So 2 Timothy 3, verse 1 to 4, verse 5.
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty, for people
will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal,
not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than
lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.
Avoid such people, for among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women,
burdened with sin and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to
arrive at a knowledge of the truth.
But just as Janus and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also opposed the truth, men corrupted
in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.
But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those
two men.
You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience,
my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch,
at Iconium and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured.
Yet from them all the Lord rescued me.
Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil
people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
But as for you, continue in what you have learnt and have firmly believed, knowing from whom
you learnt it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which
are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and
for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and
the dead, and by his appearance and his kingdom, preach the word.
Be ready in season and out of season.
Reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching.
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears,
they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away
from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
As for you, always be sober-minded.
Endure suffering.
Do the work of an evangelist.
Fulfill your ministry.
Well, good morning, everyone.
For those who are visiting, I'm one of the pastors here.
My name's David.
David the Older.
David the Ordinary.
Yeah.
So, you and I live in a huge world.
It's a fragile world.
And I think, oftentimes, it's just a scary world.
We live in this huge, fragile, scary world alongside almost 8 billion other people.
And our world is dwarfed.
Our planet Earth that we live on here is dwarfed in our solar system, which in turn is dwarfed
in our galaxy, the Milky Way, which in turn is immeasurably dwarfed by the universe.
We are so small in our universe.
And that begs the question that is in everybody's mind at some point in their life is, yes, we're
small, but are we insignificant?
That huge question of meaning and purpose explains in part why every one of us has what I'm calling
this morning a voice in our head, a life voice.
Words that are speaking into us all the time.
A life script, perhaps you might call it.
It's something that comes from outside ourselves and which we need to give ourselves some perspective
in our smallness, to give ourselves a sense of meaning and purpose in this giant, humongous universe.
We need that voice because it needs to be bigger than ourselves.
Now, every person has it and every person listens to it.
Not every person is aware they're listening to it, but every person listens to it.
That voice actually defines and shapes how they think about themselves, how they think about
our world and how they live in the world on a daily basis.
It gives perspective to daily life.
Now, for young children, I think that voice might well be just the voice of parents.
That seems to be the size of their universe as young children.
For teenagers, the universe gets a bit bigger, but not necessarily wiser.
So that voice might just be the voice of peers.
Dare I say the blind leading the blind.
Social media.
I don't know how you describe that.
For adult Australians, the predominant voice is science.
Science says, well, yes, I'm a very, very insignificant little cog in a very, very big mechanistic world,
a big machine.
It's impersonal.
And it exists only by chance, by randomness.
That doesn't really help with significance, does it?
The problem is with that, is that people can't live as an insignificant part of a huge machine.
People, by nature, crave relationship.
We actually crave a beating heart at the center of our universe.
We crave something and long for something and almost need something that's bigger than ourselves, bigger than what we can see.
A being, whatever we call it, some form of God.
People call it all sorts of different things.
But there's a common longing for something bigger than ourselves, something or someone who will understand our universe and, in a sense, understand our part in that universe.
And thereby, find significance for ourselves in that universe.
And so, given that people can't live, really, with the voice of science, it's constantly in competition with the voice of religion, the voice of spirituality.
And there's literally hundreds of thousands of different forms of that in our world.
But it's so common.
People want and need some form of God.
Some one or some being who's there in the background.
Someone who knows our world.
Someone, in a sense, who sees us.
Well, friends, what people long for, I want to tell you this morning, is at the heart of biblical Christianity.
The key of Christianity is, at the heart of our universe, is a beating heart.
Is a personal God.
If we're to know that God and be known by him, he must be personal and speak.
Now, at this point, I just want to stop and make a disclaimer here.
I really wish that Adam's introduction this morning was my sermon introduction.
I said to Alison as he was going through that.
That's what I should have had as an introduction to my sermon.
So, if you can reflect back to Adam's words, it's a much better introduction than mine.
So, it's a really good thing because if we are to know God and be known by him, he must be personal and speak.
Words are how we get to know people.
