Hearing the Voice of the Lord — Carter Conlon

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Psalm 29 please. I'm going to speak this morning about hearing the voice of the Lord. Something that you should be concerned about. If you're a true believer in Jesus Christ, how do I hear God's voice?

How do I know it's God's voice? And for some, it's why can't I hear the voice of God? Psalm 29. Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty. Verse 1. Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thundereth. The Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yea, the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also to skip like a calf. Lebanon and Syrian like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve and discovereth the forests. And in His temple does everyone speak of His glory.

The Lord sits upon the flood. Yea, the Lord sits king forever. The Lord will give strength unto His people. The Lord will bless His people with peace. Thanks be to God. No matter what the coming days hold, the Lord will bless His people with peace.

Hearing Christ’s Voice in John 10

Now folks, we're living in perilous times. If ever there was a season in history that each of us needs to be able to hear God's voice, it's now. Now it's wonderful if you have pastors, if you're visiting, if you're a visiting pastor, if you're visiting from another church, it's wonderful that you have men or women of God that are hearing the voice of the Lord.

But folks, if you'll put a marker in Psalm 29 and go to John chapter 10, very, very quickly with me. Now Jesus said it plainly. It's very nice that other people hear the voice of God, but you can hear the voice of God.

God can speak to you. He can be that voice that says to you, this is the way, walk in it. He can give you comfort. He can give you assurance. He can give you direction. He can give you a hope, as He says, in the future.

And you are to hear the voice of God. And you are to hear His voice clearly and plainly. Listen to what Jesus said. He sets it to rest in John chapter 10 in verse 2, or verse 3. To Him the porter opens.

He's talking about Himself, Christ. And the sheep hear His voice. And He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. So in other words, God says, I'm going to be a voice to you. And wherever you're in, if you're in a place you shouldn't be, or if you're in trouble or trial or confusion or difficulty or despair, whatever it is, or even just through the storms of this world, He says, I'm going to be the voice.

I'm going to call you by name. I'm going to call you individually. I'm not just going to throw out this generic, hey sheep, come follow me. He says, no, I'm going to call you by name. I know your name.

I know everything about you. And I'm going to call you if you can hear me. And I'm going to lead you out. And when He puts forth, verse 4, His own sheep, He goes before them. And the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.

Now, folks, you have to know His voice. It's inarguable. I thank God that I've learned to hear His voice. I know His voice. He's spoken to me over the years about so many different things. I could share examples, but I would take up all of the preaching time this morning just doing that.

Hearing God’s Voice Through Personal Providence

From the time I was just a young preacher, I'm driving home one day, I passed by an empty spot in a field, and the Holy Spirit said, you're going to be living there shortly. Now, I didn't know my house was going to burn down.

I didn't know a contractor was going to build a new home on that very spot that the Holy Spirit had spoken to me. The moment our house burned down in 1990, I drove to that spot because that's what the Holy Spirit had told me, that He was going to bring me through the fire, and He was going to establish me.

And I went to that spot, and a contractor was just finishing the building of a brand new home. And he said, nobody's living here basically now, and this home is not for sale, but it will be very shortly if you're interested in buying it.

That's the house we bought. And I ended up living in this spot in the field that the Holy Spirit had once spoken to me about. You see, folks, there is something about hearing the voice of God. This is one of many, many, many illustrations.

Now, I'm not going to preach to you something today that is mystical. I'm going to preach to you a very practical way that you can know and hear the voice of God in our generation. Verse 5 says, A stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him.

They do not know the voice of strangers. In other words, there are many voices out there claiming to speak for God, but they're strangers. They really are not hearing from God. They're not speaking for God.

There are voices of your own heart that will rise up and try to masquerade as the voice of God. Quite often, it's either stubbornness or fear. It's something else that's trying to speak to you in the Lord's name.

But you will know that this is not the voice of God, Jesus said. And in verse 16, he said, Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, and them also I must bring. And they shall hear my voice, and there will be one fold, and there will be one shepherd.

