Charles Stanley - To Whom Are You Listening?
This is the generation of earbuds, iPhones and all the things that are electronic. And if you'll think about it, oftentimes you sit down to eat with someone and what happens? They pull out this crazy iPhone and they're talking to somebody while you're sitting there eating with them, trying to have a conversation. Or, it's a sneaky deal, they put in the earbuds over here and they're talking to somebody else while they're looking at you straight in your face. And so what happens, I, personally, I think it's discourteous. Just my personal opinion. Anybody else agree?
Now, whether you agree or not, I still think it's discourteous because we're trying to carry on a conversation. And sometimes people are carrying on that other conversation when it may not be the kind of conversation they ought to be having, or with the person they ought to be having. And so, this is the kind of generation we're in. But here's the thing that bothers me most. We have our ears tuned to where our mind and our heart's tuned, and that's to the world. And so I have to ask the question, what's the first noise you hear in the morning? What's the first voice you hear? What's the first sound you hear? Do you wake up and turn on the radio, turn on the television, your favorite music? Or are you interested in listening to what God may have to say to you in that given day? You say, "Well, God's never spoken to me".
Well, wait till this message is over and let's see if that's true, because God is interested in speaking to every single one of His children. He's interested in speaking to those of you who are not followers of Jesus Christ so that you'll understand who Jesus is and the kind of life He's prepared for you. So I want us to turn, first of all, to the book of Hebrews, and I want us to look at two or three Scriptures here. And I want to talk about this whole idea of "who are you listening to"? And in Hebrews, the very first chapter and the first couple of verses, the Scripture reminds us the fact that God's been speaking. And he says in the first verse, "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, In these last days, He has spoken to us in His Son," that is through Jesus, "whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the world".
Now, I want you to go back, if you will, to John chapter fourteen, and I want you to look, if you will, in this twenty-sixth verse, because God not only spoke to the prophets in the Old Testament, all the way back to Adam, but he says in this twenty-sixth verse, Jesus, now getting His disciples ready for His departure to ascend to heaven. He says in verse twenty-six, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you". So what He's promised here is this, that not only to His disciples, but to all of us. After He was gone, the Holy Spirit, who would come and indwell every single believer, and He's living on the inside of you. He would give you guidance and direction and speak to your heart. So that when the Holy Spirit speaks to us, that's God speaking to us.
So I'd ask you this: how much time do you give in a given day to listen to God speak to you? And I want to tell you this morning: God speaks to His children morning, noon, and night. It's a matter of are we listening? Did we set aside any time to hear God speak? So let's think about this for a moment. What are the primary reasons people don't listen to God? Well, number one, they don't have a relationship with Him. Many people don't listen to Him because they've never been saved; therefore, they don't have a relationship with Hm. And therefore, because they don't, they can't hear God speak. But once you trusted Him as your Savior, you have a relationship. So He's speaking because he wants you to know the truth so you can walk in the truth because that's best for your life; because He loves you unconditionally.
A second thing is this: the messages of the world drowns God out. As we said in the very beginning, people get up in the morning. They turn on the music, the television, say, "I want to know what's going on in the world". What's going on in heaven? What's going on in your heart? What's going on in your mind? What's going on in the mind of God about you for that day? Do not let the world drown out the voice of Almighty God, who loves you perfectly and intensely. Then of course, to ignore the Word of God. If you ignore the Word of God, you're not going to listen to Him.
Here's what happens. When you ignore the reading and meditating on the Word of God, here's what happens. Watch this carefully. What happens when you ignore the Word of God, the world gets larger and larger and larger in your thinking and in your feelings. And after awhile, you don't pay any attention to what God says in His Word, because you've filled your mind and your heart and your spirit with whatever, whether we say is loud music or whatever you read or relationships or whatever the activities may be. You cannot live a godly life, and I will say this over and over again, you cannot live a godly life and ignore this Book. You cannot. God gave us this book as an instruction book. And if I'm going to listen to Him, I've got to be sensitive to what He's saying. And sometimes He speaks in the Old Testament; sometimes He speaks in the New Testament. God speaks to us primarily, watch this carefully, primarily through His Word. This book was not given to us as a souvenir. It's given to us to bring us to salvation and to show us how to live a godly life. And the last thing I would say is simply this: when people harbor sin in their life, they can't hear God. When you point out to them that this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, and they ignore it and harbor sin in their life, they can't hear God.
