WEBVTT 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:07.440 Hello everyone. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.880 This is Pastor Benjamin. 00:00:08.880 --> 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. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:23.120 God has a word for us this day. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:26.559 Let's pray and ask that He bless our hearing of it. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:30.399 Heavenly Father, your word is truth. 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:40.479 By your Spirit, give us ears to hear and hearts to believe your word with joy through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:41.439 Amen. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:45.840 Our scripture reading this day comes from Deuteronomy, the 18th chapter. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:54.079 When you come into the land your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:01:11.840 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 a charmer, or a medium, or a necromancer, or one who inquires of the dead. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:16.159 For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:21.680 And because of these abominations, the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:24.640 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:30.560 For these nations which you're about to dispossess, listen to fortune tellers and to diviners. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:35.120 But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:45.359 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren, it is to him you shall listen. 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:58.719 Just as you desired of the Lord your God at 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 any more, lest I die. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:03.120 And the Lord said to me, They're right in what they've spoken. 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:14.240 I'll 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. 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:21.120 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:33.280 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. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:39.840 And if you say in your heart, How may we know the word that the Lord hasn't spoken? 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:48.800 When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word doesn't come to pass or come true, that's a word that the Lord has not spoken. 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:51.919 The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:54.000 You need not be afraid of him. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:56.159 This is God's word. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:57.759 Thanks be to God. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:02:59.199 You may be seated. 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:03.039 Good morning. 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:05.919 All right, you guys are gonna have to wake up a little bit. 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:07.680 I need your help this morning, okay? 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:13.199 I'm gonna start a song lyric, and I want you to finish it. 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:19.360 So you you have to help me because I promise you, my wife will tell you, you don't want me singing alone up here. 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:19.919 Okay? 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:21.280 All right, you ready? 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:23.680 This one is a new city one here for sure. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:25.599 Sweet Caroline. 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:28.319 You guys are awesome. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:28.960 I love this. 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:29.520 This is good. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:30.800 All right, here's another one. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:33.199 Uh we will, we will. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:38.000 This is amazing. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:38.879 I am impressed. 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:42.319 I was gonna do let it go, but you really don't want me to even try that. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:44.080 So we're just gonna let it go. 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:49.280 Uh you know, we don't live in a world with too few voices. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:52.479 We live in a world with too many. 00:03:52.479 --> 00:04:01.120 Everywhere you turn, somebody is telling you what is true, what is good, what you should want, how you should live, right? 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:07.360 TikTok is talking, Instagram's talking, podcasts, advertisers, you just go on and on, politicians. 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:12.159 Some of the loudest voices that we hear are between our two ears. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:20.639 We hear things like, hey, follow your heart, be true to yourself, protect your peace, trust your gut, you know, believe in yourself. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:30.879 And I think it gets to our struggle that the voices we listen to eventually get down to our hearts and come out in our lives. 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:35.600 Underneath all those voices are some very basic questions. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:37.040 Who am I? 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:38.399 What is true? 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:39.600 What should I do? 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:40.879 What's gonna happen? 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:42.639 How can I be safe? 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:44.560 And so we we listen. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:52.879 We listen to our culture, we listen to experts, we listen to influencers, we listen to our fears and our desires. 00:04:52.879 --> 00:05:00.240 And sometimes we listen to almost anyone who would promise us to give us a little bit of certainty. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:07.199 Every age has its voices, every culture, every generation has its prophets. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:14.240 The ancient world had diviners, sorcerers, mediums, people claiming to have hidden knowledge. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:26.480 Our world has algorithms, influencers, celebrities, podcasts, self-help gurus, thousands of competing voices telling us how we should live. 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:30.800 Different voices, but the same human heart. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:36.639 And what makes counterfeit voices so dangerous is they don't always sound way off the wall, right? 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:46.879 Sometimes they sound very compassionate, sometimes they sound wise, sometimes they even sound liberating, sometimes they have a kernel of truth within them. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:50.879 And the question isn't simply, does this sound good? 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:55.839 The question is, has God spoken? 00:05:55.839 --> 00:06:04.959 Because ultimately, this passage this morning isn't just about occult practices, it's a passage about revelation. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:09.600 Where will God's people go to hear from God? 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:12.959 Whose voice will they trust? 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:18.560 And notice God's answer isn't, he doesn't merely simply say, hey, stop listening. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:24.639 God's answer to counterfeit voices is not silence, God's answer is revelation. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:30.800 Deuteronomy 18, if we boil it down to just one quick sentence, God speaks. 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:32.480 So hey, listen to him. 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:37.680 He promises to give his people a prophet who will speak his words. 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:41.120 So here's the question I want you to wrestle with maybe this morning. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:47.279 When you don't know what to do, when you're wondering, when you're trying to think of something, whose voice do you trust? 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:51.199 Because every voice is trying to disciple us. 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:55.759 Our passage gives us three clear movements, I think, this morning. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:57.600 First, reject counterfeit voices. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:03.120 Then second, we'll see receive God's voice, and finally, recognize true voices. 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:10.079 So if you have your Bible, turn with me to Deuteronomy 18, and we're going to start in our first movement: reject counterfeit voices. 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:12.000 Look in verse 9. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:21.040 When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:24.319 Notice Moses doesn't start out with, hey, just don't do it. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:28.240 He says, Hey, you shall not learn to follow. 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:34.480 And the word learn there gives us this idea of being trained, of being accustomed to. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:43.839 You shall not learn to follow, maybe said in a different way, would be, hey, don't apprentice yourself to another way of seeking knowledge. 00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:54.800 That's significant because these practices aren't these merely just isolated behaviors, but they represent an alternative way of seeking revelation or of control. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:59.439 Israel's being offered a different way to answer, hey, what's going to happen? 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:00.319 What should I do? 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:02.000 How can I know? 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:06.560 And God says, hey, hey, don't learn that way. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:12.480 Don't sit at their feet and let them teach you how to understand the world. 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:17.040 And it's significant because, again, we are all being discipled by something. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:25.920 You're being discipled by what you watch, by what you listen to, by what you repeatedly read, the people you admire, the voices that get your attention. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:29.040 Every voice is teaching you something. 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:33.360 The question is, who gets to teach you what is true? 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:38.799 Moses, he gives us a voice, a picture of the voices that Israel is being offered. 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:40.399 Look in verse 10 with me. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:57.919 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortune or interprets omens or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead. 00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:02.080 Now these are all different practices, but they share something in common. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:10.000 They all attempt to gain knowledge, guidance, or power from sources rather than the God of Israel. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:20.240 In other words, I want to know what I cannot know, I want to control what I cannot control, I want access to what God has chosen not to reveal to me yet. 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:22.480 And that's the temptation, right? 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:28.720 I mean, from the very beginning, Satan's whisper to Eve was, hey, did God really say that? 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:34.559 When God hasn't given us the answer, we are tempted to go looking for it somewhere else. 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:37.279 But God says, hey, hey, don't learn that way. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:41.039 Don't be discipled by another source of revelation. 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:47.200 Many of us, many of us, as we read chapter or verse 10 there, we would say, hey, that would never be me. 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:50.480 Like, wait, I would never burn my son or daughter as an offering. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:53.919 I mean, it should probably bring some revulsion to us at some point. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:56.320 I mean, just in the news recently, right? 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:02.000 We hear this story of a mom and her kids, and and and it turns my stomach at some level. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:11.440 Yet I wonder, we often sacrifice our children on the altar of other things, maybe. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:26.399 Maybe our endless work schedule, or our personal comfort, or our endless scrolling, or even your own, and hear this as gently as I can say it, church, because I need to hear this. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:29.759 Our own grandiose dreams for our children. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:30.559 Right? 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:47.120 The, hey, let's get them in the right school with the right program, with the right ball team, with the right coach, and let's have them going from sunup till sundown, and then every weekend let's run to a tournament and make sure that they're doing all the right things in the right places so that they will be successful one day. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:52.159 We're discipling them to just stay busy. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:57.279 We're discipling them to listen to a strange voice. 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:03.759 If that's your struggle, you may be listening to the voice of another. 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:13.360 Now, for the rest of the list in verse 10, it's a good thing we don't consult necromancers or mediums or omens or fortune tellers anymore, right? 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:15.279 We're we're way too sophisticated for that. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:23.759 I mean, nobody in this room is going to go home after this and say, hey, honey, we've got this huge decision to make, so let's go find a medium so we can figure out what we need to do, right? 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:25.600 I don't I don't think we're probably doing that. 