Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. What you have in your heart is going to settle the course of your life. So, your heart is a safe that keeps things much more precious than those that are kept in a bank safe. And I believe that every child of God should have a heart that is a safe that is programmed only to open at one voice, the voice of the Lord.

You remember what Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, they follow me.” He said they will not follow a stranger because they don’t recognize his voice. How important it is to have a heart that will open to the voice of the Lord and will not open to the voice of an alien or a stranger. What kind of a heart is that? It’s a hearing heart. We have ears to hear not physically, but in our spirit. In the innermost depths of our being we have a heart that responds to the voice of the Lord.

I’ve been talking about having a heart that hears God. Now I want to talk for a moment out of Scripture about the opposite condition, spiritual deafness. The Bible, both the Old and the New Testament, have much to say about people who are spiritually deaf. Jesus said of those who could not understand His parables in Matthew 13:13-15 that they were spiritually deaf. This is how He expresses it.

This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’”

There is a picture of people who have no heart to hear the voice of the Lord. They’ve become inwardly deaf. And there’s one word which I think is very significant. It’s a frightening word. “This people’s heart has become calloused.” Their heart doesn’t respond. It’s not sensitive any longer.

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In these final days I want to share with you one further way in which we may expect to receive confirmation that we’ve heard God’s voice, and that is through our fellow believers. I want to take an example, first of all, from the New Testament; the sending out of Barnabas and Saul for apostolic ministry from the church at Antioch. This is described in Acts 13:1-3.

“In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen and Saul. [Five men are named: Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen and Saul, who, of course, later became Paul.] While these men were worshipping the Lord and fasting, [and remember what I said earlier about worship being the best preparation to hear the Lord’s voice. And they were fasting. They were really seeking God with all their heart.] While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” [“The Holy Spirit said,” notice that. I’ve pointed out already it’s the Holy Spirit who brings to us the voice of God.] So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.”

I want you to notice the words that the Holy Spirit used, because it’s important. The Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” The Holy Spirit had already called Barnabas and S

Hearing God’s Voice

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