Advent: Are Any of Us Ready for The Coming, the Miraculous Experience of Truly Hearing His Words, of Truly Hearing His Coming Voice. John 8:47

John 8:42-47 The Message

^42-47 “If God were your father,” said Jesus, “you would love me, for I came from God and arrived here. I didn’t come on my own. He sent me. Why can’t you understand one word I say? Here’s why: You can’t handle it. You’re from your father, the Devil, and all you want to do is please him. He was a killer from the very start. He couldn’t stand the truth because there wasn’t a shred of truth in him. When the Liar speaks, he makes it up out of his lying nature and fills the world with lies. I arrive on the scene, tell you the plain truth, and you refuse to have a thing to do with me. Can any one of you convict me of a single misleading word, a single sinful act? But if I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Anyone on God’s side listens to God’s words. This is why you’re not listening—because you’re not on God’s side.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

In my experience, God doesn’t speak verbally, aloud.

Perhaps He did in those ancient Old Testament days; we know that people did indeed hear His actual, physical voice at times, but it just sounded like thunder except to the one to whom He was speaking.

God certainly can speak to us that way if He wished, but in these contemporary days of the indwelling Spirit, He speaks to our hearts as we read His Word and spend time in prayer with Him – He also speaks through the church and into the circumstances of our lives, but we must be paying attention to hear Him at all.

Here is a troubling verse (one we should all cause to become memorized):

He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God. (John 8:47)

Do you hear the words of God?

Do I hear the words of God?

Has God ever spoken to you?

Has God ever spoken to me?

Has God ever spoken to anyone we know?

Does this verse – John 8:47 – affirm or confirm or assure that any of us belong to God in these days, or cause any of us to stop and consider if we truly are “of God,” i.e., have we been born again, and do we belong to the family of God? 

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. … Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, “You must be born again.” (John 3:3,5-7)

What does it mean to hear from God?

Jesus does not leave us wondering whether we have heard Him speak.

In the context of much of John 8, I would suggest that here are at least nine ways we can know that we are “of God,” or conversely, we should all (gasp) discover we have indeed failed to hear Him speak and do not know Him at all.

• We continue in God’s word, where we find truth that makes us free (8:31-32). We believe that God’s word is the final authority on all things and is the only reliable source of truth in a world that lies to us every single day.
• We recognize that sin enslaves us; we realize the hold it can have on our hearts and minds (8:34). We believe that God has the right and authority to define what is and isn’t sin, despite what culture tells us. We know that to allow, tolerate, condone, or practice the things that God’s word defines as “sin” is to be enslaved, both to our flesh, and to God’s enemy, Satan.
• We have been freed from sin; we are able to say “no” to temptation by the power of God’s Spirit who lives in us (8:36). We are not perfect in practice, but we continually pursue holiness that pleases God in our thoughts, words, and actions.
• We do not want to “get rid” of Jesus, but long for more intimacy (8:37-41). We are seeking to elevate Him in our hearts and in the world, not push Him away or deny Him His rightful place.
• We love Jesus, and acknowledge that He is the Son of God, sent into the world by His Father (8:42). No other gods will do. No other religion will suffice.
• We understand spiritual truths, something which a lost person cannot do (8:43,47). While we will continue to seek to know and understand the truths of scripture for the rest of our lives, even now, it makes sense to us. We can read God’s word and our minds are enlightened to understand it.
• We love and protect life and despise murder (8:44). We understand that God is the giver of life and that He hates the shedding of innocent blood (Proverbs 6:17).  We know that Jesus was right when He equated anger to murder (Matthew 5:21-22) because to despise and hate another person is just as wrong in God’s eyes as it would be to actually kill them.
• We speak the truth and avoid lies (8:44). We are convicted by God’s Holy Spirit to be people of honor and integrity, to keep our word, and to avoid all pretense and cunning deception.
• We set the world aside, believe what Jesus says, and accept it as truth (8:46).

Perhaps that last one is the most important one.

Those who hear from God must acknowledge that Jesus’ words are true.

There is no way around it.

If we reject Jesus, if we reject His words, we are not “of God” and we will not see the kingdom of heaven and we can say conclusively, have not heard God speak.

John 8:47 is a very sobering verse – it should cause us to stop and examine our lives and ask ourselves, “Has God spoken to me?” “Is God speaking to me now?”

God tells us His Spirit will not always strive with men.

If we continue to stop up our ears and harden our hearts, He will stop speaking and let us go on our own way down the path to destruction.

Do not take it for granted when you sense the conviction of God’s Holy Spirit.

Stop and listen carefully.

The all-powerful, sovereign God who created you is speaking!

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:25-30)

The Miraculous Experience of Our Hearing His Voice

To seek the fullness of relationship with God is to hear his voice. 

“Whoever is of God hears the words of God” (John 8:47).

Just like when I seek true relationship with a person, or a child a conversation must happen; when we seek to truly know God, He talks with us – He is not a God who is ever silent but a God who speaks to us in any and every way He can.

All throughout the New Testament, there is both teaching on hearing the voice of God and instances where the people of God had conversation with Him.

John 14:16-17 Jesus says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” 

And later in John 16:13 Jesus says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

God himself dwells within us and longs to speak to every place in our hearts.

