Moses Wrote Of Me

[0:00] Well, this morning we are in Exodus chapter 23. You'll be glad to know we're only covering 13 verses rather than 86 last week.

[0:21] And so we're Exodus 23, verse 20 to the end of the chapter, 33. In fact, verses 20 to verse 33.

[0:50] Moses writes what God says to the people. Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

[1:05] Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

[1:16] But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.

[1:48] You shall serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. None shall miscarry or be barren in your land.

[2:02] I will fulfill the number of your days. I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

[2:16] I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, the Hittites from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.

[2:33] Little by little I will drive them out from before you until you have increased and possessed the land. And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines and from the wilderness to the Euphrates.

[2:50] For I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out from before you. You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me.

[3:05] For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you. Amen. We pray God would bless the reading of his word. Well, whose voice do you listen to?

[3:22] Perhaps there are different reasons you might listen to a particular voice. Perhaps you just like a particular voice.

[3:34] Like Liam Neeson or Morgan Freeman. Some people have voices that are very easy and nice to listen to. David Andrew, what a voice. He's got a voice for the radio.

[3:44] Perhaps it's the charisma of a person, and that's why you listen to their voice. Like Martin Luther King Jr. Or Hitler.

[3:56] I mean, he inspired a nation, but inspired them in terrible ways. But he was very charismatic. Or perhaps it's the profession of a person, and that's why you listen to their voice.

[4:09] A doctor or a lawyer. So you take their words more seriously, and you want to hear a voice that matters. Perhaps it's the experience of a person.

[4:21] They have been through this before. They know the journey that you are facing, and they can give you advice on what to do. And so their voice matters to you. Or perhaps it's the relation of a person.

[4:33] You trust this friend. You trust this relative. You are more likely to listen to the voice of a person that you love and trust.

[4:45] And so whose voice do you listen to? Why do you listen to those voices? For Israel and Exodus, at the foot of Mount Sinai, they have just received all of those case laws that we looked at last week.

[4:57] And they have saw how God was in the details. And yet after God spoke the ten words, that we know as the ten commandments, the people said in chapter 20, they said to Moses, You speak to us, and we will listen.

[5:12] But do not let God speak to us, lest we die. Such an intense experience that they all agreed that Moses should be their mediator. But the question is, will they really listen to Moses?

[5:27] One of the interesting things, if you read through the book of Exodus, you read through any book of the Bible and pull on threads like a word study, from the start of Exodus up to this point, if you search for every time it uses the word listen, you'll get a picture of who's listening to who and who is not listening.

[5:47] It's actually one of Moses' primary concerns back in Exodus 3. He says to God, But the people will not listen to me. They will not listen to my voice.

[6:00] Then in chapter 5, when Moses first confronts Pharaoh, can you remember what Pharaoh says? Who is Yahweh that I should obey his voice?

[6:11] Then the Hebrews, the Hebrews don't listen to Moses because of their broken spirit. And so Moses says to God in chapter 6, The people of Israel have not listened to me.

[6:24] How then will Pharaoh listen to me? And then God actually says to Moses in response, Pharaoh will not listen to you. And throughout the plagues, it's repeated that Pharaoh would not listen because of his heart was hardened.

[6:43] And so in Exodus, we've already had the question, Who is Yahweh that anyone should listen to him? And we've already had the question, Who is Moses that anyone should listen to him?

[6:54] And everyone learned through the signs and wonders that Yahweh did, that he is the one true God. He's the maker of the heavens and the earth. He's powerful over all of the gods of Egypt, and certainly more powerful than Pharaoh, who's a mere mortal.

[7:09] But we've also learned through Pharaoh that not listening is actually a symptom of a hardened heart. And so whenever you see someone not listening, it's a symptom of a hardened heart.

[7:23] Three days after God brought the Israelites through the Red Sea, they complain about not having water. In chapter 15. And God gave them water, and then God tested them, saying this, God said, If you will diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and do all that is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians.

[7:55] For I am Yahweh your healer. So if you listen to the voice of Yahweh, and do what is right in his eyes, then he will not do to them what he did to Egypt.

[8:09] Again, in the next chapter, when God gave them manna, it says that God gave them instructions to test them to see if they would walk in his law or not. So these instructions about going out and only gathering as much for the day, these were instructions to test them to see if they would follow his word or not.

