Whose Voice Are You Heeding

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. I would like this morning to think just about a sentence, whose voice are you heeding? Whose voice do we hear? And I'd like to look at some examples in scripture and then perhaps some examples in everyday life. [00:00:36] And as we look at scripture, it seems easy to distinguish. Let's just think of Adam and Eve, for example, in Genesis chapter 3. You can turn to that if you want to. I don't know that we have to. But as the serpent came to Eve, as I looked at that scripture again, And I wondered, did Eve know who was speaking to her? She knew the serpent was speaking to her, but did she know who was using the serpent is my question. Now, the Bible talks about that old serpent, the devil, and we don't have any problem identifying that. [00:01:16] But as I thought of whose voice are you heeding, did Eve know whose voice she was heeding? I think she did. And let me say why I think she did. What the serpent was saying ran counter what she heard God say. And if she didn't know whose voice she was heeding, she wasn't very alert. I guess is what I would say. And I would like to just look at some other scriptures, and I thought of quite a few scriptures in Genesis, and as I said, these questions seem fairly easy to us, but were they as easy to the people that we're looking at? [00:02:01] In Genesis chapter 12, verse 1, it says, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And he goes on with his blessing and blessings and curses that would follow people depending how they responded to Abraham. [00:02:31] I don't think Abraham had any doubt who was talking with him. I think Abraham knew that God was speaking to him and that he needs to listen to Abraham. I did a bit of research on Abraham's travels. If you look back just a little bit into Genesis chapter 11, and maybe some of you have done enough research that you have the answers. But if you look back to verse 31 in Genesis chapter 11, it says, [00:03:07] And Terah, that was Abram's father, and Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, and his son Abram's wife. and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan and they came unto Haran and dwelt there. And the days of Tira were 205 years and Tira died in Haran. I looked at these on my map in my Bible and I found in Ur and I found the place where Abraham started up in Haran [00:03:45] and I found Jerusalem or the land of Canaan there. And it looked to me as though Abram had to travel about as far, or Kira, and Abraham had to travel about as far northwest, I think it is, to Haran, as they then traveled south, as Abraham traveled south to the promised land. But then I looked in my Bible, and I don't know what your map says, but my Bible has a map that is especially geared to that, and it was interesting to me that it had a little square up above Haran, just, oh, it looks like it might be a hundred miles or so, not above, it's northeast of the Haran where Tira stayed. [00:04:30] It says region of Ur of the Chaldees and it's not nearly as far as I thought. I wondered why did Tira stay? In the NIV it says Tira settled in Haran here. Why did Tira stay here? It doesn't say as specifically that God communicated to Tira, I want you to leave and take your son. Nor does it say they took his other son with him. And I wondered about this. I just recently, somebody was kind enough to give us some money and said you can use it for books, in fact it was a gift certificate for books [00:05:06] and we made a choice and I decided well maybe this book has something to say, Animals of the World, it's a history book, it goes back into ancient history and depends on scripture some but it depends on secular things as well I did find out, they said that probably Tyrus settled in Haran because he was not well physically And so that was interesting. But I looked just in scripture and I said to myself, well, where did Abraham send Eliezer to find a wife for Isaac? [00:05:43] Do you know? Where did he send him? Back to his father's house, it says. Where was that? Was that in Ur of the Chaldees or was that in Haran? And I did some looking and I believe that probably either, let me see, what was Abram's other brother? Heron is the oldest one that died according to this book that I have. In verse 29 of Genesis chapter 11 it says, [00:06:14] And Abram and Nahor took them wives, and the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife Milcah. But we don't see that Nahor and Milcah accompanied them to Haran. Why? Because where did Jacob go then? To Laban. Laban was Milcah's son, Nahor and Milcah's son. If you look, I think it will tell you that they went to Haran. He went to Haran, he joined them there. He lived there. [00:06:44] So, some of the things in the Bible are not, some things are said, I guess they're said so that we understand some things are not said. But it was interesting to me to try to put together some pieces here. Now, going on, listening to God's voice. Have you ever wished that God would speak to you in an audible voice or in a voice that was unmistakable? You had no doubt about who was speaking with you. I'll confess to you that I have. I have wished that I could know that God has a clear, thus saith