I'm reading from the book of
2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1, and I begin
with verse 16, which says, We have not followed cunningly devised
fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received
from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a
voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount. We
have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well
that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place,
until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing
this verse, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private
interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Peter is recounting the time
when the Lord Jesus Christ took him, James, and John up on the
mountain and was transfigured. Or that is, He revealed to them
His true self. He peeled back, as it were, His
robe of flesh. And they saw Him as God who dwelleth
in light which no man can approach unto, as the Son of righteousness
that He is. And Peter said, this is no fable.
We didn't make this up to you. This is no fable. But we were
eyewitnesses of his majesty. And God spoke out loud from heaven,
saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. But
Peter said, we have an even more sure word of prophecy. That is,
the written Word of God. He said, you would do well to
take heed to it until He reveals Himself to you. He goes on to
say, no prophecy, no Scripture was invented of a man, but was
given to them by God. Holy men spake as they were moved
by the Spirit of the Most High God. Now here's my question. Why doesn't God speak out loud? Why doesn't God speak out loud? Most people would say they would
believe Him if He would speak. And they even demand of Him. Why doesn't He speak? Why won't
He speak to us? Why won't He show us, reveal
Himself to us? Well, He has. God has spoken. In Jeremiah it says, Job 33 that
is, it says in verse 14, God has spoken once, yea, twice,
yet man perceiveth it not." Over in Hebrews chapter 1 it says,
God, in sundry times and diverse manners, spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophet. That was in the beginning. He
hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. So God has
spoken once, yea, twice, but men perceiveth it not, or are
not interested. Psalm 19 says, The heavens declare
the glory of God. The firmament showeth His handiwork.
Day unto day uttereth this speech. Night unto night showeth this
knowledge. What? The vast Creator. The great Creator
and His vast creation. It says there is no speech nor
language where this voice of the Creator is not heard. And
it goes on to say the law of the Lord has spoken to them. Well, the apostle confirms this
to God's people. I'm no longer speaking so much
to unbelievers out there, but to those who claim to believe.
He's speaking to believers, saying that he's given us a more sure
word of prophecy than an audible voice. There are many reasons
why God does no longer speak out loud. In fact, God only spoke
three times out loud in the New Testament days. Three times,
and all of them were concerning His Son. Either to His Son or
concerning His Son. The once on the mount, as I said,
that He spoke to the three apostles, this is My beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. Another, when Christ was being
baptized, this is My beloved Son. Hear Him. And another time
when our Lord was walking along and said, Father, glorify Thy
name. And God says, I have both glorified it and will glorify
it again. And most said it just thundered. Well, that was God speaking to
His Son. Why doesn't God speak out loud? Well, here's my first reason.
And it comes from Scripture. Because all that God said out
loud to His prophets and he never spoke to the general people,
but always spoke to the fathers, that is, the Jewish fathers,
through the prophets. All he said before is now written
down in a book. He need not say any more. Nothing
more needs to be said. The whole counsel of God has
been written down in a book. God does not need to speak to
us out loud. In Isaiah chapter 8, verse 20,
it says, "...to the law and to the testimony. If they speak,"
that is, whoever speaks, whoever says they speak for God, "...if
they speak not according to this word, this law, this law and
testimony, there is no light in them." No light. All true
and false puppets are judged by the written Word. In Jeremiah
23, All true and false prophets were judged by the Word of God
then and now. Listen to Jeremiah 23, verse
25. Our Lord said, I have heard what the prophets said, that
prophesy lies in My name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. Well, that is, God spoke to me.
He said in verse 28, the prophet that hath a dream, let him tell
a dream. But he that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?
Or that is, what is this, these little dreams that these prophets
have? It's nothing. He said in verse 29, My word
is like a fire, a hammer that breaketh a rock in pieces. He
said, I'm against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal My
words, every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord, that use their tongue, and say, He saith." I
am against them. I am against them. People, if
you listen to a man or a woman who says, God told me last night,
God told me this, God told me that, that person is a false
prophet. God does not speak privately
to anyone anymore, ever again. He spoke to the prophets. He
spoke to the fathers by the prophets, but not anymore. And He spoke
when Christ came, God walked the earth, and it was Jesus Christ.
