To Whom Are You Listening?

A devotional Eric delivered at Capitol Hill Baptist
Church's Sunday evening service on April 7, 2002

Our passage this evening is from the book of Deuteronomy. This Old Testament book is the fifth of the five books of the Law – the Pentateuch – with Moses as the central figure. Deuteronomy is set with Israel at the edge of the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering in the desert. Its name comes from the fact that the Law God set out for Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai is now given a second time. You’ll remember that Moses shattered the two stone tablets following the incident of the Golden Calf.

And so now, on the verge of entering Canaan, Moses gives some final instructions, warnings, and a promise to the people of Israel.

Let us consider this now and its implications for our lives. Open your Bibles with me to Deuteronomy, chapter 18.

Our passage tonight centers on one verse, 15. But to understand it better, I will read it in context beginning with verse 14 and ending with verse 19:

“The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so. The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.’

“The LORD said to me: ‘What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.’”

Tonight, I’d like us to consider three main questions from this passage:

1) Who is this promised prophet?
2) Who (or what) is not this promised prophet that we should not listen to?
3) How can we make sure that we are in fact listening to the One to whom we must listen?

In order to get a better grasp of who this promised prophet is and what it means to listen to Him, let’s first consider who or what it is not, and, thus, what we should not listen to.

According to the context, it is clear we should not listen to the idols of this world that are “detestable” to God. In particular, we should not listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. Look back at verses 10-11: “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.”

This clearly excludes us from putting faith in horoscopes, astrology, the ‘psychic hotlines’ advertised on TV, and the such. In our present age of subjective relativism, fascination with spiritual mediums and the occult seems to be on the rise. In many instances, this comes under the guise of the “New Age” movement. But just because “New Age” practices are cleverly marketed and do not present themselves as dark and evil – but rather as benign means to help you search for answers from either another realm or from your “inner being” – does not mean the practices of the “New Age” movement are any less dangerous for us here today than they were for the Israelites 3,400 years ago.

You must beware of such false prophets, God says, for these prognosticators of lies will surely lead you astray.

Fortunately, the Lord tells us through Moses how to identify false prophets. The test is found in verse 22: “If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken.”

Many studies have proven that though clairvoyants and spiritists – and even so-called Christian prophets of the present day – do occasionally see their predictions come to pass, they rarely do with more than 60 percent accuracy. And never with total accuracy. Meanwhile, God’s standard for a true prophet is 100% accuracy (Deuteronomy 18:22).

God is completely trustworthy. He is infallible, free from error, and no lie can proceed from His lips. A false prophecy is then not from God, and a false prophet is therefore not of God – we should have nothing to do with them.

But what about those of us not involved with psychics and the occult – do we still conduct our lives in a way that is detestable to God? As we see in Deuteronomy 18:10, at earlier times in human history people would sacrifice their offspring in order to appease their pagan gods – in other words, to have things go well with them. Many people nowadays sacrifice their unborn children through abortion to the god of personal convenience, so that, again, things might go well with them.

As many have warned, our never-ending thirst for economic freedom or a fountain of youth has also brought us to the brink of killing our parents through euthanasia, and of cloning human embryos as a way to harvest spare parts. Peter Singer, professor of ethics at Princeton, even advocates the right to infanticide. The fate of those who unrepentantly endorse such practices will be no better than it was for the wicked nations the Israelites were to dispossess.

What about you? What “detestable practices” do you carry out, so that things might go well with you? What is your “god of convenience” that you follow? Is pornography or homosexuality or other forms of sexual promiscuity your way to happiness? I tell you, this god will desert you in the end, and will leave you emptier than you were when you first contemplated that temporary and fleeting pleasure. Do you lie or cheat or steal in order to get ahead at your job or in school? Do you practice gossip or slander in order to fit in with the crowd, or to tear another down so that you feel better about yourself?

Let’s say you don’t do these things. Do you ever ponder these desires in your heart? Perhaps you secretly envy another, even while you smile at them in conversation? As Jesus made clear, the thought equals the crime, in God’s pure eyes. “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28)

What about all those good and right blessings the Lord has showered on us here in this world, that we should receive with joy and thanksgiving, to love and enjoy – whether they be sports, your health, books, entertainment, marriage and family – have any of these things become an idol in your life? These good things can become our pitfall, too. We humans are finite beings – with infinite desires. These things – as good and right as they are in themselves – will surely pass away. They will from time to time disappoint us.

You see, only an infinite God can bring us true and everlasting peace and happiness. Only an infinite God can fulfill our endless needs and desires. We may deceive ourselves for a while – we may deceive ourselves even for a lifetime – but some day that well will run dry, and we will have to answer for those idols we so rebelliously serve.