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:28.799 We're we're modern, we have Wi-Fi, we're not, we're not doing that. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:32.159 No, we would never go to something to get answers apart from God. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:42.720 I mean, imagine if we could go to something and we could just ask it anything, and it would take all the world's knowledge and give us an answer. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:44.720 I mean, just think about that. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:48.000 Something that, hey, if we went to it, we said, hey, I've got these symptoms. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:50.000 Would you tell me what's wrong with me? 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.480 Or, hey, could you could you help me understand my childhood? 00:11:54.480 --> 00:12:00.720 Or maybe we we go and say, hey, AI, could you, oh wait, oops, uh, what should I eat today? 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:02.879 Or or how do I talk to my kids about sex? 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:04.639 Or or what should what should we do? 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:06.879 You know, I don't have a good emotional connection with anybody. 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:08.559 Could you be my friend? 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:18.559 30% of AI users using it for an emotional relationship, and some for other kinds of relationship. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:21.600 And because my kids are in the room, you figure that out. 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:22.639 Right? 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:24.960 We're too sophisticated for that. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:36.879 At some point, we have to admit that this little thing in our pocket, it's getting close to asking this glowing rectangle for some spiritual direction. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:42.240 And do you ever hear about how AI or how the tech world talks about AI? 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:43.440 It's fascinating. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:46.000 It's either fortunes or omens. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:47.919 It's interesting. 00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:49.600 I mean, that's our very text. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:59.120 It's either universal high income for all the world, everybody's gonna be amazing, or hey, there's about a 20% chance that we're all gonna get destroyed. 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:03.120 Fortunes are omens. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:10.320 You know, here's what's interesting: the technology has changed greatly, but the human heart has not. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:11.519 C. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:11.919 S. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:22.000 Lewis puts it this way: there's something which unites magic and applied science or technology, while separating them from the wisdom of earlier ages. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:29.600 For the wise men of old, the cardinal problem of the human life was how to conform the soul to objective reality. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:34.159 And the solution was wisdom, self-discipline, and virtue. 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:41.200 For the modern, the cardinal problem is how to conform reality to the wishes of man. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:46.879 And the solution is a technique or a technology. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:52.399 They had fortune tellers, we have algorithms preying on our insecurities. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:54.399 They had mediums, we have AI. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:55.759 They asked, what's going to happen? 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:58.080 We ask, we ask, what should I do? 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:02.240 Different technology, the same human heart. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:06.240 And that's why God's command still speaks to us today. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:10.480 Don't look somewhere else for the voice that belongs to God. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:13.360 Verse 12 then heightens it a little bit. 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:17.039 For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:19.759 And the word abomination, they're a really strong word. 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:28.480 These aren't harmless alternatives, they represent a way of seeking knowledge, guidance, and power apart from the God who has already spoken. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:30.639 And notice the end of verse 12. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:36.080 Because of these abominations, the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:38.799 Now slow down there for a minute. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:45.840 The reason the Lord your God is giving Israel the land is because of who they listen to. 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:53.440 The reason God is driving them out from the land is because of who they listen to. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:59.519 And so the defining mark of God's people is who they listen to. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:05.200 Shows the importance of the voice that we allow in our mind. 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:07.440 Moses doubles down then in verse 13. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:10.559 He says, You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:15.600 And the word blameless here means whole, complete, sound, undivided. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:20.159 In other words, God isn't merely saying, hey, don't practice witchcraft. 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:23.519 He's saying, don't divide your heart. 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:32.240 Don't give God part of your allegiance and give the rest to whatever promises you, what God hasn't promised you already. 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:34.720 That's the temptation, right? 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:43.039 We trust God on Sunday, but come Monday, I seek guidance, knowledge, power somewhere other than the God of the universe. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:45.120 And Moses says, hey, no, no, no. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:47.440 Be whole before the Lord. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:49.039 Be whole before the Lord. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:51.120 Be one complete person. 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:54.159 Reject counterfeit voices. 00:15:54.159 --> 00:16:00.639 Not because everything they say is necessarily false, but because they don't have the authority to shape you. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:08.799 And that raises the obvious question: if we reject counterfeit voices, whose voice should we listen to? 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:13.759 God doesn't merely tell us what not to listen to, but he gives us a voice to listen to. 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:19.279 So first we reject counterfeit voices, but now receive God's voice. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:22.320 This verse 15 changes everything for us. 