The Voice of Jesus

Roy Blizzard III © 2015

 

Text John 7:40,46

40) And a great number of people from the crowd, upon hearing this particular saying (due to the event, etc.) said, “Certainly this man is a prophet.”

46) And the servants answered, “From antiquity no man has spoken as this man!”

 

The human voice is a wonderful thing. Man is the only animal to whom God has bestowed what we would call a gift of speech. Animals squeak and squawk in sounds that they themselves seem to know and I’m sure God knows what each one needs by the individual sounds they make. However, man has a language, a language that can express his innermost feelings and desires far greater than any animal.

 

With a voice a man can say to his beloved, “I love you.” With his voice he can sing the praises of his God. He can make his wishes known to his fellow man and he can express his appreciation to those who have been a blessing to him. He can raise that voice in prayer to God and can use it to preach the unsearchable riches of Jesus and His kingdom.

 

John Chrysostom of Constantinople was called the “Golden Mouthed” or Chrysostom in Greek, because of his resonant voice. It was said that George Whitefield, the English Anglican cleric who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain and, especially, in the American colonies, could speak certain words which could melt an audience into tears. John Wesley, when he was over 70 years old, spoke often in the open air to audiences of 30,000. The great preacher Charles Spurgeon preached to congregations of 2,000 people in the morning and night for many years. It was reported that those on the back seats could hear him perfectly and yet his voice didn’t seem harsh to those in the front row.

 

But let us think of the voice of Jesus. It must have been rich and full and vibrant. One day He got into a boat and pushed out away from shore and spoke to the people on the banks. They could hear Him with no problem even with the breezes and sounds of the waters lapping against the shore. In Revelation 1:15 we read that “His voice was as the sound of many waters.” But there is something more important than the sound of the voice and that is what you say with your voice.

 

In John 7:45 we read that one day some of the Pharisees sent officers to arrest Jesus, but they came back empty handed. When asked why they had not arrested Jesus they answered that, “It was the way He spoke. He said such wonderful things. Never did a man speak as He speaks.”

 

Jesus said many marvelous things in the long distant past, but He still says the same marvelous things today. But even now, as then, we need to listen and hear what He has to say to us. He is the same yesterday, today and forever and the truths that He proclaimed two thousand years ago are just as true and appropriate today. So what did He say?

 

1) Jesus said in Luke 13:3, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” In Mark 16:6 Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

 

Jesus knows what many men are not willing to admit. They have sinned, they are lost, they can never see God and inherit eternal life until they repent of sin and turn to God and inherit Jesus our Messiah. Acts 4:12 tells us, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

 

One night a group of Bible College students heard a fire engine go by. They followed the fire engine to a sanitarium which was burning down. These students went in with the firemen and helped to bring out the patients on the first two floors. As they stood at the front of the building they heard screams from the rear of the building. Rushing to the back they saw four men standing at a third floor window crying for help. Since all the ladders were being used four firemen set about making a net for them to jump into. They cried out to these men and told them to leap to safety into the net and that it would save them. The first three jumped to safety, but the fourth man cried out that he was afraid to risk the net and drew back out of fear. The students and firemen all cried out for him to jump to safety but instead he ran back into the burning building. They later found his charred remains.

 

Listen, there are men, women and children in danger of an eternity in Hell without Jesus. There is only one way of escape and that is God’s way as He revealed in His word, and that is through Jesus our Savior. We have to have Faith and belief that Jesus is who He said He is. We have to repent of our sins and confess that Jesus is the Savior and then be baptized into Jesus’ death, burial and risen existence. Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am truly the way (pathway to Peace – Shalom – through wisdom and understanding) and the truth (of the Law) and the life (by giving correction to those that need it). A man does not come to the Father except by My hand.” (Yeshua, the yeshuat elohim-salvation of God-draws men to the Father) The Gospel of John, An Actual Translation by Roy Blizzard III

 

2) Jesus said in Matthew 22:37, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

 

Make a list of the things and the people you love. Where do you put god on that list? Most of the time we put friends or family first or even possessions or pleasures, but God should be at the top of our lists. When He is there, everything else in our lives will fall into place. Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

 

If we love God, we will trust Jesus and follow Him. If we love God we will serve Him through His Kingdom. If we love God we will love lost souls and seek to save them with Jesus’ help and direction. If we love God we will love the Bible and try to live by it. If we love God we will talk to God every day and pray every day. If we love God we will do that which He tells us to do.

