KNOWING THE VOICE OF GOD
KEY VERSE: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27)
A. INTRODUCTION
One of the greatest benefits of our salvation is the privilege of hearing God speak to us personally. God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to take our place and to die for us. He did this so that we could once again have fellowship with Him.
In the book of Hebrews we see that we can have access to God's very presence, "...having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way..." (Hebrews 10:19-20a).
God wants to fellowship and communicate with us. That's two-way communication because you can't really have a relationship unless there is true dialogue.
How do we get to know a person? By communicating with them. By talking and listening. It’s the same with our relationship with God. He talks, we listen. We talk, He listens. (read Jeremiah 33:3)
He also wants us to be fulfilled, blessed, and successful in the plan that He has established for our lives, so that we can be a reflection of His love and blessing in the Earth. Believers are the light of the world.
In Jeremiah 29:11 the Lord makes His intentions clear for you and I, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."
We see in Genesis 3:8a, "...they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day..." This is how God wants to relate to us today as well. It is God's desire to walk with and to communicate with His children. He wants to talk to us. And He wants us to listen and talk to Him, too. But, as easy as it is for us to speak to Him, the average Christian has a hard time hearing His voice. This is not the way the Lord intended it to be.
As a child of God we don't have to walk blind. We can have confidence that we will hear His voice.
The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:14, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." This scripture implies that if we are God's children, if we are born-again, we will be led by His Spirit.
We have further assurance of this promise in Psalm 37:23 and 24, "The steps of a good (righteous, born-again) person are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand."
B. GOD THAT COMUNICATES
1. The title of this teaching, "Knowing The Voice Of God," implies several things:
• First: That there is a God.
• Second: That He communicates with man.
• Third: That man can recognize His voice when He speaks.
• Fourth: That God has something to say.
Jesus tells us in John 10:27, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."
2. Let us examine each of these statements:
First: This teaching is based upon the truth that there is a God who is revealed to man through the written record of His Word, the Holy Bible.
Second: The Bible is the inspired written record of God's communication to man.
It details the ways which God spoke to man and the response of individuals and nations to the voice of God. The Bible often repeats the phrase “. . . and the Lord said" and incidents where He spoke to man. This confirms that God communicates with men and women.
God is a communicator, He says:
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and I will sup with him and he with me” Revelation 3:20
• God communicates His mind concerning life issues.
• He communicates His will to you so you know what He wants you to do.
• He communicates His purpose to you so you know when certain things happens and why He is doing certain things too.
• He communicates divine instruction to you so you know the way to go.
• He communicates His agenda for your life to you so that you do not live a useless life.
Any life lived outside the divine agenda is a waste. You may be rich or popular, it is still a wast. As far as that life is lived outside divine agenda it is as good as dead. God communicates a divine warning to us.
• He communicates His correction to us so that we can learn from our mistakes.
• He communicates understanding to us so that we can know the hope of our calling.
Third: The Bible verifies that believers can know the voice of God.
Jesus said: I am the good shepherd and know my sheep , and am known of mine. . .
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. . . (John 10:14,16,27)
Fourth: God has something important to say to mankind.
We are warned:
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith), Today if ye will hear His voice,
Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness. . .
While it is said, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. . . (Hebrews 3:7,15)
The "temptation in the wilderness" and the "provocation" (provoking) of God mentioned in these verses refer to the disobedience of the nation of Israel.
After Israel was delivered from Egyptian captivity, they repeatedly disobeyed when God spoke to them. In these verses God warns us to respond when He speaks and not disobey as Israel did.
The phrase "today, if ye will hear His voice," confirms that God still speaks to men in present times just as He did in times past. The warning to listen confirms that what He has to say is important.
The day you begin to hear from God that is the day your progress as a Christian begins. You will not get far if you are deaf and dumb to heaven.
C. THE DANGER OF NOT HEARING GOD
1. There is a great danger in either disobeying or not hearing the voice of the Lord.
• When you don’t hear the voice of the Lord, you will not understand what is going on in your life.
• When you don’t hear from God ,You will also be ignorant of what the Lord is saying.
• When you don’t hear the voice of the Lord, you will lack wisdom. You will just be talking from your brain and the capacity of the human brain is so severely limited.
• When you don’t hear the voice of the Lord, you will take the wrong decisions. Most of your decisions will be based on emotions, the brain, or what you can see without knowing what is going to happen later.
• When you don’t hear from the Lord, you will work in error.
• When you don’t hear from God, you will walk in disobedience, live a rebellious life and become inconsistent spiritually.
• When you don’t hear from God ,You will become a shallow Christian, others will be growing but you will remain stagnated.
• When you don’t hear from the Lord you will be controlled by your own flesh. It is your flesh that will be giving you directives. When it says drink alcohol you drink. When it says smoke or commit fornication, you will obey because you do not hear from the Lord.
• When you don’t hear from the Lord, a spiritual sickness called spiritual blindness, followed by spiritual deafness will plague you.
