[0:00] Deuteronomy 13. Deuteronomy 13. We'll get there in a few minutes.! All of those different things.
[0:31] And we talked about where do we begin? Well, we begin with the fact that God wants us to know him. And God wants us to understand him. And God wants us to be able to communicate with him.
[0:42] And so God has given us ways. That was essentially God's message to humanity about his character and about his ways, what he does. We talked about the fact that to do that, God has found ways to reveal himself to us.
[0:56] And we talked about, first of all, revelation comes from God. And that revelation, I'll give you a definition of the word, revelation is the work of God by which he makes himself and his purposes known to mankind.
[1:16] God makes himself and his purposes known to mankind. Purpose is so that we can have a closer relationship with him. So we can have a walk with him. And we talked about the fact that he revealed himself to Adam and Eve.
[1:32] We talked about the fact that in Psalm 115, verses 1 through 8, it talks about the difference between knowing God and knowing idols. You know, God is in the heavens.
[1:44] He does as he pleases. He helps those that trust in him. He says he's creator of all and everything. Idols. Idols. They're made by man and they don't do anything.
[1:56] They're just there. They're inanimate objects. And then we talked about the fact that God has revealed himself in different ways.
[2:07] There are some things he has not revealed to us. Deuteronomy 29, 29 says, The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which he hath revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may know all the words of the law.
[2:24] God says there are certain things reserved for him, and there are certain things that he has given to us. What's the implication of all that? Well, think about it for a second.
[2:35] When God has given us things to know, it's to point to him. Everything points to him. There are certain things he has not allowed us to know, and we talked about that both the last two weeks, you know, the timing of Jesus' return, the time of our death, and things like that.
[2:51] He has not revealed to us. The second thing we talked about is this general idea of revelation. General revelation, also known as natural revelation.
[3:01] God has let us know about him through the things that he has done. When we look out at creation, it reminds us that there is a creator. When we look out at creation, we look at the fact that somebody put design to this.
[3:16] Somebody put thought to this. Somebody had a plan. What's the benefits of that? The benefit is we look out there.
[3:26] We know that creator is out there, which means we have a job to get to know the creator. And so we talked about that. The invisible things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead, are made known unto us.
[3:41] We know about God because of what he has done and what he has created. We, uh... I'm trying to make sure I get all these things in. In Psalm 19, we talked about the fact that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork.
[4:00] God has given us different things to understand and know by the creation he's given to us. When he says we know the glory, he's talking about the worthiness, the value of what God has done.
[4:13] But there are limitations to that general revelation we talked about. Limitation is we can look out and we can know there's a God. We know there's a God we need to have in mind and we need to deal with.
[4:26] But it doesn't tell us how. He hasn't given us the way to do that through the general creation. So therefore, today, we're talking about special revelation. Number three, special revelation.
[4:39] And the definition of that one is the idea that God has given us specific things. Well, let me read this to you. Special revelation is not special because it is a better in quality than general revelation.
[4:55] Its uniqueness lies in its narrow purpose. In special revelation, God will meet the needs within that relationship. Special revelation comes in that we have a relationship with God.
[5:08] And God's going to reveal things to us. And he's going to do it through his word, mainly. He's done it in different ways in the past. And we're going to talk about that. What's the different methods that God has used to let people know who he is?
[5:22] Well, he started off back in the early days with prophets. Prophets. You know, they kind of served as the mouth of God. When God wanted to speak, he spoke through the prophets to the people that he had.
[5:40] They never gave their own ideas. They never put out what they were thinking. They only were giving out God's ideas. They were never the originators of the message.
[5:50] God spoke to them and they spoke to the people. You know, in 2 Peter 1, verse 21, it talks about that. Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, by the Holy Ghost.
[6:04] He says, look, God spoke to these prophets and these prophets spoke to the people. He said, when the word of the Lord came, it came to the prophet.
[6:15] And he relayed it, which gives us some insight into what God did and the fact that he must have spoke to them in their own language. When God spoke to these prophets, he must have spoke to them in the language they understood.
[6:28] And so, therefore, they would take what God said and they would relay it directly to the people, word for word, what he had given to them. Look here in Deuteronomy 13, beginning at verse 1.
[6:42] They had a job to do and it was to give exactly what God had said. But sometimes they didn't. Look at verse 1. If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and given thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, okay, everything good so far, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, let us go after other gods which thou hast not known, and let us serve them.
[7:13] Uh-oh. He's doing everything right until he got to that part. He's giving them information about other gods. Look at verse 3. Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or the dreamer of dreams.
