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Are You Afraid To Hear God's Voice - Part 1 of 2

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• From Deuteronomy chapter 5, verses 22 through 33, which we just read, I want you to also find Exodus chapter 19 and chapter 20, and we'll just be turning back and forth momentarily. But the title of the message is again, "Are You Afraid to Hear God's Voice?" There are two basic presuppositions of Scripture.

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• Now, a supposition is something that you suppose, or that you believe, or that you assume. When you put the little prefix "pre" on it, a presupposition then is something that you assume or believe beforehand to be true. So it is something that you basically take for granted, or something that you say, "This has to be absolutely the way it is." Everyone has presuppositions. As a Christian, my presupposition concerning the Bible is that the Bible is the Word of God.

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• Now, if a man is an atheist, or an agnostic, or an unbeliever, he also has a presupposition. But he presupposes that the Bible is not the Word of God. The truth is, everyone has presuppositions, and everyone acts upon those presuppositions. There is that branch which is known as presuppositional theology. And certainly there are a number of presuppositions in Scripture. But there are two very basic presuppositions. The first one is, God is. I don't know if you've ever noticed this or not, but nowhere in the Bible does the Bible ever attempt to prove God, or to prove the existence of God. It is merely assumed. For instance, in Genesis 1:1, the Bible says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." There is no explanation; it is just, "God did it."

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• Then someone who does not believe in God, in fact, to hold the opposite is to be called a fool by God. For in Psalm 14 and verse 1, the Bible says, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good." This verse is also repeated in Psalm 53 and verse 1, where He said, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." So the very first basic presupposition of Scripture is that God is. The second basic presupposition of Scripture is that God has spoken. Obviously, God must speak or else we would know absolutely nothing about God. The very fact that God has revealed Himself and we know something about Him is proof positive that God indeed has spoken. So without the Scripture, basically, God would be the unknown God.

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• Now, He has spoken in different ways, which I am going to share with you the next time we meet together. But primarily, you and I understand that He has spoken to us through the Scriptures. It is amazing as you read through the Bible how many times the phrase "the voice of God" occurs. We read it several times in Deuteronomy 5: they heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire. So God is, and God has indeed spoken. Our text was found in Deuteronomy. Let me just explain the title of the book. "Deuteronomy"—"deuteros" actually means "second," "nomos" means "law." So, Deuteronomy actually refers to the second giving of the law. The very first time the law was given was found in Exodus chapter 20. I want you to turn back in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 19, right before we get to 20, and look, if you would please, what the Bible says in verses 12 and 13.

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• Here is an interesting thing. You have to remember now that God has descended upon Mount Sinai in smoke and fire. In fact, there were loud noises, there was thundering, there were trumpets blowing, and the people were actually terrified. So in Exodus chapter 19, verses 12 and 13, here is something that would add to their terror. He said in verse 12, "And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death. There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through."

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• "Whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount." So God now has said, here are the boundaries for this mountain. No one is to touch it, not even an animal. And if anyone or an animal touches it, he is to be instantly put to death.

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• Now you consider that warning along with the fact that God has descended in fire, and smoke, and thunder, and the trumpets are blasting, and all of a sudden now all of this is kind of sinking in on the people. So if you look back in Deuteronomy chapter 5, just at verses 23-28, try to put this together and try to picture it in your mind. Verse 23: "And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth."

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• "Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?" And then they say to Moses, "Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it." Now watch carefully: "And the LORD heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the LORD said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken." So the people then were basically terrified.

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• If you will go back to Exodus chapter 20 and look at verses 18 and 19 again, because here is the same truth. Exodus chapter 20, verse 18: "And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die." So here these people had heard the voice of God, and now they are afraid to hear God.

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• It's almost kind of like if you and I were in Italy with Mount Etna or Mount Vesuvius or some great volcano that is erupting and spewing out fire and lava, and there's thunder and the land is rolling and maybe earthquakes, and all of a sudden God speaks. I would imagine you and I would kind of be on shaky ground anyhow if we had heard the voice of God with something like that going on.