He longs for us to know the will of our heavenly Father the way Jesus did.

Longs for us to follow His leading moment by moment the way the apostles did.

And He longs for us to engage in fellowship, conversation with Him, as all those who are in true fellowship, in true relationship with one another do.

The immutable Biblical Truth is exactly this: God is constantly speaking to us.

The problem is that we do not know how to listen.

The problem is that we will flat out refuse to listen – or its selective listening – when we do not like what is being communicated and refuse to hear the words.

Scripture tells us that He is declaring the invisible attributes of his nature through creation (Psalm 19)

Psalm 19 The Message

19 ^1-2 God’s glory is on tour in the skies,
    God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
    Professor Night lectures each evening.

^3-4 Their words aren’t heard,
    their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
    unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

^4-5 God makes a huge dome
    for the sun—a superdome!
The morning sun’s a new husband
    leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete
    racing to the tape.

⁶ That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies
    from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts,
    warming hearts to faith.

^7-9 The revelation of God is whole
    and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear
    and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right,
    showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain
    and easy on the eyes.
God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold,
    with a lifetime guarantee.
The decisions of God are accurate
    down to the nth degree.

¹⁰ God’s Word is better than a diamond,
    better than a diamond set between emeralds.
You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring,
    better than red, ripe strawberries.

^11-14 There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger
    and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way?
    Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
    Keep me from stupid sins,
    from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed,
    scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
These are the words in my mouth;
    these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them
    on the morning altar,
O God, my Altar-Rock,
    God, Priest-of-My-Altar.

And then there are these more sobering words of the Apostle Paul to ponder;

Romans 1:18-23 The Message

Ignoring God Leads to a Downward Spiral

^18-23 But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

When I finally decide to actually take time to experience firsthand the things God has made, God has spoken into existence – I finally feel His full presence.

There is a reason it’s peaceful to be in creation.

There is a reason it’s restful to be back to nature, in the mountains, lay on a beach, rowing a boat, fishing in a lake or a pond or or swimming in the sea.

All of creation is declaring the glory of God, declaring the wonderful character of our loving God, the miraculous, the wonderful words of life that He offers.

We just need to learn how and when to listen.

God speaks to us through his revealed word.

The inspirer of Scripture dwells within us and longs to use the Bible as a wonderful avenue to encountering its Author.

The Bible is not a biography written after someone has died.

Rather, it is the living, active words of a living, active God who longs for the very deepest most intimately possible relationship with us (Hebrews 4:12).

God speaks to us through one another.

All of us as believers have been given the same Spirit who has called us to a lifestyle of encouraging one another.

We are called to be a critical part of the process of discovering God’s heart and will in each other’s lives.

If we will make time to learn how God speaks to us for others, we will discover the very words of God given by grace to the lips of man.

And God speaks to us directly from his Spirit to our spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a vocal God.

He longs for us to know his thoughts.

He longs to direct us whether it be through words, a sense, a desire, through an uneasiness, or a tap on the shoulder, elbow in the ribcage type of prompting.

He is always speaking to us.

In order to learn to hear his voice moment by moment, whether we are inside solitude or in chaos, we must make time in the secret place to seek the fullness of relationship with him.

It’s in our intentionally seeking relationship with God that we become familiar with his voice and are able to closer follow him as a sheep with their Shepherd.

Take time in guided prayer to seek the face of your heavenly Father and hear his voice however he is choosing to speak.

In these days ahead, do not limit yourself to hearing him in only one way.

The path to the fullness of relationship with him is marked by his voice in each of these ways and more.

Open your heart and your soul to hearing Him through any and every way He is speaking that you might grow in your relationship with a good and loving God.

In the name of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on Scripture that declares God to be a vocal God. 

Allow Scripture to stir up your desire to hear God in every way He speaks.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

“Whoever is of God hears the words of God.” John 8:47

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20

2. In what ways are you comfortable hearing God? 

What ways might be new to you? Know that there is grace to grow in every facet of your relationship with him. Don’t limit yourself to only what you’ve known or experienced up to this point. Rather, seek the truth of God’s word by his Spirit and discover a wealth of relationship you might not have yet experienced.

3. Choose one of the ways God speaks that’s new to you and ask him to help you have conversation with him through that avenue. 

Again, hearing His voice through all of these avenues is meant to be the byproduct of simply seeking relationship with Him. Just as we do not seek to hear the voice of another person but seek relationship with them and get a conversation as a result, simply seek to know God and talk with Him.

“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” Jeremiah 33:3

“And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” Isaiah 30:21

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” John 16:13

To have conversation with God might sound strange for some, but that does not mean it does not happen.

Rather, to have conversation with God available to us and to not take advantage of it is strange.

God longs to speak to you.

The Creator of all longs to have dialogue with you.

The King of kings and Lord of lords is inviting you to meet with him that you might have true relationship.

Seek God with all your heart.

Look to Scripture and the lives of biblical believers as your source of truth and normalcy.

Because of God’s heart to miraculously speak to you, you can live your life in constant conversation with a God who is both near to you and who loves you.

O Lord, your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path. Give us grace to receive your truth in faith and love, to receive your wisdom with an open heart and grant strength to follow on the path you set before us; through Jesus Christ, Amen.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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