All right, I want someone to guess what the title for the sermon is tonight.
It shouldn't be hard after you read that passage.
Does anyone?
Sorry?
The Voice of the Lord.
That's the title of the sermon tonight.
If you look at verse number three very quickly, the voice of the Lord is upon the waters,
that phrase, the voice of the Lord appears six times in this Psalm.
So it's definitely about the Lord's voice.
Have you heard the voice of the Lord?
Have you heard it?
Well, you know, this Psalm really does magnify God's voice and let's start there in verse
number one in Psalm 29 verse number one, it says, give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give
unto the Lord glory and strength.
So we see this command in verse number one to the mighty, you might think who are the
mighty?
Well, think about those that have power and authority, you know, they might be mighty
in strength, they might be mighty warriors, they might be mighty in wealth.
And you know what?
These people that have mighty possessions or mighty abilities, they should be people
that give unto the Lord glory and strength.
You know, if you find yourself one day to be one of these mighty people, whatever, you
know, attribute that might be, the mighty, you must remember that your call, you know,
God has given you strength.
God has given you might in a certain area of your life.
And what are you meant to do once you've been given that by the Lord?
Well, so they give unto the Lord glory and strength.
So we go to the Lord and say, Lord, thank you for the strength.
Thank you for the glory.
Thank you for making me mighty, but Lord, really, it is you that has done that for me.
It is not of man.
It is not of flesh.
You know, if you find yourself mighty, you know, or blessed by God, we're commanded to
go to the Lord and give him the worship, give him the glory, give him the strength.
You know, it's a scary thing for people that are mighty in this world to not even consider
God, not even to be thankful to God for what he has given them.
Ultimately, you know, all things are in the hands of the Lord, and he gives it to whom
he wishes.
And, you know, once again, you know, there's nothing wrong with being mighty on this earth.
If you find yourself in this position, you are commanded by this arm to give it back
to the Lord.
Thank him.
You know, don't pat yourself on the back.
You know, don't be full of pride and just acknowledge your own efforts.
No, show others that it is the Lord that's given you that glory and strength.
Verse number two, give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.
And then it says this, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
Now, you know, we come to the Lord's house tonight.
We come, one reason, yes, to hear his word, but we come to worship the Lord.
Isn't that why we come?
We come to worship the Lord.
But notice that, you know, we need to come and worship the Lord in the right way.
It says worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
Okay?
So when you come to the Lord's house, you need to remind yourself, God wants me to come
with holiness.
He wants me to be, what does holy mean?
It means to be set apart.
It means to be different, right?
You might even think, you know, to be more godly, to be more righteous.
This is why, you know, every time I come before, you know, to preach, and I've said
it so many times, but I just want you to remember this, I always come confessing my sins to
the Lord.
Always.
Like, you know, because there's not a single day that I will go without committing some
type of sin, and before I get up to preach God's word, I better be in holiness.
You know, if I'm coming to lead the church, you know, in song leading, or, you know, or
someone steps up to read the Bible as Brother Rob has tonight, or you come up to preach,
remind yourself God wants me to come in holiness.
And you know, we sin every day, so we're not in holiness all the time, okay?
But remind yourself when you come to God's house, yeah, I come to worship the Lord, but
He wants us to do it in the beauty of holiness, okay?
Have your sins confessed of before the Lord.
Try to be walking after the ways of the Lord, and the Lord can look upon you and say, that's
beautiful.
That's beautiful worship.
Isn't that what we want the Lord to say about, you know, New Life Baptist Church?
You know, this Wednesday night, you know, I received beautiful worship from God's people
who were holy.
You know, if you say, Pastor Kevin, right now, I don't feel very holy, well, you know
what, just as I'm preaching, you know, take the time, confess it before the Lord, you
know, ask Him to make you a holy vessel for His use, so He can use you tonight.
Now, why is it that it's so beautiful to be holy?
I'll just quickly read to you from 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 15.
That's 1 Peter 1.15, which reads, but as He which have called you is holy, so be ye
holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy.
How can we worship God, you know, a holy God, if we're not holy ourselves?
How can we, you know, stand before His throne and bow our heads and praise Him and sing
praises if we're not holy ourselves?
You know, to be able to worship God, brethren, we need to be holy as He is holy.