[8:29] And it says in Exodus 16, but they did not listen to Moses. We have this growing sense that people are not going to listen. And if we remember Pharaoh, we will learn that this habit of not listening is a symptom of a hardened heart.

[8:45] Yet Moses, throughout the entire story of Exodus pretty much, Moses is different. Follow the word throughout Exodus, and you'll see whether it's God, or whether it's his father-in-law Jethro, Moses listens and obeys.

[8:59] Moses is a picture of Jesus. He listens and obeys. And then in chapter 19, when they come to the mountain, God told Moses to say again to Israel, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

[9:19] Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my commandment, you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine.

[9:35] And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Now, God doesn't say, you simply are a treasured possession among peoples and a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

[9:48] He says, if you obey my voice, you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. So whose voice do you listen to? Whose voice do you obey?

[10:00] It's not like God just chooses a people and blesses them regardless of how they act. That's why God says, if you will listen to my voice, if you obey my voice.

[10:12] You see, some people have this idea of freedom, right? Freedom is almost as if you would rescue people from Egypt and then you would say, on yourself.

[10:28] You know, this idea that freedom is God rescuing a people and then saying, on yourself, go and do what you like. Letting them do whatever they want. And I hope that what we have seen as we've gone through Exodus, especially when we saw all these case laws, that if God were to do that, it wouldn't be true freedom because it would lead to all kinds of abuse and exploitation.

[10:49] You see, anarchy isn't freedom. If God were to leave us to our own devices, we would all lead ourselves to death. And so, this idea of freedom just being, go and do whatever you like, that's not true freedom.

[11:05] The truth will set you free. At the end of Deuteronomy, Moses tells the people that there are two ways to live, the way of life and the way of death.

[11:16] And so, he says to them, choose life. Now, this has always been the case throughout the entire Bible. This has always been the case from the very beginning since the Garden of Eden. God's commandment isn't just some arbitrary rule.

[11:30] It's meant to lead us to life and keep us from death. From the very beginning, here is life, here is death, choose life.

[11:41] That's what the commandment of God is all about. It's not just some arbitrary rules. And so, humanity has had this knack from the beginning of choosing death.

[11:53] Now, after seeing in Exodus this challenge of who you listen to and this continual call to listen to God, interestingly, in our passage, we suddenly have another figure.

[12:07] God tells the people to listen to this other voice and to obey this other person, an angel. You see that? Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you in the way, bring you to the place I prepare.

[12:18] Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice and do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions.

[12:30] Seems that something only God can do, for my name is in him, if you are careful to obey his voice and do all that I say. It's a strange thing.

[12:41] Who is this figure? Who is this angel? We have already heard of an angel in Exodus. Way back in chapter 3, I don't know if you remember, when Moses first encounters the burning bush, it says that an angel of Yahweh was in the burning bush.

[13:02] In the midst of it, and in Exodus 14, when they're standing at the edge of the Red Sea and the pillar of cloud goes behind them to guard them from the Egyptian army, it tells us that it was also the angel of God who had gone before them who now moves with the pillar behind them to guard them.

[13:23] So, we have this picture in Exodus 14 that the angel has gone before them and the angel moves to guard them. And that's exactly what it says in here.

[13:35] I send an angel before you to guard you on the way. Now we hear about this angel who will go before them. Furthermore, they are to listen carefully and obey the voice of this angel.

[13:50] They are to not rebel against this angel and he has the authority to forgive or to not forgive them. He will go before them to guard them and bring them to the place God has prepared for them.

[14:06] Throughout the Old Testament, there is a figure like this. Throughout the Old Testament, you can see it many times in Genesis, Exodus, elsewhere, Joshua, Judges, a figure like this who seems like he's on a par with God.

[14:21] He speaks as God speaks. He acts as God acts. He has the same importance as God. He even accepts worship. You see, in Joshua chapter 5, we see Joshua encountering this commander of the Lord's army and Joshua says, well, are you for us or are you for them?

[14:41] And his answer is, no. No, I'm not for you and I'm not for them. I'm the commander of the Lord's army. And then Joshua bows down to this figure. Now, if you notice elsewhere in the Bible, normally when somebody bows down to an angel, the angel says, don't do that.

[14:58] I am not God. Don't worship me. Get up on your feet. I'm a servant just like you. But yet, this angel in Joshua 5 not only accepts Joshua bowing down, when Joshua says, what should I do?

