Don't Replace the Bridegroom With the Bride — Philip Powell

Christ as the Power of the Gospel

Okay, what I want to do today is talk on the Christ as being the power of the gospel and the subtitle is Don't Replace the Bridegroom with the Bride. Don't Replace the Bridegroom, Christ, with the Bride.

Jesus Lifted Up on the Cross

And I want to direct your attention to three basic passages of scripture. The first is John chapter 12 and verses 31 to 33. And then the other two are in Hebrews. So John chapter 12 verses 31 to 33, Jesus is facing the cross and he says, Now is the judgment of this world, now the ruler of this world will be cast out and I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself.

This, he said, signifying by what death he would die. You know, we sing that song, don't we, lift Jesus higher, lift Jesus higher, and I don't have any problem with it. But if it's supposed to be based on this verse of scripture, when Jesus spoke about being lifted up, it was not being lifted up in a sort of a popular role, but it was rather to be lifted up on a cross.

This, he said, signifying what death he would die. Now having said that, I don't think it's wrong for us to sing, lift Jesus higher, lift Jesus higher. Certainly we can't lift him higher in regard to his suffering.

He's already gone through that. But if it's the idea of presenting Christ, then that's fine. That's no problem. But it must be remembered that when Jesus said it, he was talking about being lifted up upon a cross.

Christ as the Final Message in Hebrews

Okay, Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, God who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by, or it could be rendered in, his son.

Because in the Greek language, the prepositions are not clear, as they are in English. You can have in, or by, or through, or with, and very often they're interchangeable. And here it could read that he has spoken to us in his son.

The idea is that Christ is both the message and the messenger. He speaks, but he is also the substance of the message to us in his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world.

And then Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3, how shall we escape if we neglect? So greater salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him. Now remember the writer to the Hebrews, who some believe was Paul, others have other ideas.

We're not sure who the author was in that sense. The writer, we know who the author is. It's God, but the writer, we're not sure of, is saying here things to Christians. It's not to the outside world when he talks about how shall we escape if we neglect the great salvation, although it can be applied that way.

But he is saying it to Christians. He is saying it to God's followers. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? And the idea is that of a boat at a mooring place, and suddenly it drifts. It comes away from the mooring and it drifts towards disaster.

How shall we escape if we neglect, if we let go? That's the thought there. So great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him. Okay, now last week what we did, we were looking at the gospel committed to the bride's charge, and we looked at it in several regards.

The Gospel in Its Definition

We looked at it, first of all, in respect of its definition, and we saw that the gospel that we preach is clearly defined in the Bible. It is a gospel which comes to us through the word of God, and we must not change it.

We dare not change it. The problem with today's society is that we try to become relevant, and really people don't want us to become relevant, because really if we get relevant to that extent as it is being presented today, we lose the impact, and it is the very difference of the Christian and of the Christian message which is its appeal, and this is really the thing that concerns me a great deal of what has happened in Pentecostal and charismatic circles over recent years.

There is a general drift towards the system of the world, and using their methodology and also their message really to a large extent in the psychology and the music and so on that has come in, we are really adapting.

We're not simply becoming relevant, but we're really adopting their very method, and there is of course that destroys the power of the gospel, and so we looked at the gospel in its definition, and we saw that the Bible refers to it as being the gospel of Christ twelve times.

Our key verse was Romans chapter 1 verses 16 and 17, where Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of, what is it? The gospel of Christ, for he says, and there you have that expression, the gospel of Christ which appears twelve times in the New Testament, and then he says that gospel of Christ is what?

The power of God, and we saw that the gospel of Christ is also called the gospel of God, some seven times, and as such it is offering God's answer. And then we saw that it is also the revealed righteousness of God.

Paul says that this gospel of Christ and this gospel of God became, and he calls it my gospel. Now not in the sense that he owned it, but rather in the sense that it owned him, that he is so taken over by it that it is my gospel.

Now the problem is today, people are preaching their my gospel, but it's a changed gospel, and so you have the gospel according to whoever, and I could mention some names, but in so doing they have actually corrupted the gospel.

