It's a lovely, glorious saviour
we have to proclaim, isn't it? It's a glorious saviour. Paul
says in such simple words, describes the greatness of our God. And they just had one tune and
one theme. They sang and they preached over
and over again. Thy watchmen shall lift up the
voice, with the voice together shall they sing. Why do they
sing? With the voice together, why
do they sing? Isaiah 52.8, you know the verse well. For they
shall see eye to eye. So they sing when we see eye
to eye, we're practising singing. So that when Peter arrives, some
of his favourite hymns will be now and will to us and normal
to us. wonderful things on his guitar.
But they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again
Zion. They shall see eye to eye when
the Lord shall bring again Zion. The Lord speaks of what he's
going to do in Zephaniah 3.9. It's a remarkable chapter of
scripture which speaks both of the the promises of our God and
the reason for the desolation that came upon
nation Israel. He says to Judah, in Gethsemane
3, woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing
city. She obeyed not the voice. She received not correction. She trusted not in the Lord. She drew not near to her God. Her princes within her are roaring
lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They gnaw not the bones till
the morrow. Her prophets are light and treacherous
persons. That word light means to be like
a froth, to be a bubble, no substance to us. Her priests have polluted
the sanctuary. They have done violence to the
Lord. The just Lord is in the midst
thereof. He will not do iniquity. Every morning doth he bring forth
his judgment to light. He faileth not, but the unjust
knoweth no shame. And it's not left there. The
Lord will not leave his witness in that city of his to just fall
to the ground. He says, therefore wait, verse
8, wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise
up to the prey, for my determination I love the fact that God is determined.
The zeal of the Lord will accomplish this, he says in Isaiah 9. My determination is to gather
the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them
my indignation, even my fierce anger, for all the earth shall
be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I
turn to the people, a pure language, that they may all call upon the
name of the Lord to serve Him with one consent. means there's one singleness
of purpose in preaching. Paul has shown us this model
sermon in Acts chapter 13. The Holy Spirit has recorded
these words for us. It's just a simple declaration
of the greatness of our God, that He has a determination,
that He has a purpose. And he has a description of his
people. If you turn to verse 12 of Zephaniah
3, it says, And I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted
and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel shall not
do iniquity nor speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found
in their mouth. For they shall feed and lie down,
and none shall make them afraid. See, it's glad tidings that Paul
brought to these people, isn't it? Which is why Zephaniah 3.14
goes on to say, and to Zion let not thy hands
be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing. He'll gather them that are sorrowful
for the solemn assembly. This is exactly what's happening
in Acts chapter 13, isn't it? This message is going out, this
preaching, this testifying. There is this voice of the prophets. If we look back again at that
verse that I wanted us to look at, we looked earlier at the
fact that the word of salvation, the word of this salvation is
sent. for they at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew
him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets, which are read
every Sabbath, they have fulfilled in condemning him." How does the child of God respond
to such a warning as that? What an extraordinary thing,
to know the scriptures, to read them. to read them again and
again, and to not hear the voice, to not hear the voice of the
prophets. That word voice is the word that
we get our word phonetics from, but it also means to shine, to
make clear, to illuminate. So they knew the scriptures.
Greg was telling me about a fellow in America who knows the Bible
off by heart. I told you some time ago about
a Hebrew scholar that he knew who had memorised the entire
Old Testament in Hebrew, and neither of these men knew the
Gospel at all. They knew the words, they heard
the words, but they didn't hear the voices of the prophets. They didn't hear the radiance,
the illumination. The voices of the prophets were
just words to them, words that didn't reach to their hearts. It's a shocking thing, isn't
it, to think of that throughout this world, as we are speaking
here, there are people who are reading the word of God and declaring
things out of the scriptures. and not hearing the voice of
God. It is, as we saw earlier, it
is an illuminating work of God the Holy Spirit to bring, to
take these words and to make them spirit and life for us. No wonder Paul prayed for the
Ephesians just up the road from where we're looking at in Acts
here, isn't it? He's praying that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the
eyes of your understanding." So believers have the eyes of
your understanding being enlightened. that you may know what is the
hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints." If you read, if you go back, as
you know well, that this earlier part of Ephesians is just one
single sentence that declares the greatness and the glory of
our God, that he chose the people from before the foundation of
the world and he They were united as one with the Lord Jesus Christ.
