There are a lot of voices in our world today that claim to be speaking for God. How do we discern if what we hear preached is actually a word from God? What does the voice of God sound like?
God speaks in many ways. Sometimes, He speaks in a spectacular way and at other times He speaks through ordinary experiences. In the Bible, God spoke audibly to people, but He also communicated through angels, a burning bush, dreams, visions, donkeys, prophets, preachers, as well as many other ways. The important thing was never how God spoke, but that He spoke.
For the next few weeks I would like to look into those who actually speak God's word and those who say they are speaking for God. Hopefully, through this, we can learn to separate what God is truly saying to us versus the voices in the world.
Does this sound familiar? An older woman received a disturbing phone call. The person said, "Grandma I'm so glad you answered. He identified himself as Mike, her oldest grandson. He said he had been in a car accident and the other driver was injured. The police had arrested him and taken him to jail. He needed her to send money so he could be released on bail.
This woman loved her grandson, but something didn't seem right. She told him that he didn't sound like her grandson. She had known Mike all his life. He had even lived at her house for a time when he moved to her city. The caller insisted that he was her grandson and surely she didn't want him to spend a night in jail. Yet the woman knew her grandson's voice and this was not it. She hung up.
This world is filled with false and deceptive voices and many of them even claim to speak for God. And with the immergence of AI, they can imitate most anyones’ voice. Please beware what you listen to. Much of it is a lie. But the Bible shows us quite clearly how we can distinguish between what is valid and what is not.
Today we're going to look at one way to discern if the word preached or taught is actually God's word. We ask the question, "Does it agree with the Bible?” Prayer
God wants to share His thoughts and intentions with you. It's amazing that Almighty God, who spoke an entire universe into existence, would choose to speak to His creatures. God's word brings life and sets people free.
Sadly, many people have never learned to recognize God's voice. In a world that is filled with a mass of voices, it's vitally important to be able to discern God's voice from every other voice. This is very important if you want to experience all that God intends for you. Again, we ask. "What does God's voice sound like?" Well, first of all, it sounds exactly like what He has already said in the Bible.
The first two chapters of Genesis present this breathtaking account of creation and the paradise where the first couple, Adam and Eve lived. But the first verse of chapter 3 presents us with the fact that there is a snake in paradise. To clear up one of the questions you may have about this serpent, Genesis doesn't identify the serpent as being inhabited by the devil. But the Scripture later identifies this serpent with Satan in:
Revelations 20:2 – “He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”
Genesis 3:1 – “Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Many Christians worry that they might not be able to discern the difference between Satan's voice and God's voice. But one way that you might be a little more sure of that is to remember that God and Satan speak in ways that are consistent with their nature. God never speaks in a manner that contradicts His word that He has his previously spoken. God never communicates in a way that misrepresents His character or His standards. Satan, on the other hand, does so continuously.
Jesus said that Satan is the father of lies and a master deceiver. He tempts Eve to sin and he does so with three of his tactics.
1. Satan questioned God's words. Did "God really say that?" Rather than challenging God's word outright, he began by raising doubt. Any time someone says something that causes you to doubt God's instructions, you can be certain it is not God who is speaking.
2. Satan misrepresented God's word. (On purpose.) He asked, "Did God really say, 'You can't eat from any tree in the garden?'" The wording was a huge misrepresentation of what God had actually said. God clearly told Adam and Eve that they were free to eat from any tree in the garden except one. God freely gave an entire paradise to Adam and Eve and told them to freely help themselves to as much as they want.
3. Then Satan maligned God's character. Imagine taking a small child into a candy store and then telling them they can't have any. It would be cruel to treat your children that way. That is, in effect, what Satan was saying. He implied that God was withholding everything that was good from Adam and Eve. That is one of Satan's favorite deceptions. I am sure that's why Peter wrote and told us:
1 Peter 5:8 – “Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.”
Distorting God's word is one of the ways that Satan works. But the Psalmist reminded us when speaking to God:
Psalm 119:160 – “The entirety of your word is truth, each of your righteous judgments endures forever.”
One of Satan's most dangerous weapons is his ability to distort the Bible. And believe me, there are many preachers who either don't fully understand OR purposefully do their best to distort the Bible just enough to make people believe something other than what God wants us to know.
God's word is good and it brings life. But Satan is a master at painting God's word in the most unattractive light possible. Instead of focusing on the freedom that God's commands bring, Satan will highlight what God's word forbids. God allowed Adam and Eve to eat from 99% of the trees in the garden. Yet Satan zeroed in on the 1% that was forbidden to them. Do you see how Satan works?