Unless God took the initiative to tell us what he's like, to tell us what's in his mind, we would never be able to find out.
We might have a vague sense that there's a God out there.
But we wouldn't actually know.
We couldn't live securely with knowledge of that God out there.
What does he want of us?
Does he want anything of us?
Those sorts of things are beyond human discovery.
In a world where science tells us that we can discover everything.
Not so.
Those things are beyond human discovery because God is outside of all human methods of investigation.
And so, in speaking, God reveals things about himself.
He reveals things about us.
He reveals things about our world that otherwise would be hidden and unknowable.
And as Adam said in his introduction, words are relational.
So, as I speak to you over a period of time, you get to understand what I'm like.
You get to see something of my character.
You'll hear something of my aspirations.
I'll express my thoughts.
As Catherine said this morning, without words, very, very little can be known about someone.
We can guess.
We can hope.
But unless we have words, very little may be known with certainty about another person.
In this case, God.
And there's a verse in Isaiah 55.
I'm just going to turn to it now.
You can listen or find it if you're quick at finding these things.
In Isaiah 55, verse 8.
God tells us this through the words of Isaiah.
God's word through Isaiah's words.
We'll say more about that in a minute.
God says this.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts.
Neither are your ways.
My ways, declared the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.
And my thoughts than your thoughts.
In other words, God's saying there's a great gulf between me and you.
You couldn't span that gulf in your own resources.
For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bear fruit and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread theater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth.
It shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
God's word bridges the gulf
and makes God knowable to us.
And more importantly for us,
at an experiential level,
makes it possible that we will be known by God.
Now, first point of application.
It's a small point and yet a big point.
At a very, very practical level,
that means that our knowledge of God
is something that we need to see as a gift from God
and value it as such.
We're so familiar with God's word as Christians, aren't we?
That we forget
it is a really, really precious gift
that God should speak to us
and tell us about himself
and tell us about ourselves.
And as we saw in 2 Timothy 3,
tell us about salvation.
God's speaking to us,
God's word,
is a precious gift of grace and mercy
from the Lord.
Okay, next question.
How does God speak?
All right, we're saying God needs to speak
and as he speaks,
then we see his personality.
God is personal as he speaks.
But how does God speak?
Well, you don't need to be rugged science
to work this one out.
We know that effective communication
or relationship requires words.
The best communication requires precise words,
clearly spoken.
In just the same way,
God speaks into his world,
into the lives of his people,
using ordinary words.
He uses ordinary words to reveal himself.
And so God speaks meaningful statements
about himself.
He reveals in those meaningful statements,
sentences,
ordinary functions of language and grammar,
he reveals his character.
He reveals his physical relationship,
his relationship to the physical universe.
He reveals how he wants to relate to ourselves
as his image bearers in the universe,
as we've seen in Genesis 1-3.
In speaking personally and precisely,
God prescribes how we are to think about him.
He says,
this is what I'm like
and this is how you should think about me
and how you should engage with me.
This is what you should believe about me,
says the Lord.
This is how you ought to respond to me
when you hear me speak.
And in turn,
as we hear and get our picture filled out
of what God is like,
then that tells us something
really, really important about ourselves
in relation to God.
How we're to think about ourselves
individually and collectively as humans.
Now we see this in Genesis 3,
Genesis 1-3.
Right through Genesis 1,
God spoke and God said words,
front and center,
powerful words.
God's word spoke our universe
into existence
in all its diversity,
in all its differentiated parts
and its single whole.
God's word.
spoken.
And as he speaks,
and we see that in Genesis 1-2-3,
his words and the actions
that come
hot on the heels of his words,
his words always achieve
what he says,
his words and the resultant actions
reveal perfectly
his character
and his purpose.
and God said,
and it happened,
and God's conclusion,
it was good.
It was exactly
as God said it would be
and deemed it would be.
And in Genesis 1-2-3,
we see what God's words speak of God.
So it speaks,
first of all,
of his existence.
God exists.
