God Has Spoken, Part 2

If you have your Bible, turn with me to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 1. You know, the study of scripture is a very exciting thing. It allows you to be able to understand the greatness and character of our God, and I hope that when you open your Bible, you open it with great excitement and anticipation, looking to see what God is going to teach you about Himself every single day. On Wednesday night, we're going to study Elisha and the least of all miracles, the guy's chopping down some trees and the axe head falls to the Jordan River and sinks to the bottom.

And so Elisha raises the axe head from the bottom of the Jordan and causes it to flow in water. Why? Why? Just go to Home Depot, buy another one. Go to Lowe's, go to Ace Hardware. They didn't have them back in Israel in those days. So what do you do? He raises the axe head from the bottom of the Jordan. It's a murky anyway, you can't see it. And it floats on the water. Why does he do that? What is the lesson for us? As we study scripture, we come to realize the lessons that God has for us. We're going to talk about that this Wednesday night.

And it's just so exciting to see the lessons that God has for us. Because every time we open scripture, God speaks. He speaks to us through His word. This is the voice of God. And we told you that when you open the book of Hebrews, you're going to learn about exaltation. It's going to lead you to exalting Christ as Lord over all things. And that's exactly what everything should do when we read the Bible. We want to exalt Christ as Lord. And so when we read the book of Hebrews, it's all about the sufficiency and supremacy of Christ.

And how He is the exalted King of glory. And we told you that when you open the book of Hebrews, it doesn't just lead us to exaltation. It leads us to expectation because we begin to expect all that God is going to do. Especially upon His return because Hebrews speaks of His coming again. It also leads us to exhortation because it gives us that great consolation and encouragement through the reading of His word that causes us to believe in Him and to trust in Him. And so we're exhorted through the word of God.

We told you that the book of Hebrews will lead you not just to exaltation, expectation, and exhortation. But it will lead you to examination. To examine your own life in light of what God says.

Is Christ superior in my life? Is He sufficient in my life? And so I'm led to examine my life in terms of where I stand with Christ. It leads to an excitation because we get excited about the opportunity to follow Christ and to serve Christ. It leads us to explanation because we want to begin to explain to others the greatness of Christ. We find ourselves in Hebrews 1 and 2 learning to explain what God says by what He meant when He said what He said.

We need to explain exactly the fact that God has spoken in times past. God does speak to us through His word. What does that mean? What does it mean? We need to understand this. It's very important for us. Is scripture sufficient? If Christ is sufficient, and Hebrews is about the sufficiency of Christ, the supremacy of Christ. If Christ is sufficient, then His word is sufficient. If Christ is not sufficient for you, then His word will never be sufficient for you. That's very important to understand.

Those who come to you today and say, The Lord spoke to me or the Lord gave me this dream or this vision and revealed to me. He gave me a revelation. They are saying in effect that God's word is not sufficient. That something outside of scripture is needed to fill that void. One author by the name of Jack Deere says this. In order to fulfill God's highest purpose for our lives, we must be able to hear His voice. Both in the written word and in the word freshly spoken from heaven. Satan understands the strategic importance of Christians hearing God's voice.

So he has launched various attacks against us in this area. One of his most successful attacks has been to develop a doctrine that teaches God no longer speaks to us except through the written word. Ultimately, this doctrine is demonic. What? The fact that God only speaks to us through His written word is demonic? That somehow we must seek something outside of His written word? So that we might understand the character and nature of God and all that He has for us? That underlying theme detracts from the sufficiency of scripture.

It diminishes God's authority. It demeans God's authority and takes away from the truth of what the Bible says.

Now, I would hope that for the majority of you, you have never read the book Jesus Calling. Hopefully you don't have it in your home. If you do, you need to throw it away. Don't give it to anybody, God forbid. Don't do that. Throw it away. Jesus Calling is a book written by Sarah Young. And in that book, she tells and speaks to us about the fact that God has spoken to her. And she is just a listener to the Lord. And so she has recorded what He has said to her as if God is speaking to her. She admits, and this is what she says, that her quest for extra-biblical revelation began with a nagging feeling that scripture simply was not sufficient.

This nagging feeling that there's something more than just the Bible. There's got to be more than the Bible. So she had this nagging feeling, a lot like Jack Deere said, that the scripture is not sufficient. We need to have these outside revelations that come to us. And so she says these words, I knew that God communicated with me through the Bible. But I yearned for more. Increasingly, I wanted to hear what God had to say to me personally on any given day. She yearned for more than what God said.