The gospel, the prosperity gospel for example, is a corruption of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now that doesn't mean that God can't bless you, of course he can, but if you put the emphasis upon that, you are destroying the power of the gospel, and that is precisely what has happened.

Now of course you say, but it seems to work, well it does, and quite honestly I think the devil is quite pleased that it is working. It's gathering momentum in that sense, but it is destroying the very essence, the very foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul says that the power of the gospel first and foremostly is righteousness within you. So he talks about the fact of it being the revealed righteousness of God. It starts inside, that's the difference with the gospel and everything else.

It starts with the inner man. Then we looked at the gospel last week in regard to its outworking, and we considered what we call the great manifesto of the gospel, where Jesus went down to Nazareth and he announced what his program was.

The Gospel as Total Integration and True Repentance

And we saw three things about it. We saw that it is the gospel of total integration. In that statement where Jesus said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me. Holy Spirit, me, anointed me.

The person and the message are the same thing. Jesus Christ is totally integrated with his message. And really if our gospel is going to be powerful, it has to be powerful inside first. It has to hold us together.

You know what I'm finding in certain circles today is that people who have never seen it work try to become teachers of it. Now I'm not just talking about the gospel, but I'm talking about such issues as marital life and family living.

You sometimes get people up there telling you how to bring up your children who have never had any children. And you sometimes get people whose marriages have fallen apart who become authorities on how to keep your marriage together.

Now this is so, and it's a sad thing really. A friend of mine said, we have more counseling on marriage today than we have ever had and we're having more marriages falling apart. And I feel that it's a trick of the devil really.

You know, my view on this, I'm certainly all for counseling and helping people. But I do think that there's been far too much emphasis on counseling in the church of Jesus Christ. And really what has happened, as we have said, is that the penitent form has been replaced with the counselor's couch.

And you know, you all go for your counseling, but really what you need to do is get before God and get the thing dealt with right there at that level of true repentance, heart repentance. And when once that is dealt with, everything is dealt with.

And there are some strange things that have crept in to the so-called gospel. Now you know, I've had some conflict with people on this issue and sometimes they tend to say, oh, he doesn't believe in deliverance.

Of course I believe in deliverance. I wouldn't be a preacher of the gospel if I didn't believe in deliverance. But I do believe that the gospel delivers. And if you're constantly going back and back and back into your ancestry and back into your past and, you know, it seems as though what has happened is that a fear thing has got into the gospel.

And God is not a God of fear. God is a God of love and perfect love casts out all fear. Now, I don't have any problem with the idea of dealing with the past, but let's, for goodness sake, deal with it then.

Don't let it keep on coming up. You know, over in Australia, they were all the time repenting over what had happened to the aborigines. And I said, for goodness sake, let's get this thing once and for all dealt with.

You know what happened way back then? It happened. It's unfortunate. But if we're going to repent, let's repent and let's get up and go. And the same thing with racial problems and, you know, our Maori friends and the Pakeha, you know, there's always been that conflict, which is unfortunate, very unfortunate.

And it's not of God, certainly, but we can't keep on going back into that past and dealing with the past. What we've got to do is go from here on and go forward for the glory of God. Hallelujah. The gospel is the power of God.

And if it doesn't deal with the past, then it doesn't deal with anything. Any man that is in Christ is a new creation. Hallelujah. We're all one in Christ, no difference. But we are new creatures. All things have passed away and behold, all things have become new.

That's the gospel. Praise the Lord. It's a gospel of total integration, the man and his message. It's a gospel of wondrous emancipation. We saw that. It stretches from dealing with poverty to dealing with captivity.

And it doesn't replace poverty with affluence. It replaces poverty with assurance. That's what it does. Jesus said, He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. And yet there was nobody poorer in terms of possessions than Jesus Christ.

When He wanted to go out onto the water, He had to borrow a boat. When it came to die, He had to borrow a cross. The only thing He had in the end was a robe. And they took that from Him. He did not have possessions in human terms because He does not replace poverty with affluence.

He replaces it with assurance. And there's a difference. Hallelujah. He gives you confidence. He gives you life. He can give you possessions, no problem. But the great thing about the gospel is that it makes you able to handle poverty and able to handle riches.