[7:29] For the Lord your God proveth you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him and cleave unto him.
[7:46] And that prophet and that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in.
[8:06] So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. He says if they start coming in and they start doing things, and if they even do signs and wonders, but they tell you to stop following the Lord your God and go after somebody else, he said don't believe them, don't listen to them, matter of fact get rid of them.
[8:24] That's kind of serious. God took this very seriously in the way he handled things. He instructed them to get rid of those.
[8:35] So this was an important thing to God. We need to be careful today. Anyway, there's a lot of... They're still around. Wow.
[8:49] Anyway, we've got to understand that even today there are people out there who are saying, well God's doing this and God's doing that and God's doing this sign and he's doing this wonder and he's doing this thing and we need to do this.
[9:04] And you're going, wait a minute, that doesn't line up with what the Bible says. Don't follow them. Don't listen to them. Make sure you follow what the Bible says and keep it there.
[9:18] How important is it that we follow God? Hold your finger there in Deuteronomy and go with me to 1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel. Just a few books over. 1 Samuel chapter 15.
[9:37] 1 Samuel 15. 1 Samuel 15. Just a few books over from Deuteronomy. Joshua judges Ruth. 1 Samuel.
[9:48] And it says, beginning at verse 1, 1 Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over the people, over Israel.
[10:02] Now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. Okay? You believed me when I said that God wanted you to be king. You had no problem with that. Okay?
[10:12] So now listen to what God's going to say to you. Listen to the words of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how that he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt.
[10:27] Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not. But slay both men, women, infants, duckling, ox, sheep, camel, ass, all of those.
[10:40] He says, basically wipe Amalek out. That sounds kind of harsh. That sounds kind of... But if you remember the story, Amalek would not allow Israel to go through their land.
[10:52] They would not allow them to go into, through Amalek to get to the promised land and stuff. And God told them that they would face consequences for that decision.
[11:07] And so God's fulfilling that promise, and he's going to fulfill it through Saul. You know, when you have a cancer, what's the best way to get rid of it? You cut it all out.
[11:20] You get either chemo or you get radiation, or they go in and they cut it all out. Because if you leave just a little bit, it's going to spread again. So you get rid of it. And here's the situation.
[11:31] He says, Amalek's a cancer. You need to get rid of them. You need to get them out of the way. You know the story. You've probably all heard it. What does Saul do? Go to verse 19.
[11:43] Verse 19 says this. Wherefore, wherefore, then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil and this evil in the sight of the Lord?
[11:56] And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
[12:08] But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen and chief of things that should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.
[12:20] And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
[12:33] For rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath rejected thee from being king.
[12:45] Saul, you're no longer going to be king, because you could not obey what God told you. And Saul's attitude was, I obeyed. We wiped them all out. I've only got Agag here.
[12:57] Back that up. Wipe out all of the Amalekites. I did. I just got Agag, the king. What's the problem? All versus, I still got Agag, the king.
[13:11] Margaret? It's also a sign of greed for those people. I'm not going to sacrifice my sheep, I'll use my enemies. Yep. Yep. And it was a, it was a matter of greed.
[13:22] You're right. A matter, again, of not following God and what he wanted. Dana? Wasn't this the same guy that's a relative, he died, and I guess, you were just like, I don't have a cat there?
[13:33] Yes. Yes. And for those of you that didn't get that, what he was talking about, we're talking about Esther in the morning service. Haman was a relative of Agag's.
[13:46] So here's this leftover, here's this one still there, and we're still dealing with him when Esther comes along. God said, wipe them all out.
[13:57] Yeah, here we are dealing with one. And, you know, Saul says, well, it's the people that took. I guarantee you, Saul kept some too, so that he could sacrifice them.
[14:15] Incomplete obedience is just as bad as non-obedience. When your kids used to take the garbage out, so they took the garbage out, but what about that trash can and that trash can?
[14:35] Well, you said take the garbage out, that's that right there. Incomplete obedience, right? They didn't do everything they were supposed to do. Take it all. Get rid of it all.
[14:46] That's what Saul's doing here. So the prophets were to be obeyed. Samuel, here, was to be obeyed. Second thing they used, a lot of times, God used, was miracles.
[14:58] Miracles. God used miracles as a form of special revelation. He, you know, he set up the universe and he set up everything about the way it works and everything.
[15:09] And it was interesting because God would use times when he would do miracles. The universe wouldn't operate according to the laws that are there. Sometimes, God would do different things and use that as a message to his people about what they were to do.