No wonder he can say in the next chapter that you are saved by
grace. And this is not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. But he wants, he wants, his desire
for his people and my desire for myself and my desire for
you is that we might actually hear the voices of the prophets.
We might hear that sound, that sound that declares the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter 3 of Ephesians he
bows, he bows to the Father. I bow my knees under the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches
of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the
inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. that ye, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love
of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with
all the fullness of God. See, Paul in preaching and all
of God's servants in preaching are waiting and expecting for
God to do something which is beyond the understanding of men,
beyond the comprehension of men. That's why it requires no formula. We don't have to work out systems
and schemes to try and massage the Gospel. We just simply are
asked and required and separated of God to simply declare it.
To declare the Lord Jesus Christ as faithfully as we possibly
can, to have him as high and lifted up as we possibly can,
to have him to fill this universe, to have us to gaze upon him who
is of such immensity that he can take a universe and he can
wrap it around himself like a shawl and he just says a word and it
will collapse. He says a word and it's sustained. He creates reality by speaking. He created the reality of this
universe by speaking. He creates the reality in the
hearts of believers by speaking a word. And the word that's spoken
is in our verse that says, it's the voice of the prophets. He wants Paul to go back to Ephesians. He wants them to comprehend. He wants them to know that Christ
dwells in their hearts by faith. And he wants them to acknowledge. that him, I love how he says
in verse 20, now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly
above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh
in us, unto him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout
all ages, world without end. Amen. There are some simple things
in these verses that I would like us to contemplate. There's a simple and serious
warning from our God, isn't it, that He will achieve His purposes. There is a promise from our God. Paul is declaring the nature
of our God, the nature of God who makes promises and keeps
them. They have fulfilled in condemning
him, says our verse. They've fulfilled them. So in
their rebellion, in the hardness of their heart, they were fulfilling
the very promises and purpose of our God. I want us to see
a few things, that they are fulfilled, that our God, no matter what
the circumstances are before us, our God has a purpose and
that purpose is being achieved. The eternal covenant is moment
by moment being rolled out in this world. But there is There is in these
verses a reminder that there is an extraordinary link between
knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and hearing the voices of the
prophets. The prophets just spoke of him. They spoke of him all the time. You might recall to your joy
when it was first revealed to you that all of the Old Testament
is a hymn book. that all of the stories in the
Old Testament were stories about the Lord Jesus Christ, that all
the psalms are psalms about the Lord Jesus Christ, that everywhere
in all of the scriptures and you just start finding it there
and it's just as if this light has shone. in this dark place
and all of a sudden this word, and there is so much of this
word that we don't understand, but we see picture after picture
after picture and we go to books of the scriptures and we just
see the Lord Jesus Christ building His temple and building His people.
We see Him typified in Abraham. We see him typified in Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob. We see him typified as Paul reminded
these Jews and others there before him, that all of these Old Testament
prophets and saints were a chosen people and God actually acted
in sovereign power to bring them to himself. But all of it is
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, the rescue, the redemption of
the people out of out of Egypt is a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It was a blood sacrifice that brought them out. It was
blood redemption. It was the Lord Jesus Christ
who is that lamb that was slain. Every time any sacrifice or worship
is offered to God in all of the Old Testament, it's all a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Noah's Ark is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Everywhere we turn, we see him. I remember sitting some years
ago in a church service where the man was actually beginning
a series on the book of Amos, and he gave us a history lesson
on Amos and a history lesson on Israel, and he managed to
give a history lesson on Amos and Israel for 30 minutes and
not mention the Lord Jesus Christ once. But the book of Amos is
about him. And if we can't see him in the
stories, then we wait, because it's a matter of our ignorance.