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• Now, in both of these passages we see the awesomeness of the situation and the circumstances. There are five truths I want to share with you before I ever get to the message I really want to bring. I want you to notice, if you would please, five truths that we are to learn from Deuteronomy chapter 5 and Exodus 19 and 20. The first one is this: I want you to see the awesome majesty and holiness of God. The awesome majesty and holiness of God. There could not have been any better way to convey the message of the greatness of God. Because God now comes down upon the mount and He is in control of every element. He is in control of the fire. He is in control of the noise. He is in control of the land. He is in control of absolutely everything.

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• So here is the display of God's power. And of course the people now are absolutely terrified, and they acknowledge that God is indeed the great God, and the awesome God, and the terrible God.

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• Now, I want you to look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 10—in fact, we will look at several passages—because God is called in the Bible the terrible God. And I want to explain that. Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 17: "For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward." Isn't that interesting? God is here called terrible. Now without turning there I will just quote it, but in Nehemiah chapter 1 and verse 5, Nehemiah is praying, and he prays, "I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments." In fact, several times in the book of Nehemiah, God calls God the terrible God. If you hold Deuteronomy and turn in your Bibles very quickly to Psalm 47, and look if you would please at verse 2. Psalm 47 and verse 2.

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• Notice what is said here. Psalm 47, verse 2: "For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth." The Lord most high is terrible; He is a great King over all the earth. And then look in Psalm 99 and verse 3. Psalm 99 and verse 3. Interestingly, we read about the terribleness of God again. For in Psalm 99 and verse 3, the Word of God says this: "Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy." Now, over and over in the Bible, God is called the terrible God. Whenever we hear the word "terrible" today, we understand it to mean something that is awful, something that is terrifying, something that is tragic. A terrible thing happened on the interstate. Or that was a terrifying creature that I saw. That's how we think of the word "terrible."

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• However, in each of these passages that I just read to you, the same exact Hebrew word is used, and the word is "yare'" and it literally means one who is to be revered, awed, reverence, respected, honored, and feared. So when the Bible calls God a terrible God, it means that He is an awesome God. He is to be honored, and revered, and respected, and feared. Along with God's majesty that is being revealed here is also God's holiness. When you begin to study the holiness of God, you are going to find that it is indeed a clear theme that resonates throughout the Bible. It doesn't matter which book you are reading; always the holiness and the majesty of God is being brought forth. Stephen Charnock, one of the old Puritans, said this—listen carefully—"Holiness is the very excellency of the divine nature. The great God is glorious in holiness" (Exodus 15:11). Therefore do we read, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity" (Habakkuk 1:13).

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• Now listen, as God's power is the opposite of the native weakness of the creature, as His wisdom is in complete contrast from the least defect of understanding or folly, so His holiness is the very antithesis of all moral blemish or defilement. Of old God appointed singers in Israel that they should praise for the beauty of holiness. Then he says this: "Power is God's arm. Omniscience is God's eye. Mercy is God's bowels. Eternity is God's duration. But holiness is God's beauty." God is holy. That's why the Bible says in Psalm 99:5, "Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy." And Psalm 99:9, "Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy." You remember that passage in Psalm 103:1, where David said, "Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name." And then of course in the book of Revelation chapter 15 and verse 4, the question is asked, "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?"

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• "For thou only art holy." In other words, God is the most supreme, holy being there is. He's not only majestic and powerful, He's infinitely holy. John Howe, a Puritan in 1670, said this, talking about God's holiness: "This perfection as none other is solemnly celebrated before the throne of heaven. The seraphim crying, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts.' God himself singles out this perfection. 'Once have I sworn by my holiness.' God swears by his holiness because that is a fuller expression of himself than anything else. Therefore we are exhorted, 'Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.'" Now listen to what he says about God's holiness.