And don't think that this was only in the old days of the Bible. Satan continues to distort God's word in the same way today. For instance, God forbids adultery so couples can enjoy the maximum pleasure of marital love. Yet the world tries to paint God's standards as outdated, unrealistic, and cruelly restrictive. God focuses on the treasures He wants to give. Satan focuses on the one harmful thing God withholds. God's instructions are for our good but Satan takes every opportunity to deceive by misrepresenting and altering God's word. But Eve also distorted God's word a little bit.
Genesis 3:2-3 – “The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”
God did not say what Eve said that God said. She added some words. She added the words "or touch it." Eve either didn't remember or know the truth of God's word. Or when talking to this mocker of God, she was led to exaggerate the harshness of God's commands. Then again, maybe Adam and Eve had made their own rule. Maybe they agreed not to touch the tree as a safeguard to help in them maintaining a distance from what was prohibited. Even if that was the case, she was still wrong to add the "no touch" restriction as something that God had said. Her addition made God's prohibition sound especially severe.
But you know, that same thing happens today. Sometimes, people with the best intentions will add restrictions to the Christian life that God never commanded. I'll agree that following your own personal disciplines and convictions can be helpful in maintaining your walk with Christ and in growing closer to Him. But it's never right to make those guidelines equal to the Bible. And it's never right to demand others to follow those same guidelines as though they were part of God's words. And what happens is that people tend to produce religions that are far more oppressive than what God established. It gets back to "knowing God's word is vital to keeping God's word."
Genesis 3:4-6 – ““No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”
The longer Eve talked with the serpent, the more bold his challenges to God's instructions became. Notice that at first Satan merely questioned God's command but now he boldly challenged it as false. In the attempts to become wise, Adam and Eve did the most foolish thing imaginable. They ate the fruit. This is a good representation of sin and how we are tempted.
The fruit was so good to look at. Eve allowed her appetite to overrule God's instructions. The longer she gazed upon the forbidden fruit, the more attractive it appeared. Satan told them that once they ate of the fruit, they would be as wise as God. Eve was not alone in all of this. Adam was right there with her. The Apostle Paul wrote:
1 Timothy 2:14 – “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed.”
In other words, Adam knowingly disobeyed. But whether someone sins through ignorance, deception, or plain disobedience, it is still sin. But this is precisely how Satan tempts us to sin. Satan minimizes sin's consequences.
Today, the world is filled with challenges to God's word. Critics distort God's word to try and put it into the worst light possible. But underneath it all is Satan who is adamantly opposed to God's word.
Satan insinuated that God withholds good. God created Eve by fashioning her from the rib of man and He breathed life into her body. He placed her in paradise and said to enjoy it. Yet Satan tried to portray God as cruel because God had one rule in all of paradise.
Satan tempted with wisdom and the promise of becoming like God. Knowledge can become very seductive. It actually makes us proud. It can make people think that they no longer need God. But people tend to forget and miss the truth that:
Proverbs 1:7 – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.”
So one way you can discern if what you are hearing preached or taught is truly from God is to know that God will never lead you to do something that goes against what His word says.
Our goal over the next few weeks is to learn how to discern the voice of God. But another equally challenging concern is the question of will we choose to listen to and follow the voice of God? Adam and Eve knew what God said, and they knew the serpent was the one talking to them. There was no confusion about whose voice they were hearing.
Today, it is not so easy to discern the false teachings from what God has actually said. If nothing else, through this discerning, let's beware of what we hear and hold it up to the truth of God's word. Do not simply believe that everything you hear proclaimed is truly from God.
As you listen to your favorite TV evangelist, hold up what is said to the truth of God's word. If it matches, keep listening.
Many times it is unclear whose voice we're hearing while we struggle with the same question, "Whose voice am I going to listen to?" We can know for sure, though, that when we're unsure whose voice we're hearing, we know that God will never contradict Himself. God will never call us to do something that is contrary to what He has said in Scripture. And so, I close with what the psalmist wrote. Let this be our admonition as well. The psalmist says, talking to God:
Psalm 119:97-104 – “How I love your instruction! It is my meditation all day long.
98 Your command makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers because your decrees are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the elders because I obey your precepts.
101 I have kept my feet from every evil path to follow your word. 102 I have not turned from your judgments, for you yourself have instructed me. 103 How sweet your word is to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth. 104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every false way.”
There are many false things being proclaimed in the name of our Lord.
Let's know God's word and stay true to it. Remember the Bible is the voice of God in printed form.