and it's something that God will reveal in His own time. There
is a link, there is a link, a vital link between knowing the Lord
Jesus Christ and hearing the voices of the prophets. You know
those verses in John 10 very well, don't you? But it's good
for us to remember the Lord Jesus Christ was the prophet of prophets. And there He was as a living
and walking and breathing embodiment and fulfillment of all of the
Old Testament. And He says, My sheep, the sheep
hear his voice. He calleth his own sheep by name
and he leads them out. He says, other sheep, verse 16,
I have. He has sheep that he owns, which
are not of this fold. Them also I must bring in, and
they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one
shepherd. Verse 27, my sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow
me. and I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand." He continues again and again and again to
speak about these words of his, these precious words of his which
have been preserved for us in this blessed, blessed volume
before us. He says in John 14 in the Upper
Room Discourse, he says, if any man love me, he will keep my
words, and my father will love him. And we will come unto him
and make our abode with him. We keep his words by faith. To hear his words is to believe
them. to believe them and to know that
they are written and signed and sealed in the blood of our dear
Redeemer. In John 5, 24, he links this
hearing, his voice, to eternal life. Verily, verily, I say unto
you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent
me hath everlasting life. and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life. I didn't write those words,
brothers and sisters. My Lord Jesus spoke those words. The same God who upholds this
universe by the word of his power spoke those words. They're true. They are true. I don't have to
understand all of what they mean to delight in what they say. Marvel not at this, he says in
verse 28 of chapter 5 of John, marvel not at this for the hour
is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his
voice. There is a time when his voice
will go out to all the world and all the world will be risen
again at the word of our God. God shuts his people up.
as His truth comes with power. Salvation is not a decision that
we make. It's something that comes upon
us in such a way that we have nowhere else to go, because thou
hast the words of eternal life. It is a voice from heaven. It's that voice that speaks distinctively,
isn't it? It is this trumpet sound. The gospel is a sound that's
clear. Paul talks about this gospel
that he preaches is a sound that's like a trumpet. In 1 Corinthians
14 he describes it, and he describes the warning of those who distort
this sound. In verse 8 of chapter 14 he says,
For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself
to the battle? The sound of the Gospel is a
distinct sound. It's a sound that is clear. It
is a sound that reaches into the hearts of God's people. It
is a sound, a voice, that illuminates the Lord Jesus Christ in such
a way that we find Him present with us. taking up residence
in us. He says to the Corinthians, if
our gospel be hid, 2 Corinthians 4.3, if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost. What a shocking thing to have
God hide his gospel from people. In whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine upon them. For we preach not ourselves. We preach not ourselves. but Christ Jesus the Lord and
ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake, for God who commanded light
to shine out of darkness. has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. So there is a vital, vital necessary
link, isn't there, between hearing the words of God and everlasting
life. To have everlasting life is to
hear the shepherd's voice. Now under the church at the end
of Song of Solomon, in that beautiful description of the interplay
between the great husband and that bride
that he loved. He loved even when she was black. He loved her even when she was
wayward. He loved her and he drew her
to himself. And he continually comes to her
and he says, rise up my love, my fair one, come away. And he speaks to her in her lostness
and in her despair. No wonder at the end of Song
of Solomon, she says to him, thou that dwellest in the garden,
you who live in the churches, you who walk amongst the candlesticks,
you who come and meet with your people in the churches, you that
dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice. All of the companions hearken
to thy voice. And what does the church say?
The church says, cause me to hear it. Cause me to hear it. Cause me to hear it. Cause me
to hear both the sweet things of it, cause me to hear and to
heed the warnings of it. There is in the Gospel both a
delightful declaration of wonderful salvation and there is in the
declaration of the Gospel the declaration of this rock of offence,
this stone of stumbling that God himself has laid in Zion. It's a stone of stumbling. The
stone is not moved by the things around it, but everything bows
to the stone. And it's God who's laid that
stone in Zion. And the Lord Jesus says, when
he spoke to these Pharisees and these people in Jerusalem who
knew him not and didn't hear the voice of the prophet, and
they didn't hear his voice, He says, the kingdom of God shall
be taken from you and given to a nation that bringeth forth
the fruits thereof. Bringeth forth the fruits of
faith and love and devotion to him and delight in who he is
and what he does. And then he says in verse 44,
Matthew 21, he says, and whosoever shall fall on this stone shall
be broken. When you meet that stone, The
Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified, you'll be broken. God's children
will be broken. They'll be broken to know what
they are. They'll be broken to know what
sin really is when we see sin laid on the Lord Jesus Christ.