[15:13] The angel says to him, take off your sandals. The place you're standing is in holy ground. Does that sound familiar? That's like the burning bush in chapter 3. When we get to the New Testament, you see this character throughout the Old Testament.

[15:28] When we get to the New Testament, we don't hear of the angel of the Lord anymore, but still there is a figure in the New Testament who speaks as God speaks, who acts as God acts, who even accepts worship, who makes God's name known, and who God explicitly tells, just like in this passage, who God explicitly tells the people, listen to his voice and obey him.

[15:55] Who is that character? None other than Jesus. Now, I posit to you that the reason we don't hear about the angel of the Lord, this figure, who is as God in the Old Testament, we do hear about him in the New Testament.

[16:10] He's just put on flesh and bones and his name is Jesus. You see, long before Jesus was born, I don't know if you know this, we have this accusation that this whole Jesus being deity is some weird new thing, polytheism, but it's not.

[16:26] Long before Jesus was born, particularly in Second Temple Judaism, there was a recognition of this figure in the Old Testament and an understanding of two powers in heaven, that although there was one God, there seemed to be two figures acting as Yahweh at certain points in the Old Testament.

[16:49] And they had this category for this because of verses like our passage today. They almost had this sense that God was both sovereign and also vice-regent.

[17:03] He served both parts. someone who is both with God and is God. Does that sound familiar?

[17:14] John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And so, when the early disciples of Jesus begin to speak of Jesus as being divine, they're not suggesting polytheism.

[17:29] They're not introducing some brand new idea. Instead, they're using a category that already exists in Judaism to explain who Jesus is. Well, who is this other figure?

[17:41] It is Jesus. Jesus and Him are one and the same. And so, in the Old Testament, this figure, often described as the angel of Yahweh or the angel of God, would speak and act like the pre-incarnate Son of God, the Logos.

[18:00] And in the New Testament, the Logos, the Word, became flesh and does the exact same things. And God speaks of Him in the exact same way.

[18:11] Listen to Him. Speaking and acting like God, the authority to forgive sins, God declares that this is His Son and people should listen to Him.

[18:22] Now, we don't exactly know how this would have been experienced by the Israelites in Exodus. We know that in some sense, it was in the form of a pillar of cloud and fire.

[18:33] In other places, it was as a figure, like when Abraham was visited, or like when Joshua stood before the commander of the Lord's army, or other times.

[18:45] We don't know how it would have been, but we can see that God is introducing a category in the Old Testament of another voice and another person that represents Him in equal measure, a voice to be obeyed, a figure that must not be rebelled against, a person who can forgive, one who is sent by God, and one who will go before them and bring them to a place prepared.

[19:14] To go before to bring them to a place that has been prepared. Does that ring any bells? John 14, I go to prepare a place for you.

[19:29] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself. I will bring you there that you may be where I am also. It's almost as if Jesus has this very thing in mind when He says that.

[19:44] And why would He do that? Unless He's the very same person. And so, the application for those at the time reading this book of Moses was for them to listen to this voice, to obey Him, not to rebel against Him, for He is the sent one from God.

[20:05] And therefore, He is the only one who can guard them and lead them. He's the only one going before them, and He's the only one who can take them to the promised land. Now, if they want it to go well for them, it's not just listening to this person, but being aware of the dangers of serving other gods.

[20:26] And so, who do you serve? When they come to meet these other groups of people, you see the groups of people in our passage. Verse 23, we have the Scottish tribe, the Amorites.

[20:41] How you doing? I'm alright. The Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, all these groups of people. And this is one of the points in the Bible.

[20:54] You know, when you get to Joshua and you get to the conquest of Canaan, very difficult part of the Bible to explain. And there will be accusations of ethnic cleansing and all sorts of things.

[21:09] We will address that because it addresses it today. We're not going to get all the details. But the point is, when they come to these groups of people, they might be tempted to make a deal with them.

[21:22] You know, you're coming into a land and there's people already there. You might be tempted to make a deal because these people are going to be nasty to you. They're not going to take lightly to you coming into their land.

[21:33] And so the temptation for the Israelites is to make a deal with them. Please don't hurt us. We will do this. And God says, you have not to do that. You have not to make a deal.

[21:44] And you have not to live in the land with them. The last verse says, they shall not dwell in your land lest they make you sin against me. That's what would happen. If you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.

