WEBVTT 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:07.440 Hello everyone. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.960 This is Pastor Benjamin. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:12.000 You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, Orlando. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.439 At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:20.079 For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com. 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:23.920 Let's pray the prayer of illumination. 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:38.240 Guide us, O God, by your word and spirit, that in your light we may see light, in your truth, find freedom, and in your will discover your peace. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:40.880 Through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:41.840 Amen. 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:47.520 This morning our scripture reading again comes from the book of Deuteronomy, the 18th chapter. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:55.840 When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:14.560 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or charmer, or a medium, or a necromancer, or one who inquires of the dead. 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:19.200 For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:24.879 And because of these abominations, the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:27.760 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:34.560 For these nations which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune tellers and to diviners. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:40.319 But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:47.040 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:02:02.079 It is to him you shall listen, just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of this assembly, when you said, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire anymore, lest I die. 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:06.480 And the Lord said to me, They're right in what they've spoken. 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:19.039 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:27.520 And whoever will not listen to my words, that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:39.759 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:45.680 And if you say in your heart, How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken? 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:54.719 When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:03:00.080 The prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:02.159 This is God's word. 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:03.680 Thanks be to God. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:04.800 You may be seated. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:09.120 Well, good morning. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:13.680 I want you to think about a voice. 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:21.120 Not necessarily the voice that you're hearing right now, not my voice, but a voice maybe that you haven't heard in years. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:28.479 Maybe it's the voice of uh your father who said, I am so proud of you. 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:35.120 Maybe it's your mother's voice and her soft singing voice singing you to sleep. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:37.439 Jesus loves you, this I know. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:43.759 Maybe it's a coach, a teacher who pushed you to do more than you thought you could ever do. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:50.080 Maybe it's the voice of an old friend who said, You don't have to carry this alone. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:58.479 The reality is that voices in our lives, they may not be in the room anymore, but somehow you can still hear them. 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:01.919 And what are those voices saying to you? 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:09.840 Voices can leave us both with beauty, as I just described, but also voices can leave us with brokenness. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:17.120 Voices can win us to love, or voices can wound us to ruin. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:23.040 Or said another way, voices they build us up or they tear us down. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:25.759 You could have done better. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:28.160 You aren't enough. 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:34.399 You are what happened to you, you are what they think of you. 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:45.120 There's a psychologist, his name is Michael Nichols, and he says the past is alive in our memory, and it runs our lives more than we could ever know. 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:54.959 In other words, sometimes voices that get inside of us, and long after the speaker stops speaking them, we are still listening. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:59.120 So the question this morning is who has your ear? 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:05.519 Not do you hear voices, of course you do, but what do they say? 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:14.399 Which voices tell you what you should fear, which voices tell you who you are, which voices capture your heart? 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:16.000 Because here's the reality. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:18.399 Voices, they form us. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:22.639 What gets your ear eventually will get your heart. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:26.879 And we tend to reach for the other voices for three reasons. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:34.720 Either we are anxious about the future, or we're insecure about the present, or we are wounded by our past. 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:42.720 And Deuteronomy 18 is exactly what we need to hear today, because God warns against finding those voices outside of him. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:50.480 This passage actually uses language of speaking, words, and hearing 20 times in the 14 verses that Mike read. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:59.360 The abominable practices, they look really strange to us, but beneath those practices is a very familiar human desire. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:02.720 Tell me what is coming ahead. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:04.879 Tell me that I am safe. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:06.800 Tell me that I am enough. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:17.199 And Moses gives Israel, Moses is giving us, God is giving us a choice between two voices, the voice of the world and the voice of the Lord. 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:21.120 Remember, what gets your ear will eventually get your heart. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:27.120 And we're going to explore those two points, the voice of the world and the voice of the Lord this morning. 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:33.920 If you have a Bible or device or bulletin, look down with me starting in verse 9 of chapter 18 of Deuteronomy. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:43.600 When you come into the land that the Lord your God has given you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:47.120 Now notice that little phrase, you shall not learn to follow. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:53.120 The idea here is it's a process of formation to be taught, to become familiar with a way. 