Paul says, I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. So it doesn't matter to me. It makes no difference. He said, I've had a lot and I can handle that. And I've had nothing and I can handle that.

That's what the gospel does. Hallelujah. Sometimes we have a poverty mentality. We look at those people who have riches and we say, if only we had that or whatever. Or we say they're wrong. No, some people can handle riches.

Can you handle both? That's the issue. And when you've got the gospel, you can handle both. Praise the Lord. So it deals from poverty to captivity. It takes you through assurance to acceptance. And so there's no rejection.

Take it. He said he preached the gospel to the poor and he says, I have come to set at liberty those that are captive. Hallelujah. So it goes right through. And in between you have every need known to man represented in that great statement that Jesus made.

And he said, I've come to deal with it all. Hallelujah. It's the gospel of wondrous demonstration, glorious demonstration. After this, he goes down into the temple and there's a demon possessed man. Now if it's just in word and not in power, then the gospel is not effective.

It has to be both in word and in power. And I've seen demon possessed people delivered. Hallelujah. But I don't go chasing demons and I won't. Some people say, cast this headache demon out. One friend of mine said an aspirin would do just as well.

We make demons of this and demons of that. Demons of the other thing. Demons are very real, but a real gospel knows how to handle them. Hallelujah. And Jesus went down there and he brought deliverance as this demon man came and cried out, who are you?

Why have you come to trouble us? And Jesus said, shut up, be quiet. Come out of the man. And immediately he was delivered. Hallelujah. No process, immediate deliverance. Glory to God. Jesus didn't have to go over it over and over again.

That was it. Dealt with. Hallelujah. So we looked at that, the gospel in its definition, the gospel in its outworking. We looked at also the gospel in its recruitment program, revelation, the last chapter in the Bible, the bride should echo the call of the spirit.

The Bride Echoes the Spirit's Call

That's what we've got to be doing church today. It says the spirit and the church. Notice it doesn't say the church and the spirit. It says the spirit and the church say come on our own as our responsibility is to be preaching what the Holy Spirit is emphasizing, and I believe the Holy Spirit is emphasizing certain things today.

We dealt with it in our first message about the holiness and so on and so forth, the life and various things there. But we should be echoing the call of the spirit. And then the bride should influence her latest recruit.

It says the spirit and the bride say come and let him that here if they come. And so, and friends, you know, if you really want to get a church on fire, if we start something for the glory of God, all you've got to do is see some new converts.

And very soon the thing is snowballing because that is what happened. They they take on the emphasis of saying the same message. And so the spirit of the bride, they come and let him that here they come and the message spread through the new convert, the latest recruit.

And then the bride should seek to awaken a thirst for God, and it says, and let him that is thirsty come. And then the bride should offer water impartially and everyone that will let him come and drink of the water of life freely.

Now that is the gospel. Now basically what happens as I see it, and you're entitled to challenge me and question me and all the rest of it. But that's that's what it's all about. We don't set ourselves up as knowing everything, but we do believe that God has given us a message and we want to bring that message.

Guarding the Gospel from Legalism and Philosophy

What happens is what happened to the early church. They drift away from the true gospel and they turn to another gospel. Galatians chapter one, verses six and seven, Paul had to write to the Christians of Galatia and he said, I marvel at this verse, Galatians chapter one, six and seven.

It's not in your notes, but let me just mention it. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not a different gospel. I think the old King James says what to another gospel, which is not another.

That's probably a better way of putting it. What he is basically saying is there isn't any other gospel, but there are people who preach another message, which replaces the gospel and it's not the gospel.

And there in Galatia, what it was, it was trying to take people back under the law and it was telling them they had to be circumcised, they had to keep the law, they had to keep certain ceremonies and so on.

And Paul said that is another gospel, which is not a gospel. The same thing in Colossians chapter two. He addresses an issue there, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians chapter two, and it's verse eight, where he talks about philosophy, which invades the gospel.

Beware, lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ. Human philosophy, when it gets mixed up with the gospel, presents another gospel, which is not a gospel.