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:23.679 Look at verse 15. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:30.159 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:33.279 It is to him you shall listen. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:36.559 Now notice who takes the initiative. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:42.240 Israel doesn't have to search for someone who can give them access to God. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:45.679 God promises to provide the voice they need. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:48.480 God raises him up. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:54.399 The nations, they're searching for this hidden knowledge, but Israel doesn't have to search for revelation. 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:55.679 God speaks. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:17:00.399 And then notice at the end of verse 15, it is to him you shall listen. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:06.960 And the word listen here is the same word that has been throughout all of Deuteronomy that we've talked about. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:10.880 It's behind the command, hear, O Israel, right? 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:15.039 The word listen means for us to change, right? 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:16.799 It's throughout this whole series. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:29.119 It's not merely hearing sounds, but it's, hey, we hear in such a way that it leads to trustful obedience, that we will walk with the one that we are listening to. 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:33.920 You know, we can know the Bible without actually listening to God. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:36.079 We can have a Bible app on our phone. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:38.480 We can have five commentaries on the shelf. 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:45.200 We can listen to three sermons at the same time through our headphones and still not listen to God. 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:50.400 God isn't saying, hey, here's another great opinion for you to consider. 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:54.160 He's saying, hey, this is the voice you are to hear. 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:56.960 This is the voice you are to follow. 00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:59.039 Think about a GPS. 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:04.319 When you're driving somewhere you've never been before, the problem isn't that you have no information. 00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:05.359 Right? 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:12.480 You've got roads everywhere, you've got intersections, you've got signs, you've got billboards, you've got exits, you've got options all over the place. 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:19.519 The question is, which voice are you going to trust to tell you where to go? 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:22.240 That's what God is giving Israel here. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:29.759 Not a map of every possible road, but he's saying, hey, this is the voice you can trust. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:34.319 And then Moses reminds them in verse 16 why they need this mediator. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:40.400 He says, Hey, remember back on Mount Sinai when God spoke directly to you and you were terrified. 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:44.880 And they said essentially in response to that, hey, we can't hear the voice of the Lord anymore. 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:46.640 If we do, we'll die. 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:52.960 And God says here in verse 17, you're right to recognize that you need a mediator. 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:56.240 So God graciously in verse 18 provides one. 00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:59.680 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:05.440 I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I commanded him. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:07.279 Notice the progression there. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:09.839 God gives the prophet his words. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:15.759 The prophet speaks God's words, and the people listen to the prophet. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:23.519 The authority isn't in the personality of the prophet, it's in the God whose words he speaks. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:35.119 And then verse 19 kind of brings a little bit of weight on then the hearers, and whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:36.079 Right? 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:38.160 God takes his word seriously. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:41.279 So this isn't merely about finding good advice. 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:45.440 This is about receiving God's revelation that he's giving us. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:54.960 And God has spoken, if we go through the whole Bible, we can see, hey, God speaks through all the prophets, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and so on, right? 00:19:54.960 --> 00:20:03.200 Prophet after prophet, word after word, until the word became flesh. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:10.720 Hebrews 1 reads like this: God spoke in many ways through the prophets, but now he has spoken to us by his son. 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:21.039 After Jesus' resurrection in Acts, Peter stood in Jerusalem and he identified Jesus as the fulfillment of this very promise in Deuteronomy 18. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:22.640 He quotes Deuteronomy 18. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:26.319 Stephen, just a few chapters later, does the very same thing. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:32.640 And then before even that remarkable moment, there was this moment on the mountain where Jesus is transfigured, right? 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:37.359 A voice comes from heaven and says, This is my beloved Son. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:39.759 Listen to him. 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:42.160 Do you hear the connection? 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:44.880 Deuteronomy 18 says, It is to him you shall listen. 00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:49.759 At the transfiguration, the Father says of Jesus, listen to him. 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:52.640 The promised prophet has come. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:55.920 But Jesus is more than simply another prophet. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:58.480 The prophets say, God says. 00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:01.519 Jesus says, I say. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:04.720 The prophet spoke God's word. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:07.519 Jesus is God's word. 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:11.519 Jesus is not merely another voice among voices, right? 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:13.839 When you're wondering, hey, what do I do? 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:16.160 Whose voice should I trust? 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:21.440 Notice every voice does not deserve equal authority. 