Why Don't We Hear God's Voice
Scripture Reference: John 12:27-33 & Hebrews 1:1-2
Preached at Mount Zion Baptist Church on August 19, 2018
Delivered by Rev. John Daniel Johnson
Illustration—a few days ago, a thunderstorm passed over our area. Lightning was popping around everywhere. The lights were flickering on and off inside the house. After every lightning strike, only a second or two away we heard the thunder literally shake our house. Tiffany and Charity were sitting on the couch with me hearing this storm as it was passing by. At one time, it felt as though the thunder lasted ten solid seconds. Needless to say, it was very loud. Tiffany looked at me with one of those looks and I knew that she was a little scared. I pulled her to me and said, “Don’t be scared. I’ll hold you.” Charity (in her smart little tone) looked at us and said, “I’m not scared. It’s just God talking.”
Immediately, I was reminded of a passage that Jesus quoted in Matthew 21. He quoted Psalm 8:2 which states, “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”
Morning Truth Statement—The voice that we choose to listen to will determine our success or failure in life. If you choose to listen to the negativity in this life, you’ll be a failure. You’ll never achieve anything if you choose to only listen to those who never encourage you. A few months ago, I had a friend call me. He is in his early 20’s and asking about dating advice. He’s never really dated and he wanted to ask me (of all people…someone who’s scared of girls too) how to approach of girl. I really didn’t know what to tell him, but I just said a simple prayer and said, “You’ll never strike-out if you don’t step up to the plate. You never know; you might even hit a homerun.” You could hear the excitement in his voice. He then stated that he instantly received boldness.
Ilustration—The story is told of an American Battle ship that was fighting a storm at sea. On the radar, an unknown vessel was spotted directly in front of the battleship. Here is the transcript of the communication between the two vessels.
Battleship: Unknown Vessel, turn your vessel 10 degrees west
Unknown Vessel: Negative, turn your vessel ten degrees
Battleship: Unknown vessel, this is the USS battleship Arizona, turn your vessel around, NOW.
Unknown Vessel: USS Arizona, we are a Lighthouse, your call.
Truth Repeated—The voice that we choose to listen to will determine our success or failure in life.
Throughout human history, our Creator, our Father God, has spoke to His creation. He has spoke to mankind through the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-4), direct & audible voices (Genesis 22, Acts 8:26-29), through another person (2 Samuel 12), through a donkey (Numbers 22:21-30), through visions (Acts 10:9-16, 16:9), through dreams (Daniel 4), through trials and circumstances (Acts 16:6-8), and through prayer (Luke 6:12).
It is interesting to see how God has spoken and speaks to his people. However, it is not as important of how God speaks, but the fact that God does speak. The Bible tells us that God never changes. “He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” God spoke in the past, he speaks today and he will speak tomorrow.
Sermon Title—the message for today is “Why We Don’t We Hear God’s Voice.” Oh yes, God is always trying to speak to His Creation, but why aren’t some hearing it?
Sadly we live in a world that many don’t have a real relationship with our Lord. Without a real relationship; one will not have a real conversation.
Illustration— Our Vice President (Mike Pence) was speaking to the media about conversing with Jesus about decisions he makes for our Country. He was criticized for his faith on live TV by one of the cast members of ‘The View.” Joy Behar said, “It’s one thing to talk to Jesus. It’s another thing when Jesus talks to you… that’s called mental illness.”
This morning I boldly declare to you that if you are a true child of God, He will speak to His children. If you’re not having a conversation with Him, you first might need to check whether you have really joined His family.
Read Hebrews 1:1-2
“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;” (Hebrews 1:1-2)
The unbelieving Israelites who ignored God’s voice at Mount Sinai were not allowed to enter the earthly Promised Land. Because of their unbelief in the words of our Lord, a whole unfaithful generation had to pass away before Israel was allowed to enter into the land in which God had promised. My friends, there are those today who still choose to ignore the voice of the Savior. If God prevented a whole generation to not enter an early promised land because of unbelief, what makes one think that He will not keep out unbelievers out of the heavenly Promised Land when they fail to heed His voice?
Read John 12:27-33
Look carefully at this passage. Jesus is foretelling how He must die for our sins. He is a mixed group of people. The crowd includes His disciples, Greek people, and faithful and unfaithful Hebrews. They Jesus says a prayer to the LORD God. As Christ finishes the prayer, a noise is heard by all who were present that came from the heavens. God speaks from heaven in an audible voice. Some heard thunder. Others heard angels. However, Jesus heard God. How was it possible that God spoke, but people heard three different things?
I’ve been in worship services where the Spirit of God was moving. People were at the altar. Lives were being saved. People were crying. The Presence of God was so thick in the crowd that you couldn’t slice it with a knife. Then immediately after the service I would overhear some people at the backdoor complaining. See they may have been in the service, they may have heard the noise, but they did not hear the LORD. From this verse in John 12, we see that it is entirely possible for some people to hear the LORD, and others hear something entirely different.
Issues That Keep Us From Hearing God’s Voice
The Issue of Distraction
I find it so fascinating that Jesus never referred to a day timer or calendar. Even in his busy schedule he found the time to get alone with the father and seek his face. We let the distractions of life keep us from hearing his voice.
The Issue of Displeasure
When God talks we need to listen. But you know what, we might not be comfortable with what he has to say. God cares enough about us that he doesn’t want to leave us in sin. So in his love and mercy he speaks to us about sin in our lives. If we like sin, we won’t like what God has to say. So we ignore. The more we ignore, the more our hearts get hardened. Hebrews 4:7b is a good word for us: “Today, if you hear his voice do nor harden your hearts.
We not only don’t like it when he speaks to us about our sin but we don’t like some of the assignments he gives us. I immediately think of Jonah. In chapter one God gives Jonah a word of instruction. “The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Ninevah and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish.”
The Issue of Delusion
We really don’t care what God has to say. We are safe, we are healthy and that’s all we want. We think somehow God is going to spoil our fun. This is not how God intended it. I want to know what God has to say about me. Some of the saddest statements I’ve ever heard after a service were, “I wished so-and-so could have been here today. They needed to hear that word.” When God is giving me the word to preach, He’s not giving it to me for those He knows aren’t going to be here. He’s giving the message for those that are here.
Benefits of Obeying God’s Voice
1. Obeying God's voice positions you for the miraculous.
2. Obeying God's voice creates a boldness inside of you.
3. Obeying God's voice helps focus on faith, not on sight.
4. Obeying God's voice proves you are His and He is yours.
