Pastor Mike Holtzinger

The Morning I Heard The Voice of God
By: John Piper March 21, 2007

Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God. I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. The words were in English, but they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today.

I couldn’t sleep for some reason. I was at Shalom House in northern Minnesota on a staff couples’ retreat. It was about five thirty in the morning. I lay there wondering if I should get up or wait till I got sleepy again. In his mercy, God moved me out of bed. It was mostly dark, but I managed to find my clothing, got dressed, grabbed my briefcase, and slipped out of the room without waking up Noël. In the main room below, it was totally quiet. No one else seemed to be up. So I sat down on a couch in the corner to pray.

As I prayed and mused, suddenly it happened. God said, “Come and see what I have done.” There was not the slightest doubt in my mind that these were the very words of God. In this very moment. At this very place in the twenty-first century, 2007, God was speaking to me with absolute authority and self-evidencing reality. I paused to let this sink in. There was a sweetness about it. Time seemed to matter little. God was near. He had me in his sights. He had something to say to me. When God draws near, hurry ceases. Time slows down.

I wondered what he meant by “come and see.” Would he take me somewhere, like he did Paul into heaven to see what can’t be spoken? Did “see” mean that I would have a vision of some great deed of God that no one has seen? I am not sure how much time elapsed between God’s initial word, “Come and see what I have done,” and his next words. It doesn’t matter. I was being enveloped in the love of his personal communication. The God of the universe was speaking to me.

Then he said, as clearly as any words have ever come into my mind, “I am awesome in my deeds toward the children of man.” My heart leaped up, “Yes, Lord! You are awesome in your deeds. Yes, to all men whether they see it or not. Yes! Now what will you show me?”

The words came again. Just as clear as before, but increasingly specific: “I turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There they rejoiced in me—who rules by my might forever.” Suddenly I realized God was taking me back several thousand years to the time when he dried up the Red Sea and the Jordan River. I was being transported by his word back into history to those great deeds. This is what he meant by “come and see.” He was transporting me back by his words to those two glorious deeds before the children of men. These were the “awesome deeds” he referred to. God himself was narrating the mighty works of God. He was doing it for me. He was doing it with words that were resounding in my own mind.

There settled over me a wonderful reverence. A palpable peace came down. This was a holy moment and a holy corner of the world in northern Minnesota. God Almighty had come down and was giving me the stillness and the openness and the willingness to hear his very voice. As I marveled at his power to dry the sea and the river, he spoke again. “I keep watch over the nations—let not the rebellious exalt themselves.”

This was breathtaking. It was very serious. It was almost a rebuke. At least a warning. He may as well have taken me by the collar of my shirt, lifted me off the ground with one hand, and said, with an incomparable mixture of fierceness and love, “Never, never, never exalt yourself. Never rebel against me.”

I sat staring at nothing. My mind was full of the global glory of God. “I keep watch over the nations.” He had said this to me. It was not just that he had said it. Yes, that is glorious. But he had said this to me. The very words of God were in my head. They were there in my head just as much as the words that I am writing at this moment are in my head. They were heard as clearly as if at this moment I recalled that my wife said, “Come down for supper whenever you are ready.” I know those are the words of my wife. And I know these are the words of God.

Think of it. Marvel at this. Stand in awe of this. The God who keeps watch over the nations, like some people keep watch over cattle or stock markets or construction sites—this God still speaks in the twenty-first century. I heard his very words. He spoke personally to me.

What effect did this have on me? It filled me with a fresh sense of God’s reality. It assured me more deeply that he acts in history and in our time. It strengthened my faith that he is for me and cares about me and will use his global power to watch over me. Why else would he come and tell me these things?

It has increased my love for the Bible as God’s very word, because it was through the Bible that I heard these divine words, and through the Bible I have experiences like this almost every day. The very God of the universe speaks on every page into my mind—and your mind. We hear his very words. God himself has multiplied his wondrous deeds and thoughts toward us; none can compare with him! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told (Psalm 40:5).

