Sermon Tone Analysis

You’ve seen the commercial, /"Can you hear me now?

Good!"/

In 2001 Verizon Wireless hired 50 people to travel the country and test the company’s cellular network.

They each average 100,000 miles a year, going to places, and testing the Verizon network.

In 2002 Verizon hired thirty-four-year-old Paul Marcarelli of New York City to be the “personification” of those 50 testers.

And yes, those are his own glasses!

He became simply known as the “Test Guy” and in the Verizon commercials you would see him, on his cell phone, in a variety of places and situations testing the Verizon network.

And of course there is always a connection, and it is ‘good’.

Now the phrase, "Can you hear me now?" has become part of our cultural vocabulary.

Certainly it’s a question that God was asking of Israel.

His people had not listened to God.

As a result the nation has made a political alliance with Egypt.

Isaiah refers to it as a covenant with death and the grave.

Because Israel has refused to listen to the Lord, the God who swept away David’s enemies will now sweep away David’s kingdom.

What Isaiah’s scoffing opponents did not realize was that God was getting ready to do a “strange work”: He would use Israel’s long-time enemies to fight against His own people!

Just as a farmer has different tasks to perform and must adapt himself to each task, whether plowing or threshing, so God must do the work that is necessary to bring about His eternal purposes.

He knows just what tool to use and when to use it.

God’s ultimate purpose is not to destroy His people, but to get them to listen to Him!

And certainly, this is what God wants from us.

God is asking the question: /“Can you hear me now?”/ Hopefully He can say /“good!”/ Do you hear God talking?

It’s an important question.

But how does God talk to us to-day, and what does He want us to do?

Our key verse for this evening is: /"Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say."/

-- Isaiah 28.23

Let me offer five ways that God ‘speaks’ to us.

Now, when I use the word speak, what I’m meaning is that there are a number of ways that God has chosen to reveal Himself to the world: To reveal His character, His attributes, and His will.

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I. GOD SPEAKS THROUGH CREATION

* /“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse.”/

(Romans 1:19–20, ESV)

* /“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.”/

(Psalm 19:1–3, ESV)

#. according to these two passages, all men have evidence of God, and what their physical senses can perceive of Him their inner senses can understand to some extent

!! A. GOD REVEALS HIMSELF IN A GENERAL WAY THROUGH WHAT HE HAS MADE

#. in the Romans passage, the Apostle Paul says that there are certain things that can be known about God by observing the created world around us

#. he writes in v. 19 that they are plain–literally clearly visible and in v. 20 that they are clearly perceived

#. what are these invisible attributes that can be clearly seen through His creation?

#. his /eternal power/

#. his /divine nature/

#. as a result of this natural revelation, men are without excuse

#. the Scriptures both assume and declare that the knowledge that God is universal

#. no person, therefore, can plead ignorance of God, because, entirely apart from Scripture, God has revealed Himself and continues to reveal Himself to man

* ILLUS.

While ministering in Lystra, Paul told his Gentile audience about the God /“who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them.”/

He went on to explain that “in the generations gone by [God] permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:15–17).

#. the glory of creation testifies to the grandness, and the goodness of the God who created the world and provides for us through it

#.

according to the Psalmist, even though Creation does not speak audibly in words, its message (voice) goes out to the ends of the earth

#. this message from nature about the glory of God reaches all nations, and is equally intelligible to all peoples

* ILLUS.

What normal person does not look at the Grand Canyon and say /"Nice job, God"/

#.

God Speaks Through His Creation

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II.

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH CIRCUMSTANCES

#. the Bible says that there is a reason for everything under the sun

* /“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”/

(Romans 8:28, ESV)

#. if He works all things for good, then there is purpose behind all things!

* ILLUS.

When it came to knowing God's will, George Muller (1805-1898), an English evangelist and philanthropist, was remarkably and humbly gifted.

Here's how George Muller set out to ascertain the will of God on a daily basis: 1) I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter.

Nine-tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here.

Nine-tenths of the difficulties are over come when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be.

When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.

2) Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression.

If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.

3) I seek the Will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God.

The Spirit and the Word must be combined.

If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also.

If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.

4) Next I take into account providential circumstances.

These often plainly indicate God's Will in connection with His Word and Spirit.

5) I ask God in prayer to reveal His Will to me aright.

6) Thus, through prayer to God, the study of the Word, and reflection on what is happening around me, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly.

In trivial matters, and in transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective.

#.

God Speaks Through Circumstances

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III.

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH OUR TRIALS AND OUR PAIN

#. trials happen–they are a part of life, not an aberration in life

* /“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”/

(1 Peter 1:6–7, ESV)

#. what is God saying to us when trials come into our lives?

#.

He is saying /"I love you right where I found you; but I love you too much to leave you there!"/

* ILLUS.

Christian author and lecturer C.S. Lewis called pain, /"the megaphone of God."/

In his book The Problem of Pain, Lewis wrote: /“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world”/

#.

God sometimes has to turn up the heat, turn down the screws, or lay us out flat on our backs to get us to listen

#. unfortunately, that is exactly what Isaiah has been preaching to the people of Israel and they have not listened!

#. when we hurt, it forces us to direct our attention to God

* /"Save me, O God!

For the waters have come up to my neck.

I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.

I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched.

My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.”/ (Psalm 69:1–3, ESV)

#. it was through his grief and pain, the Job learned the most about God and his faith in that God

#.

God Speaks Through Our Trials and Our Pain

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IV.

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH HIS WRITTEN WORD