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:24.720 Not every voice deserves your attention. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:28.960 But there is one voice that you need to learn to recognize. 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:33.519 There is one voice that you need to slow down and receive and learn to trust. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:35.200 God speaks. 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:38.480 So listen to Jesus. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:41.519 And here's why this matters. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:46.319 You become like the voice you trust. 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:48.960 Hear that this morning. 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:52.640 You become like the voice you trust. 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:55.200 We are all being discipled by something. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:59.759 Every voice we listen to is shaping what we believe, what we love, how we live. 00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:03.519 Romans 12 says, hey, renew your mind. 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:16.240 The Christian life isn't simply learning to listen to fewer voices, it's learning to become so familiar with the voice of Jesus that we recognize it, that we trust it, that we follow and walk with him. 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:21.119 So we reject counterfeit voices, we receive God's voice. 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:25.759 And then that should bring us to one more question that the text just leads us right into. 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:29.119 How do we recognize whether a voice is really from God? 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:30.960 Moses answers that. 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:35.359 Reject counterfeit voices, receive God's voice, and finally recognize true voices. 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:37.279 Look at verse 20 with me. 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:44.160 But the prophet who speaks a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak. 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:46.960 Right off the bat, do you see the problem? 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:50.559 The false prophet doesn't say, hey, hey, stray away from God. 00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:52.000 Right? 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:56.319 Satan didn't come and say, hey, run away from God, Eve. 00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:58.559 He said, hey, did God really say that? 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:07.680 It's what makes false voices so dangerous. 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:10.160 They don't always come saying, hey, ignore God. 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:14.240 Usually they'll come saying, hey, this is what God really meant. 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:16.480 This is what God is saying there. 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:19.920 Verse 21 asks the question we should then ask. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:24.799 Hey, how may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken? 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:28.640 And Moses says, hey, this is the way to recognize it. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:36.960 If a prophet speaks in the Lord's name and what he says does not come to pass, that word was not spoken by the Lord. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:41.200 The prophet has spoken presumptuously or very arrogantly, right? 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:43.119 He's acting arrogantly. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:46.240 He's speaking beyond the authority that God has given him. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:51.920 Or if the prophet speaks for another God, other than the God. 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:54.880 Notice what Moses is teaching. 00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:57.759 Don't simply believe a voice because it sounds confident. 00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:00.880 Don't believe someone because God told me. 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:02.640 Test the voice. 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:06.079 And this is where Christian maturity matters, right? 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:09.279 It's Christian maturity isn't believing everything. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:17.119 And listen, it's also not doubting everything, it's discerning everything. 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:23.839 Paul says, 1 Thessalonians 5, do not despise prophecies, but test everything. 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:26.319 Hold fast to what is good. 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:31.599 John says, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:38.960 The Bereans in Acts 17, right, they're commended because they examined what they were taught against scriptures. 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:42.640 So how do we recognize a counterfeit voice? 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:50.240 You know, if the government wants you to recognize counterfeit bills, they don't expect you to memorize every counterfeit bill that ever existed. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:54.079 Actually, they don't even want you to look at the counterfeit bills. 00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:58.000 They teach you to know the real thing. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:05.519 The more familiar you become with genuine currency, the easier it is to recognize what doesn't belong. 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:07.839 The same is true for us spiritually. 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:15.279 The best way for us to recognize a false voice is to become deeply familiar with the true voice. 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:20.400 Immersing ourselves in God's word, we get to learn God's character. 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:22.720 We learn what God has already revealed. 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:31.680 And so when we listen to Scripture carefully, and a voice comes along and says, Hey, God says this, we can immediately go, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:32.400 No, no, no. 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:33.759 God didn't say that. 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:40.319 Deuteronomy promised a prophet like Moses who would speak God's word. 00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:44.960 And as we said earlier, Jesus is that prophet, but much more than a prophet. 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:49.200 He is the son through whom God has spoken definitively. 00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:50.960 Remember the transfiguration. 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:52.160 This is my beloved son. 00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:53.599 Listen to him. 00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:59.839 So this morning we want to recognize true voices by knowing the true voice. 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:02.720 And God has spoken to us. 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:06.559 And so we should listen to Jesus. 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:09.279 And it really brings us to the heart of the gospel. 