Will You Listen to the Prophet God Has Sent?

Watch the whole service and sermon from Acts 3:22-26, "The Prophet You Must Listen To". In this message, we see how Moses and all the prophets pointed forward to Jesus as the greater Prophet who must be heard and obeyed. You’ll see how rejecting Christ’s words cuts us off from God’s people, while trusting and obeying Him brings us into the true covenant family and the blessings promised to Abraham. Be encouraged to examine whether you are truly listening to Jesus in daily life, and to rejoice that through Him God turns us from our evil ways and includes us in His redeeming plan for the nations.

In a world filled with countless voices competing for our attention, one question rises above the noise: Are we truly listening to the voice that matters most?

Throughout history, God has spoken to His people through prophets—messengers who carried divine truth and called humanity back to relationship with their Creator. But among all the prophets who ever lived, one stands supreme. This prophet was foretold by Moses, announced by every prophet after him, and sent by God Himself to bring blessing to all the families of the earth.

That prophet is Jesus Christ.

Centuries before Jesus walked the dusty roads of Galilee, Moses delivered a stunning prophecy to the people of Israel. In Deuteronomy 18:15-19, God promised through Moses: "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him."

This wasn't a casual suggestion. It was a divine mandate with eternal consequences.

The prophecy contained several crucial elements. First, this coming prophet would be raised up by God Himself—a divine appointment, not a human initiative. Second, He would come from among the people of Israel, one of their own brothers. Third, and most importantly, the people were commanded to listen to everything He would say.

The word "listen" here carries profound weight. It doesn't merely mean hearing words pass through our ears. To listen in the biblical sense means to receive, to submit, to obey. It means allowing those words to transform how we think, speak, and live.

God placed His own words in this prophet's mouth, giving Him complete authority to speak on behalf of heaven. To reject this prophet's words would be to reject God Himself.

With great privilege comes great responsibility. The same passage that promised the coming prophet also delivered a stark warning: "Everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the people."

This isn't harsh or arbitrary judgment. It's the natural consequence of rejecting the very source of life itself. To be "cut off" means exclusion from God's covenant community, separation from the life and blessings God offers His people. Some translations render it even more severely: "utterly destroyed."

This confronts us with an uncomfortable truth: We cannot claim to belong to God while ignoring the voice of Christ. We cannot say we follow Him while refusing to obey His words. Faith without submission is merely intellectual assent—it has no transforming power.

How often do we encounter people who claim to believe in God, who respect Jesus as a good teacher or moral example, but who live as though His words carry no real authority over their lives? The test of genuine faith isn't whether we acknowledge Christ existed or even that He spoke truth. The test is whether we listen—whether we receive His words and order our lives accordingly.

Jesus didn't arrive unexpectedly on the stage of human history. His coming was the fulfillment of a divine plan announced through prophet after prophet, creating a unified testimony that spans centuries.

From Samuel, who anointed David and spoke of his eternal kingdom, to Isaiah, who prophesied of a suffering servant, to Malachi, who promised a messenger to prepare the way—all the prophets spoke with one voice. They all pointed forward to "these days," the days of the Messiah, the days of salvation.

This prophetic consistency reveals something beautiful about God's character: He is faithful to His plan. He doesn't change His mind or abandon His purposes. What He promises, He fulfills. The entire Old Testament becomes a tapestry of anticipation, with every thread woven toward the revelation of Christ.

Jesus Himself affirmed this when He declared, "Everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled" (Luke 24:44). The Scriptures don't merely contain scattered predictions about a coming Messiah—they are fundamentally about Him. Their central narrative is the story of redemption through God's chosen one.

The covenant God made with Abraham contains one of the most sweeping promises in all of Scripture: "All the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring" (Genesis 22:18).

For centuries, this promise remained mysterious. How would blessing flow to all nations through Abraham's descendants? The answer came in the person of Jesus Christ.
Paul clarifies this in Galatians 3:16: "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say 'and to seeds' as though referring to many, but referring to one, 'and to your seed,' who is Christ."

Jesus is the singular seed through whom God's blessing reaches every tribe, tongue, and nation. He is the blessing—not merely the channel of blessing, but the blessing itself. In Christ, we receive forgiveness, reconciliation with God, the gift of the Holy Spirit, eternal life, and inclusion in God's family.