Listen, if you're yearning for more than what God said, God is not sufficient for you. That's a you problem, not a God problem. You got to be careful about that. And so she wanted something more. She wanted God to speak to her directly. So now she conveys to you what God has said to her, as if now we have the Old Testament, the New Testament, and now the New New Testament. Now we have a 67th book in the canon that we need to canonize, because Sarah Young has these revelations from God where God speaks to her.

There are all kinds of books like that. They're out there. I am perplexed at the lack of discernment that the church has today. That's very perplexing to me as a pastor. I mean, if you haven't gone to see The Shack this weekend, stay out of The Shack. Burn it down. Burn down The Shack. Okay? That book sold 25 million copies and was circulated in churches all around our country for people to read in small groups. It's all about a man who lost his child, and God comes to him. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit all in the same shack.

And God the Father is a black woman, and God the Son is a Middle Easterner, and God the Spirit is an Asian woman. Since when did the Spirit become a person? Since when did a Father become a person? And the whole premise of the book and the movie is about that God doesn't punish sin eternally, because the author was a universalist. So there is no eternal judgment on sin. And yet Christians buy into this stuff, hook, line, and sinker. They want to read these books, and all of a sudden they're drawn into this mystical, superstitious experience that allows them to move beyond the pages of Scripture into a place where truly Satan wants them to be.

My friends, we've got to be very, very careful about what we read. We've got to know what the Bible says.

At the very outset of Hebrews 1, the writer confronts us with the issue that God has spoken. He spoke in times past by the prophets to the fathers, but in the last of the days in which He was speaking, He spoke to us in His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. In other words, the Bible is very poignant to the fact that God is no longer speaking. Whether you use Hebrews 1, 1 and 2, whether you use Jude 3, where it says it was the faith once for all delivered to the saints, we are to contend earnestly, we are to fight earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Whether it's Revelation 22, 18, or 19, where the Lord says you can add one word to this book, or I will add to you the plagues that are written in this book. The Bible speaks about the fact that God's word is verbally inspired. It is the inspired word of God. And that word is sufficient to make the men of God thoroughly equipped, thoroughly furnished, complete. In other words, God's word is sufficient to make you everything God wants you to be. You don't need anything else. But so many people want to convince you that you need a dream, or a vision, or for God to speak to you.

As if something outside the word of God is going to take you deeper to God. It got news for you. Doesn't happen that way. Next week we'll talk to you about your experiences. And ask the question, does your experience validate truth? Then the following week we'll talk to you about the sufficiency of scripture, and how that does validate truth. All that's important, all that in just the first two verses of Hebrews 1, because God has spoken.

And you need to understand that because God has spoken, what His word says is sufficient. What His word says is supreme. You don't need anything else. You have His word. So important to understand that. The Westminster Confession, written in 1646, says, The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture, unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or the traditions of men.

That's been the view of historic Protestantism ever since the Reformation. That's what we believe. God's word is sufficient. And 500 years later, after the Reformation, which we talked about last week, we're still trying to convince people that the word of God is sufficient, that the word of God is all you need for life and practice. Going back to Sola Scriptura, it's the scriptures alone that are sufficient for your life. People still don't believe that. They still want to stray away from that. You need to be very, very careful.

One author said, Those who seek fresh messages from God have in effect abandoned the absolute certainty and total sufficiency of the written word of God. And they have set in its place their own fallen and fallible imaginations. If the church does not return to the principle of Sola Scriptura, the only revival we will see is a revival of unchecked superstition and spiritual murkiness. I'm afraid he's right. Does God speak today? He does. Absolutely he speaks. Through the God-breathed word. He gave it to us.

He gave us his word. He's not giving us revelation, but he's giving us illumination. The spirit of God illuminates our hearts and minds through the written word of God. When you're driving down the street and you see someone and you feel compelled to share Christ with them, it's not that God said, Go, share Christ with that person. God didn't say that. Because God's already said that in his word. We are his ambassadors. We are to proclaim his message all around the world. But what happens is the spirit of God prompts us, convicts us, motivates us, compels us, moves us, because we feel burdened for the lost soul of someone around about us, and we share Christ with that person.