So Jesus makes it very, very clear that my sheep are going to hear my voice. They're going to hear me speaking to them. Now, in Deuteronomy, if you'll go back there in the Old Testament, please, with me to chapter 26.

Covenant Obedience and Hearing God’s Voice

Now, Moses was speaking on the Lord's behalf in this chapter of Scripture to the people of God of that time. And here was the arrangement, for lack of a better word, in this season of history that God had with his people.

And it bears witness to where we're living today. In verse 17 of Deuteronomy, chapter 26, he says, Thou hast devoused the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken, or to listen to his voice.

Now, here's what Moses is saying to the people. Here's what you said to God. You said to God, we'll walk in your ways. We will obey what you tell us. We'll keep your commandments and the pathways you set before us, and we will listen to your voice.

Now, God would speak to those who wanted to hear him in the manner that he did in this season of scriptural history. And verse 18, it says,. And the Lord has devoused thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments, and to make you high above the nations which he has made in praise, and in name, and in honor, that thou mayest be a holy people unto the Lord thy God as he has spoken.

Now, here's what Moses is saying. You've promised to obey him and to hear his voice, and the Lord promised to you today or in this generation that he will make you an unusual people. As Paul said, a people who seem to know their way in the midst of darkness.

A people who are changing, not from confusion to confusion as the world is going, but from image to image, and glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. He's promised to do this. And he's promised to make you high above all nations which he has made in praise, and in name, and in honor.

Isaiah speaks about a day of fire coming to the whole world. But he says in that day there's going to be a song that's going to be heard in the midst of the world. It's going to be a song, a glorifying to God, even in the midst of the fire in this particular day that he speaks about.

And the Lord says, I promise to do this for you. If you'll hear my voice, if you'll walk in truth as I speak it to you, I'll make you high above the nations. When nations are turning into confusion, when ambassadors of peace are weeping bitterly, when men's hearts are failing them for fear of the things that are coming upon the earth, God says, I'm going to bring you above these things.

And you're going to be a people who know where you're going. You're going to be a people who are able to praise in the midst of calamity. You're not going to be confounded by the events that begin to unfold around you because you're going to know who I am.

You're going to know I'm able to keep you and you're going to know where you're going. You'll be supernaturally sustained in the midst of trouble. And that you may be a holy people unto the Lord thy God as he has spoken.

The Church’s Failure to Obey God’s Voice

Now God says, I'm going to make you different than the people of this world. Your value base is going to be different than the value base of this world. You're not going to be going to a polluted well to find drink in this time of worldwide thirst for truth that is now even begun upon us today.

But I'm going to make you a people who have substance. You know who I am and subsequently you know also who you are. Now this was the promise of God in Deuteronomy chapter 26. Yet as we go ahead in history to Judges chapter 2, the Lord said, I called you.

I'm going to paraphrase it, but he said, I called you to go in among the people. I called you to be different to me. I called you to tear down their altars. But he said, you've not obeyed my voice. Why have you done this?

Oh, folks, I wonder sometimes, is this the cry of God to his church in our generation? The things that I wanted to do, the things that I would have done, how I would have glorified my name through you.

How American society and Canadian society and Western society could be different in our generation. But a people arose that didn't know the ways of God and had no heart to hear his voice any longer. And began to listen to the voices of men and not the voice of God.

Didn't the apostle Paul say in the last days that men's ears are going to be turned away from the truth? And they're going to start listening to stories. They're not going to be hearing the voice of God any longer.

They'll hear stories, moral stories even, stories about God, stories about perhaps good things. But it's not the voice of God. And the evidence of it is only the voice of God has the power to bring life out of nothing.

Stories can't bring life, folks. Entertainment can't bring life. Theories about God can't bring life. The voice of God brings life. I remind you that it was the voice of God that called Lazarus out of the grave.

There were no seven steps to resurrection involved. It was God's voice and Lazarus responding to his voice. In Exodus chapter 19, Moses led the people out of Egypt and he came back to the mountain where it had all began.