And best of all, they are available to all. If you would like to hear the very same words I heard on the couch in northern Minnesota, read Psalm 66:5-7. That is where I heard them. O how precious is the Bible. It is the very word of God. In it God speaks in the twenty-first century. This is the very voice of God. By this voice, he speaks with absolute truth and personal force. By this voice, he reveals his all-surpassing beauty. By this voice, he reveals the deepest secrets of our hearts. No voice anywhere anytime can reach as deep or lift as high or carry as far as the voice of God that we hear in the Bible.

It is a great wonder that God still speaks today through the Bible with greater force and greater glory and greater assurance and greater sweetness and greater hope and greater guidance and greater transforming power and greater Christ-exalting truth than can be heard through any voice in any human soul on the planet from outside the Bible.

This is why I found the article in this month’s Christianity Today, “My Conversation with God,” so sad. Written by an anonymous professor at a “well-known Christian University,” it tells of his experience of hearing God. What God said was that he must give all his royalties from a new book toward the tuition of a needy student. What makes me sad about the article is not that it isn’t true or didn’t happen. What’s sad is that it really does give the impression that extra-biblical communication with God is surpassingly wonderful and faith-deepening. All the while, the supremely-glorious communication of the living God which personally and powerfully and transformingly explodes in the receptive heart through the Bible everyday is passed over in silence.

I am sure this professor of theology did not mean it this way, but what he actually said was, “For years I’ve taught that God still speaks, but I couldn’t testify to it personally. I can only do so now anonymously, for reasons I hope will be clear” (emphasis added). Surely he does not mean what he seems to imply—that only when one hears an extra-biblical voice like, “The money is not yours,” can you testify personally that God still speaks. Surely he does not mean to belittle the voice of God in the Bible which speaks this very day with power and truth and wisdom and glory and joy and hope and wonder and helpfulness ten thousand times more decisively than anything we can hear outside the Bible.

I grieve at what is being communicated here. The great need of our time is for people to experience the living reality of God by hearing his word personally and transformingly in Scripture. Something is incredibly wrong when the words we hear outside Scripture are more powerful and more affecting to us than the inspired word of God. Let us cry with the psalmist, “Incline my heart to your word” (Psalm 119:36). “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). Grant that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know our hope and our inheritance and the love of Christ that passes knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 1:18; 3:19). O God, don’t let us be so deaf to your word and so unaffected with its ineffable, evidential excellency that we celebrate lesser things as more thrilling, and even consider this misplacement of amazement worthy of printing in a national magazine.
Still hearing his voice in the Bible,

Pastor John

“The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!” Luke 7:34

Early in His ministry our Lord set forth a model of Christian witness that reveals a lifestyle and His heart for souls.  This lifestyle got Him into immediate trouble with the religiously respectable.  For you see, He sought out a publican to  be one of His disciples!  His name was Levi or Matthew.  Matthew, in his excitement, hosted a dinner inviting all his “friends” (Luke 5:29)!  This criticism was embellished over time to include accusations of gluttony and the consumption of alcohol and therefore our Lord most certainly was “the friend of publicans and sinners”!  This criticism was again reinforced later when Christ ate with Zacchaeus the tax collector (publican).

“And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.” Luke 19:7

No doubt  we all understand our Lord’s motives and have no problem finding fault with the Pharisees.  Our Lord’s heart always went out to those in spiritual need.  Did not our Lord make it clear that he was sent to “seek and to save which is lost?  (Luke 19:10)”  Didn’t He also say in response to these who had cast judgment that those who were whole have no need of a doctor , but rather they that are sick (Matt.9:12)?  We sometimes find it hard to understand how the Pharisees could not see and understand the heart of true ministry and be so critical of Christ who exemplified it so well!  Maybe our lack of understanding of the blindness of the contemporary religious community of our Lord’s Day is due in part to our own lack of understanding of the Great Commission and our Lord’s methods for reaching the lost.