He has to exist
to be personal and speaking.
And he existed before
in the beginning.
In the beginning,
Genesis 1,
but before the beginning,
God existed in Trinity.
Father,
Son,
and Spirit.
It tells us,
God's word tells us
about God's creative power.
Tells us about his goodness.
Tells us about his personal glory
reflected in his image bearers.
It tells us about his desire
to relate to his image bearers,
loving and providing for them
in abundance.
It tells us about his holiness
and majesty in Genesis 2,
commanding his image bearers
to live under his rule.
And then in Genesis 3,
calling his image bearers
to account
when they refuse
to live under his rule.
And then in the end
of Genesis 3,
it speaks of his steadfast love
and commitment
to his people
and his world,
even in the midst of
and in the light of
their rejection
and rebellion.
Huge amount we learn
about God's character
and God's purpose
in those first three chapters
of our Bible.
So God speaks
using ordinary words.
And those words
are recorded
and preserved
in what we call the Bible.
So it's very appropriate
to say that the Bible
is God's words
in men's words.
So ask the question,
well, how do we know
what God's words were
in the very beginning
of our world?
Adam and Eve
were the only ones there.
Maybe they didn't even hear
those words
and God said.
So how do we know
what God said?
Answer,
because we have the Bible.
The Bible,
by its own definition,
is the written record
of what God has said
in relation to his world.
God's words.
God's words
and that brings us
to 2 Timothy 3, 16.
Scripture is God-breathed.
The word for breathed there
is the same word
that's used in other places
and in Genesis 1, 1,
for that matter,
for the Holy Spirit.
The point here, I think,
is that just as
the Holy Spirit
was involved
in the physical creation
at the very beginning,
so the Holy Spirit
is fully involved
in creating the Scriptures
or what we call the Bible.
And we're told,
I don't have time
to track through it all.
You can research this
for yourself.
We're told that
the Holy Spirit
oversees supernaturally
a range of ordinary people
writing in the different centuries
at different times
and different circumstances
and he oversees them
supernaturally
to record precisely
what God wants them to write.
And here's the point.
It is so precise
and so accurate
under the Holy Spirit's
superintending
that we can say
with confidence
that when we read
these words,
here in 2023,
that they are just
as real
and living
and direct
and just as much
God speaking
as if God himself
was standing here
in front of us
this morning.
that's what the scripture
itself says of scripture.
Now that doesn't mean
the writers,
the Bible writers
were mindless robots.
No.
The Holy Spirit
superintended
the normal function
and faculties
of each of those
individual writers
so that not only
do we have
God's word recorded
over generations
but we see a lot
of different
personality types.
We see a range
of styles
but all combining
to be God's
recorded word.
God's words
in man's words.
And the next thing
is then
we need to understand
that that revelation
of God in words
is progressive.
As we move
through the Bible
from Genesis
right through
to the end
we see the progressiveness
as God
excuse me
as God speaks
he unfurls
his plan
of salvation.
Now again
as in any relationship
the longer it lasts
the more deeply
we get to know
the person
we're relating to.
And so it's the same.
God's revelation
of himself
gets richer
and fuller
and clearer
as we track
through what we
call the Bible.
As we trace
his relationship
and see his
salvation plan
unfurl through history.
And again
we see that principle
in Genesis 1-3.
I'll demonstrate it there
and then I'll be
jumping back
to the New Testament
again.
So when you look
at Genesis 1-2
then we see
a lot about
God's character.
but in Genesis 3
we see
aspects of
God's character
that I believe
couldn't possibly
have been known
in the time frame
of Genesis 1-2.
So in
Genesis 1-2
God's a creative God
he's a good God
he's a personal God
but it's not until
we get to Genesis 3
that we see an aspect
of God's character
that would have been
new to Adam and Eve
that is
we see that God
is a God of wrath
a God who takes
himself very
very seriously
and who will act
decisively
with those
who reject him
and refuse to live
under his rule.
And we'll see
in Genesis 3
he's a God of judgment.