• When you don’t hear from God ,You will be grieving the Holy Spirit without knowing, and in the things of heaven, ignorance is not an excuse. Whether you know or do not know, if you drink poison, it will affect you. Your ignorance will not remove the strength of the poison.
• When you don’t hear from God you suffer avoidable pains.
• When you don’t hear from the God you will live a confused life.
• When you don’t hear from God you will live a life of prolonged infancy.
In everyday situations of life, most people, including believers are constantly making choices which determine whether or not they will do the perfect will of God. It is therefore very important to know God's voice, understand His will, and make right decisions each day. this is important because each minor decision affects the finding of God's will for a lifetime.
2. The Lord constantly speaks to us and gives us His direction. It’s never the Lord who is not speaking, but it’s us who are not hearing.
Radio and television stations transmit twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week; but we only hear them when we turn the receiver on and tune it in. Failure to hear the signal doesn’t mean the station isn’t transmitting. Likewise, God is constantly transmitting His voice to His sheep, but few are turned on and tuned in. Most Christians are busy pleading with God in prayer to transmit when the problem is with their receivers. Learning to clearly distinguish God’s voice is therefore very essential.
It is when men and women do not hear from God that they go about looking for prophets to ask ‘what has God said?’, what do you see?...then they fall victims of false prophets.
It is better, safer and more glorious for you to learn the principles of hearing from God and begin to hear from Him than to hand over your destiny to the third party who knows nothing about your destiny.
The day you learn the principle, power, and mystery of conversing with God, your life takes a new turn for the better.
3. If you read your bible very well, you will come across many men and women of God who head and heeded God’s voice.
• Noah heard God’s voice.
• Abraham heard God’s voice.
• Moses heard God’s voice.
• Isaiah heard God’s voice.
• Jeremiah heard God’s voice.
• Ezekiel heard God’s voice.
• Daniel heard God’s voice.
• Elijah heard God’s voice.
• John the Baptist heard God’s voice.
All these prophets in the Bible heard the voice of the Lord.
It is in this generation that people do not hear God anymore because they are not serious enough to hear Him
Do everything in your power to hear from God because the closer you move to God, the closer He also comes to you. The farther you move away from Him, the much farther He goes away from you.
James 4;8 says, “Draw nigh to God, He will draw nigh to you. Cleans your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
D. MANY VOICES
The Bible reveals that there are many voices in the world clamouring for attention. Now that we know we can hear God's voice, we need to be alerted to the fact that there are other voices whispering into our ears as well.
There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. (I Corinthians 14:10)
In fact, there are three other voices that we can hear -- the voice of man, the voice of our own fleshly desires(self), and the voice of the Devil. But Jesus tells us in John 10:4b and 5, "...and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."
The writer of Hebrews tells us that we can train our ear to recognize the voice of God above all the noise.
"But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:14). It is by practicing, by reason of use, that we are able to discern whether what we hear is of God, our flesh, or the Devil.
Isaiah 30:21 says, "Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left."
So God will speak, and you can hear His voice, but you must be careful -- especially when you are a young Christian -- that you objectively confirm that you are following the Holy Spirit and not another voice. Our own flesh can scream pretty loud (especially when we are under pressure, or we want something very badly). And the Devil is the father of lies -- he is the great deceiver. What are these voices in the world?
1. the voice of man:
The voice of man is easy to recognize. It is the audible voice of another human being:
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29)
• Sometimes the voice of man may give wise advice,
• but anytime the voice of man conflicts with the voice of God, you must obey God.
2. the voice of satan:
• The voice of Satan was first heard by man when he spoke to Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1,4,5).
• Satan's voice lies, deceives, and always attempts to lead man into sin away from God.
• You can easily recognize this when you read about the temptation of Jesus by Satan in Matthew 4:1-13.
• You can study examples of conversations Satan has with God in Job 1:7-12 and 2:1-6.
Evil spirits (demons of Satan) also have voices:
For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them. . . (Acts 8:7)
And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,
Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. (Luke 4:33-34)
• Sometimes the voice of Satan is actually audible when demons use the vocal cords of a possessed man or woman.
• Most often, however, Satan speaks in an inaudible voice. He speaks lies, deceit, and sinful thoughts into your mind.
3. the voice of self:
• The voice of self is man talking to himself.
• You can read examples of this in Luke 16:3 and 18:4 and in Jonah 4:8 where the prophet wished in himself to die.
The Bible warns concerning the voice of self:
O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. (Jeremiah 10:23)
4. the voice of God:
Jesus said believers could know God’s voice and distinguish it from other voices:
To Him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear His voice; and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him; for they know His voice.
And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from Him; for they know not the voice of strangers. (John 10:3-5)
• Believers are compared to sheep.
• It is the characteristic of sheep not to know where they are going.
• They must be led.
• Jesus said He was the shepherd or leader of the sheep.
• He said His sheep would know His voice and follow Him instead of the voices of man, self, or Satan.
E. HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD
When you open your Bible to the book of Genesis and read chapters l-3, you will discover that These chapters record the creation of the world and of the first human beings, Adam and Eve.