Sin, listen carefully, deafens the ears of a child of God. Sin deafens the ears of a child of God. So here's a Heavenly Father who desires to speak to you, guide you, lead you, all the things that all of us need, and yet, we've allowed the world to grab our attention, grab our heart and grab our way of life. It's tragic. Tragic when a person does not know how to listen to God. Somebody says, "Well, I don't know how". Well, we want you to learn how and I'm going to help you learn how if you don't know how. But we have to ask the question, first of all: why don't people listen to Him?
Now, the question comes now. How can you identify the voice of God? That's what people will often say. They'll say, "Well, how do I know whether it's God speaking or whether I'm just thinking this up"? Well, I can understand that. And if a person's not been a Christian very long, especially, how can I discern the difference between what I want, what my will is, what I desire, what I wish, and the voice of God? How can I know the difference? So, let me give you a few suggestions that'll help you think about that. And one of them is simply this: always, without question, God's voice will be consistent with the Word of God. God will never tell you to do anything that is inconsistent with the teaching of Scripture, because this is His Word. God doesn't speak in contradictions. He doesn't say one thing one time and something else the other.
So, one of the ways I can know whether I'm listening to God or not is does the voice of God match the Word of God on the printed page? Does the voice of God in your heart, in your ear, match the Word of God on the printed page? God gave us this Book as a guidebook. A second thing is this. And that is, oftentimes what God says will conflict with human nature. God may tell you to do something. "Oh, I couldn't do that. I don't have the ability. I don't have the skill. I don't have the education. I don't have the experience". God may require of you something that is in absolute conflict with the way you see yourself or the way you think you can handle or cannot handle something. Because He knows how He equipped you. Every single one of us has spiritual gifts. God knows them perfectly, so therefore, if He requires of you something that you think, "Well, I couldn't do that". Then what you're saying is God made a mistake. When God gives us a command, He doesn't make any mistakes.
The third thing is He'll challenge your faith. In other words, God is, listen, He is not going to allow you to remain on the same faith level. He's not going to do it. Because what that means is He's just not going to let you grow. If you insist on refusing to do what God calls you to do because you think you can't and because you just don't feel adequate, then what you're saying is you're challenging the mind of God about your faith. And so, when God is speaking, one of the ways you can tell He's speaking is He's going to challenge your faith. He won't challenge you to do something that's erroneous. He'll challenge us oftentimes to do things that we don't think we can do. And then after we do them, we thank God. And what happens? This is the will of God, that our faith grows and grows and grows and grows. And He expands our understanding and our faith and He lifts us to areas that we never would have dreamed of. That's the way God works.
So when God tells you to do something or gives you a sense of direction and you think, "Oh, that couldn't be God because He would never ask me to do that". I can think of a few times when I've just had to say, "God, to be honest, I'm scared". And that didn't upset God. What it did, it helped me to face up to the issue. It wasn't God who had the problem; I had the problem. And once I was willing to admit that, it's like my faith began to soar. Because I said, "God I'm afraid," I went straight to the Word of God and looked at other people who had been afraid. And when they obeyed God, what did they do? That's why you have to keep this Book in your life while you keep your ears attuned to Almighty God. Then you'll progress in your Christian life.