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• "This may be said to be a transcendental attribute that, as it were, runs through the rest and casts luster upon them all. It is an attribute of attributes." Now when he says it is a transcendental attribute, what he means by this is: God's power is a holy power. God's wisdom is a holy wisdom. God's infinity is a holy infinity. Anything about God is holy. So the very first truth that we see from Deuteronomy chapter 5 is the awesome majesty and the holiness of God.

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• Now the second thing, and I'm not going to dwell on this long, is that we also see the sovereignty of God. So here's what God did. God came to Moses and said, "Look, you tell the people to be ready on the third day because on the third day I'm going to come down upon the mount. I'm going to come down in fire. I want you to put boundaries. Here are the boundaries. You mark it out."

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• "No one can pass this boundary line. No one. Not man, not beast. Whoever comes past this boundary line is to be instantly put to death." God sets the boundaries. He not only set the boundary physically at that particular time, but He also sets the boundaries morally, ethically, spiritually, economically, and in every other way as well, because God is sovereign. Stop and think about it like this: If God is sovereign, He has the right to tell us what to do. He has the right to do whatever He pleases because He is sovereign. And so He set the boundaries.

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• He said, "This is where the people can come, but no further." It is just that simple. And that is what He did to the ocean. He said, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed" (Job 38:11). And so God is sovereign. So here is the third truth. Not only do we see now the awesome majesty and holiness of God, and secondly the sovereignty of God, now we see that God is to be feared and obeyed. What did the people say to Moses? "You go and talk to God. Let God talk to you. And then you come and tell us."

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• And here is what they said—I am quoting now—"We will hear it and do it." We will hear it and do it. So, that brings me to this: God is to be feared and obeyed. No one really fears God unless they obey Him. When someone says, "I fear God," and they live a life that is disobedient and in rebellion, they do not fear God. If you fear God, you obey Him.

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• When God gave His law, please understand this: the law forbids sin in all of its modifications, in its most refined as well as its grossest manners, the intent of the mind as well as the pollutions of the body, the secret desire as well as the overt act. Now, when I say that when God forbids sin, He forbids it in all of its modifications, in its most refined form and in its grossest form.

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• Now, if you and I want to talk about something that is gross—and probably most of you have seen it. If you have not, I can tell you where to go so you can see it. But you talk about something gross, how about a drunk man that is lying in the gutter, wallowing in his own vomit and filth. If you've never seen it, I've seen it in New Orleans, Louisiana. I've also seen it in New York. And you and I, we look at that and we think, "Man, that's gross, that's filthy, that's vile, that's wicked," really. And it is. But do you realize that spiritual pride and pharisaical hypocrisy are just as gross in the sight of God? And God condemns those sins equally as He condemns those gross sins.

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• Let me put it like this, and here is a principle that we need to learn. When God forbids any act, at the same time He forbids everything that would lead up to that act. Stop and think about that. When God forbids any act, at the same time He forbids everything that would lead up to that act. So, when God said, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," He is not just simply forbidding the physical act. What He is also forbidding is the covetousness, and the desire, and the lustfulness that would lead up to that. When God says, "Thou shalt not steal," it means that you are not to covet this pen, you are not to desire that pen.

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• You might want it, and you could ask me if I would give it to you, or if you could buy it. But if I said, "No, it's not mine to give, and I can't sell it," then God would still forbid you from coveting it. So, when God forbids any act, at the same time He forbids everything that would lead up to that act. That's why the Bible tells us that the law is holy, just, and good. That's why the Bible says in Psalm 19 that "the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether." So, God is not only majestic and holy and sovereign, He is also to be feared and obeyed.

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• That brings me to the fourth truth, and that is this: In this passage we see the sinfulness, the unfitness, and the depravity of sinners that makes God unapproachable. In Exodus chapter 20 and verse 19, if you want to look back there, look carefully at what they say to Moses. In Exodus chapter 20 and verse 19—then we'll see it in Deuteronomy 5—Exodus 20 and verse 19: "And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die." Wow! Now if you look in Deuteronomy 5 and verse 25, again, they say the same thing. "Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die."