God’s Voice Distinguishes His People

And the Lord distinguished Moses from other men by the fact that he spoke to him, the scripture says, by a voice. You see, others could come close to the mountain, but they had to keep a distance. They were not privy to this.

And they could observe it. And they heard the trumpet blast. They heard this incredible moment, really, in the Old Testament that was simply announcing. It was foreshadowing the fact that God was going to come one day as a man.

And he was going to speak with a clear voice to all who wanted to hear him. And they were kept at a distance from this mountain. And all they could do was observe it. They couldn't even touch it. They would die if they touched the mountain.

And they saw Moses go up. And they heard the voice of God speaking to Moses. And this, of course, is what differentiated this man from the rest of the society that was all around him. Folks, what will differentiate the church in our generation from the world, the society?

Airwaves and television waves are just filled with endless stupidity and chatter about the future, about the past, about today, about tomorrow, about values, about society. What distinguishes the people of God?

We're not listening to these voices. We're not even listening to the voice of the frailty of our own hearts. There is a voice. This voice created the universe. This voice put the stars in heaven. This voice, this voice commanded life to come into dust and dust became man.

This voice is the voice that will speak to the church of Jesus Christ in the last days. And in the power of this voice, we will be made different than other men. Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God. Now, many people, even today, they observe men who hear from God and women who hear from God.

They stand back. They read books. They discuss great heroes of the past, people, men and women who truly heard from God, who went out and did exploits in his name. But they're observers. They stand back and they say, isn't this marvelous?

Isn't it wonderful? They even do seminars on it. But they don't really hear his voice themselves. They don't come near to this place where they can actually hear God personally and intimately speaking to them.

Three Reasons People Do Not Hear God

And I began to pray about this these last couple of weeks. And I said, God, why, why are they not hearing his voice? Why is there such confusion in the church of Jesus Christ? Why are people seemingly coming close, but they can't lay hold of the simplicity, really, of Christ speaking to men as he promised he would?

I'm going to give you three reasons the Lord spoke to me. Firstly, they don't have the mind of Christ. They don't have the mind of Christ. Now, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, please. Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14.

They don't have his mind. And I'm going to explain to you what that means and why they don't have it. Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14, Paul says,. Now, Paul makes a profound statement. He says, but we have the mind of Christ.

Now, when you look it up in the Greek New Testament, the word mind means the ability to perceive with the mind as distinct from feeling. In other words, we can know what he's thinking. We have his mind, Paul says.

Not we'll be given his mind. No, Paul says we have his mind. We know who God is. We know what God is thinking. Now, let me try to make it simple for you. When Joshua was commissioned to bring the people of God into the promised land, the Lord gave him a commandment.

And he said, Joshua, set the statutes of the word of God. Of course, the Joshua had, which would be the books of Moses in that day. He said, set these statutes and these words before you. And he said, meditate in them day and night.

And he told Joshua, then you will be successful in all that you set out to do. Meditate in them. You see, the mind of Christ is revealed in this book. This is the mind of Christ. Folks, it's foolishness to get out of this book and say, I'm going to find the mind of Christ.

I'm going to find out what God is thinking. He's already given full revelation of what he's thinking. If you want to know what God's going to do in the future in America, read the book. It's all in there.

He acts within the limits of his own and boundaries of his own character. What he has done, he always will do. That's why the writer says in Hebrews, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.

He doesn't change. You can know his mind. You can know what he's thinking. You can know where he's moving and where he's going, if you are in the book. You've got to be people of the book. You've got to read the book.

Your mind must be in the book. You must saturate your thought in the book, folks. Get away from television. Get away from radio. Get away from reading idiotic magazines. And get your mind in the book.

Read the book. You can know what God is speaking. He doesn't speak outside of what he's already spoken, beloved. He will bring things that you have learned, the scripture says, back into your remembrance again.

He will remind you what he's spoken. When you run into trial and difficult and trouble and you're looking for direction into the future, God will speak to you out of this book. It was in April 1994. I went into my office and I had a sense that God wanted to speak to me that morning.