We'll be broken when we see Him broken in Gethsemane's garden,
hanging naked on Calvary's tree. broken when we see him suffering
all of that indignation, the taunts and the ridicule of men. Precious blood, Peter describes
it as, precious blood. But then he says, it'll break
us. It'll break us. It'll break the
hardness of our heart, break the deafness of our ears, and
break the blindness of our eyes, and break that stony heart, that
stony heart that must be taken out by a hand of God. It'll break
us. Then he goes on to say, but on
whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. God's children are broken and they fear what happens to
those who play games with God. What a shocking thing to think
that people hear and know the voices, the prophets. hear and
know the words of God, but never hear the voices. Never hear that
voice from on high, that voice that speaks of the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God has divine origin,
it has divine purpose, and the purpose of it is to magnify the
Lord Jesus Christ and to cause his people in believing it to
tremble at his word, to tremble at his word, to be amazed at
his salvation. To receive this word, this simple
word that Paul declares, to receive it as glad tidings. This word, this voice is only
heard It's only heard, as we saw earlier, when the Gospel
is preached. It's only ever proclaimed when
the Lord Jesus is proclaimed in all of His glory. It's a salutary
thing to ponder that as it was in the days of the Lord Jesus
Christ, so it will be. and more so until the end of
time, that there are multitudes involved in religion and multitudes
involved in all the exercises of religion, but they don't hear
the voices of the prophet. They don't hear and they don't
see the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. They have turned
to another gospel. For anything, anything that denies
the absolute deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, anything that denies
the absolute perfection of what he did, anything that denies
the promises, as we read in these verses that Paul spoke here,
we actually see again and again that God promises and is faithful. God acts and is faithful. God reveals himself in the salvation
of his people. We hear from the Word of God
that people rest the scriptures. We hear from the Word of God
that people are heretics. To be a heretic is just to choose. That's what the word means. It
just means to choose. That stone, that stone that grinds
them into powder. Peter describes, he says, unto
you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which
be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the
same is made the head of the corner, a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offence. even to them which stumble at
the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." We read those verses in 2 Thessalonians
often, don't we, that people are sent a strong delusion by
God because they refuse not the love of the truth. It's one thing
to acknowledge the truth, it's another thing altogether to love
the truth, to love Him, to love Him who is the truth. I love what Todd Nybert wrote
some little time ago. He says, any belief not founded
in it is written will prove to be error. Any position that is
not held up by thus saith the Lord is a wrong position. Any doctrine we promote that
doesn't arise from what saith the scripture is false. God has
given us the written revelation of himself in the Bible. Can
I prove the Bible is God in five words? No. But it claims to be,
and I believe it, and I know it is. The truth commends itself
as the truth. Only that which which is removed from the truth
needs proofs to hold it up. The truth of God just stands
as it is. Our friend Paul began his sermon
with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, chosen of God, chosen of the
Father. But all of it is about the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Chosen One does the choosing. The Chosen One puts a difference
between Israel and Egypt. He exalted the people. The one
who is exalted exalts his people with him. The Great Deliverer
delivered his people out of the hand of the Egyptians, the great
overcomer, causes his people to be overcomers. He is the one
that says in several of these verses, he gave, he gave them,
and he gave them. He's the great giver, and the
Lord Jesus Christ gives. He gives in a sovereign way.
He gave them Saul because they wanted a man. They wanted a man
to rule over them, and they had a man who looked to be desired.
They desired him, and they had one who was desired. And God
gave them to him, and God took him away from them. He's the
one Our great God is the one that sees the hearts of people
and he says that he's raised up David. He found David to be
a man after his own heart. He seeks them and he finds them. A man after my own heart. He
has a will and his will is performed in his people. David, the son
of Jesse, a man after mine own heart shall fulfil all my will. All of the will of God is being
fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the great judge. He puts
down kings and he raises up others. He knows the hearts of men. He knows the hearts of David,
and He knows our hearts. Will you give us a heart, Lord?
