Consider Why God Speaks

Psalm 81:8–16

Theme: God speaks to us for our benefit and for His delight to advance a relationship with us.

Introduction:

God speaks to us for reasons that are purely His own; He loves us, and He desires to have a relationship with us. Psalm 81 is a deeply moving plea from God to His people to listen to his words, counsel, and instructions (vs. 8, 11, & 13).

Harold Willmington characterized this Psalm in the following way:

Sin spoils the celebration. During one of Israel's regular festivals, Asaph exhorted the people to praise God for his acts of national deliverance (81:1-7). He lamented, however, the people's constant sin, reminding them of the blessings that could have been had they only obeyed (81:8-16; see Matt 23:37; Luke 19:41-42).

Can you hear the sorrow in God's voice as He pleads with His people to listen to Him? And for what purpose?  So that He might bless them! God desires only good for His people.

We can sense what God wants for each of us. Very specifically, He desires that we comprehend His truth about who He is, who we are, and the relationship He wants to have with us. He designs for us to be conformed to His truth applying it to our lives in ways that increasingly transform us into the image of Christ Jesus. Now let us consider each of these individually….

Message:

God Wants Us to Comprehend the Truth

Psalm 25:8-9, Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. [9] The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.   

God Will Teach Us the Truth

God has given to all believers a divine person. The Holy Spirit—who lives within us to help us receive and understand the truth. The Holy Spirit knows perfectly the mind of God, and the Holy Spirit communicates to our spirits the truth God wants us to hear (John 14:26; 1Cor. 2:9-10, 12).

God desires that we know the mind of God. We can never know the mind of God fully because we are finite creatures and He is infinite. But we can grow in our understanding about who God is, how He operates in our world, and why He does the things He does.

For many reasons, we may be limited in our understanding of God's motives and methods. We may not have read all the Bible. To understand the true and full context of any passage of God's Word, we need to understand the true and full context of all God's Word. Also, we may have cultural differences that keep us from understanding fully what certain things in the Bible mean. We may not have the maturity in Christ Jesus that we need to understand deeper layers of meaning. We may be trying to understand the Bible solely with our minds, which is always futile. The Bible is a spiritual book. It speaks to and is applied to the spirit.

None of these reasons, however, are a fixed wall for us. We can grow in our understanding by reading more of God's Word, studying the cultural background of the Bible, gaining more maturity in Christ Jesus, and learning how to read the Bible with spiritual understanding.

Psalm 25:4-5, Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. [5] Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

God Will Teach Us The Truth About Himself

The Lord desires that we know the truth about Him.

Psalm 81:10, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

    

First, He is our Creator (Genesis 1:27-28, 31). God fashioned us as unique creatures. He made all of the natural world for us to rule and enjoy. He has provided all that we need.

Secondly, He is our life (Genesis 2:7). God breathed into us His breath. We are spirit because God imparted His Spirit to us. We cannot exist apart from God.

Thirdly, He loves us (1 John 4:19). He is continually reaching out to us with affection, calling to us individually by name (Ps. 81:8-10).

God Will Teach Us The Truth About Ourselves

The truth about each of us is twofold:

First, the Holy Spirit convicts us that we are sinners (John 3:16-17). We are born apart from God. The primary message of the Holy Spirit to us as long as we are apart from God is that we need God.

Second, once we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit becomes our Comforter and Counselor (1 John 4:15; 2Cor. 5:17).

He speaks hope to us in times of turmoil. He strengthens our faith to trust God for our total sustenance. He gives us the assurance not only of our salvation but also of God's faithfulness and total provision toward us. He reveals to us our nature as God's saints on the earth and challenges us to grow more like Jesus.

As we discover more about ourselves, we usually begin to see others in a new light.

We see our fellow believers as people whom God is also fashioning, forming, and transforming. We see that all people are loved by God, are in need of God, and can have access to God. We become much more inclined to love others unconditionally.

God's truth to us is that we are to love one another (John 15:17; 1 John 4:7, 20).

Sometimes The Lord Will Teach Us Specific Lessons

A Highly Personal Word of Instruction. God not only speaks in general and absolute terms to all people, but He speaks to each one of us personally. We can hardly comprehend that possibility with our finite minds. God is an infinite God, and He is capable of communicating with each one of us, right where we are—in the midst of our current circumstances or crises—in very personal, direct, and explicit terms.