It says, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.
Conversation is basically the word behaviour.
You know, every aspect of your life, am I being holy to the Lord?
You know, whether that's in your house, that you've been holy to the Lord, in your
workplace, that you've been holy to the Lord, in the house of God, you know, definitely
we should be striving to be holy to the Lord.
But you know, the command is that in all manner of conversation, in all our ways of living,
in all our walk, in our homes, it ought to reflect the holiness of God.
Now we're going to get to these next verses which speak about the voice of the Lord as
the sermon is titled, the voice of the Lord.
But before we look at this, I want you to just keep your finger then and turn to Genesis
chapter three, Genesis chapter three, and we're going to look at the first time this
phrase, the voice of the Lord, is brought up in the Bible, okay?
And I do believe it is very significant, you know, where it's brought up and why it's
brought up.
I've got a bit of a sore throat, so I'm going to be drinking a lot of water while
I preach, but Genesis chapter three, of course, is the chapter where Adam and Eve sin against
the Lord.
They take of the fruit, of the tree, of the knowledge of good and evil, and you may remember
that they became ashamed, their eyes were open, they noticed their nakedness, they tried
to cover themselves with fig, sow themselves aprons or figs or fig leaves, and they were
hiding from the Lord.
Or there in verse number eight, Genesis chapter three, verse number eight, it says, and they
heard the voice of the Lord.
So that's the first reference of that phrase, and they heard the voice of the Lord.
Now, when you first read that, if you're not paying attention, you may have the impression,
well, they just heard God speaking, they heard his voice, and yes, obviously, they heard
his voice.
But notice it keeps going there, and they heard the voice of the Lord, God walking in
the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence
of the Lord.
So the Lord's actually there, physically there in the garden, they hid themselves from the
presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
But what I think is very interesting is they've heard the voice of the Lord God walking.
So what was walking in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve?
It was the voice of the Lord that was walking.
The voice of the Lord God was walking in the garden.
Say, what does that mean?
It seems very deep, and it is very deep, I think it's very deep, that God's voice can
actually walk.
Well, of course, sound waves coming out of your mouth cannot walk.
We're talking about someone very special in the Bible, and the words of Jesus Christ in
John chapter 1 verse 18, he says,
So no man has ever seen God, the Father, at any time.
But one person that has definitely been seen, whenever people see God, it is of course the
Lord Jesus Christ.
And so we have a pre-incarnate picture of Christ here walking in the garden, and it
shouldn't surprise us that one of his titles here is the voice of the Lord.
Why is that important?
Because in John chapter 1 verse 1, very famous, it says,
And so, of course, if you're hearing a voice, what are you hearing?
You're hearing words.
The word of God, you know, I don't believe you can separate the voice of God from the
word of God.
How can you separate that?
If you're hearing the voice of God, you're hearing words that are being uttered, or the
word of God is a title, once again, given to Jesus Christ.
And it is not just Father and Word in 1 John 5, 7, it says,
And so, what we're seeing here, as the voice of the Lord God is walking, we're obviously
seeing the word of God walking, we're seeing Jesus Christ walking in the garden, okay?
And so, you know, as we're looking at Psalm 29, again, let's not detach ourselves from
Jesus Christ here, okay?
I'm not really going to be speaking about Jesus Christ as a person here, but you know,
you cannot detach it completely.
You know, Christ is given the title of the word of God, and of course, the book that
we're preaching from is also known as the word of God.
You know, Christ cannot be separated from his word, and if you want to know Christ more,
you need to know his word more, okay?
You need to know his word more.
Let's go back there to Psalm 29, and verse number 3.
Now let's learn about the voice of the Lord, and again, we're going to be learning more
about the Bible, and we're going to be learning more about Jesus Christ, as we're looking
at these verses.
In verse number 3, it says,
I'm going to come back to the waters thing later on in this sermon, but I want you to
first notice about the voice of the Lord.
It says,
Boy, when God's voice speaks, it thunders, okay?
So let's have a look at a time in the Bible where such things occurred.
Can you please turn to Deuteronomy chapter 5?
Deuteronomy chapter 5 for me.