And this is frequently what happens. Now actually in the structure of the Greek language here, when it talks about the basic principles, it could have been referring to the Greek philosophy of the day, which was that there were four basic elements, earth, fire, air, and water.

And on the basis of that, they projected that basic thing into the astronomy realm, so that you had four basic astrological signs. These were divided up eventually, so you had four segments, which were divided up into three and you end up with twelve, the zodiac signs.

And out of that also, they developed a theory, which had to do with the four personality traits. You've probably heard of them, sanguine and choleric and melancholic, and I forget what the fourth one is.

But this is basically Greek philosophy, Greek mysticism. It has invaded the church. I challenged this in Australia and got a tremendous expression of approval from the whole congregation that I preached it to, because it had invaded the church.

But the hierarchy of that church, which is a very large Pentecostal church, because I dared to kick the sacred cow, withheld my tape. Eventually it got out. I've got a copy of it. We might run some off and let you listen to it.

But basically, basically what it is, it's Greek mysticism replacing the gospel. And it comes out to such an extent that it starts infiltrating even the function of the gifts of the Spirit. So much so that you are assessed on your gifting on the basis of your personality.

Now friends, that is not the gospel. That is another gospel. And it's a great trick of the devil to water down the true gospel of Jesus Christ. One or two of you have been asking me about the stars, because of a certain talk that was given recently.

Rejecting Astrology and Greek Mysticism

Now as I see it, the problem about it is this, that what we are tending to do is to go into Greek philosophy and Greek mysticism instead of recognizing the supernatural power of God. I do not believe that the birth of Jesus Christ was written in the stars.

If you have to accept that as a notion, then that takes you into the whole astrological realm. And it is extremely, extremely dangerous. Not only that, it is a questionable thing from the point of view of scholarship.

It is both questionable from a point of view of scholarship and also of scripture. Let me, I just looked it up, I just felt prompted to do it, and so I looked up in the, I got one of these sets of encyclopedias, and I looked up the word Virgo.

It says here, in brackets, the Virgin. In astronomy, it's the sixth sign of the zodiac, denoted by a Greek symbol. The Greeks represented this constellation as a virgin. Now there's no idea that in that thing, even if they call it the virgin, that there was going to be a virgin birth.

The gospel is built upon the idea of a virgin birth, not just simply a virgin. But you know, to try and marry that up with the star that appeared over Bethlehem is quite ridiculous. It says, but different fables, now listen to this, fables, that's what they are, but different fables are current as to the identity of the maid, this virgin.

She is variously considered to be, and you know, different names here, I can't pronounce them even. According to Hesiod, the virgin is the daughter of Jupiter and Cemis. Now that is Greek mysticism. That's got nothing to do with the gospel.

Now for what it's worth, my submission is that those wise men, being wise men, they were in touch with God, and they saw a supernatural happening. If you're going to try and link it to the zodiac and the signs of the heaven, how does a star move anyway?

It says that the star moved. It says that it came over and it stood over the place where the child was born. What was happening? God was giving them supernatural direction. It was something he did supernaturally on that occasion.

It's got nothing to do with the zodiac and with the signs. And to reduce the gospel to that sort of thing, which is happening in the church of Jesus Christ widely today, is sheer nonsense. It is taking away the effective power of the gospel.

It's a trick of the devil, friends, and I trust that our eyes will be opened. We don't preach philosophy. Paul says, be careful, because you will be corrupted by philosophy. It will take you into a false area.

And this is what is happening widely within the church of Jesus Christ. And it saddens me. It saddens me at my heart to think that the thing that I was brought into, that my parents who are 83 years of age and are retired pastors of assemblies of God that we've been committed to all our lives, that that supernatural thing should have drifted into that sort of thing.

It saddens me and it saddens many other people across the world. Let me say that when I'm going to England, I'm joining up with a group of churches from 150 to 200 who are concerned about trends and are looking as to whether God is calling us to make a stand and to go in a different direction.

And I don't know what will come out of it, but it could well be that we will establish. I don't know in the purpose of God, a return to the original assemblies of God, because in actual fact, what it was in its pristine foundation was something very, very powerful.