the Lord for me in this matter. [00:07:22] Because there are some times when I have struggled and there are times when I with other brethren would sit down and we came up with what we understood to be God's will. But sometimes it would be nice to have a clear, thus saith the Lord. Then I thought of what God told Abram. Leave where you live. Go to the place I'm going to show you. Not only did God tell Abraham that, if you look at chapter 22, I think it is, verse 22, God had some instructions, some very clear instructions for Abraham. [00:08:05] If you want to turn to that, just read verse 1 too. And it came to pass after these things. This is Genesis 22, verse 1. And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. Did Abraham know who was speaking? Yes. [00:08:40] Was the message clear? Unmistakable. Would you or I welcome an unmistakable clear message like this one? Is the thought that came to me as I looked at this, and maybe we'll opt to leave it the way it is. God has ordained that it is the way it is. But then the thought came to me, how different is it today? God has never told me or any of you that I know of to offer our son, our only son, as a burnt offering. [00:09:22] Our only son now. Abraham did have Ishmael. I understand that. But you understand he was the son of promise and that's why I said that the way I did. How much different is it for us today? Does God ask us to be wholly committed, wholly given to him so that when he tells us to move, we move unreservedly? That was covered in our instruction class where it talks about consecration. [00:09:52] And let me just try to tell you what one of the things was that we looked at about consecration. Consecration makes the difference between making the Christian life a joy, or if we are not consecrated totally to God, it becomes a drudgery. Do you identify with that? I do. I know what it's like to be legalistic. I know what it's like to, you know, try to selectively obey. And I can tell you there is no blessing there. It is a blessing for us to just simply wholly be given to God. [00:10:34] and although God may not speak to us in an audible voice nor may we see the handwriting on the wall I think God makes his way clear to us and he doesn't always do it the same way but I think God speaks to us as clearly as we need to hear now there are different people in the Bible and we read different things about different people but I would just like to look at the life of Joseph this morning And I don't read that God spoke to Joseph the way he did to Abraham. [00:11:11] Did Joseph obey any less than Abraham did? Now, I think Joseph had clear instructions. I think Jacob and Rachel, although I don't know how old Joseph was when Rachel died. He was not that old. But I think Joseph had clear teaching. Why did Joseph know to tell Potiphar's wife, if I would yield to what you're saying, it would be an affront to my God. And I cannot do that. [00:11:43] How did Joseph know that? He had some teaching somewhere. And I think Joseph recognized that teaching, if it wasn't an audible voice of God, it was as though it were from God. And so as we as parents, and I hear some of you, and rightly so, take very seriously your charge as parents for your children. You are as the voice of God to your children, and you need to be. [00:12:15] Our children should hear God's instructions through us as we train our children. And, you know, as I look at Joseph, I do read, and I didn't jot down this reference, I don't believe, but we do read that when Joseph was then thrown into prison, there was one thing it says about God. What does the Bible tell us about God and Joseph there? God's presence was with Joseph, or God was with Joseph. [00:12:50] And I don't know if Joseph could feel this or not, but God prospered Joseph. The jailer saw that here was a man that had the respect of his fellow jailers, I believe. And he made Joseph the person in charge. Joseph was in a sense a jailer. He was behind bars, but he was the person that was in charge of the people in prison. And as I think of people in the Bible and as I think of heeding God's voice, I think of few examples that are more outstanding than the example of Joseph. [00:13:32] The Bible tells us about Moses, and I think you will find this in Exodus 33.1, that the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a friend talks with a friend, I think is what it says there, and we could turn to that. As a man speaks with his friend, I think the Bible says. That's great. It speaks of God's approval on the life of Moses. It speaks of God. God said, I didn't have anybody like Moses to speak to. [00:14:08] And so God's stamp of approval was on Moses. But I am just going to say this morning that we can be faithful whether we hear God's voice as Moses did, Whether we speak as face-to-face, as though face-to-face, like Moses did, or whether we speak in another way. And as I think of that, how should our devotional time be? We should be speaking with our God, our Father, as Moses did. [00:14:43] Although we cannot see God, we should converse with him. We should get direction from our God for us as we seek his direction day by day. I think of David, and David has been a challenge to me, especially in the early years of David's, as