[21:59] That's what would happen. And so who are they going to rely on? Are they going to rely on the deals that they can make with people? Or are they going to rely on God to guard them? Who do you serve?

[22:11] You see, I've heard someone say, you cannot walk with God while holding the devil's hand. Jesus said in Matthew 6, you cannot serve both God and mammon, the God of riches.

[22:26] Paul said in Philippians 3 that they serve their God, their God as their belly. Darkness will not lead to light, and sin will not lead you to life.

[22:40] And so just like Egypt represented a deeper and more pervasive type of slavery, that is slavery to sin and darkness that leads to death. You see, God could take the people out of Egypt, but the reason the 11-day journey took 40 years was because he had to take Egypt out of the people.

[23:00] And so we see these other people groups, and when we think about the Canaanites and all these other people, we shouldn't think that they are innocent collateral damage.

[23:11] They're not. When it came to these other nations that would be dispossessed, we must have two things in mind when we think about this, because people will accuse God of horrendous war crimes and what happened in the conquest.

[23:27] We should have two things in mind. Firstly, we should have what was the practice of these people in the first place. What was their practice? What did they do?

[23:38] How were they living? And secondly, how did they treat Israel, who was like vulnerable, homeless, rescued slaves? How did these nations treat Israel when they came out?

[23:50] Because Israel didn't just go, you know, Israel wandered through, and these people treated them very badly. Very badly. They didn't need to, but they did. If you know your Bible, you will know that there were people in these places like Rahab who didn't treat them badly.

[24:10] People like Rahab who recognized Yahweh as being sovereign and who was kind to Israel, and so she was not driven out. She wasn't driven out.

[24:20] She was welcomed into the community, and she was the mother of Boaz, who was the husband of Ruth, the grandmother of King David. And so the people that are driven out, there's two things to remember.

[24:34] What was the practice in the first place? You can read up about these kind of things. The Canaanites practicing child sacrifice, horrendous crimes, the way they were living was extremely wicked.

[24:49] And how did they treat Israel when Israel was wandering vulnerably through the desert? So when we think about this, we should also remember this other thing.

[25:01] Whose land is it? You see, we think, is it the Canaanites because they already possessed the land? Or is it the Israelites because God promised the land?

[25:12] Well, actually, the land belongs to God. You see, it says in Psalm 24 that the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.

[25:25] even in our own passage, it says that the earth is the Lord's. And so the land belongs to God. Acts 17 says that God made from one man every nation on the face of the earth and determined the allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.

[25:44] Why did He determine that thing? Why do you live where you live in the time that you live? It says that you should seek God and perhaps feel your way towards Him and find Him.

[25:55] That's why God has given you the time and place that you were born. And so these Canaanites and Amorites and Jebusites have been given a time and a place so that they might feel their way towards God and find Him.

[26:11] But have they done that? No, they've not. They've decided to sacrifice children and commit all sorts of horrendous crimes. And so whether or not the land is occupied doesn't matter.

[26:22] The land is God's and any people who are alive are given their life by God and He gives them life and breath and everything. He determines where and when they should live with the purpose that they should find God and live for God.

[26:38] The land is God's and if you're on the land you're on it for God for you to find God and live. Right? But why does God drive them out then? Is God fair to drive them out?

[26:49] When a landlord evicts someone usually it's for good reason. And so Deuteronomy chapter 9 God says this to Israel. He says do not say in your heart after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you do not say it's because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land.

[27:11] Whereas it is actually because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to possess the land but it's because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you.

[27:31] And that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers to Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Know therefore that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness for you are a stubborn people.

[27:47] So remember and never forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. So not only should we be aware of how the nations treated the wandering group of rescued slaves, we should be also aware that it's because of their wickedness that those nations are being driven out.

[28:06] It's their wickedness that God removed them from the land. God is just. God has not given, has not failed to give them opportunity to seek him and find him, they have been deeply wicked.

[28:22] Here's another question though. A landlord doesn't normally involve the next tenant in the process of evicting the previous one, does he? Imagine you were asked to do that.

[28:33] I've got a house for you, but the tenant is still in there and I want you to help me evict him. You'd be like, hang on a minute, that's your job. Why does God involve the Israelites in driving out these people?

[28:49] Well, I think that one of the reasons is so that they would have a first-hand experience of what would happen to them if they practiced the same wicked things that these nations practiced.

