Does God really speak...?

 

These were the first words out of Satan's mouth in the Bible. “Has God said…? in Genesis 3:1.

God did really say it, and the pain of life's mistakes will convince you of it.  

 

Proverbs 16:25 ESV

 

25 There is a way that seems right to a man,

    but its end is the way to death.

 

What are we going to base our lives upon?   Will it be the opinions of the world or the wisdom of God's Word?   If God said it, it must settle it for us.   We must agree with the Psalmist who wrote.  

 

Psalm 119:81 ESV

 

81 My soul longs for your salvation;

    I hope in your word.

 

Jesus taught.  

 

Matthew 7:24-25 ESV

 

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

 

 

The storms of this life are coming.  Obeying God's Word prepares us for life's troubles. 

 

1.  We must gratefully receive God's Word that saves us.

 

James 1:16-18 ESV

 

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.] 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

 

There is nothing that God gives that is not truly good. God gives us His Word the Bible.  It is truly good.

 

Romans 10:9-10 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

 

Romans 10:13 ESV

13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

 

Jesus can hear you when you call to Him.  Call out to Jesus, Surrender to Him, and He will save you.  

 

It is an honor to obey Jesus.  This must be our attitude.    Serving Him is not a duty, but a delight.  

2.  We must humbly accept the truth of God's Word that confronts us.  

James 1:19-21 ESV

 

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

 

If we believe what we like in the Bible, but don't believe what we don't like.  It's not God who we are trusting in, but ourselves.  We must believe that the Bible is God's Word to us.  

Paul taught.   

 

1 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV

13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

The sign of a God changed life is liking Him telling us what to do.

 

3.  We must intently embrace God's truth that guides us.  

James 1:22-25 ESV

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

God's Word is like a mirror.  A mirror tells us what we really look like, and makes us aware of the adjustments that we need to make.  

We need to get a paper Bible and set aside time to read, study, and meditate on it.  We need to highlight the changes that we need to make.  We need a systematic plan of reading through the Bible.  We must not just read the Bible, but to allow it to read us.  

James 1:27 ESV

27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

 

We must not only just practice social justice, but personal righteousness. We must obey God.  It is essential.