I can't explain it to you other than there's a heightening that comes into my spirit. I've become more aware of things around me than I normally am. I don't know how else to describe it. I went into my office.

I said to my secretary, I don't want to be disturbed for the next few hours. And I told her straight out, the Lord is going to speak something to me. I went to my desk and he said to me, just go where you are already in your devotional time.

I read in four places in the Bible every day. And where I started was in First Chronicles chapter 28. That's where I was. He says, now read this. And so I began to read it. And in First Chronicles chapter 28 is where David, the king, had prepared to build a house.

And God came and spoke to him. He said, you have a son called Solomon. And this son, you're going to give to him the pattern of the house by the spirit. And you're going to show him the place of the inner parlors and the outer parlors and the mercy seat.

And all of these things that Solomon at this point is not aware of yet. He doesn't understand the fullness of it. And he is going to come and be, as it is, the extended arm of what God had already begun through King David.

And the Lord spoke to my heart and said, I'm sending you to a place. Another man has begun a work. And he has made great preparation for this work. And he understands mysteries that you don't yet know.

And he's going to teach you about the mercy seat. And you're going to learn how to commit and go out among men. And you're going to learn things that you don't know yet. I'm sending you there soon. Now, folks, I was so sure that God had spoken to me.

I left my office. I went to my associate pastor next door. In the next office, I said, you need to now prepare to take this church over. I'll be leaving shortly. I'd been there seven years full time and about three years while I had a dual career.

And I said, I'll be leaving shortly. I knew the voice of God. I knew he was sending me. The subsequent Sunday, a man came to me after service and said, I'd like to buy your house. I thought it was very interesting.

I didn't know where I was going. And already a man wants to buy my house. Three weeks after this word was spoken, Pastor David called my wife at home and asked if I'd be willing to come and speak here on a Tuesday night.

And, of course, the rest is history. I knew in my heart God had spoken to me. And, you see, folks, you can hear the voice of God. But you have to have the mind of Christ. You see, he spoke to me out of my devotions.

That's the point I'm trying to make. It's where I was already reading. And he didn't speak to me some mystical thing that just sounds like God, which is where so many people are today. I was reading. And he said, this is where I'm taking you.

This is what's going to happen in your life. This is where you're going to go. And you're going to help finish a house that another man has already begun and has made great preparation for. The second reason why people don't hear the voice of God is one of the most obvious.

Willingness to Hear Correction and Direction

It's that they're unwilling to hear what the Lord wants to speak. It's as simple as that. They don't want to hear what he wants to speak. They're looking only for agreement when they go to prayer and not for direction and not for correction, most certainly.

They have a view of themselves. They have a view. This is one of the biggest problems in the ministry today, why ministers don't hear from God. They have an image of themselves. They have a goal they want to attain.

They have a view of how they see themselves in ministry. And so they're willing to hear anything that confirms their self-view. But they're not willing to hear if God wants to speak something that's completely out of their image of themselves.

And so they read the Bible for agreement. They look for confirmation. You'll hear that word. They're always looking for confirmation, not correction. Confirmation. I'm on a journey and I'm looking for confirmation.

Oh, this morning, praise God, I got another confirmation instead of another correction or another direction. Oh, folks, I never want to get so boxed in that I'm not willing to hear what the Lord wants to speak anymore.

What he wants to say to me. What he wants to do. What he wants to make me into. And secondly, they're looking for the master plan and not for the first steps. Oh, so many people are saying, oh God, let me hear your voice.

Show me your will for my life. And of course, they're jumping over 50 years of learning. And the will is always, I'm laying hands on the sick and they're recovering. I'm casting out devils. I'm preaching to thousands.

Just eliminating the whole process that's supposed to take them there. Oh, show me the master plan. You know, I'll leave my job if you'll show me the thousands ahead. I'll do it, God, if I can just see the miracles happening.

I remember years ago, as a young pastor, we had just renovated this church and it was really a beautiful building. It was small, but it was very, very beautiful. We brought it back to its original condition.