1. From the time of creation, God communicated His will to mankind. He gave specific instructions to Adam and Eve.
• They were to name the animals,
• tend the Garden,
• have companionship with each other,
• and reproduce to populate the earth.
Most important of all, they were to maintain intimate fellowship with God. This intimate fellowship with God enabled them to know God's voice. When God spoke, He communicated His plan to them:
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.(Genesis 2:16-17)
2. By the voice of God the will of God was revealed to Adam and Eve.
• They could freely eat of every tree in the garden, with the exception of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
• Adam and Eve did not follow God's plan.
• They listened to the voice of Satan and ate of the forbidden tree.
3. When they realized what they had done, they hid themselves from God:
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? (Genesis 3:8-9)
It is sin which separates man from God. God did not remove His presence from man. Because of sin, man hid himself from the presence of God. Sin results in a hardened heart. The Bible warns:
While it is said, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. . . (Hebrews 3:15)
God wants to communicate to man, but communication requires relationship. Sin separates man from intimate relationship to God, hardens his heart, and hinders him from knowing the voice of God.
F. THE VOICE AND THE WILL
1. Believers often ask, "What is God will for me?"
• Question. What do we actually mean when we say we want to know the will of God?
• It means we want to know His general plan for our lives.
• We want His guidance in specific decisions so we can make wise choices.
• We desire His direction in the circumstances of life.
• The question we should be asking is, "How can I know the voice of God?"
• Knowing God’s voice results in finding the will of God.
2. God wants you to know His will:
Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:17)
If you know His voice then you will understand His will as He speaks it to you. Learning to receive divine guidance is learning to walk in intimate fellowship with God. The Bible says:
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)
• The word "proceedeth" speaks of a continuing function.
• It means something that happened in the past, is happening in the present, and will continue in the future.
• God speaks to communicate His will to mankind.
• This is why it is important to know the voice of God.
G. WHEN GOD SPEAKS
1. There are two Greek words translated as "word" in the Bible.
• The Greek words are "logos" and "rhema."
• "Logos" refers to the written Word of God.
• "Rhema" refers to the living or life-giving Word of God.
2. The following verse illustrates the relationship of the "logos" and "rhema" word. It was said of believers in the city of Berea:
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word (rhema) with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures (logos) daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11)
The "logos" or written Word always agrees with the "rhema" or spoken, life-giving Word.
This is how you can know the voice you hear is from the Lord.
A "rhema" Word from God usually applies to a specific situation, meets a personal need, and provides individual guidance. Because you recognize the Word as applying to a specific need or situation in your life, it becomes a life-giving Word to you.
A "rhema" Word may be communicated through a sermon or a verse from the Bible which suddenly strikes you with great meaning.
It may be spoken to you by God through the use of spiritual gifts.
It may also be spoken in your inner spirit by the Lord. (You will learn more about how God speaks through spiritual gifts and in your spirit in later chapters.)
But remember: The "rhema" Word will always agree with the written Word of God. The written Word of God is complete. Nothing is to be added to it or taken from it (Revelation 22:18-19). When God speaks through the "rhema" Word it will always be in harmony with His written Word.
H. TYPES OF LISTENERS
The Bible speaks of two main divisions of listeners:
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. . .
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.(Matthew 7:24,26)
• A foolish listener hears the voice of God, but does not act upon it.
• A wise listener hears and acts upon the message of God.
• One listener is a "hearer of the Word" only.
• The other is both a "hearer and a doer."
You must not only come to know the voice of God, you must learn to respond in obedience to that voice:
But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. (James 1:22-25)
I. THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER
Jesus also told a story about seed sown in several types of soil which illustrates various types of listeners. Read the story in Matthew 13:1-9. Jesus explains the story in Matthew 13:18-23. He compares the different soils to listeners and their response to the Word of God.
1. seed by the wayside:
Some seed fell by the wayside and was snatched up by birds before it could take root. This is an example of a man who hears the voice of God but the words do not take root in his heart. Satan snatches away God's Word.
2. seed in stony places:
Some seed fell in stony places and sprang up quickly. But when the heat of the sun came, the plant withered and died because it had no roots. This is the listener who hears God's Word and receives it with joy, but it does not really take root in his life. When circumstances get tough, he is offended and ceases to respond to God's voice.
3. seed among the thorns:
Some seed fell among thorns which choked out growth of the plants. This is an example of the voice of God being choked out by the cares of the world, materialism, etc.
4. seed on good ground:
Some seed fell on good ground and brought forth a rich harvest. This is an example of the listener who receives God's Word, listens to His voice, and roots himself in that revelation. This person will mature spiritually and become a reproducing, fruitful believer.
J. HOW CAN YOU KNOW GOD'S VOICE?
Do you want to be able to know God's voice? Do you want to know His will for your life? In the next lesson we will learn of requirements which prepare you to hear the voice of God and how to discover His will for your life.
Dr. Tg Badia