Deuteronomy chapter 5, and I'm going to read to you from Exodus chapter 20, which is the
same story, but you go to Deuteronomy chapter 5, and I'm going to read to you from Exodus
chapter 20 and verse number 18, and of course, Exodus 20 is famous for the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 20, if you don't already know that, Exodus 20, lock it in your mind, that's
where I'm going to find the Ten Commandments.
So after God has given Moses the Ten Commandments, will the Lord start to speak to the whole
nation?
You know, we know that he had a special time with Moses up on the mount, but now the Lord
wants to reveal himself to the entire nation, and it says in Exodus chapter 20 verse 18,
it says, and all the people saw the thunderings, hey, what did we learn about the voice of
the Lord?
That it thunders, okay, it's got a glorious thunder, it says, and I'll read it again,
and all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet,
and the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off,
and they said unto Moses, speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak
We've asked lest we die the power of God when he speaks.
The nation could not take it.
When God spoke, there was thunders, there was lightnings, there was like a noise of
a trumpet, the mountain was smoking, so there's fire, and it's too much to bear.
So they're like Moses, can you speak to us, we're better off hearing from a man
than hearing from God.
It's a frightful thing, okay, and you know, I often think about this when there's a
thunderstorm, and there's thunder and lightnings, usually little children are afraid, they hear
that thunder, and they jump up, and they run to mum and dad, you know, it's that same
idea that took place there, here in the days of Israel, but now you're in Deuteronomy
chapter 5, and look at verse number 23, so Moses is repeating this story to Israel some
time later, and he's kind of reminding them what took place on the mounts.
In Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse number 23, it says,
And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of darkness, for the mountain
did burn with fire, that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes and
your elders.
And ye said, behold, the Lord our God hath showed us his glory and his greatness, and
we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire.
We have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.
Now therefore, why should we die?
For this great fire will consume us.
If we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die.
They were so afraid that if we just heard a little bit more from God, he's gonna wipe
us out.
It's too powerful.
It is powerful.
They're right about one thing.
They're not right about not wanting to listen to the voice of God.
They're not right about that.
But they're right about the strength.
They're right about the power of God.
You know, when Jesus Christ comes in the second coming on the white horse, he just speaks.
The Bible says that out of his mouth cometh a sword, and out of his mouth he destroys
the armies of the antichrist, of the beast.
He destroys those armies just by speaking.
So yeah, I mean, these guys are kind of right.
They understand the power of God's voice.
And then it says in verse number 26, for who is there of all flesh that have heard the
voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire as we have lived?
Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say.
So they're like, we're too scared to die, Moses.
How about you go and die for us?
You go and listen to what God has to say, right?
Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and speak thou unto us,
all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and we will hear it and do it.
And the Lord heard the voice of your words when you speak unto me, and the Lord said
unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto
thee, and they have well said that they have spoken.
So it is true what they're saying, right?
And you know, they do want to hear from Moses, and you need to remind yourself, when we come
to God's house, we don't come to hear the voice of Pastor Kevin.
You know, we don't come to hear the voice of Brother Jason or Brother Callum or whoever
else is preaching.
You know, we want to hear the voice of God.
And so in a sense, you know, the congregation is kind of sending the preacher, you know,
can you go and talk to God, and then you tell us what God is saying?
There's nothing wrong with that, there's nothing wrong with that approach.
But remember, this is power, the words of there is power in God's word.
Why would we want to preach anything else?
Why would I want to preach the proverbs of men?
Why would I want to preach the wisdom of Pastor Kevin?
It's futile brethren.
We come to God's house to hear his voice, in order to provoke a little bit of fear,
you know, a little bit of trembling.
There's power in God's word, we can hold it in our hands.
It's amazing.
We can actually hold God's word in our hands.
You know, God has, you know, I guess, removed all the thunder and the lightning on our behalf,
so we can read it without all that fear, okay, but it contains the same power.
It contains the same power.
Now I want you to notice about this, sorry, verse number 29.
Oh, that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me and keep all my commandments
always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever.
So what do we learn about the voice of the Lord here?
If we listen to it, if we hearken it, if we keep the commandments, things are going to
be well with us, and with our children forever.
You know, we can be a blessing to, you know, our children, to our grandchildren, and our
great grandchildren, if we just obey God's words, we listen to his voice, and we teach
the coming generations the voice of the Lord as well.