There are consequences
for stepping out
from under the authority
of this good
creative God
that we meet
in Genesis 1-2.
and in the end
of Genesis 3
we also see
that this is a God
of grace
and mercy
and compassion.
You see
it's progressive revelation
three chapters in
and we're already
starting to build
a much richer picture
of God's character
and God's purposes.
And progressive revelation
continues throughout
the Old Testament
as God speaks
to his people
in covenant
relationship
with them.
Each book
of the Bible
each generation
each circumstance
each event
we get another
little bit
of the picture
until
the process
is completed
with Jesus.
Why is it
completed with Jesus?
Well
you need to turn
with me to Hebrews
chapter 1
to start putting
that point
down
in concrete terms.
So the writer
of Hebrews
says this
in Hebrews
chapter 1
Long ago
at many times
and in many places
God spoke to
our fathers
by the prophets
but in these
last days
he has spoken
to us
by his son
whom he appointed
the heir
of all things
through whom
also he created
the world.
He is the radiance
of the glory
of God
and the exact
imprint
of his nature
and he upholds
the universe
by his word
and by his word
of his power
and after
making purifications
for sins
he sat down
at the right hand
of the majesty
on high.
Progressive
revelation
we get
an increasingly
clear picture
of God
and his purposes
and salvation
until we get
to Jesus
and when we get
to Jesus
we've got the
final piece
of the puzzle.
The one piece
of the puzzle
in a sense
makes sense
of all the
other pieces
that come
before it.
If you want
to know
what God
says
look at Jesus
he's the exact
imprint.
If you want
to see the
creative power
of God
look at Jesus
he's the radiance
of God's glory.
Do you want
to know
what God
is like?
Look at Jesus
he's been
with Jesus
since before
the creation
of the world.
He's been
with God
since before
the creation
of the world.
He is God
before the creation
of the world.
God has spoken
most plainly
God has spoken
lots
throughout the
Old Testament
but he's spoken
most plainly
and finally
in Jesus.
In other words
God has nothing
more to say
in terms
of his salvation
plan.
is fully
embodied
and fulfilled
in Jesus.
We see the same
thing in John
chapter 1
verse 1
to 18
where that
famous passage
of the word
the word
becomes flesh
and again
I don't have time
to read it all
but the highlight
of that introduction
is
that the word
you can't get
any more personal
than that
than saying
the word
actually becomes
flesh.
God's
creative
saving
word
actually
becomes
flesh
in the person
of Jesus
and dwells
among us.
Why?
That we might
have new life.
Now again
just to
pause on the
way through
here
and just
score a point
by way of
something to
think about
application wise.
What that
means I
believe
and I think
we've lost
that in
so many
places in
the Christian
church
what it
means is
that all
religious
experience
all religious
authority
must be
evaluated
against the
words of
Jesus.
If he
is the
complete
the
fulfillment
of God's
word
the final
God's
word
then
whatever
Jesus
says
has to
be the
measure
of what
God's
will
and
purpose
in our
world
is
and in
the
church.
How do
we fit
the New
Testament
into that?
Well
the New
Testament
was written
by divinely
appointed
apostles
who took
the words
of Jesus
and applied
them
under the
supernatural
superintending
of the
Holy Spirit
applied them
in the
building
of the
church
and so
the record
of the
New Testament
is the
record
of the
word
God's
words
through
Jesus
as the
Old
Testament
is the
record
of God's
spoken word
into his
world.
Well
that's how
God speaks.
Why does
God speak?
Well
the first
thing I want
to say
here is
that God
doesn't
need to
speak
really.
Sometimes
we speak
or you
know
sometimes
you have
the person
who speaks
would never
be me
but they
speak because
they're lonely
or because
there's a
space and
they have to
fill it
with words.
God's not
like that.
He's not
lonely.
He's not
filling up
some longing
or deficiency
in himself.
His purpose
in speaking
is very
very purposeful
and that
is to
deliver us
into
unending
pleasure
with him.
In other
words
God
speaks
in order
that we
might be
friends
with him
that we
might be
in relationship
with him.