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• I wonder whatever gave them that idea. Probably if you look back to Deuteronomy 4 and verse 24, look if you would what the Scripture says: "For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." So they then taught that God is a consuming fire, and now they see this great fire on the mountain and God is speaking to them. And they see the awesomeness of God, the majesty of God, the holiness of God. They see the sovereignty of God. They know that God is to be feared and obeyed.

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• And now all of a sudden, they realize their sin and their wickedness. And they said, "We're afraid because we'll die." Let me tell you something: the same God in the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. Oh, I forget the bishop's name—he died in the wilderness wandering—but he said, "God, the God of the Old Testament is a dirty bully." That's what he said.

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• He's been dead 20 or 30 years now. But you know when Deuteronomy 4:24 tells us that our God is a consuming fire, do you realize in Hebrews 12:29 the Bible says, "For our God is a consuming fire"? So the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. There is only one God. Why then were these people so afraid that they were going to die? Here's the answer.

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• Because they knew that they were sinners, and they saw their own wickedness and sin. I have told people that if they really want to be saved, quote-unquote, or if they really want to find out what they're made of, they need to ask the Lord two requests. Number one, "Lord, show me Thyself"—the holiness of God, the righteousness of God, the greatness of God. The second one is, "Lord, show me myself."

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• And I'm going to tell you something. If you ever see the greatness of God, you will automatically see your own smallness and your own depravity. You remember that passage—and I've already quoted some of it—but in Isaiah chapter 6, it began in verse 1: "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple." You remember there he saw the seraphim, and he said they had six wings. "With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts." When you get to verse 5, when Isaiah sees the holiness and the glory and the greatness of God, he says this: "Woe is me! for I am undone."

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• "Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." If you ever see who God is, you cannot help but see what you are. And Isaiah understood that he was a man of unclean lips. Now, I said they understood that God was unapproachable. And that is certainly true. Apart from His grace and His mercy, He is unapproachable. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:16, "Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." Notice, if you would, the Bible says, "whom no man can approach unto." So God, apart from His grace and mercy, is unapproachable because He is holy and we're sinners.

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• You stop and think about this. In the Old Testament, the tabernacle was divided into the outer court, the holy place, and the most holy place. So was the temple. What do you think would have happened to someone who said, "Oh, I think I'll just run in the most holy place and see God"? No, it didn't work like that. The people could come into the court, but only the priests and Levites could go into the holy place, and only the high priest could go into the most holy place only once a year, and that without sacrifice. What was he saying? God cannot be approached except in the way that He has ordained. The same thing was true in the New Testament in the temple as well. And the same thing is still true in the New Testament. The only way God can be approached is the way that He has ordained. So here the people are saying, "Moses, you speak to Him. Because we are afraid we will be consumed if we hear God speak any more to us."

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• "You hear, and you tell us, and we'll hear you, and we'll do it." Now, that's going to bring me to the fifth truth. And the fifth truth that we see here is the absolute necessity of a mediator. The absolute necessity of a mediator between God and man. And the only mediator between God and man, according to Scripture, is the man Christ Jesus. So here is what the Bible is teaching us: that the chasm between a holy God and sinful men is so great, and so vast, that the only way that chasm can be bridged is through a mediator. Now, a mediator has to be someone who can represent both parties. Jesus Christ is the only one who can represent both parties. He's the only one that can be sympathetic with both parties, because Jesus Christ is the God-man. He is perfect God, and He is perfect man. As perfect God, He certainly represents the Father. And as perfect man, He obeyed God's law and represented us.

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• Now listen to what the Bible says in 1 Timothy 3:16: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." What did he say? "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh." That's why the Bible says in Galatians 4:4-5, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." God sent forth His Son. Why was Jesus Christ made under the law?

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• And the answer is, so that number one, He could work out a perfect righteousness for us. And number two, He could satisfy the holiness and the justice of God Almighty.

