speaks to us without his continual care and activity in the world and in our lives the world would not exist and neither would we another way that God speaks to you and me is through his word and through other Christians God is always speaking to you through these means God was speaking to you through the first human voice that reached your infant mind especially those who had loving parents as a little child God spoke to you through the tender words of your mother and father when you were ill and you heard those soothing and kind words as your parents stroked your forehead or rubbed your back this too is a way that God speaks As was just previously mentioned, God speaks to us through his word. And his word is not like the words of men in a boring book that is dead and unresponsive thing. But only in God's book of life will you hear the living voice of God. God speaks to you by his spirit. God created the ear so we could hear. Our ear is one of the main entrances or gateways of the soul. Remember, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The inner ear of the heart is made up of many wonders by which you will hear the noiseless voice of God. You have great authority and control and dominion over your own ears. You may defile your ears and soul by what you hear, or you may edify, enrich, and perfect the condition of your heart by what you incline your ear to hear. Isn't it interesting when you think about a musician and how attuned his ear is to the whole scale of musical notes, and he has the ear to detect any instrument or voice that is off key and or out of timing. It is amazing how quickly the ear is sensitized to hear anything we really desire to hear. It is said that Indians were able to lay their ear to the ground, and by holding his breath, he could detect the approach of herds of buffalo in a far distance, or even the approach of someone riding a horse while they were miles away. they were such skilled hunters as well and could hear the movement of a deer or a rabbit while it was quite a distance from them