Again
we've seen
in the past
few weeks
Genesis 1
to 3
that we
learn that
people there
people were
created
people are
made
to know
God.
Our purpose
in life
is to know
God and
enjoy him.
The good
life, the
best life
that we
were created
for is
the life
lived under
God and
with God.
Those are
all themes
from Genesis
1 to 3.
Jesus
reinforces
that truth
and makes
it more
precise in
John 17
that famous
prayer on
the eve of
his crucifixion.
He says
this is
life.
They might
know him
who sent
me and
know me.
In other
words God
speaks.
The reason
I'm here
as the
word living
and dwelling
among you
is that
you might
have true
life,
eternal
life.
that you
might be
in
relationship
with God
forever.
Friends,
why does
God speak?
Well,
ultimately
he speaks
that we
might receive
salvation
and fellowship
with him
forever.
Now,
again,
see the
potential
disconnect
there.
That means,
again,
if God
hadn't
spoken,
there
wouldn't be
salvation,
there
wouldn't be
fellowship.
Flip the
coin again.
That means
we're made
as rational
beings,
and we
are rational
beings,
well,
at least
some of
the time.
We're
supposed to
be rational
beings.
We're able
to think,
we're able
to act
on our
environment,
we're able
to love,
listen,
speak.
Why do
we do
all those
things?
Ultimately,
for us as
people,
we do
all those
things because
they're elements
of creating
relationship and
building
relationship.
They're elements
of affection
and commitment.
And God
has made us
as we are,
his image
bearers,
that we
might be
able to
engage in
meaningful,
reciprocal
relationship
with him.
So,
God doesn't
want to
relate to
us like
a farmer
relates to
a sheep
dog.
Get behind.
No,
he wants
to relate
to us
more like
the picture
of a
husband and
wife,
a father
and son,
or two
besties,
whatever
picture it
is.
It's that
picture of
intimacy,
a picture
of affection,
reciprocal
nature.
So,
God speaks.
And because
God is
committed to
this friendship,
being living
and active,
then it's
not a
surprise that
his word
is described
as living
and dynamic
and active,
as a guide
throughout life.
Again,
the only way
to make
friends is
to speak
and keep
on speaking.
If a friendship
is going to
survive,
it needs to be
fed with
words and
affections.
God speaks
to his image
bearers.
He finds
joy in
giving us
gifts.
And we
find our
joy in
giving him
thanks.
Again,
back in
2 Timothy
chapter 3
verse 16
again.
God's
greatest gift
is new
life in
Christ.
And his
word,
we're told
there,
and notice
the tense,
his word,
though written
in the past,
present tense,
is able.
It's
living,
it's dynamic,
it's active,
is able to
bring us to
salvation.
But much
more,
it's able,
and again,
notice the
present tense
written in the
past,
but is able
to guide us
and nurture us
into the life
of righteousness,
the life of
Christ-likeness,
or in the
words there,
to make us
true men and
true women
as we were
created to be.
And since
God hasn't
changed,
his voice to
the world
hasn't changed.
So the
Bible you have
in your hands
this morning
or on your
device,
the Bible you
have this
morning is
God's current
living,
active,
dynamic word
to you today
in 2023
as it was
when it was
first spoken.
The Bible
is God's
complete message
to his world.
Now,
it never
claims to
say everything
there is to
know about
God.
That's an
important thing.
Sometimes we
want the
Bible to
say more
than it's
ever promised
to say.
It never
claims to
say everything
there is to
know about
God,
but it
does claim
that it
says everything
we need
to know
to live
well in
God's
world as
God's
people.
So,
final question.
What should
be our
response to
God's
personal
words and
promises?
Well,
I think it's
a very simple
equation.
The shape
of God's
revelation
determines
the shape
of our
response.
God's
revelation
comes to
us in
words and
statements
and commands
and promises
our response.
ought to
be in
terms of
listening,
hating,
and obeying,
believing,
trusting.
It's that
simple.
