How Do I Know It's God?

HOW DO I KNOW IT’S GOD?

- Read John 10:1-6

In this passage, Jesus says in verse 2, “the sheep listen to His voice.” In verse 4, “and His sheep will follow Him because they recognize His voice.”

These are 2 very important statements. The sheep listen to His voice and the sheep recognize His voice.

Do you realize how important it is for you and I to be able to recognize God’s voice? Do you know how important it is for you and I to be able to hear God?

What kind of a relationship can you have with a person if only one of you ever speaks? Well, you can look at some marriages and answer that question for yourself. But, what kind of a relationship can you have with God if all you ever do is pray and talk to Him and never listen and are able to hear His voice.

And let’s face it. It can be tough to recognize God’s voice sometimes. There is a lot of stuff going on in our heads. Our own imaginations talk to us. The world talks to us. Friends talk to us. The Devil talks to us, and the Lord talks to us, and sometimes with all of that noise it can be difficult to discern when it is the Lord speaking and when it is something else.

> 1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

If we are not very careful, we can quickly switch from accurately hearing God and then getting distracted by the Devil and confuse the 2. Do you remember In Matthew 16 when Jesus asks His disciples who they say He is? Peter answers, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Then Jesus praises him and says, “Blessed are you Simon, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but this was revealed to you by My Father in Heaven.

Then Jesus begins to explain to His disciples how he has to go to the city and how He will suffer, and be killed and be raised on the 3rd day. Then Peter takes Him aside and begins to rebuke Jesus and Jesus turns to him and says, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me because you do not have the concerns of God but merely human concerns.

Speaking what he has heard from God one minute and letting the Devil speak through him the next, and yet, in the midst of all of that, Jesus says, His sheep know His voice.

It’s easy to miss if you are not paying attention.

- John 7:17

If you want to know God’s will and if you want to do God’s will, He will speak to you and you can recognize His voice.

1 John 4:1 John says we are to test every spirit. How do we do that? This morning I would like to give you 7 tests for recognizing God’s voice.

I. DOES IT AGREE WITH THE BIBLE?

Does what you are hearing agree with the Bible? Is what you are hearing in alignment with what God has already said in His written word?

God does not contradict Himself.

> Luke 21:33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

God’s word is eternal. Truth never changes. Opinions change. Scientific discoveries change, but truth does not.

In Romans we are told to pay our taxes. Now, if you are considering skirting your taxes, is that the Lord speaking to you? No. I pay no more than I have to, and I will look for every legal way to pay as little as possible, but I’m going to pay my taxes.

In the book of Proverbs, there is a lot of instruction about how we are to treat one another in business. So, an idea comes to me about how I can skirt a little bit at work, or how I can cut a corner that will save me some money and increase my profits. Is that from God? No, because we are supposed to be honest in our dealings. We are supposed to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Sex outside of marriage. No. You might want to. You may have opportunity to, but God says No. God never said sex was ugly or nasty. It is just man who has done that. God designed it. But, He said it is to be reserved between a man and a woman in marriage. He’s not going to contradict Himself or His Word.

So, the first test of a voice or spirit, “Does it agree with the Bible?”