David was a king. I read that many times David would just simply ask the Lord, Lord, what shall I do? And sometimes God would tell him one thing, especially when he faced the enemy, what shall I do? [00:15:18] I don't read that David had time to ask God what shall I do when Goliath came on the scene and he happened on the scene there. But I think his communication with God was current. And so I don't think he had to simply go back and ask God, God, what shall I do with this Philistine? I think he knew what he should do. There are some glaring failures in David's life. That is true. One when he made a census of the soldiers of Israel [00:15:51] and a second one when he yielded to his passions with Bathsheba. But I would just like to point out David wanted to hear from God. He wanted to know what God's will was for his life. And by and large, David carried through in a way that was exemplary, in a way that we can follow. And there is something about David's life that I think of as I think of a man who was willing to hear his voice. We are blessed today. [00:16:22] We heard a psalm of David read to us this morning, personalized. I think Psalm 23 was a psalm of David. I am relatively sure that it was, I guess about as sure as we can be of a psalm, of who wrote a psalm. That is a blessing that we have from David's life. David and many of these psalms were born out of hard times [00:16:52] when David faced a valley that he wasn't sure how to go through he must have had a ready pen I don't know what he wrote on I'm not sure how he preserved these things but we do know that he did that was one way we have his writings today and he served as the lineage for Jesus Christ Well, there are some other people in God's Word, and you no doubt think of quite a few. [00:17:26] In one chapter in the Bible, and maybe there were more, but in one chapter we read about Zechariah and Elizabeth. And it's a long chapter, Luke chapter 1. It doesn't say that much. Maybe it would be good to turn to that chapter. It doesn't talk so much about Zechariah having face-to-face communication. Well, it doesn't talk about him having face-to-face communication with God. But I'd like to look at one verse. [00:17:57] I think the first five verses talk, the first four verses talk, they're kind of an introduction. And then in verse five, it's Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. Verse 6 is the one that I would like to especially notice. It says about Zacharias and Elizabeth, And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinance of the Lord blameless. [00:18:32] Talk about a life that is devoted, that is consecrated to God. Everything that God told them, they did. is what I see here. They were not people that made a lot of noise. We do have the words of Elizabeth when Mary came to visit her. We have the prophecy of Zacharias here. And so we do have much more on Zacharias and Elizabeth than we do about some other people. [00:19:05] Some other people that we know of, that we read of in Scripture, there are maybe just two or three verses that relate to that person. But here we have 70 some verses that basically talk about Zacharias, Elizabeth, and Mary as well. But that verse 6 is one, you know, I don't think it is so important whether or not you and I speak face to face with God. And in fact, we wouldn't live if we would do that according to what I read in the Old Testament. [00:19:40] but that we follow the example of Zacharias and Elizabeth that we are blameless as far as God's word is concerned. That would be my desire. May that be our desire and may God be able to use us. Now there are other people that are named in the Bible. How about Simeon and Anna in the temple? It doesn't talk to us a great deal about them, but we do read that Simeon had a promise from God. [00:20:15] And that is, what was that promise? Maybe one of the children can tell me. What promise did Simeon have from God? Anyone can tell me? Thank you, Glenn. He wasn't going to die before he had witnessed with his eyes the Messiah. And so he was living in that expectation. We don't read a whole lot about Simeon. But I get the picture of a man that was faithful. [00:20:47] And while the Bible doesn't say as much about Simeon as it does about Zacharias and Elizabeth, I read here, this is a man that was faithful in that which God called him to. What about, excuse me, what about Anna? It doesn't say a whole lot about Anna. But that she was in contact with God, that she had open relationships, that she was heeding God's voice is fairly clear, is it not? Because she came and God revealed that this was the Messiah to her. [00:21:22] So she had communication with God that we do well to emulate, that we do well to follow. If we look at the New Testament, I think of some of the outstanding people like Peter. In Acts chapter 5, how did Peter know to tell Ananias, Ananias, you've sinned before God. That wasn't something that Peter was smart enough to know. That was something that the Holy Spirit communicated to him. [00:21:56] He was listening to the right voice is the thing that I am pointing at here. You could go on and look, we could look at Acts chapter 8 where Peter told Simon, Thy money perish with thee. Your heart isn't right in this matter. Simon