Sometimes God speaks quietly. I can think of times in my life when I prayed about something that was a big deal to me, a big issue in my life. And you think sometimes that God is going to have fireworks and all the rest to show you His will. No, oftentimes it's in the silent moments when everything else is just going along normal. And without even thinking about what you've been concerned about, God just gives you an answer and He speaks to your heart. He works in the most wondrous ways, all of them motivated by love, different ways because we are different at different times in our life. And then remember this: He always speaks specifically. He doesn't say, "Well, sorta. And why don't you think about that"? In other words, He's very specific. God's not going to say, "You all". He's going to say, "You," call your name if necessary, whatever is necessary. And I think about how many times I've said, "Lord, are You sure"? Well, He was sure; I had to get sure. God loves you enough to make it crystal clear what He's saying to you. He'll never come in with some foggy idea that you have to figure out.
So if I'm going to listen to Him, one thing I can be sure of. I have to learn to identify the voice of God. So why do I need to learn to listen to Him? Because of decisions I have to make in life. Every single one of us has to make decisions every day of our life. I need to know what is the will of the Father in order to make right decisions. You say, "Well, what decisions"? Every decision. You can't think of a single decision, at least I can't. I can't think of a single decision I want to leave God out of. Then sometime we just need strength. Now, all strength isn't this kind of strength... The most powerful strength is strength in the mind, in the heart. "Yes, I can. Yes, I will, Father. Thank You. Thank You for giving me the will and thank You for giving me the strength, the determination, the confidence and the assurance that I can do".
We all need strength at times. And what did Paul say? "I can do all things through," what? "Christ who strengthens me". We all need it. And no one can strengthen you like the Lord Jesus Christ. How do I know the will of the Father? By talking to Him and listening to Him. People say, "Well, I've prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and haven't heard a thing". You know why? Because you haven't been listening. You're doing all the talking. And when I think about people who say, "Well, I have a prayer time and I read the Bible and pray and then I go to work". Well, did you read the Bible and pray and take time to stop and see if God wanted to answer something? Listen, this is so simple, you just run right over it. He needs us to be quiet and to be still primarily, if He's going to talk to us, and to be heard by us. Then, I need Him to direct me in ways that protect me.
All of us need to hear the voice of God speaking to us to protect us. Protect us from wrong decisions; protect us from wrong relationships; protect us, for example, in things that we make, like the purchase of a home or a car or whatever. In choice of a mate, you need to know what's the mind of God? What is He saying to us? And so, we need to hear Him to protect us. No one can protect you like God can protect you. But if I'm not listening, and I'm just sort of making choices on my own, going to get in trouble. Now, which leads me to the last thing I want to say, and that is the consequences to failing to listen to God. First of all, there is the consequence, if I don't listen to Him, I allow the world to draw me away from Him.
And I think about a few people that, just on my mind, I've been praying for lately who are not listening to Him and I know they're not. And the world, or somebody or some thing, whatever it may be, is drawing them away from God. I can see it happening. I know it's happening. And when I talk to them, I know it's happening. And I want to say, "Is that what God has told you"? "Well, I think so". And when I say to them, "God would never tell you to do that". Their answer is, "Well, how do you know"? Well, so then I know, you know, we're just into a big argument, and so I just have to say, "Well, Lord, You're going to have to show them. And I hope it's not too late, that You show them what's going on in their life". There are consequences to ignoring the voice of God.
So we get drawn away. Secondly, we get easily deceived. Listen, when your friends buddy-up with you and they tell you how things ought to be and decisions you ought to make, and just sounds fantastic, and you're not listening to God, but listening to them, oftentimes you get in deep trouble. What is God saying? And you need to ask yourself the question: am I living the kind of life that I don't let my mind get clouded with anything that will affect the way I see and hear God speak to my heart. Very, very, very important. Besides the fact that it affects your children. In other words, they're going to do whatever you do, and usually children do more than we do. We make costly decisions when we're not listening to Him.
And I can think of a few decisions I've made that were not the right decisions. I was going on what was reasonable. You can't go by reason when you're dealing with God. And so there are consequences to not listening and doing it on our own. If we took a survey, any survey, any group of people, you're going to find people who'd say, "Yep! I made a decision on my own without asking God". Or people who say, "Well, you know, I was out one night with my friends and we were all just drinking and having a good time and I made a decision that has affected me all of my life". Listening to God is an awesome protection for us. Then, of course, we're going to make decisions that appeal to the flesh: what do I want, what do I feel, how does it look? We're going to make decisions that will cause us to miss God's best. Think about this: that God has the best for you and He wants you to have it.
