"Hearing God" Ch. 10

Chapter 10

"Knowing God's Voice by Its Content (2)"

I. Knowing God's Voice by how the content relates to our sins

A. The Holy Spirit's influence

1. If the Holy Spirit dwells in us, directing and controlling us, the Promise of the Father will be fulfilled--He will convict us of sin, thereby assuring us that we belong to God.

2. John 16:8-9 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; (9) concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me"

B. Reasons that God deals with our behavior as His child

1. Sin hurts us and it hurts other people; so He chastises us because He loves us.

2. God is holy and righteous; so, He cannot tolerate sin, which is discordant with His nature and offends Him.

3. Sin blocks His ever-increasing fellowship with us.

C. All Scripture and the experience of all the saints of the ages testify that God takes action directly and personally with sinners.

D. "Conviction" compared with "Condemnation"--imitation conviction from the enemy.

1. Conviction by the Holy Spirit

a. Definite and specific. The Lord tells me exactly what we have done.

b. Recognizable. It is something unconfessed and unforgiven that

we recognize--usually in the immediate past

c. Definite solution. The Holy Spirit tells us how to take care of the sin. When we obey, we get relief from soul-pain guilt.

2. Condemnation by the enemy

a. Indefinite and vague. We feel guilty but cannot identify any specific sin.

b. Imaginary. We have a hard time putting our finger on this unless it is something in the past that we have already taken care of.

c. Usually no solution. If any solution is offered, it is irrational and unscriptural. The soul-pain intensifies.

II. Knowing God's voice by how the content relates to our self-image…

A. A proper God-image and a proper self-image are indispensable to the Christian life.

1. If either of these is crippled, our spiritual walk will be halting and lame.

2. The Lord seeks to build to maturity both our God-image and our self image.

3. Our self-worth is never attacked by the Lord. He will correct our behavior, but He never condemns our worth.

B. Psalm 139:14 "I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, And my soul knows it very well."

III. Knowing God's voice by what it tells you about relating to others…God shows us how He sees others--with the eyes of love.

B. Our relationships with people depend on our perception of them.

C. The enemy tries to give us wrong thoughts that result in wrong actions, so that the Name of Christ will be discredited by the behavior of Christians to one another.

D. Characteristics of God's way of dealing with others

1. Tempering justice with mercy and forgiveness

a. The Lord's word to us about others will contain these elements:

1.) The good in others

2.) The help we can give to others

3.) Forgiveness

4.) Explanations of why the person acted that way

5.) A consciousness of our own weakness and failures in the past

b. Satan's word to us will contain these elements of generalization and retribution:

1.) Value judgments--generalized speculations on the basis of an observation (which might not be true)

2.) Revenge

3.) Degrading thoughts about individuals

c. TRUTH: A merciful God helps His children to be merciful.

2. Building relationships, not divisions

a. Our problems with others affect our relationship with Him.

b. Matthew 5:23-24 ''''23If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering."

c. Our heavenly Father will speak to us concerning:

1.) Reasons why we need to get together

2.) Ways in which we can build bridges to others

3.) Ways in which we can worship with them

4.) The worth of our brothers and sisters to Him and to us

d. Areas in which Satan's attempt at causing division in the body of Christ have centered

1.) The enemy uses doctrine to divide.

a.) The enemy will seek to use our understanding of truth to separate us from those who do not have

the same perception.

b.) We must keep in mind that…

i. None of us has all the truth about any one doctrine.

ii. Perceptions of truth are progressively revised as one becomes more and more mature.

iii. Perceptions of truth are tempered by one's spiritual gifts

2.) The enemy uses experience to divide.

a.) A supernatural experience from God is determined by such things as personality type or level of

maturity in Christ.

b.) It can also be God's sovereign decision to give a spiritual experience for a purpose of His own determination.

c.) He seeks to make us perceive spiritual experiences as:

i. A measure of maturity

ii. A measure of closeness to God

iii. A measure of God's blessings on an individual

d.) Tendencies

i. We look down on those who have not had a particular experience.

ii. We demand that others have the same experience.

iii. We divide ourselves into groups, identifying with those who have had similar experiences to our own.