And He gave everything that needed to be said to His apostles, and
they wrote it down in a book, in books and letters, in the
Bible. Nothing more needs to be said. Besides, why should
God speak out loud? Why should He? Why should he? We don't deserve for him to.
My second reason from Scripture is Peter said we have a more
sure word of prophecy. More sure than a spoken word.
Yes. All have it. Do you have a Bible
there? All have it. The written word
is always there. It's always the same. Unless
men corrupt it like they do now. They keep corrupting God's Word
with different translations of it, perversions of it. Paul said,
and here's what I say, we are not as many which corrupt the
Word of God. But as of sincerity, as of God
in the sight of God, we speak of Christ. We do not corrupt
the Word of God. We do not twist it. We do not
hold it back. We do not hold words back and
leave out some things and add to it and make up our own translations
and make up a different Bible for whoever it pleases. No, no. Inspired written word of God,
and Peter said this is a more sure word of prophecy even than
a voice out loud. The next thing is, all have the
same word of truth. That is, of course, you have
a perversion of Scripture. Any translation, and I've said
this before, I'll repeat it again, any translation this day other
than the King James is a perversion of God's Scripture. It's twisted. It's been perverted. But all
who have this King James in the English, King James Version,
we have the same Bible. We have the same textbook. The
same truth. We don't need a special voice.
There's no special voice to some people and not to others. We
all have the same Word. Now, we would worship prophets
if God spoke to him today. If there was a prophet and God
spoke to him, we would worship him. We would. We'd sit at his
feet and hear what he said. But no, we have a Bible. And all the man that has the
Bible does is stand up and tell you, thus saith the Lord. Not
what he says, but what God says. We all have the same Word. We
all don't need a new revelation. But we have the same Word that
must be revealed. Another reason is because it's
the incorruptible, unchanging, written Word of God. Whatever
is spoken can be misquoted. You may misquote what I say today,
but you cannot misquote God's written Word. There it is. There
it is. Why is there no audible voice?
Why does not God speak out loud? Because we all have the same,
inerrant, incorruptible, unchanging written Word of God, always the
same. Why doesn't God speak out loud?
Because, here's another reason, faith honors God more than sight. Faith honors God more than sight. People say, show me, and I'll
believe you. I don't believe you. Show me.
Well, that dishonors the person who is speaking. But our Lord
said, if you believe, I'll show you. God doesn't prove Himself
to man. Oh, the heavens declare His glory.
The firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech.
His eternal power in God is clearly seen. But God doesn't prove Himself
to man. Why should He? But He does prove
Himself to some men, those whom He has chosen, those who have
been given this precious gift of faith. It's easy to believe
if you're shown. But faith takes God at His word. Faith believes God because He
said so, and that honors God. And this is what distinguishes
God's people from the others. Faith is a sovereign gift, by
the way. It's a miracle of the new birth. Life comes before
faith. God sends a life-giving seed
of His Word that creates faith. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God, or that is, by the command of God, hear,
and then by the Word of God, the Gospel, Peter said, which
we preach unto you. There's no audible voice, though
it's a preacher preaching, yet it's God's voice, and it's the
Word of God that is the voice of God. Another reason is because
the Word of God increases faith. David said, the entrance of Thy
Word giveth light. Faith grows by hearing the Word.
Knowledge, understanding, wisdom increases as we see God in His
Word, as the Spirit of God shows us Jesus Christ in the Word.
He is the Word. A few more reasons why God doesn't
speak out loud is because we are all able to hear Him at any
time, day or night, midnight, Early in the morning. How? Through
the Word of God. Also it increases diligence.
The Lord is a rewarder of them that seek Him diligently. That
is, through His Word. We seek Him, we find Him through
His Word. And it makes the Word of God
more dear to us, more dear to us. Oh, why doesn't God speak
out loud? Well, He has, but no longer does
He. But He now has a written book.
May you take heed to it as a light that shineth in a dark place.
Amen.