[15:25] Give me some examples of miracles that God did where the universe, we always talk about today, the universe, did not operate the way it was supposed to.
[15:36] Well, do that, I'm just trying to write what the burning bush. Okay. that boat stood still. And the person of the Red Sea. Okay. There's still trying to explain that and make the sleep.
[15:47] Yeah. The day of the time stood still. The sun stopped. What else? Virgin birth.
[15:58] What? Virgin birth. Virgin birth from back there in the back pew laying down. There's a voice in the wilderness but I don't see anybody. So, all right.
[16:11] How about during the time of Ahab? Drought went on for three and a half years. How about Jesus walking on the water?
[16:23] These are all things that went contrary but God used those things to teach people things. He used them to get their attention so that they would follow him in the way that they should. Lazarus being raised from the dead.
[16:38] So, there's a lot of times when God used miracles to get his message across. Yeah. Exodus chapter 7 verse 5. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
[16:55] When God sent the plagues why did he do that? So that they would know that he was Lord. Why did he part the Red Sea? So that they would know that he was Lord.
[17:07] He was giving them special revelation in the fact that yes, you can look around and see all these different things but as I do this and this you can see I'm operating.
[17:18] You know, one of the things that one of the groups was famous back in the time of the American Revolution called Deists. They believed that there was a God. They believed God had started everything and he had got everything going and then he just backed away and said okay, I'm not doing anything else.
[17:34] You know, I got it going and you guys got it from here. These things all show no, God did not do that. God was actively involved in what happened in people's lives. Christ's resurrection.
[17:57] Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we just keep on going.
[18:09] Yeah. Christ's resurrection. resurrection. Yeah. So, yeah. God has a plan. We just need to trust the plan of what he has. Let me give you another one.
[18:21] When he was doing the plagues in Egypt, one of the plagues was a plague of flies, if you remember.
[18:33] And there were flies everywhere. They were just inundated with flies every, you know, sort of like here. Just everywhere. they were there except one place.
[18:49] Huh? The Israelites. The land of Goshen in Egypt did not have any flies because that's where Israel lived. That's where the children of Israel stayed. That's where they had their houses and did everything.
[19:02] And he says, flies everywhere except where they are. See, God not only controls all these things, he controls where they happen, what happens. Darkness only happened, I believe, yeah.
[19:16] So, God had these miracles and he did things. If you want to look that one up about the flies, it's Exodus 8, 20 to 24.
[19:28] See, God had a purpose in it. He had a purpose to let them know that he was there, that he was around and he could do things. When Israel took off out of Egypt, God supplied them with manna.
[19:43] God supplied them with water out of rocks. Water doesn't come out of rocks, but he supplied them with water out of rocks. God made himself known unto the people of Israel.
[19:57] Another way he did it, visions and dreams, visions and dreams. You know, sometimes God would give people visions and dreams and there would be a message from him, a special revelation to them about what God is going to do.
[20:17] We all know back in, again, in the book of Genesis, Joseph. How did Joseph get to be prominent in Egypt? Because of his interpretation of dreams and the visions that people had.
[20:31] in Genesis 37, he is able to interpret a dream that Pharaoh had.
[20:43] And later, he's going to have a dream that, you know, only Joseph can make the interpretation in chapter 41. Because of his ability to do that, because God gave him the words to say, again, go back to that, God gave him the words, this is what this dream means, this is what the interpretation of the dream is.
[21:08] You take that and you go back to Pharaoh with that. God was giving him what he needed to say. Later on, in Ezekiel, God's going to give Ezekiel a vision of a new Jerusalem that we haven't seen yet.
[21:24] But we have a vision of one, and we get the interpretation from Ezekiel of what it's all about. God doesn't use visions and dreams much anymore.
[21:35] I say much. I would say he doesn't use them at all. But I have missionary friends who have told me, and I've read incidents of others, especially in the Muslim countries where Bibles are not there and things, you know, it's hard to, of people having visions of Jesus standing in front of them, talking to them, telling them.
[21:54] And they find a missionary or someone, and they go talking. I read a story one time about a man in Africa, and I don't remember what he was doing.
[22:05] He was out somewhere, and he noticed a piece of paper on the ground. He picked it up. It was a track. Apparently, he had been questioning things. He wanted to know more about God and stuff. Picked up this track.
[22:17] There was a missionary's name on it in the city he was in. He went to the city, found the missionary, said, I found this, tell me more. About this. God will direct you.
[22:27] If you're looking for him, he will direct you where you need to go. So, here they are. They're seeing these dreams, these visions, they're learning more about who God is. But then, God went to another step.