In other
words,
we ought to
be,
our first
response ought
to be active
listening to
God's word.
Now,
the danger
of not
listening is
so real
for us and
so dangerous.
Genesis 3,
the very
first instance
of God's
people when
they stopped
listening to
God,
choosing not
to hear
God's word,
choosing not
to heed
God's word.
And Genesis
3 describes
that as an
act of
arrogant
rebellion.
how significant
was it?
Well,
it was
whole of
life
changing.
It was
generationally
changing.
It was a
catastrophe.
One
simple act
of stopping
listening to
God's word,
and here's the
consequences.
But it
wasn't just
that simple
act of
stopping
listening to
God's word,
because as they
stopped listening
to God's
voice,
God's word,
then they
actually started
listening to
their own
voice,
their own
words.
Well,
I'm not going
to be limited
by God's
command.
I'm very
capable of
deciding what's
good and bad.
I don't need
God to do
that for me.
They listened
to Satan's
lies.
Well,
come on,
it's not that
big a deal.
So,
it's not just
that we stop
listening to
God and then
there's a
vacuum.
As we stop
listening to
God's word,
then we start
listening to
other words,
the voices that
come to us
from our
society,
from our
culture.
After they
sinned,
we see the
same thing
happening again.
They were
hiding from
God's word.
They didn't
want to engage
with God's
word.
Genesis
chapter 4.
Cain kills
Abel.
How can we
pitch that?
Well, I'm
going to pitch
it in these
terms.
Why did
Cain kill
Abel?
Well, I
think Cain
killed Abel
to silence
the voice of
righteousness
that Abel
had expressed
to Cain,
which exposed
Cain's shabby
attitude to
the Lord.
Cain's
mind.
And so we
have the
voice of
self-protection
in Cain's
mind, the
voice of
self-defense
showing itself
to be so
ruthless that
it would try
and silence
the voice of
righteousness
rather than
repent and
say sorry
to God.
God.
It's
dangerous to
stop listening
to God's
voice.
Hebrews
chapter 3.
I'll just
reference it.
I don't have
time to even
go to it.
Hebrews
chapter 3
notes how
God's people
spent 40
years in the
wilderness.
Now, there's
many reasons
why they spent
40 years in
the wilderness.
What was the
summary in
Hebrews chapter
3?
They stopped
listening to
God's voice
voice and
paid the
consequences
for it.
What were
they listening
to instead
of God's
voice?
Well, they
were listening
to a
romanticized
version of
their life
in Egypt.
At least we
had onions
to eat back
there.
It was a
crazy voice,
but they were
listening to
that rather
than listening
to God's
voice.
And friends,
we're not
any different.
I think it's
incredibly sad.
Even stronger.
It's just so
wrong to
observe
believers.
Remember,
believers are
those who
claim to
value relationship
with God,
who claim to
value God's
word.
It's just so
sad and so
wrong to
see believers
form conclusions
about issues
and make life
decisions.
without reference
to God's
word.
How does
that happen?
We're
actually under
increasing
pressure to
shut down
God's voice,
God's words
in our mind
and go with
the voice of
popular belief.
belief.
Haven't been
able to turn
on the TV
to watch the
news for the
last two
weeks.
All against
gay pride,
gay Mardi
Gras.
The voice of
popular pressure,
popular belief.
belief.
It's even more
sad, I think,
and I observe
this all too
often to see
believers,
those who've
been Christians
for many,
many years,
find themselves
in a position
where they're
almost illiterate
in terms of
what God's
voice would
be on this
particular issue
or that
particular issue.
How does
that be?
We're tooled
up with
information at
so many other
points of
reference.
Why aren't
we so tooled
up when it
comes to
God's word?
Friends,
it's as simple
as this.
Our view of
God,
Father,
Son,
and Holy
Spirit,
is inseparably
tied to
our view
of God's
word.
It just
goes together.
Careless
in respect
to God's
word,
careless in
respect to
God.
The proper
hearing of
God's word
will overflow
in determined
action,
a life of
belief,
faith,
or trust.
