The subject and the title and
question that I'm posing to us is why doesn't God speak out
loud to us? Why doesn't God speak out loud?
Many, if not most people, certainly all unbelievers, argue that. Well, if God is, why doesn't
He? Speak to us. Why doesn't he tell us so? Why doesn't he show us? Why doesn't
he prove himself? Could you answer that question?
Well, he has. He has. The Scripture says God
has spoken once. Yea, twice. And men perceive
it not. But look at 2 Peter chapter Well,
in chapter one, he tells us who he is writing to. This is so
vital. Nearly everyone in here knows
this, but all do not. Second, Peter one, verse one,
Simon, Peter, a servant and an apostle, that is a chosen messenger
of Jesus Christ to them. that have obtained like precious
faith with us, those who have received this gift of faith. It's not of yourselves, it's
a gift of God through the righteousness of God and our Savior. That's
who he is writing to. So in chapter 1, verse 16, he
writes and says, We have not followed cunningly devised fables. when we made known unto you the
power, that is, the authority, the absolute sovereign reign
and control and cunning of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we were
eyewitnesses of his majesty." Verse 17. And he is telling us
about the time when our Lord took he and James and John up
on a mountain and revealed to them who he really is. Verse 17. He received from God
the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory, from heaven, which said, This is my
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice, Peter
says, came from heaven. We heard when we were with him
in the holy mountain. Verse 19, we have also a more
sure word of prophecy, something even more sure than that audible
voice. Peter says, we were there and
we heard him. And this is no fable. We were
there. We were eyewitnesses. And Luke writes in the book of
Acts that he was seen after he arose. by over 500 people at
one time. And he remained on this earth
40 days longer. And we saw him after he had arisen
from the grave. But Peter says this is even more
sure than that. We haven't seen him. It's been
2,000 years. But Peter says there's something
more sure than having heard his audible voice. something more
sure than having actually seen him in person. That's what Peter
said. Verse 19, so he says, you do
well to take heed as unto a light, the entrance of thy word, give
it light. A light that shineth in a dark
place until the day dawn, until it dawn on you. And the day star,
what star burns during the day? Is there a star that you can
see at day? I thought all the stars were
at night. You can't see any. It's the day
star, the one that obscures all others, the bright and morning
star, the sun. And still, until he, the son
of righteousness, arise in your hearts, that is, be revealed
to you, knowing this first. Now, know this, he said. No prophecy
of the scripture, nothing written in the Old Testament is of any
private or that is personal interpretation. No man, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
none of them, Daniel, just sat down and just started writing. Oh no, the prophecy came, verse
21, not in old time by the will of man, but holy men, that is
chosen, separated sanctify, set apart for this work of God. Holy men of God spoke as they
were moved, as they were spoken to, as they were impressed by
the Holy Ghost. Now, we believe that, don't we?
We know that. We don't just believe it. We
know it. How? The same word he's speaking of.
All right. The Apostle confirms to every
child of God, to every believer what we already know, that this
Word is God's Word, and this is how He speaks to us now. He does not speak out loud to
anyone. The only way the Lord speaks
to us is through this Word, through primarily the preaching of the
Word. If time gives you a few reasons
why the Lord chose this preaching, but this is how the Lord speaks
to human beings, through His Word. Okay? And many reasons. And God, in His great wisdom
and great mercy, I think you're going to see what a mercy it
is that this is the way the Lord deals with us and not through
an audible voice. Okay? Number one. Why doesn't
God speak? out loud. He did. Hebrews 1 says, God, who at sundry
times in divers manners, different ways, spake unto the fathers
by the prophet. God did speak to men. He spoke to Moses, didn't he?