You say, "Well, but this point in my life is that true"? Well, let me just tell you this: He gives you the best when you expect the best and you listen to Him and follow Him. Doesn't mean you're perfect. We all make mistakes. And God's an awesome God of forgiveness, but He knows our heart, He knows our mind. He knows the deepest desires of our heart is to walk in obedience to Him. We'll miss His will. And I think one of the most tragic things in life is for a person to miss the will of God for their life, making decisions very early that affect them for years to come. And sometimes I just want to get ahold of somebody and just shake them and just say, "Look, we're not talking about how it's going to affect you today. I'm talking about ten years from now, twenty years from now, thirty years from now. You're going to be affected by this the rest of your life, think"! You don't obey Him, you can wreck and ruin your life. And I think about how many fine, wonderful young people, they set their course with no thoughts of future consequences.
And there are some consequences that cannot be altered. And of course, there are eternal consequences. Now, watch this. When you reject Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you choose to refuse personally, deliberately, willfully Christ as your Savior. Well, that's one consequence, and the consequences of that is this. And that is you spend eternity separated from God. You're lost. And all the reasoning and the encouragement the world has to offer cannot make you saved. And how many people say, "Oh, but you've been so good. You've done so many good things. Lah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah". And I, one of the things that breaks a pastor's heart is for someone to pass away; you know that they were living in sin; you know they're not saved. And naturally, I understand this. It grieves me that the wife or the children or the parents will say about the kids, "But they were so sweet," or, "they were so good. He was such a fine man. He went to church. Lah-dah-dah-dah". That's not the issue. The issue is did they trust Christ as their Savior? It's an eternal consequence. But suppose you are saved and you choose not to live the will of God.
All these thing, other things we've talked about, are there other consequences when you stand before Almighty God and you stand before Him to give an account for your life, not your salvation, but your life, you lose your eternal rewards. You see, the devil wants you to think only about today: how do I feel today? What am I going to win or lose today? God wants you to think about the future. So when you and I leave this life, on the other side we will be rewarded or we'll lose our reward according to how we've lived. That's why it's so very important that you and I listen to God very carefully and walk obediently before Him every day. It's the best way, the only way, the way that will reap the greatest harvest in your life now and hereafter.
You may be listening and saying, "Well, I'm not a Christian. You mean I'm going to miss heaven"? You're going to miss it. "But I've been good. I go to church. I give. I try to do the right thing. Am I going to miss it"? You're going to miss it. The only way you won't miss it is to receive by faith Jesus Christ as your personal Savior based on nothing that you've done; nothing that you will do; but on the fact, the truth, the eternal truth that God sent Him to the cross; paid the price for your sins, your guilt, your shame, your dishonor with His blood. When He died on the cross and shed His blood, that paid your sin debt in full, but it only is applicable to you when you accept Him as your Savior, and you accept His death as payment for your sin. If you have any wisdom at all, that is the most important decision in your life. You need to stop listening to your friends. You need to stop looking around you and look to see what looks good, and ask yourself the question: what's the mind of God? What is God saying?
And I can tell you, if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, He's saying to you right now, "What this man is telling you is the truth. It is a truth by which you will be judged. It is a truth that will make it possible for you to go to heaven. It is a truth that also could make it possible that you'd be lost forever if you do not respond correctly". Now, if you question that, you just get you a Bible and start reading. I just told you the truth. He says if you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart in God's resurrection of His Son, placing your trust in Him, you will be saved, period. That's a choice. If you're wise, you will listen carefully and make a wise choice.
Father, how grateful we are that You've made it very clear and very simple in Your Word that our eternal destiny can be settled in one decision. And I pray that you will impress upon every hearer how very, very important it is that we listen to You and obey You. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.