We teach them to fear God's words, and things will be well with our families.
Verse number 30.
Go say to them, get you into your tents again.
But as for me, stand out, stand out here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments,
and the statutes, and the judgments which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them
in the land which I gave them to possess it.
You shall observe to do, therefore, as the Lord your God have commanded you, you shall
not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God have commanded you, that ye
may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land
which ye shall possess.
Wow, you want to prolong your days, brethren?
You want things to be well with you, you want to have a happy life, you want to have a happy
family, you need to just listen to God's voice, and do what he asks you to do, okay?
There is power in God's word.
It is powerful.
It can change your life if you live in accordance to his ways, though, you know?
A sad reality is most of us, you know, will come to church, or maybe not so much, you
know, I don't want to sort of criticise our church here, because I know we strive, you
know, to live godly, but, you know, there are many churches, many people that attend
churches, you know, and they hear God's word, and they're hearing truth, but next, they're
back at home, they're back at work, they're back living in the old ways, you know, they
listen, but they've not applied, they're not walking in accordance to God's ways.
Well, how can you expect God's blessings if you don't walk in accordance to the ways of
his voice?
Back to Psalm 29 and verse number 4, Psalm 29 and verse number 4, it says, the voice
of the Lord is powerful.
Now that should sound very similar to another passage of the Bible, we'll come back to that
one.
It says, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty, the voice of the Lord is full of
majesty.
Can you please keep your finger there, and go to Psalm 93, go to Psalm 93.
I was thinking about this term majesty, you know, we think of, when you think of the word
majesty, don't you think of like greatness, the idea of just being lifted high, I get
that kind of idea, but I just wanted to say, what does it mean that the voice of the Lord
is full of majesty?
Well, I believe when we look at Psalm 93, verse number 1, it gives us the definition
there.
Psalm 93 and verse number 1, which says, the Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty,
so he's clothed in his majesty, then it says, the Lord is clothed with strength.
Wherewith he have girded himself, the world also established, and it cannot be moved.
So when we see that the Lord is clothed with majesty, and then it says the Lord is clothed
with strength, I believe it's given us the definition there.
Basically majesty is strength, okay, the strength of the Lord, and once again, there is strength
in God's word, which is why at the beginning of verse number 4, back in Psalm 29, in verse
number 4 it says, the voice of the Lord is powerful, powerful.
How powerful?
Well, this phrase is almost used again in the New Testament for us, in a passage that,
you know, you'd be very familiar with, I'll just read it to you, in Hebrews chapter 4
and verse number 12, which says, for the word of God is quick and powerful.
So it says the word of the Lord is quick and powerful, what does the Psalm say?
The voice of the Lord is powerful.
Boy, we have the voice of the Lord right here.
Right here, this is powerful, quick, what does quick mean?
Alive, it's living, we've got God's living words, okay, and powerful.
And then it says, in Hebrews 4.12, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to
the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
So powerful that it penetrates the physical realm and gets into the spiritual.
It gets down to your heart and to your soul and to your spirit, and it can speak to you
in a way that nothing else can speak to you, but it's a powerful weapon to use.
It's a powerful weapon.
You know, if a little child picked up a two-edged sword, well, first of all, you don't give
a child a two-edged sword, okay, why, because they can hurt themselves, and they can hurt
other people around them.
God has given us the power of his word, he's given us his voice, you know, to preach from,
to use and to study, but don't you think it requires a little bit of training to know
God's word, to be able to use God's word, to be able to wield that two-edged sword around,
which is extremely powerful, that can cut deep, all right?
This is why we need to be careful about who we listen to, the preachers that we allow
to get up to preach God's word because it is a very dangerous weapon.
It can be used to destroy, it can be used to build you, but it can be used to destroy.
And so, you know, when we consider God's word, you know, next time you pick up your Bible
to read it after church, you know, whether it's tonight or tomorrow morning, I want you
to think I'm about to pick up a two-edged sword, I'm about to pick up something that
is living and powerful, okay, so powerful that the Israelites were afraid to even come
close to the voice of the Lord.
You know, so, you know, the Bible needs respect, you know, it needs its due respect, and God
has blessed us, given us the full canon of scripture translated into our common tongue
English, perfectly and preserved in the King James Bible, what an honour, what an honour
that we have.