This may be the most important concept you can ever grasp in learning how to listen to God. When God speaks, He is speaking to you. Everything in the Bible can be applied to your life in some way. Every message or communication that is based on the Word of God has truth embedded within it that is for you. There is no such thing as a chapter in the Bible, a sermon based on God's Word, or a book that expounds and explains God's Word that is not for you (2Tim. 3:16, 17). Each of us must take God's Word personally!

Personal Does Not Mean Exclusive.

This is not to say that God has an exclusive word for a person. God doesn't deal in secrets. He won't reveal truth to one person and deny it to another.

Be on guard if you hear somebody say, “God told me something, but He told me I can't tell anybody else,” or “God had a word that's just for me and not for you.” God doesn't play favorites, but He does have intimates. He doesn't speak to one child and totally ignore His other children.

His word of correction to you may be so personal that you don't want to share it with other people, but ultimately, God's word of correction is an absolute that applies to all people. The same goes for God's promises, provisions, and insights.

God Wants Us to Conform to the Truth

It is not enough that we comprehend the truth. We must be conformed to the truth.

The Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:2, And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

God calls us to present ourselves to Him as if we are a “living sacrifice.” In the Old Testament days, God consumed sacrifices with His holy fire as a sign of His presence among the people.

In our time, God burns out of us with His holy presence everything that is not like Jesus, and then He causes us to burn and to shine brightly with a zeal for living the life Jesus would live if He was walking in our shoes.

Conformity to Jesus

As we read and hear God's Word, we come face-to-face with ourselves, our deficiencies, sins, our errors, our faults. We say again and again, “I'm not like Jesus. But I want to be like Him.” At these times we know that God is truly speaking to us because God always calls us to become more and more like Jesus.

Romans 8:29, For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

How do you do this? You say to the Father, “Help me to change. Help me to be more like Jesus.” God has promised that He will show you how to be like Jesus, and He will help you become more like Him.

Being Doers of the Word

Every time you realize that your life doesn't line up perfectly with the truth of God's Word, you have a choice to make—to accept or reject God's way. When you accept God's way and openly say to the Lord, “I'm not like that, but I want to be like that,” He begins to do something inside you. You may find that your tastes are changing. You may become uncomfortable in situations in which you used to feel comfortable. You may have new desires for things that are good, healthful, and wholesome. That's the transforming power of God at work!

James 1:23-25, For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: [24] For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. [25] But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

   

Transformation is Always Important

God doesn't speak frivolously. He doesn't joke around. God means what He says. He will do what He says. God is serious about His relationship with you. He doesn't speak to you in idle terms. He expects you to respond to His voice, heed His Word, and act on it.

Can you remember last Sunday's sermon? Can you recall what you read in God's Word yesterday? You'll be able to remember if you were listening for what God had to say to you and if you take seriously the idea that God intends for you to do something in response to His Word.

God speaks for your benefit. He desires for you to listen to Him and then respond to His words. Sometimes He will challenge you to change your thinking or to release certain feelings and opinions that you have been harboring. Sometimes He will command you to change certain aspects of your behavior. Sometimes He desires to encourage you so that you might live your life with greater joy and strength.  

Always, however, God's Word is for your transformation. It is intended to change you in some way.

Psalm 119:9, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

Joshua 1:7-8, Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. [8] This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

   

Approach God's Word seriously. Listening to God is not a casual pastime or a let's-try-it-and-see-if-you-like-it activity. Listening to God is the most important thing you can do in your life for your eternal sake.

Conclusion:

God has something to say to you! One of the most important lessons in life that you and I can learn is how to listen to God. In our complex and hectic lives, nothing is more urgent, nothing more necessary, and nothing more rewarding than hearing what God has to say to us—both as a body of believers and as individual people.

If you are going to develop a relationship with another person, you have to converse with that person in some manner. That means both talking and listening. Also remember that God does not speak frivolously. God means what He says. He will do what He says. God is serious about His relationship with you. He expects you to respond to His voice, heed His Word, and act on it.