I am convinced that there are very few true believers that are not concerned for the lost. We are concerned about lost relatives, friends and fellow workers. But at the same time our concern most often does not translate into souls reached and won to Christ.  Much of this fruitlessness in no doubt due to the coolness of our hearts and therefore a lack of motivation to extend ourselves into the lives of others and tied to this is the fact that many of us have few if any friends outside our Christian circles.  We have been taught or at least understood that our friendships are to be with believers.  We have equated the principle of “friendship with the world as enmity with God” (James 4:4) and intentionally avoided any real or meaningful friendships with the lost.  The result has been that our sphere of influence for the sake of the Gospel as dwindled to a very small group of people. The church by in large, is practicing this truth out of balance.  There is a definite misunderstanding regarding the doctrine of “separation” and our Lord’s passion and methods for reaching people in genuine love with the Gospel.

When I was a young believer I found myself from time to time with serious doubts about my salvation.  These doubts came for two reasons.  The first was my religious background.  To have assurance of salvation and know I was secure in Christ was just difficult for me to take ownership of the concept.  The other cause of doubts was my failure to live up to what I knew was honoring to Christ.  Whenever I sinned I felt guilt I must not truly be a Christian.  These doubts had devastating results, even when confessed (1 John 1:9).  These doubts hindered my walk and fellowship with Christ and crippled me in the ministry God had given me.  I experienced the accusing spirit of the powers of darkness, as well as my flesh.  I constantly wondered what the problem was and how could I deal with it.

One day I found myself at a youth camp in the high mountains in Northern California as a youth leader from our church.  On the second night I was up late with the leadership of the camp.  As our conversation moved from the ministry of the moment I found myself alone with the camp director and I open up and shared my heart about my doubts.  In a matter of minutes I came to a place of real peace concerning my salvation.  The answer was simple and life changing.  The director had me turn in my Bible to John 1:12 and read it out loud.  The then he asked two simple and straight forward questions;  “What does the passage say?”  And “do you believe it?”  What he did was point to the authority of the Word of God in place of my transient emotions.  I gain learned two lessons. One, my salvation is dependent on God’s promise, and two, the Scriptures are the arbiter of truth not my experiences or feelings.  Those lessons are clearly profound and are to be the rule all true believers.  Our faith has value because of the object in which it is placed not in our personal sincerity and as a result we must look only to the Word of God for authoritative answers to our walk with Christ.

The security of the believer or more accurately called the perseverance of the saints is a precious truth that not only brings comfort but also a deeper understanding of the merits and riches of Christ in salvation.  This doctrine, rightly understood, will not lead to license, but rather to a life of deep devotion and holiness in Christ.  There are a number of lessons that this precious doctrine illuminates.  Let me take two for you consideration that point to the majesty and glory of the Savior who purchased us.

The Purposes of God

The redemptive story of man is the full testimony of the Scriptures. God purposed to save man from before the foundations of the world into eternity future.  Our salvation was in the mind of God from eternity ( Romans 8:29-30, Ephesians 1:4-6).   The passage in Ephesians makes it clear that God chose in eternity past. His purpose in eternity past was to call and bring us into a right relationship with Him.  This is a work of God’s effectual calling. The question then to be asked is what or who can thwart His purposes?   Romans 8:29-30 go further in stating that those God has predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ (vs.28-29) are a result of His call not only justified, but will ultimately be glorified (eternity future).  No where in any of these passages regarding the call of God do we see anything other than the eternal purposes of God in justification and glorification.  The question that should confront every thoughtful person is whether an infinite God can realize His eternal purpose, or is He baffled and uncertain in the presence of the object of His own creative power?

The Power of God

If our salvation is totally dependent on Christ, is it possible for us, the devil, or any power to overcome the power of God?  That is exactly what Paul is asking in Romans 8:31;

Romans 8:31 (NKJV) ³¹What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

While Paul answers this question in the following verses, it is also obvious that if God in omnipotent, then His work of saving grace through the sacrificial, substitutionary death of Christ is not in danger.  This is the same power that raised Christ from the dead and overcame the consequences of sin (Ephesians 1:19-20; Philippians 3:21).  God’s omnipotence means that nothing and no one is powerful enough to separate us from God (John 10:27-29; Romans  8:34-39). Even the “free will” of the sheep cannot, and will not, bring him to the point of perishing.  It is God who causes us to stand (Rom.14:4).  And it is by His power He is able to keep us from falling (stumbling) and present us faultless before the presence of God (Jude 24; Ephesians 3:30; Hebrews 7:25).

