THE VOICE OF JESUS
Ewan D Speirs
John 12: 44-50; 11: 1-4, 21-26, 32-44; 5: 24-25
Luke 6: 47-49
I seek help, dear friends, to speak about the voice of Jesus. It is the only voice that is worth hearing about. In today's world there are many voices, but often they are marked by confusion. But Jesus, the One that we speak about in the gospel, the One that is proclaimed in God's glad tidings, is full of love and life and truth, and brings great clarity into the soul for those that listen and for those that have an appreciation of who Jesus is and who He was and what He has done for each one of us.
In John’s gospel we read of a very dark picture in which Jesus found Himself. It says in John 12: 37 that “though he had done so many signs before them, they believed not on him”. Jesus was a Man on this earth, the blessed Son of God, and He healed the sick and He gave sight to the blind and made the lame walk again. He had done many signs before these people, but they had not believed on Him. So there was a general darkness in John 12; we can see that in the world around there is a general darkness. What is around in the world is full of confusion and darkness and there is an apathy towards believers and towards the Lord Jesus. Even in this land there are many things that would bring in confusion and there is no light. In this section in John it says that Jesus cried out. There are a few references in the gospels to Jesus crying out. In them you get a sense of the urgency and the deep feelings that Jesus had as He recognised that here were men who were away from God and away from divine Persons, and that needed Someone to bring them out of this darkness; but they would not believe. And He still is appealing. He is crying out, we might say, and full of urgency.
The gospel is an urgent matter, dear friends. There is an urgency about the word. We often hear in the glad tidings that today might be the last day. There might not be another gospel preaching and we might never hear the word again. There is an urgency to the gospel that should be taken account of. You must listen to the word; you must listen to the voice of Jesus and the words He is speaking. It is a wonderful thing to know that God is still appealing in His grace and Jesus is still speaking to you tonight. He is appealing to your heart if you are away from God. If you are away from Jesus and you do not know Him, or if you have not been listening to what He is saying to you, then this word is for you. As you heed His word you will find there is a sense in your soul that you are away from God, that you are in darkness, and you need Someone to come into your world to give you light.
Jesus says in verse 46, “I am come into the world as light”. Jesus is the only One that is the true Light. There are no other true lights in this world. There is only one Light that can really illuminate the depths of your soul as away from God, illuminate your soul and bring you back to life and bring your soul into the light. That is why Jesus is appealing to you, crying out to you. Think of what Jesus did to Paul the apostle on the way to Damascus. We can read about it in the Acts, that great light out of heaven, and the voice that was speaking down to him, “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?”, Acts 9: 4. Perhaps tonight Jesus is speaking personally to you. He would call you by name. He would call you out of the darkness that you are in if you are away from God and He would bring you into this light, that you might be saved, that you might come and know Him and that you might know the love and the grace that is abounding towards you. Every single man, woman, boy and girl has sinned, and as away from God the judgment that is before each one is death; and that cannot be taken away unless you come to the One that God has provided as a Saviour for men, and that is Jesus.
Jesus walked here on this earth about 2000 years ago, as a perfect dependent Man. The scriptures that we read tonight are ones which show Jesus as in perfect communion with the Father. Indeed, you get the impression from verse 44 that the link between God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ was very close; and you could say it was inseparable, for Jesus is God in Himself. He is the Son of God and in Him is power that can be taken account of and experienced by those who know Jesus and His voice. Only Jesus could say these things as coming into the world as light and taking those that were in darkness out of that place and bringing them into life.