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:59.199 And Moses is writing to a people who are entering a new land, and he knows something about those people. 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:04.879 He knows that they are going to be in a new land and they're going to be hearing new voices. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:12.879 You don't just wake up one morning, though, and decide that you're going to maybe change all of your gods and you're going to follow the voices of the false gods. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:18.079 You don't wake up one morning and decide, hey, I'm going to sacrifice my son or my daughter. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:22.480 You don't wake up one morning and just decide you're going to reject everything that God has said. 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:23.759 It happens slowly. 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:27.759 You listen, you learn, you do, and you become. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:29.279 That's formation. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:33.199 In fact, you could say learning to follow is discipleship. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:38.480 That's why we say oftentimes around here, and you say, follow me as I follow Jesus. 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:40.800 And Moses is giving us a warning. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:43.759 He says, You shall not learn. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:50.480 Because the culture around Israel as they're entering the new land, the culture around all of us is discipling us. 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:53.199 It's through their voices and through their practices. 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:55.839 Culture catechizes all of us. 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:57.920 Every culture has these voices. 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:03.759 Every culture has the voices that not are just out there, but they're also in here. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:08.399 Consumerism says, you are what you acquire. 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:13.199 Scientism says only what you can measure is real. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:18.959 Experts say if you can just know enough, you can finally be secure. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:26.160 Expressive individualism says the deepest voice that's inside of you is the truest voice of all. 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:35.919 And after we hear the story long enough, after we learn to follow it, we we after we listen and we learn it, we learn to follow it. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:40.720 What is the cultural voice that's around you teaching you to follow? 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:47.360 What has become so normal around you that you've stopped asking whether it's actually true or not? 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:50.639 Look down with me at verses 10 and 11. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:58.639 There you shall not be found, there shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering. 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:07.120 Anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens or sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer, and you guys get the idea here. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:13.200 Moses gives this long list and it kind of varies in different ways, but these practices, they all have something in common. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:19.519 They're ways of gaining guidance, revelation, or knowledge, particularly about the future. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:22.559 But they also have one other thing that's in common. 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:26.159 They all do it apart from the true voice of our God. 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:29.600 And that's what makes this passage so relevant to us today. 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:35.840 Because we probably aren't, we probably didn't wake up this morning and started reading the tea leaves in our cup of tea. 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:40.320 But we haven't stopped trying to master uncertainty about the future in our lives. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:42.960 We've just got a lot more sophisticated at it. 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:52.159 We have algorithms, AI, financial projections, and more information and more voices and more voices than any generation in history. 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:54.639 And none of those things are inherently evil. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:09:57.039 The problem isn't that voices are wrong. 00:09:57.039 --> 00:09:59.679 The problem is those voices aren't all right. 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:03.039 So what are we asking them to give us? 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:04.720 Maybe it's success. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:10.639 Maybe it's a security, maybe it's a voice of blessing that we didn't receive when we were a child. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:12.879 Look down with me at verse 10 again. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:16.480 Anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:18.320 Well, we don't do that, right? 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:21.840 I read that and I'm a little appalled. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:23.919 There are still some kids in the room. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:28.159 And I'm I'm I'm I'm wondering, does this raise a question for us? 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:31.120 How are we offering our kids as a sacrifice? 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:35.360 Our culture says your child must keep up. 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:40.639 And if you don't have children, think of it as yourself that you can't fall behind. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:45.679 Your children, they need to be on the right team, they need to have the right grades, they need to be in the right school. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:51.759 Or if it's for you, you need to have the right job, the right spouse, the right house, and the right car. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:56.240 Because if you get it all right, you guarantee their future and yours. 00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:00.960 But at the same time, I think you sacrifice their rest and yours. 00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:03.919 You sacrifice their joy and yours. 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:10.080 You sacrifice their time with siblings and friends, and you sacrifice your own friend, deep friendships. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:16.720 And you sacrifice their life in this church and yours because we are afraid that without success, they won't be okay. 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:19.840 Without success, I won't be okay. 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:22.879 Voices are those things that are forming us. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:26.000 I am what I achieve. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:30.960 That is the voice that is so crushing that you cannot bear the weight underneath it. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:33.120 Are we helping our children flourish? 