How, then, do we gain access to this infinite God and the living water He offers? By His Law given through Moses, God established a standard by which we must live to be right with Him. As a perfect and Holy God, we must also be perfectly righteous in our lives in order to enter the Promised Land that awaits. But that leaves us with a problem, doesn’t it? If we examine ourselves closely, and shine a spotlight into the darkest recesses of our hearts, and if we are honest with ourselves, we know that we all fall short of this perfect standard. “Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin?” the Proverb asks. (Proverb 20:9)

From our passage, we see that God’s chosen people, Israel, were sinful, too, and could not stand on their own in the light of God’s righteous laws. Do you see that in verse 16? “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”

Our sin likewise makes us insecure in God’s presence; and it alienates us from Him. So, we maybe go to a spiritual medium – a psychic – to avoid God’s holy gaze and to gain certainty in our lives. Or maybe we try to avoid Him altogether by indulging our lusts or by wrapping ourselves up to an unhealthy degree with our job, family, or choice of entertainment.

To turn back to the Israelites for a moment, God then does a strange thing, as we see in verse 17. He says that this desire for a mediator like Moses to stand between them and God is “good.” For as God told the Israelites, they were a sinful and rebellious people.

And so it is with us too. But thanks be to God, He has given us hope, an eternal mediator, and thus, a way out from the due penalty we deserve for our sins. As Moses says in verse 15, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers.”

This promised prophet is Jesus Christ, and He is our hope for salvation!

Christ is the true prophet – a prophet like Moses, only more so. Moses was the one who ushered in the old covenant between God and His chosen people through the blood of the sacrificial lamb.

Jesus was like Moses in that He would usher in the new covenant. But unlike Moses, Jesus Christ was a man without sin, who willfully took our sin upon Himself and bore the punishment we justly deserved, so that we might be declared righteous and inherit eternal life. So we see at the Last Supper that Jesus declares the cup ‘is the new covenant in my blood,’ one sacrifice for all time – the final sacrifice.

And Jesus proved Himself to be the promised prophet by virtue of the fact that He prophesied His death on the Cross and His subsequent Resurrection.

As our Pastor noted this morning, it is this hope in the Resurrection that enlivened and emboldened a scattered, downcast, cowardly band of Jesus’ disciples following His crucifixion. On the confidence they had that Jesus was indeed resurrected from the dead, they would endure hard time in prison, being flogged severely, hunger, lack of sleep, and persecution from within and without. And many of them, including eleven of the twelve Apostles, would ultimately be executed for their faith.

If you have questions about the truth of Jesus’ Resurrection, please come talk to one of the elders or to me or to the person sitting next to you after this service. We even have books on the bookstall that will help you explore this issue for yourself. I assure you, it is well worth you looking into. Because the hope we have in Christ is greater than all the storms that may buffet us in this world. It is worth whatever discomforts or persecution we may face from the world because we are Christians.

And it is also worth it because there are consequences that come with this truth. If the Resurrection is an historical fact, then we must deal with what else Christ said about Himself, for the fulfilled prophecy of His Resurrection thus validated the truth of all His claims. As God made clear at the transfiguration of Jesus in Mark 9, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him.”

Among the claims of Jesus we must listen to is that His willing sacrifice as a perfect lamb on the Cross paid the due penalty we deserve for our sins – if we only trust in Christ and Christ alone for our salvation. As Jesus said in no uncertain terms, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life – no one comes to the Father but by Me.”

But for those of us who call ourselves Christians, we must come to grips with other statements of Jesus, too – like the one recorded in Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” You see, the fact that we call ourselves Christians does not necessarily mean that we are Christians. We must test ourselves by the Word to make certain our salvation. We are justified by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone – that is eminently true – but we are never justified by a faith that is alone. Faith without works is a dead faith. If we are truly saved, our lives will progressively be marked by more and more good fruits, less deliberate sin, and growing obedience to the imperatives set out in the Bible.

You will remember the story of King Saul in 1 Samuel 15, whom God sent to completely wipe out peoples whose evil included witchcraft (and child sacrifice). But Saul did not obey God, and he did not completely wipe them out. Instead, he sought to worship God in his own way and on his own terms.

Ironically, Saul exclaimed to the prophet Samuel, “The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”

But Samuel rebuked Saul, saying: “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. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.”

As Jesus said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and obey it.” (Luke 11:28)

What about you? Do you give lip service to Christianity, but then water it down with your own preferences, and pretend to serve God when in fact you serve yourself – in your own way and on your own terms? Jesus clearly says that you cannot have it both ways – with one foot in the Kingdom of God and one foot out. You can be hot or cold, Jesus says, but you had better not be lukewarm.