In verse 47 He says, “if anyone hear my words and do not keep them, I judge him not, for I am not come that I might judge the world, but that I might save the world”. He has come to save you, dear friend. You have to recognise that you are a sinner away from God, and that you have need of a Saviour and by coming to Him and putting your faith and trust in Jesus you can own Him as your Saviour and He will take away your sins forever. It is important to know what He has done to accomplish the work of redemption. He came here to this earth and walked a way of perfection. He is the only One who was a sinless, dependent Man on this earth. He walked that way for thirty-three years before He was put on a cross. On that cross He suffered at the hands of men, but too, from the hands of a holy and righteous and sin-hating God. He was made a perfect Sacrifice for you. He was the only One that died for all, 2 Cor 5: 14. I can say that He died for me, dear friend. Can you say that? Can you say that you believe on the One that died for you and trust in Him, that He has taken away your sins, and you will no longer be condemned? There is no judgment for the believer and the condemnation has been taken away forever. It is a great comfort to know that, even if you stray after you have heard His word and you have trusted Him as Saviour, the Lord Jesus does not hold anything against you. Those sins have been taken away once and for all. The moment that you put your faith and trust in Him, that is it once and for all. It is a finished perfect work that the Lord Jesus has completed, and the believer has no need to worry about your soul salvation. It is secured in that blessed One and in His finished work and the blood that was shed on that cross, the perfect redeeming work of Christ.
But there is a warning that the Lord Jesus brings in and He speaks in verse 48 about those that do not receive His words but reject them. That would be a very sobering thing, if you hear the appeal of the words of Jesus but you reject them. He says that in the last day judgment will befall those that reject His words. There will come a time when this world will be wrapped up. There will be a time of judgment for all those that have lived at any point on this earth and have not believed in the words which Jesus has spoken and the appeals of grace that are going out tonight. One day they will all have to do with God, and with Jesus as He sits on the throne of judgment. And it is a very sobering thing, dear friend, because there is no way back at that point. There will be those that have been written into the book of life or those that are destined for hell, the place where the devil and his angels will be punished, Rev 20: 11-15. It is a very sobering thing, but it should make the urgency of the gospel mean more to you, that you have a need to come and know Jesus as your Saviour. This One whom we read about here at the end of the chapter is the One whose commandment is life eternal. The words of Jesus are full of life, full of grace and full of truth. And He is the only One that could give life. And there is wonderful grace that is still going forth tonight. It is a wonderful dispensation that we are in, a dispensation of grace where the Lord Jesus can come in and provide life and healing and reviving to your soul. If there is anyone in this room that needs revived even after they have been saved, then turning to Jesus is the answer, for there will always be a need for present salvation. We can turn to Jesus at any time, and He will listen, He will understand your situation and you can confide in Him. He will speak to you, and He will answer your prayers and will bring forth this life eternal to revive you.
I thought of reading this passage about Lazarus in John 11 to see the power that is in Jesus. This Man was none other than the Son of God. No one else could do this. Think of the wonderful work that He did here. It says in verse 4, “But when Jesus heard it, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it”. Only the Son of God could perform such a work in raising the dead by His words; and this is the One that we have to do with. He can be your Saviour tonight, dear friend. You can know the certainty in believing in One who can even raise those from the dead. And indeed, we preach that He is “the resurrection and the life”, as it says in verse 25. He not only died on that cross, but He was raised, and we can preach a living and raised Saviour. He has broken the bands of death and He will soon come again to take those that are His to be with Him. What a wonderful revelation this was to Martha in this section. Martha had some faith, some understanding that God was with Jesus, and she says, “whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will give thee”, but I do not think she realised the full extent of who Jesus was. This was the One who was “the resurrection and the life”. He could do all things; He was God in Himself. “He that believes on me, though he have died, shall live”, and that can be the portion of your soul tonight, dear friend, if you believe. You can have this life, this everlasting life, that will go through on into eternity. It is the wonderful hope of the believer that there is this everlasting life that is for those who believe that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ, who has come into this world, and that is the response that Martha gives to the question posed in verse 26.