Can you please turn to John chapter 17 and verse number 8, John chapter 17, we are looking
at a lot of passages because the Psalm itself is not very long, so we want to obviously
draw from the Psalm and see what else can we learn from it, but in John chapter 17 and
verse number 8, John 17 and verse number 8, now one person that was extremely skilful
with the word of God was of course Jesus Christ, because he is the word of God, okay, and in
John 17 verse number 8, he's speaking to the Father here and he says, for I have given
unto them, that's unto his disciples, that's unto those that believe on him, for I have
given unto them the words which thou gave us me, and they have received them, and have
known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou did send me.
Boy, think about that, God the Father gave Jesus Christ words, the word of God he gave
him, and again he is the word of God, okay, so explain that all to me, I can't, okay,
it's supernatural, it's spiritual, but then Jesus Christ says, well I'm giving my disciples,
I'm giving my believers the same words, these are the same words that cause them to even
believe on me, to believe that you have sent me, the power of God's word, you know, teaches
us something and it creates faith in us, you know, again, you know, we've not seen Jesus,
I've never seen him brethren, 2000 years ago, I've never seen Jesus walk the earth, I never
saw him crucified, I didn't see him rise from the dead, say Pastor Kevin, why are you
dedicating your life to two churches about something you've never seen, it's because
the word of God created faith in me, it's created faith in you, and we believe, we know
this is true, there is power, the fact that we're here in church listening to God's word,
there is power in God's word to make us believe something we've never seen with our physical
eyes, that's power, and like I don't even doubt it, it's not like, you know, if I see
something with my physical eyes, I'm going to, you know, it's not like I believe that
more than what I've seen with my spiritual eyes, you know, what I've seen God's, in fact
what I've seen with God's word gives me more assurance than what I've seen with my physical
eyes, because my eyes can play tricks on me, okay, my physical eyes can play tricks on
me, but this word will never play tricks on me, God cannot lie, there is power in this
book, it creates faith, so the voice of the Lord is full of majesty, it's full of strength,
you know, we need to take, you know, have access to that strength, if you are spiritually
weak, the only thing that's going to strengthen you is the voice of the Lord, can you go back
to Psalm 29 and verse number 5, Psalm 29 verse number 5, and Brevin, you know, some of these
things that we read here, you know, it goes a little bit over my head, you know, as I
read these things, but I'm going to, you know, do my best I can to expand on this, but in
verse number 5 it says, the voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars, so of course we know
the cedar refers to the cedar tree, known for its strength, okay, known because it also,
you know, Lebanon, you know, was a producer of these cedar trees, and then it says, yea,
the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon, so we're talking about a foreign nation here,
and he's saying, you know, these cedars represents the strength of Lebanon, you know, the strength
of a foreign nation, and the Bible says his voice even breaks the strength that these
other nations, you know, what these other nations rely on, the strength that the other
nations have, God's voice, God's word is even stronger than these cedars, verse number 6,
he maketh them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Syrian, like a young unicorn. We know
what Lebanon is, because we have a, you know, modern country named Lebanon, so we know what
that is, you might not know what Syrian is, okay, so, you know, I'm always curious, when
I see these, you know, places, these names, I'm always wondering, what is that about?