But don't say, God told me to, because that would be incorrect. But to say, the spirit of God prompted me, illuminated my heart and mind to the things of the word of God, that I might be obedient to the word of God. That would be a true statement. Because we need to obey what God has already said. Listen, we have a hard enough time obeying what God said, let alone if he gave us new revelation and obeying that. We still need to do what God says in his word.

And yet we eerily move away into this nebulous arena of mysticism. It's really rooted in Gnosticism. And that's been around for centuries. And in the church today, there's a lot of Gnosticism that's taken place. Gnosticism is defined as a belief that true enlightenment comes from some source beyond scripture. True enlightenment comes from some source beyond scripture. The Gnostic does not outright deny scripture. They don't. But they teach that the necessary key to unlocking scripture, the true meaning of a biblical text, is a special knowledge, a special gnosis, that is a supernatural enlightenment that comes from a mystical experience.

Some kind of transcendent experience. Some kind of vision or some kind of dream. That's Gnosticism. And that has crept into the modern-day church today in the form of mysticism, humanism, paganism. That's all throughout the church in America. And really around the world. And so we have to go back to Sola Scriptura. We have to go back to the Reformation. We have to go back to what Christ said long ago. That these are his inspired words. These are the words that God himself has spoken. And these words are sufficient.

All things that pertain to life, all things that pertain to godliness, are recorded in these 66 books. That when Ezra and Nehemiah stopped writing in the Old Testament, and that canon was closed, and for 400 silent years God never spoke, until that day in the temple when God sent the angel to speak to Zacharias. And God would speak, and speak once again. And we would see the New Testament. And after 96 AD, after John wrote the book of Revelation, God was done speaking. He's no longer speaking. He said everything he needs to say.

There's nothing else to say. Because he said it all in his word. It's the word of truth. That's why John 17, 17 says, Thy word is truth. Psalm 119, 160 says, The entirety of your word is truth. In other words, your word is complete, and what your word says is absolute truth. Someone will come along and say, What about Romans 12, verse number 6? What do we do with that verse? Last week we talked about Hebrews 13, 8. Hebrews 1, 1 and 2. This week, Hebrews 12, verse number 6. And Acts chapter 2. What about when it says these words in Romans 12, verse number 6?

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. In other words, they will say, these people who believe in dreams and visions, that the verse to argue the accuracy of prophecy is dependent upon the measure of someone, individual's faith. That's not what the text says. It's got the definite article. It is the faith. If you were to prophesy, you were to prophesy in accordance with the faith. What faith is that?

Jude 3. The faith that was once for all delivered unto the saints. That's the faith. That's why it says in 1 Thessalonians 5, 20, Do not despise prophetic utterances. Why? You will examine everything, cling to that which is good, abstain from that which is evil. In other words, every prophetic utterance, every word that's spoken forth, to prophesy means to speak forth the truth. Every word that's spoken forth needs to be examined carefully, cling to that which is true, abstain from that which is evil.

I would hope that you'd examine everything I said. You wouldn't just take it at face value, that you'd truly put it to the test according to what the word of God says.

That's what Bereans do. That's the kind of lives we should live. We should examine everything that the word of God says and examine what the preacher says in light of that word.

And so, Paul in Romans 12 says, Listen, you are to prophesy, if you have the gift of prophecy, prophesy according to the proportion of the faith. What faith? The faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. You say, okay, okay, okay. Well, what about that verse in Acts chapter 2? When Peter quotes the book of Joel and talks about how young men will have dreams and visions in the last days, and we're in the last days. So how do you deny the fact that we don't have dreams and visions when Peter quotes Joel chapter 2 in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost to prove that in the last days there will be dreams and visions?

How do you answer that? That's a great question. That's why you're here today. So turn with me to Acts chapter 2.

Acts chapter 2. Got to answer the question, right? If people are going to ask it, you got to answer it. So, let me forewarn you, we're going to be three more weeks in Hebrews 1, 1, and 2, just in case you didn't know that.

Okay? We won't spend all that time in every single verse that we go through in Hebrews, but you're going to have to get this down, okay? Because there are so many people today who said, God told me. God said to me. God spoke to me. I had a vision. I had a dream. Okay, so what do you say? How do you handle that stuff? And they'll base it on Acts chapter 2. It says, remember, context is important, right? Acts 2. Day of Pentecost, right? Day of Pentecost. Now, please remember this. Remember this at the outset.

Peter had no idea when the kingdom was going to come, right? Because he had just asked 10 days earlier, Lord, are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Remember that? That was on the Mount of Olives. And the Lord said, it is not for you to know the times or the epics that the Father has determined by His own will, right? But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria, the outermost parts of the world. Remember that?