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:37.120 Are we asking their achievements to make them feel secure? 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:41.279 The voices that our children hear are teaching them what to love. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:45.679 Because what gets in their ear will eventually get in their heart. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:54.080 But the Bible pushes this even deeper because beneath the thousand voices of culture, scripture shows us another voice. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:57.600 The first competing voice in the Bible shows up where? 00:11:57.600 --> 00:11:59.759 In Genesis chapter three, right? 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:08.639 In Genesis chapter one and two, God is working, God is creating all things through his voice, and he's walking with Adam and Eve in the cool of the garden. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:10.480 And then what happens to chapter three? 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:11.919 The serpent shows up. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:12.799 And what does he say? 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:15.519 He said, Did God actually say? 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:20.960 That's the question that that's underneath every false voice. 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:24.240 Is God's word really trustworthy? 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:27.919 Is God's definition of good really good for me? 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:31.279 Can I really trust God with my life? 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:38.159 And Satan, he's called the liar because his fundamental work is to contradict God's voice. 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:41.519 This is how Jesus puts it in John's Gospel, chapter 8. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:49.679 He says that Satan was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:57.759 And when he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of all lies. 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:03.440 The crafty one offers us a false interpretation of reality. 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:08.960 And the story turns when humanity begins to listen to the wrong voice. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:10.960 Eve listened. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:12.879 Adam listened. 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:17.039 And they learn a false interpretation of reality. 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:18.399 They act on it. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:24.320 And that voice, as they acted on it, as they learned to follow that, it has a destination. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:27.840 Voices actually have destinations to them. 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:30.879 Look down with me at verse 12 in our text. 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:35.840 For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:42.000 And because of these abominations, the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:43.600 The nations have listened. 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:45.039 The nations have learned. 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:47.679 The nations follow the voice of the evil one. 00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:50.000 And eventually their way leads to judgment. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.080 The nations were dispossessed and driven out of the land. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:56.320 And so was Adam and Eve in the garden. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:58.000 They are also driven out. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:02.240 So the question isn't merely, do the voices around me make me feel better? 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:06.000 The question is where is this voice leading me to go? 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:12.799 And sometimes I want to say that that voice, it sounds just like my voice or your voice. 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:15.759 There's this inner critic that goes along in our minds. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:23.759 Remember what I was saying earlier, that voices sometimes after people stop saying things, we still hear them in our hearts. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:31.120 And we keep saying to ourselves, instead of the person who may have said this originally, we say it to ourselves and say, I am what I achieve. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:33.200 I am still not enough. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:37.759 And the reality is that inner voice, it needs discernment too. 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:44.399 When what I tell myself actually disagrees with what God has said, which voice gets the final word? 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:47.200 Well, look at with me at verse 13. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:54.639 You shall not, I mean, you shall, rather, you shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:58.399 Now, blameless here is a call to wholehearted faithfulness. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:05.679 It carries a sense of being complete, whole, undivided, that your heart is fully devoted to the Lord. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:11.759 In other words, don't have the Lord for worship and then have another God for guidance. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:16.799 Or don't sing to God on Sunday and let the market tell you what you're worth on Monday. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:25.039 Don't confess that God is your Lord while letting fear govern your life, or letting the critic have the final word about who you are. 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:28.320 God wants our undivided hearts. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:31.120 He wants one that is blameless. 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:34.559 What gets in your ear gets in your heart. 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:37.600 So whose voice is forming you? 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:40.720 How are you doing at listening? 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:44.159 Are you undivided in hearing of the voice of God? 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:48.559 Maybe the answer is for us to withdraw from all these voices that are in the world, right? 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:50.399 All the voices that are around us. 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:52.799 No, but it's not about withdrawing, actually. 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:57.279 It's about knowing which voice is the Lord over all others. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:16:00.080 It's knowing whose voice can you trust. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:04.720 Notice the contrast here in verses 14 and 15 as we continue down the text. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:10.080 Verse 14, these nations, they listen to fortune tellers and diviners. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:16.879 And then verse 15 says, But God will raise up a prophet, and it is to him you shall listen. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:24.320 God doesn't leave his people guessing, he gives them a prophet, and he calls them to trust in that prophet. 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:29.120 And this leads me to my second point: the voice of the Lord. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:31.759 Let's continue reading verse 15. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:37.440 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet, like me from among you, from your brothers. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:40.720 It is to him you shall listen. 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:44.879 Now I want you to notice something before we even start talking about who that prophet is. 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:48.639 Look at all that God has done, just simply here in our text. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:51.039 Verse 9, the Lord is what? 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:52.320 Giving them the land. 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:55.120 Verse 12, the Lord is driving out the nations. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:58.639 Verse 14, the Lord has not given them over to practices. 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:01.600 Verse 15, the Lord will raise up the prophet. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:05.359 Verse 18, the Lord will put his words in the prophet's mouth. 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:06.960 God is acting. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:08.640 God is acting. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:11.440 Before Israel asks, What will happen? 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:14.079 God has already been at work. 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:19.759 Before we panic about tomorrow, God is already in tomorrow. 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:26.079 That is the Christian alternative to the abominable practices, to trust in the voice of our God for today and for tomorrow. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:26.880 Why? 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:31.359 Because He has done so many good things for us already. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:34.559 And this gives us a very practical spiritual discipline. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:35.839 We remember. 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:39.279 And that's the word we are teaching our fourth and fifth graders. 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:42.160 We zakar to remember God's faithfulness. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:51.359 So when anxiety starts about the future, starts shouting at you, what's the evidence of God's faithfulness in the past that you can lean on to? 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:59.440 Israel is constantly told, and we are constantly told, remember what has God has done to bring you out of Egypt. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:00.720 Remember the wilderness. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:02.559 Remember the provision of God's hand. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:04.880 Remember what the Lord has done. 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:09.680 Anxiety narrows our vision and stops up our ears. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:14.559 But remembering widens our vision again and it opens up our ears. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:22.720 You may not know what God is going to do, but you know something about who God is and what He's done. 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:30.640 And Providence says that our God, who was faithful yesterday, has not resigned from being our God for tomorrow. 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:33.440 But God doesn't merely just act. 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:36.400 We see here, this is a passage about the prophet. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:38.799 And we see in verse 15, God speaks. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:42.240 So this is the ways that I see God speaking in this text alone. 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:44.480 Verse 15, to him you shall listen. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:47.519 Verse 16 is a recounting of the incident at Horeb. 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:51.440 Verse 18, I will raise up for them a prophet and I'll put my words in his mouth. 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:58.559 Verse 19, the person who does not listen to those words is ultimately not listening to God Himself. 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:03.039 And that word to listen, it means more just sound entering your ear. 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:08.319 It carries with this movement of hearing, of listening, and obeying. 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:11.519 Biblical listening moves towards allegiance. 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:14.720 Biblical listening is an undivided heart. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:16.240 It's an undivided heart. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:20.720 It's a blameless heart before and toward God's voice. 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:23.519 But let me pause here for a second. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:27.200 Some of you are saying, Yes, we know that God speaks. 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:28.799 I have his scriptures. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:35.920 I have I have seen him work out in many different ways, but I feel like I can't hear him right now. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:45.279 Maybe you've been praying for your child who has a sickness or cancer and God still hasn't responded in their healing. 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:54.640 Maybe you've asked for a family member related to a disease as well, that a chronic addiction, and they still have not been healed from that. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:58.559 Maybe you're pleading with the Lord about the direction of your vocation. 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:00.400 Should you go this way or that way? 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:02.160 And he still has not answered. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:06.079 Maybe you're praying for a spouse, but are still unmarried. 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:14.960 And maybe you're waiting for children, and the Lord still has not given you that answer, and you're stuck in this waiting with the Lord. 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:19.200 Pete Gregg, he wrote this book, God on Mute. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:28.240 And now that title, it describes exactly how I have felt in the past that I'm waiting for the Lord to speak, and I know he's speaking, but I cannot hear him. 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:34.400 When I open my Bible, it doesn't really explain why things aren't working out the way that I want. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:38.240 Or it doesn't tell me when things are going to resolve itself. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:43.839 I want to say real clearly that this does not mean that you have failed to listen. 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:47.920 This is why remembering becomes so important. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:49.599 C.S. 00:20:49.599 --> 00:20:55.119 Lewis has this amazing story, uh the Chronicle Chronicles of Narnia, all a lot of great stories there. 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:58.160 But in the magician's nephew, there's a boy named Diggory. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:02.000 And this boy has a mother who is dying. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:17.599 And he meets Aslan, the guy who uh the the the king, the one who's created the world, he meets this this this person and he says, Wow, this person, Aslan, he's the one who can, he's the one who can heal my mom. 