When men like Stephen and George Jeffries moved through England and men like Smith Wigglesworth and men who knew God and the power of God, who relied not upon philosophy and Greek mysticism, but prayed and got an answer for God from God and saw mighty signs and wonders and miracles of the Holy Ghost.

And I believe that God will bring us back to it, blessed be his wonderful name. And by the grace of God, he is one who's going to nail the colors to the map and say we're going to make a stand for the glory of God.

Hallelujah. I believe that there will be a gathering momentum of people who will do likewise. Now that is the danger. And it's happened throughout history. And now what I want to show today is how the church tends to fall for Satan's ruse to invert the message and preach the church instead of preaching Christ.

This tendency was introduced, and you'll see it in your notes, by Augustine in about the fourth century, who through his amillennialism, which we dealt with a few weeks ago, taught that the established church was the kingdom of God on earth.

This took authority away from scripture and placed it in the church whose highest official was said to speak ex cathedra, and that word simply means from the teacher's chair. And it became all authoritative, so that when now, when the Pope announces something, he is speaking ex cathedra.

He is speaking with the authority of the church, and that cannot be questioned. Now that type of thing is invading the Pentecostal church today. So that the whole thing emanates from leadership, and the ordinary person in the pew is not allowed to question.

Well, I tell you, you ought to question, and the Bible tells us to question. And if men do not preach the truth, they ought to be kicked out on their ear, and the truth will come back in by the grace of God and for the glory of God.

Hallelujah. Jesus said, don't call people teachers in that sense. Now, as he doesn't say that there aren't teachers, of course there are teachers. But look at that passage of scripture, Matthew chapter 23, verses 8 and 10.

Particularly we'll read from verse 8 right through to verse 10. Matthew 23, verses 8 to 10. I'll get this thing down here, I think that might help me a little bit. Matthew 23, verses 8 to 10. But you do not be called rabbi.

That means respected sir, basically. For one is your rabbi, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father. Now he's not talking about your dad. He's talking about people in the structured church being called father, and yet this is what's happened, isn't it, in the structured church.

And the idea now that, you know, they're promoting, there should be fathers in the faith, I'm sure of that. But we don't actually call them father in that sense, because that is to go against the word of the Lord.

For one is your father, he who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers, for one is your teacher, the Christ. He's not talking about ordinary teaching, but he's talking about what they did in that day was to set somebody up as a teacher who would speak with all authority, and he would have a control.

And that control thing which we addressed in the tape that we put out called The Doctrine of the Nicolaitans is a thing that has invaded the Pentecostal church very, very much. It was called at one time Strong Discipleship.

And it amazes me that the Assemblies of God and other groups that I know of who reacted against it in those days have actually fallen for the trap themselves. And we've heard of pastors who say to the congregation, look, if you don't agree with what I say, then I release you to go elsewhere.

What utter nonsense, what a power do they have to release or to withhold? That is utter nonsense. And it is part of this thing that Jesus Christ is addressing. It is very, very wrong. I spoke with one young pastor and he said, well, I've given 10 years of my life.

And I thought, yes, and poor people have sat for 10 years under the stuff that you taught. And I said, at least you've been paid, and they've had to pay. So it's been a job for you, and it's been a job for me as well.

And I don't dismiss that for one minute, but we have lost sight of the people. And brothers and sisters, my commitment is to people. God made me a shepherd of people, not a carer of shepherds. Although I care for all, but primarily there has to be a concern that goes out to the people.

And this is the thing that Jesus Christ addresses. Now, that is what happened in Roman Catholicism. Ultimately, what they said was that the church was the kingdom of God on earth. And the Pope became the vicar of Christ, the one who replaced Christ.

That very word means that, vicar, vicarious. It means, it comes from a Latin word which means a replacement of. And that is what happened. And while it does not happen to that extent within the more free churches, there has still been this subtle drift towards that thing.

With church growth, though the emphasis is sometimes different. For example, not all church growth leaders are into kingdom now, although that is a thing which, if you've listened to Jacob Pratt, you'll get more insight about that.