No wonder we hear our Lord state;

John 10:27 – 28 (NKJV) ²⁷My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  ²⁸And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

Scripture must take us beyond our perceived needs to our real needs and liberate us from seeing ourselves through the seductive images, clichés, promises, and priorities of mass culture.  It is only in light of God’s truth that we understand ourselves aright and see God’s provision for our need.  The Bible, therefore, must be taught and preached in the church.  Sermons must be expositions of the Bible and its teachings, not expressions of the preacher’s opinions or ideas of the age.  We must settle for nothing less than what God has given.

The work of the Holy Spirit in personal experience cannot be disengaged from the Scripture.  The Spirit does not speak in ways that are independent of Scripture.  Apart from Scripture we would never have known of God’s grace in Christ.  The biblical Word, rather than spiritual experience, is the test of truth. – James Montgometry Boice,  “Here We Stand”, P&R Publishing, pg 15

I love Psalm 119.  It elevates the Word of God to its rightful place in the life of a believer. Let me illustrate that with a few citations.

Psalms 119:9 – 10 (NKJV) ⁹ How can a young man cleanse his way?  By taking heed according to Your word. ¹⁰ With my whole heart I have sought You;  Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!

Psalms 119:13 (NKJV) ¹³ With my lips I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth.

Psalms 119:18 (NKJV) ¹⁸ Open my eyes, that I may see     Wondrous things from Your law.

Psalms 119:24 (NKJV) ²⁴ Your testimonies also are my delight  And my counselors.

Psalms 119:38 (NKJV) ³⁸ Establish Your word to Your servant,  Who is devoted to fearing You.

Psalms 119:50 (NKJV) ⁵⁰ This is my comfort in my affliction,  For Your word has given me life.

Psalms 119:67 (NKJV) ⁶⁷ Before I was afflicted I went astray,  But now I keep Your word.

Psalms 119:89 (NKJV) ⁸⁹ Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.

Psalms 119:93 (NKJV) ⁹³ I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have given me life.

Psalms 119:103 (NKJV) ¹⁰³ How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Psalms 119:105 (NKJV) ¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet  And a light to my path.

Psalms 119:114 (NKJV) ¹¹⁴ You are my hiding place and my shield;     I hope in Your word.

Psalms 119:130 (NKJV) ¹³⁰ The entrance of Your words gives light;  It gives understanding to the simple.

Psalms 119:160 (NKJV) ¹⁶⁰ The entirety of Your word is truth,  And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.

How can our God be our portion, our life, if we don’t delight in his Word?  It is  the Word of God that gives us a love for the God we worship and serve.  It is His Word that gives us clarity concerning Him and His work of grace in our midst.

The Psalmist claims that God is his portion, his possession, his life. He is not an add-on, or just another segment of his life but the totality of his life. All that he is or hopes to be is found in his love for his God as revealed in the Word of God. He has found his hope and reason for life in God apart from the circumstances of life and God’s Word has become his lamp, his food, his refuge, and his light.

For the believer,  we find the culmination of this in the person of Christ, the Incarnate Word (John 1:1-3). He is the light that lights every man that comes into the world (John 1:9).  All that we need to know about whom God is and how He relates to man is found in the person of Christ.  Phillip found this out when he said; “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us” (John 14:8).  Our Lord’s response says it all;  “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’” (John 14:9)?

Those who seem to have tired of Christ have neglected the revelation of Christ in the Word of God.  They have not seen the majesty, the immenseness of the person of Christ simply because the have not allowed the Holy Spirit through the Word of God to bring them into captivity to Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5).  His beauty, His grace, His holiness, and His majesty have been missed simply because many have neglected the Word of God.

I suppose the question is not so much that His Word is our portion or possession but rather has Christ, through the Word, possessed us?  That will happen when the Word of God possesses us!