When Mary comes to Him, we see the affection the Lord Jesus had for His own. He loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. And you can see the wonderful affections of the One that we have to do with in this passage. It even says that “Jesus wept” and that He “was troubled”. This is Somebody, dear friend, that can be your closest confidant and Someone that you can turn to at any time. This is the One that we have to do with and who could draw alongside you and sympathise with your afflictions. You can call upon Him at any time. If you come in repentance to Him and own Him as your own personal Saviour then you can have a personal living relationship with this One, with Jesus, and He is calling out today. Verse 41 says, “And Jesus lifted up his eyes on high and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me”. What a wonderful show of dependence this is. Here was a dependent, perfect Man who knew completely that God the Father in heaven always heard Him in His prayers, and that can be the same for the believer. You can have One to turn to in heaven that will always hear you, Someone that can always be there for you, “but I knew that thou always hearest me”. And we can see that He cried out again in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth”. What a great demonstration of power that is, dear friend. Jesus can completely transform your life with His voice, with the words that are uttered from Him. And if you listen to Him and if you turn to Him and you understand what He is saying to you, then you can experience His power and what He would work in your life as well. He worked in Lazarus's life in such a great way here in raising him from the dead. We often say that if He had not said the word “Lazarus”, all the dead in the tomb would have risen up as well. Such was the power that was inherent within Jesus; such was the greatness of that Man who we can present in the gospel.
What a great thing it is for us to recognise that Jesus says, “Loose him and let him go”. There is nothing to hold us back, we might say, once we are saved. There is wonderful liberty and freedom that comes in from knowing that your sins are forgiven and that you can be living to God. No longer dead in our sins, we can be living to God, living to Jesus and all that He has to offer the believer, many spiritual blessings that we can enter into. It is a wonderful thing to be, we might say, let loose and be free of our sins, and knowing that they will never return to us, and they will never be laid upon us again. We are completely cleared of any sins, and we can go forth and we can approach God the Father on His throne above and be completely cleared before Him.
In John 5, I was affected by verse 25 especially after it was mentioned in one of the words at a recent burial meeting. I had never given it much thought before that the first thing that those who are raised will hear is the voice of Jesus. This will be the portion for all those currently asleep in Jesus, for all those that have believed that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He has saved them from their sins; who have life eternal and passed out of death and into life. It is a great thing to contemplate in our hearts, that those that have been taken to be with the Lord, all the hundreds of millions of souls that have gone before, will awaken again to the sound of the voice of the Lord Jesus, “when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that have heard shall live”. It is the first thing that they will hear. Do you believe that? And it says again in Thessalonians, “the Lord himself, with an assembling shout” (1 Thess 4:16); there will be that which is gathered up in a coming day, when there will be in actuality all of God's purposes, plans and councils coming to pass. There will be this great gathering up of all those that have died, all those that have gone before that have believed in the Lord Jesus, they will be gathered up by the Lord Jesus to be forever with Him, and to praise Him eternally. That is the great hope of the believer, and it is something that should anchor you in your soul. If you turn to Him and trust in Him you can see that there are works and there are purposes that are far greater than anything that man can comprehend in this world, the purposes of a divine God and Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus. There will come a day where “the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God, and they that have heard shall live”; what a day of rejoicing that will be.
Finally, in Luke 6, I thought that here is an appeal from the Lord Jesus, to hear His words and do them. It is one thing to hear the words of the Lord Jesus, but do we act on what is being said by Him? Or do we keep these things to ourselves? I think there is a great exercise and testimony that can be wrought out, dear friends, in listening to the words of Jesus and then demonstrating what He would have you to do. You can have this surety in your soul, and nothing can shake you. “He is like a man building a house, who dug and went deep, and laid a foundation on the rock”. The words of the Lord Jesus are full of grace and truth and instruction for each one of us. If you accept Jesus as your Saviour, you can know this great foundation. You can know this Rock, which you can build upon. You can do these things which the Lord Jesus would ask you.
There are many things that you can do: there is the remembrance of the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread. There are many other things which the Lord Jesus has asked those that are His to do and if we do them, we have this deep foundation that will be unshakeable. And when the trials of life come upon us, and when the great rains come and the streams break upon us, we will not be shaken and that is a great assurance in the soul of each one that loves the Lord Jesus. It is a great thing to know that. We have also been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us to do the words of the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit is a great Comforter, a great source of strength within the believer, a gift of God and Someone that we can turn to any time. The Lord Jesus begged the Father to give those that are His the Holy Spirit, that He might be with us and strengthen us while we are left here.
Well, these words have been feebly spoken but I trust that they may be for God's glory and for your blessing for His Name’s sake.
Bo’ness
5th February 2023