The kingdom now, we are to bring in the kingdom and we are the leaders of bringing in that kingdom. And lots of them that are into that take this very, very strong position. The end result is always the same.

Christ is effectively replaced by the church through the leadership emphasis and so on. This results in forms of arrogance, a development of the elitism. You can't question what we're talking about. We're the leaders, you're only the people.

Elitism, the Bible abhors it, hates it. It is totally wrong. And corruption, lying statistics. People into church growth usually, I remember a very prominent person in Australia who used to say, and one of the prominent ones in New Zealand said the same thing, never count down, always count up.

That's lying. In my book. Why should it be? Why should it be? It is to give this image that we're doing better than what we really are. And it's happening over and over and over again. When I was National General Secretary of the Assemblies of God in Australia, I questioned the statistics that were being put out.

And we found on one occasion that there were 23 churches listed under the name of one man. 23. Now you say, well, can he handle 23? Yeah, well, you'd think so, except that I happen to know that he was operating in the outback.

And most of them would have probably been aboriginally based. And the aboriginal people, as you know, they are nomadic people. They're here today and gone tomorrow. And so probably of those 23, there might have only been three that were valid.

Just walkabout things, walkabout situation. But it was added to the statistics to make the thing look good. In fact, over there, we discovered this. It's one of the things in the Australian psyche, I suppose, that every state wants to do better than the other state.

And so you get the big states vying with each other to try and do best when you start to bring in your statistics. And so what happens? Actually, the books get cooked. They cook the books to present the image of doing well.

And that, brothers and sisters, is deception. What is it? It's preaching the church. It's presenting an image. Our message is not to preach the church. Our message is to present Christ. To present Christ.

Three Passages: Christ, Salvation, and the Humble King

And so with that, what I want to do is look at these three passages of scripture. John 12, 23 to 33. You'll notice there that the setting is Palm Sunday. And we have a picture of... We're not going to that one first.

We're going to the other one first. But we'll come back to that one. We have a picture of Jesus as king. It says, Behold, your king cometh unto you, meek and lowly, and riding on a donkey, and afold the coat of a donkey.

What a beautiful picture. You see, kings never rode on donkeys. Kings always rode on great white chargers. But here is the king of heaven. Here is the king of kings and the Lord of lords. Incidentally, Jesus never acknowledged that he was king of the Jews.

You know that, don't you? He was the king of the Jews. But he never acknowledged it. Because that would have limited him. When Pilate said, are you the king of the Jews? He never answered him. But when he changed the question and said, are you a king then?

He said, yes, I am a king. To that end was I born, and for that cause came I into the world. Why? Because he's not merely the king of the Jews. He's the king of the Marys. And he's the king of the Parthians.

And he's the king of the Europeans. He's the king of the South Africans. He is the king of the kings and the Lord of the lords. If he had said, yes, I am the king of the Jews, immediately it would have limited him.

It would have been exclusive. He is the king of the Jews in an inclusive sense. That he is the king of the whole earth. Blessed be his name. And he doesn't need a white charger to come riding into Jerusalem.

He comes lowly, riding on a donkey. For he is setting a precedent. He is setting an example. He says, if you are my followers, then you'll do what I do. Hallelujah. You won't set yourself up for somebody great, but you'll come in lowly, meek, humble.

The other passage I want to look at is Hebrews chapter 1, and that's where we're going to start. Verses 1 to 4, where basically what the writer is saying is that all messages are inadequate. All messages, apart from this message, which we have, the message in God's Son is a final message.

And then the third passage I want to look at is what we call the unanswerable question. How shall we escape if we neglect? It's the only question to which there is no answer. So our message is the Lord Jesus Christ, not his church.

Our message is Christ crucified, not Jesus Christ superstar. Our message is the only message of salvation. And those are the three things that I want to present from these three passages of scripture.

God's Four Ways of Speaking

Let's look at Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 to 4. God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by or in his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Now, of course, the overwhelming message of the Bible is that God speaks. God speaks in four different ways, primarily. He speaks in creation. It's inferred here, but it's not stated. God, who at various times and in different ways spoke.