Like that's how I usually study the Bible, like what significant event may have taken
place at this place, or what does it mean? So let's go back to the book of Deuteronomy
please, and go to chapter number 3, Deuteronomy chapter 3, because I think most of you wouldn't
know what Syrian is, I didn't anyway, as I was preparing this psalm, but again it ties
in with the strength of other nations, again we see in the cedar tree, tying in the strength
of Lebanon there, and in Deuteronomy chapter 3 and verse number 8, Deuteronomy chapter
3 and verse number 8, it reads, and we took at that time, out of the hand of the two kings
of the Amorites, the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Annon unto
Mount Hermon, so notice this mountain, this Mount Hermon, and then verse number 9, which
Hermon the Sidonians called Sirian, and the Amorites call it Shania, alright so the Sidonians
call Mount Hermon Sirian, ok, so what is Sirian? It's this mountain, again when you think of
a mountain, what do you think? You think this great strength, right, this rock that
is unmovable in a sense, right, and so just like referring to Lebanon and the seed of
the strength, this is the strength of a foreign land, and once again we see that God is able
to destroy the powers of these other nations, the powers of the Gentiles, this is why we
should not be afraid, Reverend, of what, the weakness that we see in this world, the weakness
that we see of the nations, the weakness that we see of our politicians, and maybe
you get concerned and worry about certain things, and you know, just remind yourself
that God's voice is stronger, that He can break the strength of these other nations,
we've got God's Word in our hand, there's nothing stronger than that, Reverend, we've
got great power, can you please turn to 1 Kings chapter 19, 1 Kings chapter 19, when
I thought about this, when I thought about the mountain and the cedars, they can't
even compare to the Word of God, and it reminded me of Elijah, so 1 Kings chapter 19 verse
number 9, because I don't think you ever, and I haven't, you know, seen God's Word,
like I'm preaching, like we're quoting God's Word, we're reading God's Word, like
I've not seen like these trees just splinter and break apart, like I've not seen these
mountains just dash to pieces as we've been reading God's Word, I don't think
anyone has seen that, okay, and that's why it reminded me of, what's his name, Elijah,
you know, here in 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse number 9, in 1 Kings chapter 19 verse number
9, this is a time where Elijah's very depressed, you know, in fact he's kind of almost suicidal,
you know, he wishes that God would just take his life, and so God, you know, the reason
for this is because he had enemies, you know, there was Jezebel and others that were trying
to seek his life, and you know, he was afraid, you know, I guess of dying in the hands of
the enemies, and so he got to a point where he's like, Lord, just let me die, you know,
he's seen, again, these powers that be that are working against the hand of God, and God
brings him to a point and shows him his power, here in 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse number
9, and he came thither unto a cave and lodged there, and behold, look at this, the word
of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, what doest thou hear, Elijah, who came
to Elijah, the word of the Lord came to him, who's the word of the Lord, Jesus Christ,
okay, and he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children
of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets
with a sword, and I, even I only am left, and they seek my life and take it away. So
Elijah said, look, I've been serving you, Lord, I've been faithful to you, Lord, I've
been jealous for you, Lord, and I've been working hard, I've been serving you, but they're
not listening, Lord, they're not taking action, in fact, they turn around and they're killing
the prophets, they're trying to kill me. So I can see, you know, Elijah being very
downcast, he very, very depressed, alright, and look at verse number 11, and he said,
go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord, and behold, the Lord passed by. Now,
so the Lord's passing by, so here we see Elijah, you know, standing upon this mountain,
the Lord, his presence passes by, you know, the Lord's going to show him his great strength,
and then see what happens, it says, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains,
so Elijah got to see the mountains breaking apart, with God's presence right there, yeah,
I mean I've not seen that, Elijah got to see it, and then what happens? And break in pieces
the rocks before the Lord, so the Lord's showing Elijah his strength, he says, look, you're
worried about these people seeking your life, look how strong I am, I am on your side, Elijah,
I'm the one sending you, you know, the Lord's trying to lift up Elijah's spirits, showing
him the strength, and then what happens afterwards? It says in verse number 11, but the Lord was
not in the wind, so there's a strong wind that passes by, destroys these mountains,
destroys these rocks, but the Lord wasn't even there in the wind. It says, and after
the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, so now the whole land,
not just the mountain, but the land is shaken, and there's this earthquake, and again God's
showing his strength of the presence of the Lord, but then it says the Lord was not in
the earthquake, and then in verse number 12, and after the earthquake, a fire, but the
Lord was not in the fire, I mean these are all destructive things, brethren, okay, this
strong wind, this earthquake, this fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and then
it says this, and after the fire, a still, small voice, that's the Lord, that's how the
Lord speaks to us, in that still, small voice, praise God, otherwise I'll be the straw to