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:14.079 The one God commands us to listen to is the one He sent to save us. 00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:17.039 Think about where Deuteronomy 18 has brought us, right? 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:24.880 We began with a world full of voices, Israel surrounded by people claiming to offer knowledge, guidance, power, access to what is hidden. 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:26.960 And God says, Hey, don't go there. 00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:28.160 Don't learn that way. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:29.759 Don't sacrifice your children. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:32.960 Don't listen to the voice of a stranger. 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:42.640 Listen, one of the key evidences that we are listening to a strange voice is that it calls you to sacrifice the most vulnerable thing. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:50.160 The vulnerable are always the ones who are harmed the most when you listen to the voice of another. 00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:59.920 Yahweh doesn't take your sons and daughters from you in sacrifice, he gives you his son in sacrifice. 00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:01.519 He makes the promise. 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:11.680 God speaks, and the fulfillment of that promise is Jesus. 00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:14.240 Jesus, the word made flesh. 00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:19.680 And here's where, as Ben would say, the gospelness of the gospel even gets better, I would say. 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:25.519 That God knows how often you and I have listened to the voices around us. 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:36.880 How we've trusted our fears, how we've trusted our own wisdom, how we've trusted money or success or approval or relationships or feelings or our desire for control. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:41.920 And we've heard God's voice and we've chosen another. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:47.839 See, the prophet Jesus, he perfectly listened to the Father when we didn't. 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:51.279 He trusted the Father when we doubted. 00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:54.559 He obeyed when we rebelled. 00:27:54.559 --> 00:28:02.559 And at the cross, Jesus bore the judgment we deserved for all the ways we've listened to other voices instead of God. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:08.559 And then he did exactly what he said he would do. 00:28:08.559 --> 00:28:17.680 See, the very proof that he is the prophet is that he did exactly what he said he would do when he rose from the dead. 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:18.319 Right? 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:25.200 The resurrection declares that Jesus is who he claimed to be, and his word can be trusted. 00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:34.400 Christianity isn't simply about finding better advice, it's about hearing the voice of the risen Christ and entrusting ourselves to him. 00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:38.400 So where do we hear his voice? 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:42.559 Not through secret knowledge, not through hidden revelation. 00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:47.200 We hear his voice through the word that he has already given us. 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:52.160 See, we come to scripture not merely to fill our heads with information. 00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:58.880 No, we come to scripture to hear our King speak. 00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:16.640 In 2021, Barna did a research, and they said this: Our research tells us clearly that an individual's relationship with the Bible is the single greatest influence on her or his spiritual health. 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:17.599 Period. 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:20.480 Nothing else comes close. 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:34.880 Blogs, books, podcasts, all that stuff may be beneficial, but for your spiritual health, nothing like reading and studying scripture will impact your life greater. 00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:40.400 It's here at New City what we refer to as one of our common rhythms. 00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:50.319 We define our daily rhythm of scripture as scripture before screens, or more specifically, to hear God's voice in Scripture before any others. 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:54.319 That's why we have a Bible reading plan. 00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:56.880 And we do this in our communities right now. 00:29:56.880 --> 00:30:02.079 And listen, we we want to develop this practice together so that we do this well. 00:30:02.079 --> 00:30:06.000 And so if you're not in a community, I would encourage you to jump into one. 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:11.839 Like, like together, walk with people who are headed the same direction as you are. 00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:16.559 And let me invite you, Ben encourage me, hey, invite them into your practice. 00:30:16.559 --> 00:30:20.160 So I'm going to invite you real quick to look over my shoulder on a Tuesday morning. 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:20.640 Okay? 00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:25.759 Tuesday morning, somewhere around, uh, I have an alarm that goes off at 4:30, then one goes off at 5. 00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:29.440 My wife loves it that I have two alarms that go off nice and early in the morning. 00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:34.319 Um and I get up and I go run for about an hour. 00:30:34.319 --> 00:30:36.559 And I spend that time in prayer. 00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:40.240 Because listen, you might be like, why in the world do you get up at 5 a.m.? 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:42.319 And that's a great question. 00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:45.920 It's not because I love 5 a.m., because I really don't. 00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:46.880 It's dark. 00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:53.920 Uh but if you were in my house come 7:05 a.m., you would understand. 00:30:53.920 --> 00:31:00.880 Like there is no way to get another drop of quiet until they pass out sooner or later at the end of the day. 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:02.079 And so 5 a.m. 00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:02.640 is the time. 00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:06.640 And so I'll run for an hour and then I will sit and read scripture. 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:13.200 And the idea is for me to listen to God's voice before I listen to any other. 00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:18.480 I need to soak in God's voice. 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:31.920 The Ten Theses of Byrne says this the holy Christian church, whose only head is Christ, is born of the Word of God, abides in the same, and does not listen to the voice of a stranger. 00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:39.119 And so this morning I ask you, are you listening to the voice of a stranger? 00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:46.000