He spoke to Samuel, didn't he? Who spoke to Moses? Who spoke
to Samuel? You say, God. Who? Jesus Christ. He's the Word. He always has
been the Word. God has only ever spoken to human
beings by Christ. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. And God said the Word. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. Christ is the
Word. He's the only One who's ever
spoken to human beings. God. God spoke to Him. God spoke of him to men, but
it was at him. This is my beloved son. That's
what Peter was writing. That's the only time God, the
Father, has spoken out loud. Twice. The other time, God spoke
to men, and they were his spokesmen. Okay? Why doesn't he speak out
loud anymore? Because he has said all that
needs to be said, nothing more needs to be said. And God had
these men write it all down. No new revelation, no new word
from God needs to be heard. And God wrote it down. In Isaiah
820, you know this verse well, I could quote a bit, to the law
and to the testimony. That is the Old Testament, the
law of Moses, Levitical law, Mosaic law, the word of God,
and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, if they come up with some new
revelation, it's not of God. It's not of God. That's what
Isaiah 8.20 said, the Lord said. There's no light in them. And you know, this word, you
can turn to Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah 23. This same word is what God
uses. The written word is what God
uses to judge all prophets by, whether they be true or whether
they be false. This is how we judge them. This
is how they were judged then. This is how they're judged now,
to the law, to the testimony. If they're not speaking, saying
exactly what I've already said and written. There's no lie in
them. I didn't send them. Jeremiah
23. This is how we test and we're
told to try the Spirit, certainly, to test them. Jeremiah 23, verse
25. I have heard, God said, through
Jeremiah. I have heard what the prophets
said that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I dreamed it. I have dreamed. I've seen a vision. Now, isn't that what goes on
in so-called Pentecostal religion even today? God spoke to me. There's been so many charlatans
on TV, and there are more now than there were in the beginning,
who say, God spoke to me. God gave me a special revelation.
God has spoken to me, and this is what He said. Well, try them.
First of all, if a man said that, you know he's false, don't you?
But if he says something other than what God has already said,
he's a liar. If he talks about some vision
he saw, he's a liar. That's what God said. Look at
verse 28, verse 27. which they think to cause my
people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every
man. Verse 28, the prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a
dream. Let him go ahead and tell it,
but it's going to be like chaff. It's going to be blown away.
But he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. That's what The prophets of old
did. God gave them His Word, and they
came, and that's all they did was preach the Word. That's what
the apostles did, and that's what men sent by Him now do. Preach the Word. Timothy, preach
the Word. Preach the Word. In season, out
of season. This is My Word, and this is
what You say. Why doesn't God speak out loud? Because He's said all that needs
to be said. And it's all written down, nothing
more needs to be said. We have the complete, whole counsel
of God. The whole counsel. We don't need
anything else. And the Lord even warned in the Revelation, if
any man add to, will take away. I'll add to him the plagues written
in this book. Alright, why does not the Lord
speak out loud? Because Peter said we have a
more sure word than something spoken. We have the written word. And everyone in this room, we
all have a copy of this. Not just special men. Not just
prophets. Not just apostles. Bless God,
I have the word in my possession. I have it now. I've got the cow. I can go straight to the source.
In other words, the milk of the word. As a fellow one time said
to one of these Catholic priests, the scripture says that it calls
the word the sincere milk of the word. He said, I don't need
to come to you for it. I've got my own cow. We all have it. It's written.
It's always there too. It's the same. We all have it. However, men are certainly corrupting
it today, aren't they? They're twisting it. There are
so many perversions of Scripture now, so many so-called translations. There are perversions of the
Scripture. If you'll compare them, you'll
see that most of them, if not all of them today, twist the
original word so much that they leave out all the offense. Most
of them don't even refer to God as He, because that would offend
the feminists. Don't refer to the Son as the
Son, but the Child, and on and on it goes, people. Don't call
sodomites sodomites, but call them... I forget the word they
use. Don't want to offend anybody. God's Word. We have the Word
as it was written. Another reason why the Lord doesn't
speak out loud is because we have this same Word. We have the truth. We don't need
a special voice to us. We have the same Word. In other
words, They worshiped Elijah. Men and women, if you've ever
read the story of Elijah, they fell down at his feet. They did. The Lord didn't rebuke them for
doing that. He was such a powerful man. There
are no men like that anymore. But the point being is if someone
had such a special revelation of the Word that we did not have,
we would worship him. But see, that prophet came. The
Lord Jesus Christ came. We don't need another prophet.
