His Voice Only 1999

Most of us in this gathering have been following Jesus for quite a while. We've seen lots of answered prayer. We've come through many a storm.

And we know in our hearts that there's nothing else in this world worth living for than the crucified and risen Son of God. And yet, who of us can say that we're satisfied with our faith, with our walk, with our vision? Most of us will quickly admit that for all the good things that are going on in this life of faith, something's missing. We're like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration.

We're so glad that Jesus brought us to this place. What a privilege to be a disciple. What a blessing to be in this movement.

Isn't it great that we've left all this churchy-attity stuff behind? Isn't it great that we're learning how to worship with integrity? What a wonderful thing to be part of a fellowship where Nicodemus, the teacher, and Lazarus, the beggar, are all welcome. But underneath all this bubbling, we know something's missing. Still, we go right on bubbling.

While our roots as believers in Jesus go all the way back to Moses the lawgiver, Elijah the prophet, we are part of the true Israel. Thank you, Lord, for bringing us into this. Now let's build something here so that we'll never forget what a wonderful thing we got going here.

Lord, if you don't mind, I'm going to build three booths, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He was still speaking when, lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were filled with awe. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, Rise, and have no fear. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

Peter had been following Jesus for better than three years. He had left his fishing business, his wife, everything, just to be with Jesus. But now the Father tells Peter to do something that he's not been doing very well.

This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. Well, isn't that what Peter's been doing? Why else would he leave everything to follow Jesus? Because he's got to listen, he's got to learn.

And yet the Father is saying, in effect, Simmer down, Peter, and listen to my Son. Peter is like many of us, he's a man of action. Let's build three booths.

Let's take up our swords and solve this problem. Let's get a revival going here. Let's get a Christian government in Washington.

Now, Peter is never at a loss for words. He always has something to say. What Peter needs to learn is to listen.

All that talking and all that doing isn't going to get him anywhere until he learns to listen to Jesus. So when's the last time you really listened to Jesus? When you graduate from nursing school, you're a nurse. You don't have to keep running back to school every three days to find out how to do it.

You know how to do it. When you graduate from welding school, you're a welder. You don't have to take your instructor with you on that construction job.

When you graduate from law school and pass the bar, you're a lawyer. When you graduate from medical school, you're a doctor. But Jesus' school of discipleship continues throughout this life.

You're still just a disciple. A learner. That's all.

And there's only one teacher. Yeah, but Peter had it easier. I mean, Jesus was right there.

He could see him. He could reach out and touch him. All Peter needed to do was slow down and listen.

We come along 20 centuries later, after the Ascension, and we can't see Jesus, we can't reach out and touch him, we can't sit down and ask him questions. I wish Jesus would come along and tell me what to do. I'd do it.

But everything's second-hand. It's what some preacher says, or what some Christian writer says. Even when I go to the Bible, I have difficulty figuring out how to obey half those commands.

Why can't Jesus just tell me directly? He will speak to you directly. He wants to speak to you directly. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. I will come in and eat with her, and she with me. We'll talk.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, and here Jesus is speaking, not to pagans, not to heathens, but to believers. People who have already come to faith. People like ourselves, who maybe have been following Jesus for quite a while.

And people who are pretty satisfied that things are going okay. Oh, there are a few things missing maybe, but generally I'm okay. And he shakes his head and says, You're not.

Your heart is starting to get fluttered. You're beginning to lose touch. You're getting lukewarm.

And I'm standing outside this door knocking and speaking. Are you listening? Every time the Father says to Peter, or to you, or to me, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.

It's because Jesus is near, and he has something to say. The voice that we need to listen for is not the voice of our favorite preacher, or our favorite evangelist, or our favorite writer, or Moses, or Elijah. Just my sheep.

Hear my voice. And I know them. And they follow me.

And I give them eternal life. And they shall never perish. And no one shall snatch them out of my hand.

You will hear his voice. You will. I'm not talking about hearing voices.

I'm talking about a word coming into your heart by whatever means God chooses. And it's a word that you will recognize right away as a message coming from the Lord Himself personally to you. It's a word that rings true.

It calls us once again to faith in Him. It calls us to repentance for the stuff we've allowed to clutter our hearts. It calls us to obedience to His command to forgive, and give, and love, and serve.

It calls us to turn away from that darkness, face the light, follow Him all the way to the cross. Perhaps it's something we've been hearing for months. Perhaps a step that needs to be taken, a change we need to make in ourselves.

A specific thing like an attitude, a grudge, some childish vanity that keeps us from reaching out to this person. But Jesus is speaking to us in the same way He spoke to Peter after the ascension, after Peter could no longer see Him with these eyes. In fact, Peter only really began to hear Jesus after he could no longer see Him, after Pentecost.

And the same Spirit that opened Peter's ears so that he could really begin to hear is in our midst. I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak.

And He will declare to you things that are to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. This promise has been and is being fulfilled.

The Spirit is here, and wherever the Spirit is, Jesus is. This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.

See, it's not that Jesus isn't speaking to us. It's that our hearts are so cluttered with our own concerns, we're not listening. For Peter, he was distracted really by Moses and Elijah.

For us, it could be our preoccupation with the right way to worship, or the right way to deal with the abortion issue, or the right way to organize a church, or the right way to vote, or perhaps it's our obsession with money, or some wound that somebody inflicted on us ten years ago, and it's still there because we keep picking at it and digging at it, instead of turning it over to God and letting Him heal it. Or maybe it's our worry about our children. Or maybe it's our impatience with all these hypocrites around.

And all the while, Jesus is knocking on the door, speaking to us, and saying, until your relationship with Me is clear, nothing is going to be clear. I am the vine, you're the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, abides in Me by walking with Me, listening to Me.

He it is that bears much fruit. She it is that bears much fruit. For apart from Me, you can do nothing.

Apart from Me, all your crusades and all the kingdoms you're building, presumably in My name, amount to nothing. But if you abide in Me, and My words abide in you because you're listening to them, you're going to bear fruit. Whatever you ask the Father in My name, He's going to give to you.

The works that I do, you're going to do. You will have revival in your own life and in the lives that you touch, because the powers of the world to come, that world, are already flowing freely through you. Christendom is a busy place these days.

Lots and lots of activity in Christendom. Crusades and campaigns all over the country. More programs than you can shake a stick at.

A hundred different gospels on the airwaves. Why the Mount of Transfiguration is so crowded with lawgivers and prophets, there's hardly room for Moses and Elijah anymore. But when that cloud of glory comes, they'll all be gone.

When the fires of judgment fall, as they soon will, what will be left? This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus alone was present.

We ask, Lord God, in the name of Jesus, by the power of His Spirit, that You would help us to sort out our own hearts. And by Your grace, whatever You put Your finger on in us, that's getting in the way, that's diluting the truth, that's weakening our resolve, that's blurring our vision, dulling our hearing, whatever it is, grant us by Your grace the power to get rid of it, turn away from it, and fix our attention, heart, mind, soul, and spirit, on You, Lord Jesus, and on You alone. That by hearing Your Word, the Word may give us the power to do it.

Now and in the days to come. For Your mercy's sake, amen.