The Call
Everything on The Consider Podcast and website has to do with the call for all men and women to repent. Such is an offer of mercy for those willing to follow Jesus by hating their life and picking up their cross. After all, even the demons believe in God, but they are terrified. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder. James 2:19
The Promised Land
Audiobook
Text The Promised Land
It takes three things to hear God’s voice correctly and have ears that hear. We will examine the third aspect toward the end of this chapter, but first, we need faith and, secondly, an obedience that comes from that faith.1 If obedience is absent, then the faith is folly expressed in religious words and deeds. If we desire the riches of the promised land, then we must rid ourselves of unbelief and cultivate a faith that obeys. To obey the Bible without belief in the voice of the Holy Spirit is to become a legalist. To claim to believe in the voice of the Lord without an obedience that comes by way of the cross is to become a rebel. But first, let us see why the Israelites could not enter the promised land.
So we see that they were not able to enter because of their unbelief. (Hebrews 3:19)
Like the Israelites of old who were not permitted to enter the promised land, we too cannot claim the promises of God until we come before the mercy seat full of faith that He does talk to His children. We might, in presumptions of religious pride, claim a promise as our own, but God will reject such rebels because their faith must come from heaven’s faith. A faith that is full of and overflowing with “obedience” inspired by the Holy Spirit.
It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in because of their disobedience. (Hebrews 4:6)
We need to note well that Hebrews 3:19 declares they could not enter because of “unbelief,” while Hebrews 4:6 declares they could not enter because of “disobedience.” Both are true. The man who does not believe God will not obey Him. The man who does not believe God speaks will not listen. And the man who does not listen for God idolizes his Bible study. With this in mind, it is easy to understand why Jesus said that we must obey a God that is “in heaven” if we desire salvation. A man cannot just obey the Bible and expect to go to heaven. That is like using our own tools to build an altar to God and to become like Saul, who went where God sent him but refused to listen for His voice. Saul did his religious duty, he obeyed the Bible but didn’t listen for God Himself to speak.
But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22)
We must hear from God what His will is for us each day, obeying the Father who is in heaven.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21)
Consider Jesus and the fact that we are to walk like Him in this world.5 Jesus heard the Voice of God and we are commanded to listen for this voice and follow the one who speaks to us from heaven. Jesus spent the night in prayer and then chose twelve apostles. The Holy Spirit that God gives us is our counselor and a very personal Spirit of Truth that will be with us throughout all of eternity.6 The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity of God and the living God in us. If we expect God to give us more of His Holy Spirit, then we must come before Him with obedience in mind.
There is power in God’s voice. It can create a universe, it can sustain heaven and break trees of cedar.7 If we seek to obey His voice, grace and mercy will be given us in abundance. Therefore, we are without excuse for not living a perfect life in Jesus. As 1 Peter 1:3 tells us, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” Only our stubbornness, sinfulness and hard heartedness keep us from walking just as Jesus did in this world.
You can easily spot a mocker who declares they have the Holy Spirit because they obviously do not practice what Jesus taught. Though they claim to have the Holy Spirit, they do not obey the living God. In fact, I have known many a preacher and ministry organization that in terms of doctrine, teach correctly the message of the cross but do not obey the Holy Spirit. They obey their own set of guidelines and understanding of Scripture, but they do not hear the voice of God that instructs them in how, when, and what to obey. As Jesus said, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
In the book of 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 4, we are told that the precious promises of God empower us to overcome sin. But like Joshua in the Old Testament, the taking of the Promise Land, or promises of God for us, requires that we do so at the leading of the Holy Spirit. We must, like Joshua, meet the army of God and follow where the army is commanded to go.9 It is not for us to pick our battles or how to fight them; it is the Spirit’s sword, the living Word of God, that does the fighting.
Obedience does not mean that we go the Bible, pick a passage and seek to obey that ink on paper. This causes us to become a foolish Galatians spell-bound by our own bewitchment. Like a witch that believes she has the words to the incantations correct, those in Christ who do not obey by way of the cross foolishly believe they have correct doctrine. Because they do not hear God concerning doctrine, they believe their doctrine is correct. For “all a man’s ways seem innocent to him.”11 Only the voice of God can give us sound doctrine.
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. (Galatians 3:1)
Only by seeing Jesus Christ clearly crucified and understanding what that means can we gain the promised land. In short, there is no resurrected life without the crucifixion. Jesus told all who come after Him to be saved that they must pick up a daily cross.13 This is the third element that determines whether a man or woman has ears to hear correctly or not. So many people go wrong because they have not allowed the cross to kill them. They have rushed ahead believing that their own voices are the voice of God. Jeremiah spoke boldly against the corruption of his day and his words are needed now more than ever. For the church has rejected the offensive, painful cross of Christ and embraced their opinions about God. As each man claims that his own words are the voice of God, we see more corruption in the church. Each person does what they want, pleasing their flesh and doing their will in the name of the Lord. They may quote Scripture, but the “words of the living God” have been distorted.
But you must not mention ‘the oracle of the Lord’ again, because every man’s own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God. (Jeremiah 23:36)
If we want ears to hear, then we must allow the cross to crucify us so that we can hear clearly. For after crucifixion is the resurrected life with all of its blessings. We must feel terrified of delighting in our religious opinions and wait upon the cross to crucify the fleshly desires that would distort what God wants. After all, only a fool delights in airing his own opinion. And our greatest danger as Christians is to hear God is trying to enter the promised land by our religious, Biblical opinions.
Chapter 4: The promised land
- Why do we need faith, obedience, and crucifixion of self in order to hear God?
- What happens if we obey Scripture or doctrines without faith and belief that we can hear the voice of God?
- Take a moment and ask yourself, “Am I willing to die to self so that I can hear God?”
Ears to Hear: Chapter 5 | [Continue to Next Chapter →]
The Consider Podcast
Examining Today’s Wisdom, Folly and Madness
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Former Salt Shaker Bookstore
The Salt Shaker Christian bookstore, because of persecution by Washington State Authorities, was destroyed and ran out of the town of Enumclaw. Just part of the proof that Sound Doctrine Church was walking the narrow road with Jesus.
For you, brothers became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men. 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15
It was a beautiful store. A result of the hard work of Sound Doctrine Church. In the store was a free rack because, as Jesus said, “Freely you received, freely give.” The following track is a small reproduction of the love that burned in our hearts to give freely.
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