[29:03] So that they would know in driving them out, this is going to happen to us if we do the same as them. And so it was a way to test them, to see if they would obey his commands.

[29:15] And that is why later in Leviticus 20 it says, you shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I'm bringing you to live may not vomit you out, and you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out from before you, for they did all these things and therefore I detested them.

[29:38] And so having first-hand experience, this is going to happen to you if you do the same as these wicked nations. And centuries later, sadly, that is precisely what happened to Israel.

[29:50] They did the same very things, and the land vomited them out. God drove them out by the hands of others, the Babylonians. And so it's a daunting thing.

[30:04] They've just been rescued. They're probably tired, weak, weary, having to lean on God every single day. Learn to trust Him every single day. If you've ever moved house, I know some of you are in the process, if you've ever moved house, wouldn't it be just lovely to be able to move into a new home and not need to do anything, everything just to be prepared and ready?

[30:28] Yet God says to these people, you need to be involved in this. You need to be involved. And one of the wonderful little phrases, I will not drive them out from before you in one year.

[30:44] Why? What would happen? See, if God just cleared the land and left it empty, what would happen? Well, it says, the land would become desolate and the wild beasts would multiply against you.

[31:00] So it's a kindness of God that He's not going to drive them out in a hurry. Little by little, I will drive them out from before you until you've increased and possessed the land.

[31:11] Little by little. Now, if any of you are trusting in Christ, you experience that phrase every single day, don't you? Little by little. I think it would just be wonderful as soon as you become a Christian, boom, no more sin.

[31:26] Boom, no more darkness. Wouldn't it be wonderful? Just go straight to the kingdom of God. How great would that be? Yeah, I think there's some wisdom in God to allow us to go through this little by little.

[31:40] And not just rely on God to do this, but ourselves again. This whole thing with the Canaanites and these other people is supposed to be a picture of something deeper, a deeper reality.

[31:53] And that's that darkness and sin are not just out there, but they're inside your heart. And although God is cleansing you, little by little, so you also need to drive out sin and darkness from your own heart every single day.

[32:09] Is that not true? Every day we need to choose, little by little, to drive out that which would be an enemy of God and an enemy of us making it to the promised land.

[32:20] And it teaches us, it teaches us to trust God. God tests us throughout our entire lives. Are we going to obey His commands? Are we going to listen to Him and trust that He knows what is good for us?

[32:35] And if we trust that He knows what is good for us and listen to His voice, then little by little every day we will learn to lean on one of His commands rather than one of our ideas when we're tempted to sin.

[32:49] Every single day when we have that temptation of darkness, little by little we will choose to listen to God and not listen to our own instincts. Isn't it wonderful?

[32:59] Little by little. So who do you serve? Do you serve light or do you serve darkness? Do you walk in the way of life or the way of death? And I imagine that every single one of us does a little bit of both every single day.

[33:14] And yet it's learning to trust God. The picture we get through Exodus is a foreshadow of a deeper reality that unless, unless we're rescued by God, we are enslaved to sin.

[33:26] We're stuck like those in Egypt. We need to trust God if we are to be rescued. The Israelites made it to the edge of the Red Sea.

[33:38] Why do you think God took them to a place that was impossible if not to learn to trust Him? Why do you think He took them to the Red Sea if not to walk by faith?

[33:49] Because when God opened that Red Sea, I don't know what you would think that you would be like if you were there, but I imagine the reality would be if you stood and you saw the Red Sea opening up and you would think what a magnificent thing, how amazing is this?

[34:07] And then someone says on you go and walk through it, you'd be like oh well I don't know. Because at any moment it might close in on you, any moment. And so walking through that Red Sea, God opened it, but it took them walking by faith.

[34:23] It took them to move their leg a step forward each day. And so Jesus has gone ahead. Jesus has gone through the Red Sea.

[34:35] He's gone through death on our behalf and trusting in Him is walking by faith. You see that's what baptism is a picture of. It's a picture of going through the water just like the Israelites went through the Red Sea.

[34:51] What did they leave behind? What did you leave behind when you go through baptism? What did the Israelites leave behind? They left behind Egypt. They left behind slavery.

[35:02] They left behind death. And they went through the Red Sea and on the other side was life. Newness of life. Serving God rather than serving Pharaoh. Being free instead of being enslaved.

[35:16] And so trusting God, crossing over into new life and freedom to serve God instead of Pharaoh to serve God is to serve his son whom he sent. And on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus began to shine with the glory of God.