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:18.799 I'm gonna ask him. 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:19.680 And he's desperate. 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:22.400 So he asks Aslan, he's like, Will you heal my mom? 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:24.480 And he desperately hopes for it, yes. 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:26.720 He desperately says, Will he say yes? 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:29.119 But he's also terrified of the no. 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:34.319 And but what surprises him is that Aslan doesn't give him the answer, yes or no. 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:36.559 And some of you know that experience. 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:41.200 You would rather have a yes or a no, but not living in the waiting. 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:49.119 Again, in the story, if you know the story, Diggory comes back again and he asks Aslan again, he says, Will you heal my mother? 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:55.839 But this time, instead of just looking at his paws, Diggory turns his face and he looks up in his eyes. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:59.759 And what he sees is astonishing these great big teeth. 00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:02.799 Tears are rolling down the lion's eyes. 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:10.720 Tears so large that Digory wonders whether or not Aslan actually feels more for his mother's suffering and sickness than he does. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:18.640 And what Digory realizes is that not at that moment, Aslan didn't heal his mother, but what he realizes is that the lion cares. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:23.359 God cares for you all, even in the waiting. 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:32.480 And while we wait for an answer, we hold on to the word that he has already given. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:37.200 And we say with Thomas Akimpus, Oh Lord, you know what is best for me. 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:41.039 Give me what you will, how much you will, and when you will. 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:46.160 That's why we keep coming back to Scripture to remember that He cares. 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:50.799 Even when we cannot understand what He is doing, He cares. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:54.799 This is why Bible reading isn't just information transfer. 00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:59.200 Discipleship, learning to follow is fundamentally about training your ears. 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:01.839 Training your heart. 00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:04.960 The question simply isn't, did I read my Bible today? 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:11.839 The deeper question is whose voice gets first and final authority over interpretation of my life? 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:15.839 Because who has your ear will eventually get your heart. 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:20.319 This is why one of the common rhythms at New City is scripture before screens. 00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:26.160 There's so much wisdom in this practice to hear God's voice in scripture before all others. 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:32.720 And if you guys are struggling with reading your scripture, come find me at this service or come find one of the pastors. 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:34.640 We'd love to tell you about our practices. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:37.599 I don't do it all the same way every day. 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:42.319 There's a steady di of how you can hear God's voice in the word. 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:45.920 A lot of different apps that help with that too. 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:49.759 Now let's keep going as we talk about God's word and scripture. 00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:51.440 How do we know when we hear God's word? 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:54.160 Look down with me in verses 20 through 22. 00:23:54.160 --> 00:23:56.079 We'll start in verse 20. 00:23:56.079 --> 00:24:08.720 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:11.279 Well, there's two ways a prophet can speak falsely. 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:12.720 It's really clear here in verse 20. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:20.319 One, he can claim to speak the words of God when God didn't give him those words, or two, he can speak in the name of another God. 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:22.640 And God's judgment is pretty severe. 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:24.079 This person will die. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:28.640 And the point is, you cannot put your words on top of God's. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:31.200 Keep reading with me in verse 21. 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:36.160 And if you say in your heart, how may we know that the word that the Lord has spoken? 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:37.599 Such a good question. 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:39.119 How are we to know? 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:40.240 Well, keep reading. 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:42.559 That answer is right there in verse 22. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:50.880 When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come true to pass or come true, that is the word that the Lord has not spoken. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:52.960 The prophet has spoken presumptuously. 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:55.200 You need not be afraid of him. 00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:58.880 Verse 22 gives a clear test of how we know. 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:05.200 If what the prophet announces does not happen, the Lord has not spoken that word. 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:08.559 The prophet has claimed an authority he does not have. 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:11.599 And notice that last part of verse 22. 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:14.240 You need not be afraid. 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:24.880 So a false prophet, the false voices of culture, even the false voice of the inner critic inside, their claims on your life do not bind your conscience. 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:30.799 The brokenness and ruin that come in through our ears does not bind our conscience. 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:36.160 It's our allegiance, our undivided heart, our ears, as they belong to the Lord who loves you. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:38.160 That's what binds your conscience. 00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:40.720 But why does God speak through a prophet? 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:42.960 Why put his words in a human mouth? 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:44.880 Why does God need a prophet at all? 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:48.000 Well, to answer that, we go back to verse 16. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:50.640 Look down with me. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:26:03.359 Just as you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, or see this great fire anymore, lest I die. 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:05.920 Israel heard God's voice. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:12.720 They had seen this great fire, and they feared that hearing him again would mean their certain death. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:17.519 We cannot bear to hear from a holy God, because we will die. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:22.000 In verse 17, right after this, God moves in mercy. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:23.759 God moves in graciousness. 00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:29.519 He says, And the Lord said to me, They are right in what they have spoken. 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:30.880 They are right. 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:40.720 We need God's voice, but we are a sinful people, and we can't stand before his unveiled glory and his unveiled holiness. 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:43.519 So, God, what does he do in mercy and grace? 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:48.000 He gives us a mediator, someone who can bring his word to us. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:50.160 Look down in verse 18 again. 00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:59.440 I will raise up for him a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I'll put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:03.279 I will put my words in his mouth. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:11.759 God, our God, the true and living God, the one who is the creator of the universe, he is going to put his words in a human mouth. 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:15.119 God so graciously mediates his presence. 00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:19.200 He puts his word into the prophet's mouth. 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:27.119 And throughout the Old Testament, God keeps speaking through Moses, through Elijah, through Isaiah, through Jeremiah, and on. 00:27:27.119 --> 00:27:30.880 I didn't mention a lot of them, and on and on and on. 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:39.119 Prophet after prophet, word after word, until eventually the word became flesh. 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:51.599 John chapter 1, verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 00:27:51.599 --> 00:28:03.440 Acts chapter 3 actually quotes our passage for Deuteronomy and identifies Jesus as the prophet that would be raised up, the word that becomes the flesh, the one to whom we must listen. 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:08.880 And Jesus is even greater than all the prophets in the in throughout Scripture. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:11.839 We've heard this from our call to worship in Hebrews 1. 00:28:11.839 --> 00:28:25.599 Long ago and many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these days, these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:34.240 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. 00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:38.799 Prophets receive God's word, but Jesus is the word. 00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:46.079 Only this prophet, only Jesus, upholds the universe, that last part of Hebrews, by the word of his power. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:49.200 This is the great reversal in the garden. 00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:53.039 The fall of humanity begins with us listening to the wrong voices. 00:28:53.039 --> 00:29:00.000 The redemption is the gospel, listening, us listening to the gospel, announcing that the true word has entered the world. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.880 In Genesis chapter 3, the serpent says, Did God really say? 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:09.200 And Jesus says, in John's Gospel, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:11.599 No one comes to the Father except through me. 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:13.440 The serpent speaks death. 00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:15.839 Jesus, he speaks life. 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:20.000 The inner critic says to you, You have to prove yourself. 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:22.880 Jesus says, It is finished. 00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:26.480 The world's voice says, Your failure defines you. 00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:31.519 But the gospel says, There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:34.559 The world says, protect yourself at all costs. 00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:38.960 But Jesus says, lose your life for me, and you will find it. 00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:42.480 This is the recatechizing of the Christian heart. 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:51.279 We keep bringing the false voices of the world, of those around us, underneath the true voice, the Lord's voice. 00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:55.680 Now remember verse 9 and verse 13 that we already looked at. 00:29:55.680 --> 00:30:00.000 You shall not learn to follow, and you shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:06.960 Jesus is the only one who learned to follow the Father's will perfectly, to listen to his voice. 00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:16.480 When tempted by Satan in the wilderness with false voice, the liar, Jesus responds perfectly with the voice of the Lord. 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:24.000 And I think it's because he held fast to the voice of the Father, saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:26.799 Jesus is the only one with an undivided heart. 00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:36.240 His allegiance was to the Father, to do the Father's will, to listen to the Father's voice, and to follow that voice to the cross, even to the point of death. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:40.480 God doesn't want us to sacrifice our sons and daughters to Him for blessing. 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:47.200 But instead, God the Father sends Jesus the Son as a sacrifice for our blessing, for our redemption. 00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:49.599 The Lord has spoken through his son. 00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:51.920 The prophet becomes the Lamb. 00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:56.160 The word become the word that speaks life, gives his life. 00:30:56.160 --> 00:31:00.240 This is the voice of the one who is calling out to us. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:03.680 Beloved, who has your ear? 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:11.680 Let the word of God, which is Jesus' name in revelation, let him have your ear, because he wants your heart. 00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:13.279 Let us pray. 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:24.400 Father, we are grateful for your steadfast love for us in this, that you have given your Son, who speaks a greater word by his blood. 00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:33.759 And Jesus, you are the one who left your home to follow the Father's voice, even to the cross, so that we might be made whole by your word. 00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:42.240 Spirit, fill us with gladness and shouting joy, and help us to trust in the steadfast word of you. 00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:44.079 We give you the glory. 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:45.039 Amen.