3.) The enemy uses different methods to divide.

a.) He seeks to divide people by the way they do ministry.

b.) 1 Corinthians 12:4-7

“4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.

5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.

6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.”

IV. Knowing God's voice by what the content tells us about faith.

A. "Faith" means trusting God, not what our senses tell us.

B. God keeps us at the point of trusting Him for something new.

1. In ourselves

2. In our loved ones

3. In our ministry

C. Areas we must trust Him in…

1. For deeper levels

2. For more growth

3. For wider usage

4. For advancing from faith to faith

D. llls.: Dr. Charles Stanley: "God is always challenging our faith and in so doing He builds our relationship with Him and helps us grow into intimacy with Him."

E. The clearest and most normal way that God speaks to us is through His Word.

1. He may give us His "Logos" [Logos] (general word).

a. Logos [Logos] is Greek for the general Word of God.

b. Definition

1.) "Collect, count, say, intellectual, rational, reasonable, spiritual" (Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol.3)

2.) "The expression of thought. Not the mere name of an object

a.) as embodying a conception or ideal;

b.) a saying or a statement." (Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words)

c. The whole Bible is God's Logos. Logos can often designate the Christian proclamation as a whole in the New Testament.

d. The word logos refers to the content of the message.

e. It gives us an absolute standard against which to measure all "truth."

1.) It is our safeguard to keep us from error.

2.) It is our instruction manual for life.

f. Logos includes all aspects of communication, from the formulation of the ideas to be spoken, to the consideration of the language style, through the actual verbalization and reception by the hearer.

2. He may give us a "Rhema" [Rhema] (specific word).

a. Rhema [Rhema] is Greek for a specific word from God—the word of God spoken by His mouth for the immediate time and situation.

b. Definition

1.) "That which is stated intentionally; a word, an utterance, a matter, event, case" (Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 3)

2.) Denotes that which is spoken; what is uttered in speech" (Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words)

c. The word rhema refers to the way in which the message was received.

d. Rhema usually relates to individual words and utterances.

e. Rhema stands specifically for the "uttering" or "actual expressing."

f. A rhema is a promise that God has definite plans for a situation or problem.

F. God bolsters our faith.

1. Characteristics of What God will speak…

a. The word is in line with scriptural principles.

b. The word will cause us to trust Him more.

c. The word could be repeated and expanded as we go back to the Lord about it.

2. Ills.: Abraham

a. God gave Abraham a command: "Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you" (Genesis 12:1)

b. God promised Abram that He would bless him and make him a great nation. (Genesis 12:2, 3)

c. God expanded the promise to include territory. Genesis 13:14, 15

“14 After Lot had gone, the LORD said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction—north and south, east and west.

15 I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession.

d. God enlarged on what He had meant about Abram's descendants.

Genesis 13:16

“And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted!”

e. God repeated His promise about the land.

Genesis 15:7

“Then the LORD told him, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”

f. God reiterated and expanded His promise.

Genesis 17:6-8

6 I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them!

7 “I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation.

This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

8 And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.”

G. The enemy attacks our faith.

1 Satan will attack and bombard our faith by pointing our thoughts in certain directions to get us to doubt.

a. God's goodness

b. What God has said

2. Types of bombardments

a. Pointing us to the negatives of our own and others' past experiences.

1.) "I remember what happened the last time I did this!"

2.) "I remember what happened when [name] did this!"

b. Pointing us to the "limitations" of our present circumstances

1.) "That can never happen: there are too many obstacles in the way"

2.) "I can't do it. Let someone else try"

3.) "I've tried, and it doesn't make any difference. I give up!"

3. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

“16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."