So Peter had no idea when the Father was going to restore the kingdom to Israel. He had no idea. So 10 days later, upper room, day of Pentecost, a miracle takes place. They begin to speak in tongues, known languages, to those who were there in their dialect, and those who heard thought that they might be drunk. Very important to the story. Because they were speaking ecstatic utterances. So those who didn't know what they were saying thought that they might be drunk. So Peter says this, verse 15, Acts 2, For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day.

It's too early in the morning for them to be drunk. But this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel. Whoa, okay. Now Peter's going to go back to the Old Testament, book of Joel. And it shall be in the last days, God says that I will pour forth of my Spirit on all mankind, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, even on my bond slaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

And I will grant wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth below, blood, fire, vapor, smoke, the sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come, and it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So Peter goes back to the Old Testament, and quotes Joel chapter 2, verses 19 through verse number 32, or verse 28 and following, okay? So, how do you answer those who say, see, it's right there. Pastor just read it.

In the last days, now what are the last days? The last days were ushered in with the arrival of Christ, and will end at the second coming of the Christ, okay?

Those are the last days as defined by the apostles. In fact, it says, in the last days, prayerless times will come, 2 Timothy chapter 3. We know that the Bible speaks a lot. John says in 1 John 2, in the last days there will be many anti-Christ, right? People against Christ. So we know we're in the last days. So, this is what is being spoken. So, Peter quotes Joel chapter 2. So in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth of my spirit on all mankind.

Let me ask you this question. Was God's spirit poured out on all mankind on the day of Pentecost? Answer, no. So why would Peter refer to that? Oh, by the way, who is the mankind? Well, that's all mankind. No, be careful. It's not, because it says, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. If you go back to Joel chapter 2, turn back and read the Bible to Joel chapter 2. In Joel chapter 2, these words are spoken. Your sons and your daughters are the sons and daughters of Judah. This is talking about Israel, my friends.

You must understand context. You see, to apply something to your experience, by taking a verse out of context, only leads to heresy. Let me give you an example.

In this text, in Joel chapter 2, it says in verse 23, So rejoice, O sons of Zion, and be glad in the Lord your God. For He has given you the early rain for your vindication, and He has poured down for you the rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. And a lot of my charismatic friends will take that verse and say, Okay, now, the early rain is Pentecost, and the latter rain is the church age. That's not what it's saying. It's not even close to what it's saying. But that's how they spiritualize the text.

But that's not true. It can't be true. Why can't it be true? Let me show you. Joel 2, verse number 20 says this, But I will remove the northern army far from you, and I will drive it into a parched and desolate land, and its vanguard into the eastern sea, which is the Dead Sea, and its rearguard into the western sea, which is the Mediterranean Sea. Who is the northern army? Well, the northern army does not attack Israel till the end of the Tribulation. Has not attacked them yet. So context is very important.

So during this time, there's going to be attack upon Israel from the northern army. That's at the end of the Tribulation. Now, go a little further in Joel 2, to verse 26. You will have plenty to eat, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. Then my people will never be put to shame. Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other. And my people will never be put to shame. Okay, when is that?

That's the revival and restoration of Israel to their God. When does that happen? At the end of the Tribulation, when all Israel will be saved. That's when that happens, and not before that. It talks about the revival and restoration of the land of Israel to the people, to the Lord God himself, and they will be satisfied. Now read on, Joel 3, verse 1. For behold, in those days, and at that time, what day, and at what time? Okay, the days in which he, verse 28, it will come about after this, that I will pour out my Spirit on all mankind, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.

Even on the male and female servants, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth before fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. On the day of Pentecost, did the sun and moon turn dark? Answer, no. It didn't happen on that day. But in that day, when that happens, by the way, which is the same day that your sons and daughters will dream dreams and have visions, says chapter 3, verse 1, in those days, at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.

Then I will enter into judgment with them, there on behalf of my people and my inheritance Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and they have divided up my land. This is the Matthew 25 sheep, goat judgment of the nations, which happens at the end of the tribulation. Again, verse 12 of chapter 3, let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Verse 14, multitudes and multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

The sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness, for the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem. When does this happen? This happens when we go to Israel. We show you exactly where the valley of Jehoshaphat is. It's called the valley of decision. It's called the Kidron Valley. It's in that valley that Joel 3 takes place. It happens at the end of the tribulation. It did not happen at Pentecost. In Acts chapter 2. Context is crucial. And then in chapter 3, verse number 18, And in that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah will flow with water, and a spring will go out from the house of the Lord to water the valley of Shittim.