God's word
is
God's word
speaks
primarily
because he
wants to be
in relationship
with his
image bearers,
since he
promises salvation,
since he
promises the
good life,
since he
promises the
life of
abundance,
and says,
this is how
you get it,
then
our
determined
action ought
to be
a life of
faith,
a life of
belief.
God has
said it,
will accept
it.
God has
promised it.
I'll live my
life trusting
in it.
God has
declared it.
I dare not
look for an
alternative source
of truth on
it.
So I'm just
going to finish
by asking
a question.
Whose voice
has captured
your head,
your mind,
your heart?
Whose voice,
therefore,
I'm asking you,
is shaping
your life daily,
informing your
decisions,
determining the
point at which
you will pivot
and resist
our society?
I'm just
going to
I'm seeing
increasingly in
evangelical circles
even,
that churches
are trying to
use something
other than
God's word
to build
churches,
to build
communities of
Christ's people,
to build
maturity.
humanity.
That's got to
be hopeless,
hasn't it?
At the very
least in
Congress,
that we who
say we
delight in
the Lord
would be
listening to
some other
voice to
grow ourselves
into maturity.
It doesn't
make sense.
And yet I think
all too often
is true.
So we need
to be asking
ourselves
individually,
and we need
to ask it
analytically of
our whole church
family here.
Are we
listening to
God's voice?
Are we
hating God's
voice?
Are we
determined to
act in the
light of God's
voice?
At every
point in
how we
relate to
one another,
in how we
deal with
difficulties with
one another,
in what we
teach people
as the
hope and
certainties of
life looking
forward into
the future?
We've got to
ask ourselves,
well, if we
say we're
listening to
God's word,
then what
difference is
it making in
your life?
Is it
something you
delight in?
Is it
something you
crave to
understand and
apply more?
That is God's
word as a
written record.
Do you see
and appreciate
and savour the
perfection of
God's word for
every aspect of
your life?
To grow you,
to lead you,
to keep you in
every circumstance
of life, to
deliver you safely
into the next
life?
Do you pray
that God's
living act of
word will
crash through
your defensiveness
and expose
your sin?
or you still
want to hide
from God's
word in
those key
areas of
sin that you
find yourself
loving all
too much?
That's what I
know.
I do that
myself, so I'm
not asking you
something I
haven't asked
myself.
It's
shameful.
we need to
ask the Lord
to crash
through our
defense and
to expose
our sin so
that we might
repent and
become all the
more appreciative
of the grace we
have in Christ.
The only option I
can think is that
God's voice is just
annoying white noise
in the background
while you're busy
trying to listen to
another voice.
it's sometimes
infuriating in a
shopping center or
a party or
something where
there's too many
competing voices
and you know you
should be listening
to this particular
voice but it's
just a bit of
white noise in the
background because
you're actually
trying to listen
to somebody else's
conversation over
there.
Well,
are you listening
to another voice
that's promising
you a better
life down a
different pathway?
Even as you're
sitting here this
morning,
I would mean you
to say,
and I might get
myself in trouble
for this,
but sadly I think
there's way too
many like this
in our church
for whom God's
voice is just
white noise in
the background
while they're busy
trying to listen
to another voice.
I just want you
to consider this
morning if that's
actually you.
Well,
pray with me.
Lord, we thank you
that you've chosen
to speak to us,
that you revealed
yourself to be a
personal God who
loves to be in
relationship with us,
who wants to be in
relationship with us,
who's actually defined
relationship and provided
everything needed for
that relationship to be
loving and secure and
affectionate and forever.
Lord, forgive us for not
listening to you,
for not hating you,
for not being determined
in our actions of faith
and trust and belief in
response.
forgiveness and more
specifically,
Lord, forgive us when we
silence your voice and
listen to other voices,
whether it's the voice of
society or the voice of
temptation or the voice of
self-indulgence.
forgiveness and more
forgive us, we pray,
Lord, and make us delight in
your word once again.
In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.