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• Now that's why the Bible says in 1 Timothy 2:5, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." So the only way that you can approach God is through the means that He has ordained. In the Old Testament, it was through those sacrifices that represented Jesus Christ. Now, the only way that anyone can come to God the Father is through Jesus Christ. That's why Christ said—and everyone can quote it—John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." No man.

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• Now, let me ask you a question. In light of Deuteronomy chapter 5, in light of Exodus 19 and 20, are you afraid to hear God's voice? Are you afraid to hear God's voice? God is, and God has spoken.

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• Now, Lord willing, the next time we meet I'm going to show you how God has spoken. I'm going to show you how to hear His voice. But basically, there are three responses to God's voice. The first one is: someone may refuse to hear the voice of God. In simple terms, you turn a deaf ear to His voice. You do not wish to hear Him. You do not desire to hear Him. You do not want to hear Him. You will not even place yourself in a position so that you might could hear Him. You would not avail yourself to anything because you just simply do not want to hear God speak.

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• That is like those people in Luke 19:14, when the nobleman went off to receive a kingdom, they sent word to the king and they said, "We will not have this man to reign over us." We don't care. We're just not going to do it. Pagans do not want to hear Him. The heathen do not want to hear Him. And here's the sad thing: sometimes even His own professing people do not want to hear Him. If you look in Deuteronomy 8:20, the Bible says, "As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God."

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• That is what He is saying to Israel. "I destroyed those nations. Now," He said, "you are going to be destroyed too because you will not hear My voice." If you would turn over to Jeremiah chapter 13—Jeremiah 13. I have a message on this passage that I preached a while back titled, "Good for Nothing Christians." Here God is talking about this girdle that He had told Jeremiah to get. In fact, Jeremiah actually buried the girdle by the river Euphrates.

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• And there was a story there in that. But look in Jeremiah 13:11, God says: "For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory."

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• "But they would not hear." God said they just would not listen. Do you remember in Acts chapter 7, Stephen was the first martyr? In Acts chapter 7, Stephen is giving his defense. And he is witnessing to all of these Jews, and when you get to verse 57, the Bible says, "Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord."

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• And of course then they took him out and stoned him to death. But notice they stopped their ears and ran upon him with a loud voice. It's like, "We are not listening. We are not listening," and they're trying to drown him out. I laugh a lot of times and I tell people, one of the joys that grandparents have is when their grandkids get grown, reminding them of what they used to do when they were little. My oldest granddaughter, when I start telling her—and she's 28 now—when I start telling her what she used to do, she puts her hand over her ears.

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• She says, "I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it." Well, that's the way we do God so many times. "I don't want to hear. I don't want to hear." So there are people who basically stop their ears. They refuse to listen to the voice of God. Many allow the world and their lusts and their sins to drown out the voice of God. They just do not want to hear. The second response that could be given to the voice of God is this: you may hear and rebel. Or you may hear and just, what I would say, refuse to obey. Well, the answer is, if you refuse to obey, if you disobey, that is rebellion.

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• Look in your Bibles to Matthew 21. It gives us a very excellent illustration to illustrate this point. Matthew 21, and let's begin reading there with verse 28 and we'll read through verse 32. Look what He tells these Jews. Matthew 21, verse 28, our Lord says: "But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard."

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• "He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."

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• Now our Lord says, here is a father that has two sons. He goes to that first son and says, "Son, go work in my vineyard." "I'm not going to do it." And he repented and went. The second one says, "I go, sir," and went not. I want to point something out. Disobedience and rebellion can be ugly. It can be nasty. But it can also be refined and decent and sweet and polite. But it's still rebellion. You follow that? The one said, "I go, sir," thinking to honor his father, but he went not. It was still rebellion.