And the problem we had at that time is we didn't have a cleaner and we couldn't afford one. And so I was praying in the church one day. I said, oh, Lord, the floors were beautiful. Everything was new.

How are we going to keep this place clean? Now, I'm looking for the master plan. And the first step was a mop that was in the closet. And the Lord says, you clean it. I had a man call me one time. He was in ministry training.

And he said, Pastor, the Lord spoken to me this morning about greatness. I'm going to, my life is destined for greatness. And I said, oh, that's wonderful. I said, Jesus said the greatest among you will be your servant.

I said, I need a cleaner for the church. He said to me, that's not quite what I had in mind. Those are exact words. It's not quite what I had in mind. The Lord said to me, no, you clean the church. You take the mop.

You clean the floors every week. And you just do it indefinitely. That's the plan. And so I took the mop. And every week after church, move the chairs, clean the floors for, I don't know, for quite a long time, for months.

And finally, one day, a man walked in. He saw me cleaning the floors. And he said, Pastor, Pastor. He says, what are you doing? I said, I'm cleaning the church. He says, never again. Never again. After this day, will you have to touch a mop or clean this church?

He said, that's my job. You see, the Lord spoke to him. And that man, until the days left and beyond, was cleaning that church. And he was a very, very faithful man in cleaning the church. Folks, it's important that you don't pray just looking for the master plan.

Start with the first steps. The first things are first. God has to speak to you. Don't look for the master plan. He's going to speak about things. Oh, yes. Oh, Lord, use my life for your glory. Well, start leading devotions in your own home.

Oh, God, make me a kind and loving man. Start speaking kindly to your wife or to your husband, man. First steps. First steps. And many people don't hear his voice because they're not willing to hear these first steps.

It's as simple as that. First things first. I do hear God speaking to me. But I have to tell you, years ago, it started with the little things, like go pay for that picnic table you stole. I've told you that story when I first got saved.

For those of you who don't know it, you'll have to go and find the tape and get it for yourself. Forgive that person who wronged you. First steps. First steps. Steps of obedience. I started thinking about it over the years and all the little things that God asked me to do.

Some were easy. Some were hard. Some were tasteful. Some were extremely distasteful. But they were little things, and many of them were just tests. That the Lord, one time, he asked me to go and ask forgiveness to a motorcycle gang member that I'd gotten in a fish fight with before I was saved.

And now you're starting to learn more about me than you ever knew before. And I thought, this vile man, you want me to go and ask his forgiveness? He said, yes, go ask his forgiveness. I did everything I could to find this man, and I couldn't find him.

Went to former residences. Went to the house. Even went to the courtroom and court system to try. And it's like he'd fallen off the earth. He was gone. I was driving home from the courthouse one day, and I said, Lord, why did you have me do this?

I can't find this man. And suddenly, as clearly as I'm speaking to you, the Holy Spirit said, I just wanted to see if you would obey me. I knew you couldn't find him, but I wanted to know if you would go.

If I asked you, would you obey me? I've gone through three weeks of inner turmoil, thinking, what am I going to say to this man? I've been in court with this man. I've been fighting in the street with this man.

What am I going to say to him? And the issue was not what I'm going to say. The issue is what I go to him and ask his forgiveness for hating him the way that I had. This is as a young Christian, mind you.

Living for the Glory of God

It's a long time ago. The third reason people don't hear the voice of God is that they're not truly living for the glory of God. That's one of the bigger ones. Not truly living for God's glory. Matthew chapter 3, I'm just going to share it with you.

Verse 17. Jesus came, was baptized of John, and a voice, the scripture says, came from heaven. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well. A voice, an audible voice. Matthew writes about it. I believe Mark writes about it.

This is my beloved Son. You see, when you're living for His glory, it's not only you, but others around you begin to hear the voice of God through your life. Living for His glory. That means, Jesus, everything I am and have, bring glory to your name through it.

Be honored through me. Let people be forced to deal with your goodness and the reality of who you are. Let them experience hope and fear, if necessary, and the touch of the hand of God through my life.