In other words, what this is speaking about is the millennial reign of Christ in fulfillment of Abrahamic and Davidic covenant. So right smack in the middle of Joel 2, verse number 20, where the northern army comes down and attacks Israel, right smack in the middle of Joel 2, where God says that Israel will be revived, and on the other side of Joel 2, Joel 3, you had the valley of decision and the judgment of the nations, and the kingdom of Israel being restored to their millennial right in Joel chapter 3 at the end, right in the middle of all that is this prophecy that Peter quotes in Acts chapter 2.

So the question comes, and of course some of you are going, I am so lost. So the question comes, why is it Peter quotes Joel 2 in Acts 2? Why? Why would he do that? Remember, Peter had no idea when the kingdom was coming. No idea. That's why 10 days earlier they asked the question, are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Because that was the whole message that Christ preached during his earthly ministry. They're waiting on the kingdom. We're to pray, thy kingdom come. So is now the time.

So he's thinking the kingdom's around the corner. Christ is going to come. It's right around the corner. Every New Testament apostle lived in the imminent return of Christ. He could come back at any moment, at any time. That's how they lived their lives. He doesn't know that Christ is not going to come back for at least another 2,000 years. He has no idea. None. And so everybody thinks on the day of Pentecost that these people speaking in tongues are drunk. They think they're drunk. So how does Peter dispel that?

He tells them, number one, it's too early in the morning to be drunk. But number two, remember the prophecy of Joel.

And he goes back and quotes it to them. Why? Because at the heart of his ministry is the coming kingdom of God. And with the coming kingdom of God is a major display of supernatural power. The sun grows dark. The moon grows dark. The sky begins to fall. Read Revelation 7, Revelation 8, Revelation 9 about fire and brimstone and smoke. It's all right there. And Joel's talking about that in his prophecy in Joel chapter 2. And Peter's saying that when the Messiah is going to come, remember, the Messiah just died.

The Messiah was crucified, dead, buried, rose again. The whole ministry of Peter and the apostles is to prove that Israel put their Messiah on the cross, but he's going to come again. Okay? The whole ministry is about the ministry of the Messiah. And so what he does is he takes them back to Joel 2 where there's going to be a display of supernatural power and say, what you've just seen is that these guys aren't drunk. This is a display of supernatural power. This is a prefiguring, a pre-fulfillment of what's going to happen in fulfillment of Joel's prophecy in Joel 2 when the Messiah comes again.

That's why Peter uses Acts, in Acts 2, uses Joel chapter 2 to prove these men aren't drunk. This is a display of supernatural power unlike you've ever seen. Oh, by the way, Joel's prophecy never speaks of tongues speaking. Nowhere. It's not there. But in Acts 2, it's tongues speaking. Why? It's a supernatural sign gift. That's why. So Peter uses it as a prefiguration. And I forgot to share this in the first service.

This is so important. Same thing happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. Same thing happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. Remember that? Christ says this, Matthew 16.

For the Son of Man is going to come in glory, in the glory of the Father with his angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Okay? That's Matthew chapter 16. Some of you standing right here are not going to see death until you see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. And he just talked about how the Son of Man is going to come in all of his glory, in all of his splendor.

Right? So you're thinking, okay, the Son of Man is going to come in all of his glory. Well, the very next scene is the Mount of Transfiguration, right? Where Christ unzips his flesh. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun. His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the cloud said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. And when the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. Terrified. What did they see? They saw a pre-fulfillment, a prefiguring of the coming of the Son of Man. The same thing Peter does in Acts chapter 2, when he quotes Joel's prophecy from Joel chapter 2. This is a display of power unlike you've ever seen before, but unlike what you will soon see when Messiah comes.

Same thing happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. This is a display of the glory of the Son of Man on this mount seen by Peter, James, and John, but not like you will ever see when he comes again in all the splendor at the second coming of the Messiah.

That's what it's about. So you need to understand all that stuff. Scripture is sufficient. It's a sure prophetic word. And what God says is the word.