 

3) Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

A religion with no comfort in it is a poor and worthless thing. Who should want it? We are living in a hard world. There is trouble on every side. Men’s hearts are aching and breaking. They need a power stronger than themselves. They need a divine are around them to comfort them and strengthen them. What did the sisters, Mary and Martha do when they lost their brother Lazarus? They sent for Jesus and He came and brought them a blessing. He is the one we must send for when we are in sorrow and distress.

 

4) Jesus said in Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

What folly for a man to spend all of his time and energy on the things of this world and then be forced to leave it all and go out into an eternal night.

 

5) Jesus said in Matthew 5:44, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

This is quite a tall order for most people. Even though the word enemy here is mistranslated and should mean a brother that is alienated out of enmity, even trying to love one’s brother that is cross wise to us is hard unless Jesus is dwelling within our hearts and minds. There is only one thing that will make people love one another when evil has been done to them and that is Jesus’ spirit within us. I’m afraid that many church goers don’t have that spirit. They have way too much of the carnal man dwelling within them and they want to retaliate.

 

But when is the human soul the strongest? Is it in some great hour when the heart is lifted up in praise to God? Is it when you perform some mighty task for the Lord? Is it when you lay a great gift upon the altar of the Lord? No. It is the strongest when it is forgiving and injury.

 

During WWII, a young American pilot was captured by the Japanese and he was persecuted and tortured for many months. After he was released by the Americans, it was a long time before he was well and strong again. But what did he do? Is he sitting around hating those that tortured him? No, he went back to Japan and preached the Gospel to those same men. Why? Because the Spirit of Jesus was alive within his heart.

 

Someone has said before that “hatred is self-punishment.” How true this is. When you hate someone it usually winds up hurting you more than them. It dries up all the happiness in our heart. It destroys the power of our spiritual lives. Let others hate you if they must, but if someone has done you wrong simply ask God to help you forgive that person and help you forget the injury. Ask God to help you love those brothers who have injured you.

 

6) Jesus said in Matthew 18:1, “that men ought always to pray and not to faint.” Or lose heart. We should not be discouraged with God’s plans and His timetable.

 

7) Jesus said in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

 

8) Jesus said in John 14:2, “In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places, (idiomatic speech in Hebrew – Where my Father dwells, there is a place of refuge for His own) and if it were not like this I would have explained it to you. To this place I am going to establish (as a Kingdom is established) a place (of standing, eminence, position in the Kingdom) for you all.” (This term father’s house is an idiom used to describe a clan leader’s tent compound. It is a place of refuge for all those who choose to dwell within the compound and each tent has its own place and power within the clan) The Gospel of John, An Actual Translation by Roy Blizzard III

 

Isn’t it wonderful that this little world isn’t all! Isn’t it wonderful that the struggles we have to endure here aren’t all! God has something better waiting for us. When we come to the end of the way, we have no fear. Gods is just going to lift us out of our troubles and give us a Mansion in Glory!

 

You must know that for the believer secure in Jesus’ Kingdom that death has no terrors. Sure we can stand beside the casket of our beloved family member or friend and weep, and the physical separation is a sad event, but the one who has died in the Lord is a million times better off. That is why Paul could say is 1 Corinthians 15:55, Oh death, where is thy sting?” Oh grave where is thy victory?” When that hour comes for us it doesn’t need to be a dark hour if we but look by virtue of our faithfulness beyond the grave and see Jesus awaiting us.

 

You have heard some of the things which Jesus would be saying today if you would but hear them. It makes all the difference in the world today as to how you hear and heed them and it also makes all the difference in the world to come to Jesus. Don’t fail to heed the words of Jesus because you will find yourself wallowing in despair with no hope heading for certain destruction. You see, Victory is in the voice and words of Jesus and it can give peace to our hearts and lives and eternal life to our souls.

 

 

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