recognized in, I mean sorry, Peter recognized in Simon a heart that was not right. And I think that God revealed it to him as well. But here we have a person that was listening to the right voice. [00:22:30] He was listening to God. How about Acts chapter 10? Where we see, I think the chapter opens up, we could turn to that. Cornelius was praying as he did. Cornelius was not a Jew. He was not one of God's people. but he learned about God and he was not a person who just learned that he had a personal faith in God [00:23:03] is what I am understanding here. But he had reason to know that his prayer was heard when an angel appeared to him. Now, that's Cornelius. If you look just a little bit later on, we find that Peter was also a person that was a part of this scenario. Peter was also listening to God. [00:23:36] In fact, just before the people came from Cornelius, Peter saw a vision. And I don't know if Peter understood what that vision was about entirely. But God told him, now there's some men coming. In fact, they're at the gate right now calling for you. I want you to go with them. Don't doubt a thing. Was that a hard thing for Peter to do? [00:24:08] You remember what Peter told Cornelius? Jesus, I came even though it's unlawful for me, a Jew, to come into your house because you're a Gentile, because God told me to. You know, Peter got his marching orders, and I don't know, but Peter got some revolutionary news in here, and Peter didn't know what all that meant. That sheep being let down, Peter raised Peter, kill and eat. He was hungry. He could have done so. [00:24:38] So, he didn't know what it meant. But when he came to Cornelius, then the Holy Spirit said, this is what I was saying to you. Don't call anybody common or unclean. The way that you were looking at Jews and Gentiles is something that is going to fade into the past. And God didn't say that to Peter, I'm sure. But this is now a bygone. We are living in a new era. What about Paul? [00:25:11] I don't know of many people that resisted God's call more than Paul did. In fact, when I was thinking of what it took for God to get Paul's attention, I had to think of what my cousin said you have to do if you train a mule. He said you have to get their attention and sometimes that's with a 2x4. I think he was mounted on this mule one time and the mule did not want to do what he told it to [00:25:42] and he hit it over the head with I think a two by four, I'm not sure. And he said the mule just did this number on him. And he thought, oh no, I may have killed him. It wasn't his mule, he was training it for somebody else. But he said the reason he did was because the mule was being cantankerous as mules can be. He was telling the mule you go this way, he pulled on the reins for the mule to go to the right and the mule turned to the left or went straight on. And so he had to get his attention. That's a little bit the way we are sometimes. [00:26:13] God had to get Paul's attention too. In fact, he struck him down with that light as Paul was on the way to Damascus. But when Paul heard and believed God, Paul became an example for us in hearing and heeding God's voice. And I just appreciate that so much. I am glad that God insists on getting our attention, even though it means sometimes that we sprawl out on the ground, as Paul did. [00:26:45] May God help us to be as faithful as Paul was, or Saul, when he listened to God. Sometimes we want to be very sure that we are hearing what God has to say and in fact sometimes we want to go beyond what God has to say and be sure that we're safe and that can be alright if our heart is in the right place [00:27:19] But there are some things that I have experienced in the last year where people have said, we don't just do this, what their church was teaching, but we need to go farther. I don't know what that sounds to you like. To me it sounds a little bit like the Pharisees. Not only do we keep the law, we make sure that we keep the law. Well, we read the fine print and we need to make sure that everybody else does that as well. [00:27:53] Some people do this and they say, we are the conservatives, if you please. And friends, I am not speaking against being conservative. I think I am quite conservative myself. But sometimes being conservative becomes, may I say, a god to us. It can become a God to us. And how can we know? The thing that is troubling to me is that I believe there are people that are really sincerely trying their best to follow God and they want to make very sure. [00:28:36] I think sometimes it becomes a matter of I want my way. And I think we need to be very careful that we are listening to God. Turn with me to our Sunday school lesson. I was just amazed at some of the things that God showed me after I had my lesson prepared here. And we could look at some negative examples of listening, whose voice are you heeding? [00:29:10] But as we read, and I don't think I said anything to the Sunday school class about this. But as we read over the first several verses of our Sunday school class, the admonition was to the ministers, to the overseers of Ephesus, I believe here. And in verse 28 it says, Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he has purchased with his own blood. [00:29:43] For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. But notice, he doesn't stop with just the grievous wolves. I get this, the grievous wolves are coming in from the outside. But notice the next verse, that's the one that really caught my attention. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves. Does that happen to us? Does that happen to our churches? [00:30:14] Is that happening to our churches today? I'm afraid it is. I'm afraid it is. And I would, would to God that we could see ourselves, that I could see myself, and that each of us could see ourselves and see, am I building the church by the stand that I am taking, By the voice that I am hearing and heeding, am I building or am I tearing down? And I am not, lest you take this message too personally, I am not speaking to anyone in particular here. [00:30:54] But I am saying that if we are not careful, this is what can happen to us. We can heed voices that will, you notice what verse 30 says? Were they in the same church afterwards? Doesn't quite sound like it, does it? At least if they were, we believe this way over here and these people believe this way. There was a division here. And friends, these things don't have to be. I am not talking about compromising principles from God's word when I say this. [00:31:29] I believe we need to be careful that the things that we are doing line up with scripture. Do they line up with what men of God teach and what men of God live and what men of God agree with? Do God's people stand with us? Do they concur? Is it mutually upbuilding for our church? I think we need to look at those things carefully I don't know what went through Nadab and Abihu [00:32:01] Aaron's son's mind when they got strange fire God had told them you are to use only the fire that I myself have lit on the altar and that continued burning and I understand they were to light their fires from that fire if I understand correctly but for some reason Nadab and Abihu said or thought not a big deal we've got fire over here, this will work [00:32:33] I don't know if it was more convenient or what God's judgment was pronounced speedily on them that doesn't happen so much in our day but is God's judgment any less real because it's not as speedy as that was is the question that I would ask. I think of Numbers chapter 16, verse 1. If you go back there, you see people. And these were not people that were lacking in intellect. [00:33:08] These were not people that were lacking in standing. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, these were people that God had chosen or that Moses had chosen to serve in helping to direct the people. I believe these were, I don't know if they were over thousands, over hundreds, over fifties, over what. But they were people, if I understand correctly, that were in responsible positions. But Korah, Dathan, and Abiram said, the way this is being done, I don't think so. [00:33:43] Judgment was pronounced on them speedily as well. I never cease to marvel at Moses' response to these men and I have seen some, may I say, present day Moses in responses to people I have been sitting in a church service where a man got up and railed on the preacher I remember very well what the response was it was nothing [00:34:14] Now that man did not get away with that, but I remember that very well. I say that because I marveled at the response of that minister. I thought he had a godly response to what was done. There just wasn't very much said. The derailing did bring consequences. and I would say that. [00:34:45] But I would to God that you and I could have the vision to see where the voice that I am heeding is going to take me. Where it's going to take our congregation. Because it is important that we discern, that we are a discerning people and that we not stand for that which is going to take our congregation that is going to be divisive [00:35:16] not stand for that which will take our people down where we don't want to go in the future may God give us direction to heed his voice to know when he is speaking to us and when it is that we are listening to another voice A voice that will not lead us in God's way. Shall we come before God in prayer? Our Father in heaven, we come to you this morning and we thank you for your blessing and your mercy upon us. [00:35:57] We thank you, Father, that we do not have to be in doubt about your voice. Thank you that your Holy Spirit gives us clear direction, although not always in the way that we would like to see. But we pray, Father, that you would help us to hear your voice. Help us, Father, give us vision so that we can see what my response, what our response is going to do to the church. [00:36:30] Not just today, but tomorrow and in the days to come. And we pray, Father, that you would give us hearts that are fixed on you, that are fixed on living a life that is above reproach for you. And may you be able to say on that day, Well done, to us. Because we recognize that only as we heed your voice will you be able to say that. So help us, Father, to heed your voice, to let your spirit direct us, and we pray that you would show us how we are walking so that we can make the necessary amends to our walk with you. [00:37:13] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.