A heart to hear your voice, to see the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the one who reveals God to us. He is the word from heaven, and
he fulfills all the promises of heaven. Paul just gave them
a history of the faithfulness of God, and he declared it to
be the word of this salvation. This Jesus, this Jesus is a saviour,
and he's raised up unto Israel, verse 23, but is raised up according
to promise. All of the promises of God are
yes and amen in our Lord Jesus Christ. And we go down to verse
34, we'll read something that Lord willing we might look at
next week. He says, as concerning that he
raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,
he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of
David. Mercies from God are sure because
our God is sure and our God is faithful. men in their traditions, men
in their religious traditions throughout the scriptures. used
their religious traditions rather than finding God, their religious
traditions and the philosophy of men turned them away from
knowing God. We don't have time to look at
it in any detail, but we read in Mark chapter 7, the Pharisees
begin by looking at the flesh of men and then they start judging. And then they start criticising
the Lord Jesus Christ, and then he says, This people honoureth
me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit
in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men. And then they go further, don't
they, these judging people. They lay aside the commandment
of God and they hold tradition of men. And then he says, full well you
reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition. Religious denominations with
their creeds and their customs and their philosophies have created
the traditions of men. And rather than appointing people
to the Lord Jesus Christ simply as is declared in the scriptures,
it becomes just a philosophical exercise. They lay aside, they
lay aside and they reject. And at the end of that litany
of man's religion in verse 13, he says, making the word of God
of none effect through your tradition. Not only does it stop there,
it's a spreading disease which you have delivered and many such
like things you do. The traditions of man in this
day are plainly evident any time you look at religion. the traditions
of men in this day, is to deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's interesting that the church
in the early days had to battle over many issues to do with the
humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in these latter days, it's
the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ which is attacked again and again
and again. that he's not a sovereign God. These days he has a love for
everyone and a love that fails. He has a desire for the salvation
of everyone and a desire that's frustrated. He died a death for
everyone on Calvary's tree and everyone is not saved. He wishes
that everyone would be saved and his wishes are unfulfilled.
Paul didn't know a God like that. It has taken religious men and
religious traditions to create that, just as it did in the days
of the Lord Jesus Christ. By their religious traditions,
they turned up in their synagogues every day, and they read Moses
and they read the prophets, and they never heard, they never
heard the voice of God. Because the voice of God speaks
of the Lord Jesus Christ in all of the glory of his deity, in
all the glory of his humanity. The voice of the prophets speaks
of the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. The great hope
for sinners. You see, what they don't realise
is they take the only hope we can possibly have away. What
hope is there? The great hope we have when we
pass from this world is that God the Father put all of my
sins and all of the sins of all of his people, he put them on
his precious darling son. And on Calvary's tree, he bore
the infinite, holy, just wrath of God and put them away forever. This is the fulfilment of the
will of God. What's the will of God? That
all that you give me will come to me. This is the fulfilment
of all of the promises and all of the testimony of God. The
Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. This is the declaration of the
love of God from which you cannot be separated. It's the declaration
that there is now No condemnation for the you that are in Christ
Jesus. This notion that somehow God loves people and then keeps
loving them in hell. This notion that somehow the
Lord Jesus Christ died for people and those people now suffer for
those sins of theirs in hell is a notion which denies his
deity. Paul raised up and lifted up
before These people in Antioch, a God who is absolutely sovereign,
a God who achieves all of his purposes, a God who meets his
enemies and crushes them at every moment, a God whose enemies fulfill
his purposes. A God that can be worshipped
is a God who is absolutely sovereign. Every other God is a figment
of man's imagination. May the Lord cause us, by His
grace, to hear the voices of the prophets. Let's pray. Our
Heavenly Father, we do Pray that the warnings that come with the
declaration of the Gospel are warnings which you would cause
your people to heed, Heavenly Father, that we would find ourselves,
like the Shulamite saying, The companions hear your voice, cause
me to hear it. Heavenly Father, we want to hear,
we long to hear what you say, and you have spoken in your word.
It's illuminated by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
it declares him to be the glorious saviour of Israel, the glorious
redeemer of his lost and fallen people, the glorious husband
of his bride. Heavenly Father, your Apostle
Peter declared the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to be precious.
It can only be precious to us if you cause it to be precious,
our Father. We thank you again for gathering
us together, and we do pray, Heavenly Father, that we would
go from here knowing that the Gospel is glad tidings of an
absolutely sovereign Saviour who is successful in his substitutionary
death, and that you saw the travail of his soul, our Father, and
you were satisfied. May you cause us to find ourselves
at rest, at rest in the place that you find your satisfaction.
in the finished and perfect work of your dear and precious Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ. Cause us to remember Him, our
Father. Remember Him in His glory. Remember
Him in His humanity. Remember Him in His eternality. What wonder, Heavenly Father,
that our God changes not. And He'll never, never, never
leave us, nor forsake us. We pray that we might go, Heavenly
Father, resting in who He is and what He has done, and not
seeking to find any other refuge. Lead us to a rock that is higher
than us, our Father, for the glory of Your holy name and for
the honour of Your dear and precious Son, we pray. Amen.