[22:41] God went to the embodiment. The embodiment of his desires and his will for us. How do I mean that? What's the embodiment?
[22:53] Jesus Christ and the word of God. Jesus Christ and the word of God. First of all, Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus in the flesh to come to teach us about God and teach us about the eternality of God.
[23:07] John chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. Verse 14. And the word was made flesh.
[23:19] Those of you were with me on Wednesday night. We talked about this. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He says God has shown us, God has given to us, himself, so that we can know who he is.
[23:39] You know, when we observe the Lord Jesus Christ, what are we observing? God's glory, because Jesus Christ is the word which God sent.
[23:53] Go over to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1, beginning of verse 1.
[24:14] God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets. We talked about that. Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world, who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as he had by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
[24:57] He says, God provided Jesus Christ. You notice, he spoke to us by the prophets, verse 1. Verse 2, these last days he's spoken to us by his son.
[25:08] Verse 3, who being the brightness of his glory, and expressed image of his person. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Jesus Christ has shown us God and who he is.
[25:23] In John chapter 14, if you want to turn back there, John chapter 14, verse 7, beginning at verse 7. I'm going to read a little bit for you.
[25:33] John 14, beginning at verse 7. For ye had known me, if ye had known me, ye should have known my father also.
[25:49] And from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, how long, how, let's try that again, have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?
[26:08] He that hath seen me hath seen the father, and how saith thou then, show us the father? Believest thou not that I am in the father and the father in me? The words that I speak, which unto you I speak not of myself, but the father that dwelleth in me and doeth the works.
[26:26] Believe me that I am in the father and the father in me, or else believe me for the very works sake. He says, don't you believe that I and the father are the same? God is working in me, I'm doing what the father wants.
[26:41] We're the same. And this is his disciples and they were missing it, so it's understandable that other people miss it sometimes, but he says, we're one and the same. He's trying to convey to his disciples that, look, I've shown you the father, look at me, look at what I've said, look at what I have done, I have shown you the father.
[27:02] And Jesus not only showed the person of God, but he also showed us the way to God. Back there in Hebrews, he said, he has purged our sins.
[27:15] By having our sins purged, by having ourselves made clean by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we now have access to the father. And then, the word of God.
[27:26] You have Jesus Christ as the one embodiment, the word of God as the second embodiment. Get my person on the computer to wake up back there.
[27:39] She was looking at something. We know special revelation comes from God. How do we know that? 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for proof, correction, for all those different things.
[27:56] But it's all been given to us by God. Psalm, I gotta hurry this up, I'm running out of time. Psalm 19, Psalm 19 says, in verses 7 through 11, Psalm 19, 7 through 11, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
[28:19] The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoice in the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
[28:32] The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than much fine gold, sweeter than honey and honeycomb. Moreover, by them are thy servants worn, and in keeping of them there is great reward.
[28:48] He says, look at the word of God. All of those things he mentioned in there. He mentioned the law of the Lord, testimony of the Lord, statutes of the Lord, commandments of the Lord, all those different things.
[28:59] What's he referring to? The word of God. You have the word of God. And he says, it has given you everything you need. Then, what are the benefits of that?
[29:14] Having the word of God, what are the benefits of having the word of God? God. It gives us the opportunity to know God. We can see that there is a God when we looked at the general revelation.
[29:26] But now God has given us the opportunity to know him. He's given us his word. He's given us the things that we need to have. He teaches us, as I mentioned in those verses there in Psalm 19, that he is absolutely trustworthy.
[29:41] You know, you probably agree intellectually with your mind that the Bible is part of God's special revelation. He's given it to us to use, to see, to understand.
[29:55] And you might be willing to go in, I'm going to defend the Bible. I'm going to stand for the Bible. I believe the Bible is true. I believe the Bible is right. And you're willing to debate people.
[30:07] The Bible is true. I'm going to stand by it. But, is our day-to-day treatment of the Bible, and the way we handle it, and what we do with it, does that reveal that we truly believe the Bible is a revelation of God?
[30:27] If we truly believe this book is God's word to us, are we looking at it? Are we reading it? Are we making it a part of our life? See, it's one thing to say, yes, I believe the Bible is true.
[30:41] Yes, I believe the Bible is God's word. Yes, I believe, but it's another thing to put into practice and say, because this is God's word, I'm going to let him speak to me. We so often, it's kind of, you know what, oh well, I can get by today without it.
[31:02] He says, no, no, no, no, this is God's word. Are we going by it? Are we learning from it? So, let's have a word prayer. Do you have any Father word?