Context is so important. You just can't take a verse and pull it out of the air and say, okay, this verse applies to my experience. Listen, if your experience doesn't match Scripture, Scripture's not wrong. Your experience is wrong. If your experience does not match word for word for Scripture, Scripture can't be wrong. It's true. It's God's holy word. Your experience is wrong. But we don't want to come to the point where I guess I was wrong because then I got swallowed by pride and realized that I was fallible.

But that's what you got to do. We must subject every experience that we have to the authority of God's holy word. Charles Spurgeon, way back in 1872, October 6th, 1872, preached a sermon about all these people who came to him talking to him about having a vision or a dream. So this is not something that we deal with today or just today. It's something that Spurgeon dealt with, the early church fathers dealt with, the apostles dealt with, the Old Testament dealt with. Happens all the time. Because Satan always is looking to demean the authority and the power of the word of God in your life.

Listen to what Charles Spurgeon said on October 6th, 1872. He says, Take care never to impute the vain imaginings of your fancy to him, the Holy Spirit. I have seen the spirit of God shamefully dishonored by persons that I hope were insane, who have said that they have had this and that revealed to them. There has not for some years passed over my head a single week in which I have not been pestered with the revelations of hypocrites or maniacs. Semi-lunatics are very fond of coming with messages from the Lord to me.

And they may spare them some trouble if I tell them once for all that I will have none of their stupid messages. Never dream that events are revealed to you by heaven, or you may come to be like those idiots who dare impute their blatant follies to the Holy Ghost. If you feel your tongue itch to talk nonsense, trace it only to the devil, not to the spirit of God. Whatever is to be revealed by the spirit to any of us is in the Word of God already. He adds nothing to the Bible and never will. Let persons who have revelations of this, that, and the other go to bed and wake up in their senses.

I only wish they would follow the advice and no longer insult the Holy Spirit by laying their nonsense at his door. You know, most pastors couldn't share that today because they'd be fired. But Spurgeon said it boldly back in 1872. But listen to what God said to the pen of Jeremiah in the Old Testament. Jeremiah chapter 23, verse number 16. Thus says the Lord of hosts, Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility. They speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord.

Says those who come to you with an imaginary dream. They're speaking of their own accord, not from me. Their words did not come from me, God says.

They keep saying to those who despise me, The Lord has said, You will have peace. And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, They say, Calamity will not come upon you. But who has stood in the counsel of the Lord that he should see and hear his word? Who has given heed to his word and listened? Verse 21, I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, then they would have announced my words to my people and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.

In other words, God says, they ran and they did their own thing. And they said what they wanted to say. But if they had spoken my word, they could have turned my people back from the evil of their deeds. But they didn't do that. Read on, verse 25. I have heard that the prophets have said, who prophesy falsely in my name, saying, I had a dream. I had a dream. How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make my people forget my name by their dreams, which they relate to one another just as their fathers forgot my name because of Baal?

This is so important. This is so pertinent to today. These words apply to today. These people, these people who prophesy are causing my people to turn away from my word to believe in their dreams. And all they're doing is what my people did when they went after Baal. Listen, next week I will show you that all mysticism and gnosticism and paganism and humanism are all rooted in Baalism. To turn people away from the authority of the word of God in their lives. That's what Satan wants to do. He wants you out of this book.

Why? Read on. Verse 28. The prophet who has a dream may relate in his dream, but let him who has my word speak my word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain, declares the Lord? Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer which shatters a rock? Satan doesn't want you in the word because God's word is like a hammer. It shatters the hard heart. God's word is like a fire. It burns up the chaff in the soul. Verse 30. Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from each other.

Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare the Lord declares. Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams, declares the Lord. And related them and led my people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting. Yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit, declares the Lord. He says very clearly, these people who dream dreams, who have visions, are of absolutely no benefit to my people. They're worthless.

Because he had nothing to say. Truth is all that matters. God's word is true. The entirety of his word is true. So we go back full circle to Hebrews 1, 1 and 2. God, who spoke in times past, to the prophets, or to the fathers, by the prophets, has in the last of these days, which days? The days in which God was speaking, has spoken to us in his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. At the very outset, the writer says, not only is Christ sufficient, but everything that Christ said is sufficient. So if God's word is not sufficient for you, God will never be sufficient for you.

Therefore, we need to understand the book of Hebrews. God has spoken. Let me pray with you. Father, we thank you for today and the chance to be in your word, a chance to examine our lives in light of it. Our prayer is that, Lord, we would truly follow you. In Jesus' name, amen.