Following this talk, we will partake of the Lord’s Supper together. As we are not to receive the elements in an unworthy manner, it would be prudent for each of us to examine our hearts beforehand and consider ways we have sought to remake Christ in our own image, rather than the other way around. Confess this sin to God, repent, and pledge with the help of the Holy Spirit to truly listen and obey from this day forward.

So far, tonight, we have explored what false prophets and idols in our lives we should avoid. We have discovered that Jesus Christ is indeed the promised prophet. That leaves us with the third question – how can we make sure that we do in fact listen to the One to whom we must listen?

The answer to that question is found in the Bible – in fact, it is the Bible. Jesus’ life on earth was marked by unfailing obedience to the Scriptures, as He set the example for all who would follow Him. As Scripture never had its origin in the will of man, but was inspired – literally ‘breathed out’ – by the Holy Spirit, the Bible carries the very authority and stamp of Jesus’ own words.

As fallen human beings, we must plan and discipline ourselves to spend time listening to Christ speak to us through the Bible. A good place to start is with the myriad of opportunities the local church here at CHBC provides for its congregants to grow in Scriptural knowledge and in practical ways.

• Make sure you attend the Sunday morning service each week, and actively listen and meditate on the message given. Don’t just go through the motions. Whether Mark or a guest preacher gives the sermon, we are blessed with men specially gifted to teach God’s Holy Word. Be sure to actively avail yourself of this Spiritual food each and every week.
• Consider attending the pre-service Core Seminar classes at 9:30AM. These are a great opportunity to grow in depth of understanding about the Bible and ways the Word can be practically applied to all areas of your life.
• Attend the Wednesday evening Bible Study, if your work schedule allows it. How I have been challenged and encouraged to hear from not only our pastor, but from the literally scores of other Christians who love and know well the Word, as we dig out the treasures hidden in the Scripture, verse-by-verse and word-by-word together.
• Consider joining a small group Bible study. Literally dozens get together each week – from married couples’ groups that meet once a month or so, to men’s groups and women’s groups that get together each week. Is it any wonder that Jesus says, “Where two or more are gathered, there I am also?” There is a certain synergy that the Holy Spirit brings to a group that studies the Word together. And a small group can help you develop a strong accountability to fellow Christians, as you exhort and encourage one another toward godliness.

But none of this should take the place of your own private study and devotions. When you read your Bibles, be sure to not only get the bird’s-eye view of the large themes running through the Scripture, the context – but also focus in on the details.

• One way to establish context is by committing yourself to read through the Bible each year. One good plan I recommend is the “M’Cheyne’s calendar for daily readings.” You may pick up a free copy of the plan over by the bookstall. But whatever you do, be sure to regularly read from all parts of the Bible, not just the New Testament.
• Read the Christian classics. Not only can you see further if you stand on the shoulders of those Christian greats who have come before you, but it helps you to escape the contemporary cultural biases that may blind us to certain truths in the Bible.
• Plan time each day, away from distractions, to slowly and carefully read the Word – perhaps even only a paragraph or chapter at a time. Meditate on each verse as you come to it, and pray over it. And if you discipline yourself to do this before you start your day, all the better. In my own life, the times I have started the day in meditation and prayer over Scripture may not have altered the trials I would face that day, but it has invariably improved my response and attitude toward those trials.

Since we are saved by grace alone, the above is not intended to be a works-based formula by which we gain points with God. The important thing is that we each use whatever means at our disposal to listen all the more to Jesus, for the purpose of godliness. May we all become more disciplined in regular Bible intake, and in applying the truths and lessons of Scripture to our lives.

J.I. Packer wisely noted in his book, ‘Fundamentalism’ and the Word of God, that “We may never assume the complete rightness of our own established ways of thought and practice and excuse ourselves the duty of testing and reforming them by Scripture.”

‘These are the Scriptures’ Jesus said, ‘that testify about Me.’

So I ask again, to whom do you listen?

Let’s pray:

Dear Father in Heaven,

You are a Holy God, and all your decrees are perfectly good and just. But Lord, you know that we are all sinners and fools. But thanks be to your love and mercy, you have sent your Son, the promised prophet, Jesus, to bridge the gulf between us and You, declaring us righteous by His blood. Help us, O Lord, to truly listen to Him. Leave us not to our own blindness, but give us light to avoid false prophets and false doctrine. Let us not be deceived, we humbly beseech Thee, and teach us to embrace your whole Word as the truth it is. And as we now turn to remember Christ’s work on our behalf at the Lord’s Table, bring to our minds those ways we have been disobedient, that we may turn to You, asking forgiveness, and gladly receive your free gift of grace. Thy will be done, according to the riches of your mercy in Christ. Amen.