We don't need another prophet. Peter, James, and John, when
Moses and Elijah appeared on the mountain, they almost bowed
down to those men, didn't they? God said, No, sir. This is My
Son. He's that prophet, the end-all
prophecy. He's told us all that needs to
be said. We would worship a man if he
had a special revelation that we don't have. And another reason is because
this is an incorruptible, unchanging Word that is written. What is
spoken can be misquoted. And most of the time it is. What
somebody says. It can be passed down through
two or three people, and it be completely changed. So-and-so said, so-and-so said,
so-and-so said. Until this person down here says,
so-and-so said, and the person that said it says, I said no
such thing. But not if it's written. Not
if it's written. Right? Something's written. Can't
be changed. It's written. And God says, I've
written this with a pin of iron. in the rock, and forever, O Lord,
thy word is settled in heaven." Jeremiah, O Jehoiakim, the evil
king, did not like God's work. So he took him a penknife, and
he was sitting by a fire, and this is what Thomas Jefferson
did. This is what men have basically
done again. So-called priest was reading
to the king, and he got a penknife and cut that, don't like that
page, and threw it in the fire. Kept cutting through it in the
fire until the whole book was in the fire, and he didn't like
any of it. That's the way it is with men today. But the Scripture
says, Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. The one
who wrote it, the author of it, has the master copy of it. And
he told Jeremiah, sit down, I'm going to give you another copy
of it. They can't destroy my Word. And Jeremiah sat down and
wrote an exact duplicate of what God had already said, and you
have it in your lap right now. And they've tried to destroy
it for years and can't. Why? Because what's written is
written. Catholicism, all evil religions
have tried to keep people from reading God's Word, you see.
And they themselves say, well, God spoke to us. Oh, no. No,
no, no, He didn't. God has spoken, and we have it
right here. It's an incorruptible, unchanged
word of God. It's just as God wrote it in
the beginning. more than sight. It's easy to
believe if you see something, isn't it? If you see something,
that's easy to believe. What is it, Missouri, the state
that calls it the show-me state, you know? I guess everyone there
is a bunch of skeptics. Well, everyone is. Show me and
I'll believe. No, God says, believe and I'll
show you. A man is only as good as his
words. And God is the Word. Christ is the Word. That is who
He is. God spoke. And nothing else needs
to be proved. God said. God spoke. And it is
honoring to God to take Him at His Word, to believe Him because
He said it, not because we understand it, not because we see it, But
because He said it, that honors Him. That honors God. And faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. And here's the wonderful thing
is, God said, if you believe, I'll show you. And we do by His
grace. We don't just decide to believe. He has to give us that faith.
The same way, by the Word. And then He begins to show us.
And David, I love this verse. I love this verse. David said,
Open mine eyes that I might behold wondrous things from thy law. That's what he shows us. We keep
seeing miracle after miracle, after sign, after sign, after
wonder. What's the sign? Prophet Jonas. We've all seen that before. Many
times, haven't we, the story? I saw some things I hadn't seen
before in Jonas. This is the way the Lord opens
our eyes and gives faith, and faith honors Him. And this increases
faith. Why doesn't the Lord speak out
loud? Why only the written Word and the preached Word? It's because
it increases faith. It increases faith. Faith grows
by hearing the Word. Knowledge, understanding, wisdom
increases as we see Him in the Word. And yes, we hear His voice. It's a miracle. And if you tell
this to people who've never heard Him, they don't understand it. They don't understand it. When
the Lord says, My sheep hear My voice, no one hears an audible
voice. Nobody in here has heard an audible
voice ever. No one in here has heard Jesus
Christ speak to them audibly, personally, and only then. We've
all heard, though, him speak through his word, just as really
as if he spoke out loud. And people say, so, you mean,
he spoke to you and not to me? I mean, you can hear him and
I can't. Well, yes. There's no sense in it. Christ said, My sheep, His chosen
sheep, this confirms that He chose a people. My sheep will
hear My voice. I know them. The Father gave
them to Me. All that the Father gives Me
shall come to Me. And I'm going to speak to them
through the Word, through the preaching of the Word. And they're
going to know it's Me. They're going to hear My voice. I'm going to speak to them personally.
And I remember the first time it really happened, and many
times since then. And you said it to me before
that the preacher would be preaching. And you felt like you were the
only one in the room. And you've literally said to
me and other men who have preached, you've said, I felt like you
were speaking just to me. Well, it wasn't to me. It was
the Lord, and that's He spoke to you through His Word, through
His Word, not an audible voice. It increases faith. And until
we reach the point like Peter and the disciples who said, we
believe, no, we're sure that thou art the Christ. Why? We've
heard His voice. Peter said this is a more sure
word. a prophecy, then if you saw his face, we saw him. Let
me ask you this, how could they not have faith when they saw
all that he did? It must not come by sight. How
much did they see him perform the miracle? And then he said,
oh, he said, why is it that you have no faith? If you don't believe
me for the works, the Word, How is it they could not believe
by seeing him? Because that's not the way it
comes. After he was gone, you know, they believed more after
he arose and left than they did when he was standing right beside
them. Peter denied him. They were all
scared to death. After they saw the whole fulfillment,
and the summary of all that he was telling them that they did
not understand when he was crucified, when he was buried and rose again.