Revelation 2:1 – 4 (NKJV) ¹“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:  ²“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;  ³and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.  ⁴Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.   (emphasis added)

For many believers today the loss of their first love is a present reality.  The old saying, “familiarity breads contempt” may not apply but familiarity does often breed “familiarity” meaning mediocrity. It was once there (Eph. 1:15; 3:17-19; 6:23), and your love for Christ drove your life.

You have a hatred for evil, able to discern false teachers, you labor and work in the ministry with patience, and you have maintained your doctrinal orthodoxy and continue to serve Christ. That service had degenerated into mechanical orthodoxy. You’re basically on auto pilot.  Just was has gone wrong?

I suspect for many there is that familiarity that has bred mediocrity.  Our relationship with Christ has dulled and we have resorted to clichés and religious activities that have a historical vestige in a once vibrant relationship with Christ, but in all the right things the things that really define our love for Christ are missing.

The first principle in rekindling that dynamic love for Christ first starts with understanding that this kind of love was initiated and proceeds from God.

1 John 4:19 (NKJV) ¹⁹We love Him because He first loved us.

We need to return to visit the riches of the grace of Christ (Ephesians 1:7; 3:8; cf 3:16) and come to grips with the simple fact that a return to our “first love” flows from our dependence on Christ initiating that love within us.  Our relationship with Christ is one born not by the flesh,  nor the will men, but of God (John 1:13).  Our relationship with Christ has a divine authorship and empowerment.

The second is obedience to the Word of God.

John 14:21 – 24 (NKJV) ²¹He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” ²²Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” ²³Jesus answered and said to him, ”If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.  ²⁴He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.  (also John 14:15, 24)

When we think of our relationship with Christ we usually do not relate to “doing”.   We were saved by grace through faith apart from works. Our walk with Christ is not a performance relationship.   How does it all fit in?  Once we are in Christ, having put on Christ (Galatians 3:26-27) we become new creatures in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17).  We have been given a new heart that desires the things of God.  Paul calls this the “new man” (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10). The point here is that the new man craves to do the will of God because that is his nature.  The new man desires the things God, desires and seeks them out. When we allow the cares of the world and of the flesh to take hold of our lives, that which has been born within us is starved and we sense a loss of our “first love.” Christ is crowded out and we lose the joy of our relation with Him.

Let us go back and review the love of God found in Christ Jesus and allow what He has done for us in redemption to once again capture our hearts.  And then let us look to obedience to His Word and ask the Lord to restore to us a passion for the things He is passionate about. We will regain our first love when we regain the things that our Lord is passionate about by placing His interests above ours in obedience.

Job 24:1 (NKJV) ¹ “Since times are not hidden from the Almighty, Why do those who know Him see not His days?

Job 33:13 (NKJV) ¹³ Why do you contend with Him?  For He does not give an accounting of any of His words.

As I reflect upon the words found here in Job, I am taken back a minute. Here is a man who underwent a testing that could hardly be considered fair or easy and yet his reflection upon the sovereignty of God is rock solid. I am also convinced that hidden in his responses here and throughout the book of Job, he also had a firm confidence in the goodness of God.  While we might not see the whole picture or understand what is happening, the events of life and nations are not hid from God.  What we can take solace in,  is the fact that our times fit perfectly the plan of God and He can use what ever circumstances we find ourselves in to bring us into conformity to Christ (Romans 8:28-29).

Job’s question in the second half of verse one cuts to the quick.  Why is it that we who know the Lord, do not have an understanding of the purposes of God in the days in which we live?  I suspect it is simply because our knowledge of God is superficial and we have allowed comfort to rob us of the real intimacy that comes when we commune and live with God in trying times and find Him good, holy, righteous, and our true source of comfort and peace.  It is when we finally come to that place where we do not expect Him to give us, of all people, an account of His sovereign plan, but rather we rest in His wisdom and grow, and then look to see what He would have us to do with the opportunities he has placed at our doorsteps for His Kingdom!
Psalms 74:12 (NKJV) ¹² For God is my King from of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth.

Here’s a question…Did anything that has happened over the last several months change anything concerning that for which God has called us?  I think not!