I prayed again recently, so Lord, everything I have, everything I am, belongs to you. All I ask is that you bring glory to your name. Just bring glory to your name. Just let people be speaking the name Jesus, reverently.

Let sinners find Christ. Let the oppressed be free. Let the praises of God be sung in our generation. I don't have any other reason to live. I don't want to live for any other reason, but to see Christ glorified.

Folks, that's when you begin to hear His voice. That's when He really begins to speak to your heart. In Psalm 29, He says,. In other words, live in a way that Christ is glorified. Live in a way that the weak find strength.

Live in a way that men and women who need to know the way out, find it, because you have a voice speaking through you. The voice of Christ. You're not speaking just theories about God, but His voice is speaking through you.

There's something of God that's interwoven with your character. You're going from strength to strength and image to image. You don't care what people think about you anymore. It doesn't matter. It's what they think about Jesus Christ.

Give Him strength. Give glory to Him. The voice of the Lord is upon many waters. In other words, there can't be a place that I'll say to God, I won't go. There can't be something I say I won't do. If He is my Master, if truly He is my Christ and my Lord, this is His world, it's His vineyard.

I belong to Him. His mission is to reach every man, woman and child ever born in the face of this earth. His voice is upon many waters. And if that's where His voice is, that's where I'll be too as well.

The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. When you're speaking for God, there's a sense of awe that comes into the heart of the hardest of hearers. There's a sense of hope and expectancy that comes into those that have been lied to all their lives about who they are, who God is, what is the purpose of this world and where they're going.

It melts into the dust when the voice of God is speaking. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. That means the entrenched things, things that have been spoken into people and cultures and countries that the enemy and natural men say cannot be broken, cannot change.

There's no way to reverse this. No, the voice of the Lord breaks the cedar right in two. Breaks the hardest of places. He brings joy. It says in verse 6, He makes them to skip like a calf. In other words, He brings joy where there was sorrow.

He brings freedom where there was bondage. He brings hope where there was helplessness and hopelessness and despair. This is what the voice of the Lord does. In God's name we must speak for Him again in this generation.

The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire. The voice of God takes people through trials. Takes people through difficulties and societies and moments in history where trouble comes. The voice of the Lord shows the way through.

It says, I'll walk with you. You'll not be burned. You'll not drown. Not a hair on your head is going to perish. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. These dry and empty places where the devil would have you believe that there's no way out.

God's not hearing you. God doesn't care. God's voice comes and says, I'm going to shake all this. I'm going to bring you out of this wilderness that wants to swallow you. The voice of the Lord makes the hinds the calves.

That means brings life where there's no life. Even today, if I am speaking for God, there has to be a stirring in your heart that wants, causing you to want life where you don't have life. And to bring you into something of God where you've been trying to get out in your own strength.

And the voice of the Lord, verse 9, discovers the forests. In other words, unravels mysteries. Shows the way out. Gives revelation of the master plan. You don't get lost in the midst of these things. He says, I'll show you the reason that things are and how you fit in the overall picture.

And in His temple, everyone speaks of His glory. In His temple. I'm the temple of the Holy Ghost. You are the temple of the Holy Ghost. It's one thing to clap our hands in this building on Sunday morning, but it's another thing to clap your hands on Monday night at home.

In His temple, everyone speaks of His glory. Oh God, where you've taken me. What you've done for me. What you have molded me into. Where you're making me to go. Oh God, I give you glory. I give you honor.

I give you praise. For only you could do this. Nobody but God could do this. The passion you're putting in my heart. The compassion for the lost. The ability to have faith to believe from the miraculous God Almighty.

God Speaks to the Weak and Dead

It's you and you alone that could do these things. No one else could do it. Hallelujah. To the Lamb of God. Now some people feel that I'm willing to hear the voice of God, but I'm so weak. I struggle so much.

And all you expect is a voice of condemnation. If God truly speaks to me, then He's going to take away the last vestige of hope that I have to even go to His house. But I want to remind you, in Exodus chapter 3 and verse 4, when Moses was at the weakest point in his life, in his own estimation, he had failed the commission of God.