And for 40 days, I believe, he was really opening their understanding
of the Scriptures then. Then he went back to heaven,
and they weren't crying like babies then. Don't go, don't
go. Oh, no. They know. They knew. He said
he'll never leave us. We can't see him. We know he's
there. We can't hear him. But he's speaking
to us. It's the wisdom of God, the power
of God, the comfort of God, the mercy of God. And we have the
same word that Peter had. The same voice. To increase our faith. Alright? Another reason is that every
one of God's people are able to hear from Him at any time. In other words, if he just spoke
at a certain time and then was silent, and you're waiting on
a word from him, I don't know when is he going to speak. He
said, anytime, day, night, wee hours of the morning, wee hours
at night, call and I'll let you speak. You'll find. Need a word
from me? Anytime. At any time, if you
really need to hear from me, I'll speak to you. Isn't that
wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? You don't
have to recall from memory, oh, I remember when he spoke to me,
oh, it was so dear and precious. No. Go right back to the same
word and have it confirmed to you. The very same thing, Brother
Milton Howard said this wonderful quote, he said, Preachers and
preaching is not so much teaching us new things as just reminding
us again and again what God has already said. Because we forget
so soon. And we're able to hear from Him
at any time. Just call. Just read. And as
I said before, I do this, I read the Word and it convicts me and
convicts me and convicts me, which is good. If you be without
it, you're not a child of God. If you can read the holy Word
of God and it not convict you as a sinner, something's wrong.
But keep reading because you need comfort. He chastens, but
whom he chastens, he comforts. So keep reading until it comforts
you. The Word wasn't written in chapters
and verses. You don't have to stop where there's a chapter.
Keep reading until he speaks to you. Like the psalm. That
didn't touch me. That didn't touch me. That didn't
touch me. That did. That did. Another reason is to increase
our diligence. It says he that cometh to God
must believe that he is, and he is a rewarder. Of them that diligently seek
Him. Diligence. Not half-hearted. Whole heart. If you seek me with
your whole heart, you'll find me. To increase our diligence. If we really need to hear from
the Lord, we'll hear from Him. We come in this place, we really
need to hear from Him. We'll hear from Him. That's what
it means to be gathered in His name. Our Lord was heard by the
Father always. Why? Because his name, his character,
his person was completely and totally in tune with his God.
He needed, he lived upon his God, and he spoke from the heart
to his God, and God heard him, and God spoke to him. Well, what
about us? We need to hear from him too.
It will increase diligence. He's a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. And Peter said, give diligence
to make your call in a relationship. Don't worry about the trivial
things, the temporal things, but oh my, give all your heart
and soul and strength to the eternal thing. And another reason is to make
this Word more dear to us. To make this Word more dear to
us. Oh, this is how He spoke to me before, and I believe He
will again. David said, Your Word was to
me like better than gold and silver. Precious Word. What would you give in exchange
for God's Word? What would you give up? Nothing. I mean, you'd give up everything
for it, but you wouldn't give it up for anything, would you? And lastly, and there are many
more reasons, I just know in part, But lastly, the Lord pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching, and preaching nearly always involves
more than one person, doesn't it? Two or three. Fellowship. And the Lord, and I think this is right, the Lord
didn't speak to any of his apostles by themselves, separate from
others at any time. Think about it. He took Peter,
James, and John up on the mountain. They spoke to Peter, but they
were all sitting listening at the fire, right? Two or three
are gathered because this fellowship, we need it, like sheep in a fold,
a flock. And we need each other to exhort
one another. And where two or three are gathered
in His name, Christ has promised. You need a word from Him? I can
tell you where He'll be every time. Every time. We're two or three
again. And in many times alone, He didn't
seem to speak to me. But, buddy, you come, and if
you're one of those two or three, you want to hear from Him. He's
promised that. And that will keep you coming,
because there are no lone sheep out there. Why doesn't God speak out loud
where we have a more sure word?