[35:32] And God said to his disciples, this, this is my beloved son. And he could have said anything after that, but what did he say? He said, listen to him.

[35:43] You see, Jesus said to the Pharisees in John chapter 5, he said, if you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. Moses wrote of me.

[35:55] That's what this whole thing is about. Moses wrote of me. And so there's many voices that we could listen to, but where do they lead us? Where do any voices in the world lead us?

[36:07] Have any of those voices out there prepared a place for you? You see, although they were getting to a land that was promised to them, it wasn't really about that land.

[36:20] For even way back when it was Abraham, Abraham walking in faith, what does it say in Hebrews 11? It said that he was looking to another place, a heavenly city.

[36:32] He wasn't looking to a land. It didn't matter to him if he died. Moses didn't make it to the promised land, but don't feel sorry for him. For he was looking to the reward. He wasn't looking to a physical land.

[36:44] He was looking to the kingdom of God, a heavenly city. Jesus is preparing a place, and he can take us there.

[36:55] He's the only one that can take us there. I remember having this dream. We're going to sing this song in a wee moment, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. I remember having this dream. It was a wonderful dream, and it was about a person who was singing that song, and they were walking through, and it was groups of other people, and as they were walking through singing this song, everywhere they walked, other people began to sing this song.

[37:22] Little by little, they were taking the ground. Little by little, the gospel was influencing the world. Little by little, taking the land. We have all these other voices, but what have they done for you?

[37:35] Any voices led you to life? Have any voices kept the things that they've promised? Goodness, we've got many politicians and leaders and governments that just cannot keep a single promise that they promise us.

[37:49] Have any of these voices got the ability to really forgive the debt that you owe? To forgive the things that we've done? Have any of these voices loved you to the point of giving their lives for you on a cross?

[38:06] Have any of these voices really revealed the truth about God? Have any of these voices gone before you? It's like, who are you going to believe about the afterlife?

[38:19] Has anyone been there to tell you about it? Well, yes, Jesus has. Who are you going to listen to? Are you going to listen to the voice of Jesus? Do you know the voice of Jesus?

[38:31] Are you familiar with it? Read. Read about this voice. The voice of Jesus. Some people... This voice.

[38:46] I mean, it's... Everything else. Like, everything... Everything that happens will be measured against this voice. Everything. And so, any other voice calling you will be measured against the voice of Jesus.

[39:02] Just listen to the voice of Jesus. I'm not asking you to listen to my voice. Listen to the voice of Jesus. Read his words and listen to him and obey him. Some people don't want to hear his voice. Some people want the voice of someone else.

[39:19] Others, sometimes it's just hard to hear the voice of Jesus. I don't know if you find that. Sometimes we cannot hear his voice because there's so much noise in the world. So many things distracting us and crowding it out.

[39:33] I think that's the devil's design. He just wants to make noise and distract you. We need to turn the noise off. We need to find a way to stop the distraction.

[39:48] I want to say this morning, if there is one voice to listen to the whole of your life more than any other, one person to follow for the rest of your lives more than anyone else, let it be Jesus.

[40:04] He will never disappoint. He's shown himself plainly to the world who he is. He's the only one who can protect us. He's the only one who can lead us. He's the only one who can feed us.

[40:14] He's the only one who can guard us. He's the only one who can lead us to the promised land. Why listen to the voice of Jesus? Because he is the voice of truth. John 18.

[40:27] He's the one who tells us what we need to hear and not what we want to hear. He's the only one who came from God. John 1.18. No one else has ever seen God. He is the light so he can lead us out of darkness.

[40:41] John chapter 8, John chapter 12, John 1. His voice leads to life. John chapter 10. He is the one who has gone before us.

[40:53] I am the resurrection and the life. He is the one who has prepared a place for us. John 14. And no one. Why listen to Jesus' voice?

[41:05] Because no one but Jesus is the way. More can be said, but let me pray. Lord, if we have ears, let us hear.

[41:20] Let us tune in to the voice of Jesus. Please would you help us to follow that voice wherever it goes, to trust in that voice, whatever he tells us to do, to trust that even entering death, he will raise us up to life and take us into his land of rest and his land of promise.

[41:46] Jesus has gone before us. He's the only one who can guard us, and he's the only way to eternal life. Please help us to listen to his voice and obey him.

[41:58] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[42:17] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.