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• And God is using this here, showing how Israel refused to obey. Let me just give you some quotes. Listen carefully. In Deuteronomy 9:23, Moses said, "Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice." You wouldn't listen. You wouldn't listen. So there are some that may hear, but they just disobey. In essence, it doesn't matter what God says, you're going to do your own thing. There's a third response that you can give to the voice of God, and that is: you may hear the voice of God and obey. Now, I will tell you, the easiest, the simplest, and the safest way is just to obey. I don't know about you, but I really prefer that way for myself. God has commanded us to obey.

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• He has a right to command us. In Deuteronomy 13:4, he said this: "Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him." Obey His voice. And Deuteronomy 13:18: "When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God." Thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God. Hearken. Obey. Deuteronomy 15:5: "Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day." And then finally Deuteronomy 27:10: "Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day." So we can hear and we can obey.

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• Now let me try to tie this together for you because I want you to see the point that I'm making. We already know that God is and we already know that God has spoken. And I showed you the five truths that we should glean from Deuteronomy 5 and Exodus 19 and 20. I've also showed you the three responses that could be given to the voice of God. Well, I want you to understand something.

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• That hearing and obeying are intimately connected, so intimately connected that you cannot really have one without the other. And let me say it another way. There is no salvation apart from hearing and obeying. The great salvation that Jesus Christ wrought came about because He heard the Father and He obeyed the Father. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles to John 15 and verse 15. Show you several passages. John 15. Notice if you would please verse 15.

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• He's speaking to His disciples and He says this: "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." So Jesus Christ did hear the Father. Look in John 17 and verse 8, in our Lord's high priestly prayer. He's praying for His own and He says this: "For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me." Notice He said, "I've given unto them the words which thou gavest me." I heard you, Father, and now my disciples have heard me, because I gave them your words.

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• Now, I can quote this. If you want to turn to it, that's fine. It's Hebrews chapter 5, verses 8 and 9. But let me quote it. Talking about Jesus Christ, listen carefully: "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." Did you hear that? He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him. I told you that the great salvation that Jesus Christ wrought was from hearing and obeying. He heard the Father. He obeyed the Father. Likewise, we must hear and we must obey. I want you to go back to John 5. Then we're going to go to John 10. Look in John 5, if you would, John 5 verse 25. Let's begin there. John 5 verse 25. Watch carefully. Jesus Christ said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live."

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• "For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man."

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• Now turn in your Bible to John chapter 10. You remember John chapter 10 is the chapter showing that Jesus Christ is the Great Shepherd. In fact, let's just begin reading with verse 1. Look what he says. John chapter 10, verse 1: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep." So Jesus Christ is the true shepherd. Now watch verse 3: "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."

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• So what is he telling us? That the sheep, number one, hear his voice. Number two, in verse 4, the sheep follow him. Skip down to verse 16, John 10, verse 16. Look at it. He said, "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." Now skip down to verse 27. Here it is. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." What is it the sheep do? They hear and obey.

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• What did our Lord do? He heard and obeyed. That's why I'm telling you there is no salvation apart from hearing and obedience.

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• Now, I want you to turn to one last passage. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Luke, chapter 10. And look at verse 16. Luke 10 and verse 16. Our Lord tells His disciples, "He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me." Wow.

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• Now this is very simple and very plain. So here's what our Lord is saying. If you will not hear the Scriptures as they are expounded, explained, and applied, you will not hear Him. If you do not hear Him, you will not hear the Father. If you despise His Word, you despise Him. And if you despise Jesus Christ, you despise the Father. So let me say it again. If you will not hear Christ, you will not be saved.

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• Because hearing and obedience are intimately connected. And you cannot really have one without the other. No one really hears the Word of God until he obeys the Word of God. So, are you afraid to hear the voice of God?

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• Now, I hope that brings a question in your mind. And that question is, how does God speak? How do I know whether or not I will hear the voice of God? And to get those answers, you're going to have to come back. Same time, same channel. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for your truth. We ask you to speak to our hearts, and may we hear thy voice and obey. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

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• you

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-04T20:12:07Z