When Jesus came, He came first to Israel, God's chosen people. They had the first opportunity to receive their Messiah. Tragically, John's Gospel tells us, "He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him." Yet even their rejection couldn't thwart God's redemptive plan. The blessing intended for Israel would flow to the Gentiles, to all the families of the earth.

How does Christ bless us? Not primarily through material prosperity or earthly comfort, though God does provide for His children. The fundamental blessing Christ brings is this: He turns us from our evil ways.

This phrase should stop us in our tracks. It's a reminder of our desperate condition apart from Christ. Left to ourselves, we walk in evil ways—not because we're all violent criminals, but because our hearts naturally turn toward selfishness, pride, anger, lust, greed, and a thousand other manifestations of rebellion against God.

We may not like to think of ourselves as evil, but Scripture is clear: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). The thoughts we entertain, the words we speak, the attitudes we harbor, the ways we treat others—all reveal the corruption that runs through human nature.

But here's the glorious truth: Jesus Christ has the power to turn us from those evil ways. What we cannot do for ourselves, He accomplishes through His death and resurrection. He doesn't merely cover our sin or excuse it—He transforms us. He gives us new hearts, new desires, new life.

This transformation happens through repentance and faith. When we turn from our sin and trust in Christ, He includes us in God's people. He brings us into covenant relationship with the Father. He makes us heirs of all the promises given to Abraham.

So we return to the central question: Will we listen to the prophet God has sent?

This isn't a question we answer once and then move on. It confronts us daily. Every time we open Scripture, we face the choice: Will we receive these words as authoritative over our lives? Every time we're convicted of sin, we must decide: Will I submit to Christ's lordship, or will I rationalize my behavior? Every time God's Word calls us to a difficult obedience, we choose: Will I trust and follow, or will I go my own way?

Listening to Christ requires cultivating our relationship with Him. We cannot have a high view of Christ while neglecting His Word, avoiding prayer, and living in spiritual isolation. If we never read Scripture, never meditate on His teachings, never gather with His people, never submit our decisions to His authority, we shouldn't be surprised when our lives reflect worldly values rather than kingdom priorities.

True listening produces transformation. It builds us up in faith. It strengthens our witness. It furthers God's kingdom as we live in obedience together as His people.

The story doesn't end with Christ's teaching ministry or even His sacrificial death. The ultimate validation of Jesus as the prophet God sent came through the resurrection. Because Christ lives, we can face tomorrow. Because He conquered death, all fear is gone. Because He holds the future, life is worth living.

The empty tomb proves that Jesus is who He claimed to be. It demonstrates His authority over sin, death, and hell. It guarantees that those who trust in Him will also experience resurrection life—both the spiritual resurrection we enjoy now as we're raised from spiritual death to new life in Christ, and the physical resurrection we'll experience when He returns.

This living Savior continues to speak to His people through His Word. The question remains as urgent today as when Peter first posed it to the crowds in Jerusalem: Will you listen to the prophet God has sent?

Your answer to that question determines not just how you live, but where you'll spend eternity. Choose wisely. Choose Christ. And having chosen Him, listen to His voice and follow wherever He leads.

Through this message, God reminds us that Jesus is the promised prophet and gracious Savior—sent to turn us from our evil ways and bring us into His blessed people—so how will we respond to His authoritative word in repentance, faith, and obedience today?

The sermon emphasized that we need to cultivate our relationship with Christ to have a high view of Him. What specific practices could you implement this week to deepen your relationship with Jesus?

• Daily Bible reading?
• Prayer and meditation?
• Scripture memorization?
• Worship?

Identify one area where you know what Jesus says but struggle to obey. What's the barrier? How can this group support you?

Choose one of these action steps for the week:

1. Study one Old Testament prophecy about Christ (Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Micah 5:2, etc.) and share what you learned with someone
2. Identify one specific teaching of Jesus you'll focus on obeying this week (forgiveness, generosity, loving enemies, etc.)
3. Share the gospel with someone who needs to hear about the Prophet God has sent

"The question is not whether Jesus spoke—we know that He spoke. The question is whether we will listen."

How will you respond to the Prophet God has sent this week?