the mountain, but what we learn here, brethren, is that the Lord speaks to us in this still
small voice, but the ramifications are huge, you know, it unleashes this wind, it unleashes
the earthquakes, it unleashes the fire, but that's not where the Lord is, it's the aftermath
of just the still small voice. Boy, we get the still small voice every time we pick up
this Bible and read it, okay, but what are the consequences? The consequences are significant,
you know, in the hearing of God's voice, and so, yeah, brethren, you know, don't feel like
you've missed out, you know, the fact that you've heard this still small voice speaks
of the power that it really holds when the Lord God speaks, and this was used, God used
this to edify Elijah, it should be used to edify yourself as well if you're at a point
of depression. Verse number seven, back in Psalm 29 and verse number seven, the still
small voice of the Lord, very powerful though, boy, I'd rather the Lord just use that still
small voice instead of shouting at me or something, right? Boy, what would happen if the Lord
shouted? Verse number seven, the voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. What
could that be about? I was scratching my head a little bit until I remembered the story,
so can you go to Isaiah 43, please, Isaiah 43, so the voice of the Lord divideth the
flames of fire. What could this be about? Well, I think the best picture we can think
about here is in Isaiah 43, Isaiah 43 and verse number one, please, Isaiah 43 and verse
number one, the Lord is speaking through Isaiah the prophet unto the nation of Israel, and
in verse number one it says, but now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob,
and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee
by thy name, thou art mine. So this is to the physical nation of Israel, hey, but this
is a promise that we can take as a spiritual nation of Israel under the new covenant, we
can take this for ourselves as well, right, that we are the Lord's, that he is ours and
we are his. Verse number two, when thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee,
and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire,
thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Wow, so back in the
Psalm it said the voice of the Lord divided the flames of fire, okay, so the promise here
is that as Israel would face, you know, a time of flooding of waters, of great waters,
but of fires that he would not touch them, that a flame would not even be kindled upon
them, so we see the mighty hand of God and we know this is, you know, obviously symbolic,
it's not like the nation of Israel tested this and lit the whole nation on fire or something,
but you know, the point being, and look, actually there is a literal understanding of this,
you know, Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, well not so much Daniel, but Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego, literally went into the fire and the fire, the flame was not kindled
upon them whatsoever, the Lord is able to divide the flames of fire, you know, the heat,
the damage that flames normally can take, you know, by the Lord's speak and he's able
to keep you safe and again, this idea, this concept is to remind us that when we go through
difficult times, times of turmoil, heavy waters, heavy flooding, fires that are burning us,
the tribulations, the trials, that just by God's, just by the Lord uttering our word,
he can protect us from those dangers, so important that we go to the Lord in prayer, isn't it?
That he would speak, that's what we wanted, that's what we looked at in the last Psalm,
we wanted the Lord to speak, you know, we did not want him to be a God who is quiet
to our prayer requests, you know what the Lord speaks, he answers our prayers, he divides
the fires, he keeps us safe from difficulties, back in Psalm 29 verse number 8, Psalm 29
verse number 8, the voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness, the Lord shaketh the wilderness
of Kadesh, now again, just like I told you, I'm like, what could this be about?
Okay, maybe an earthquake, wilderness, then we have the wilderness of Kadesh, so my next
thought is, what happened in Kadesh?
There must be something that happened, well let's have a look at this, go to Numbers
chapter 20, Numbers chapter 20 and verse number 1, and actually this story actually makes
me very sad, okay, because I really like Moses, I love Moses as a character, you know, he's
the most humble man on the earth, the Lord, you know, and boy, he puts up with a very
wicked nation, I don't know how he does it, but you know, I look at Moses and I think
he's a great example of a great pastor, but in Numbers chapter 20 and verse number 1,
Numbers chapter 20 and verse number 1 it says, then came the children of Israel, even the
whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month, and the people abode in
Kadesh, and Miriam died there and was buried there, so we can see that this chapter takes
place in the wilderness of Kadesh, alright?
So let's drop down to verse number 10, verse number 10 it says, and Moses, sorry, the people
are whining and complaining about water, you know, they're thirsty, in Numbers chapter
20 verse number 10 it says, and Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before
the rock, by the way that rock represents Christ, okay, and he said unto them, here
now ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock, and Moses lifted up his hand
and with his rod he smelt the rock twice, and the water came out abundantly, and the
congregation drank and the beast also, now this part makes me sad, verse number 12, and
the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, because ye believed me not to sanctify me in the eyes
of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land
which I have given them, so the Lord says by, and you know I don't fully understand
the actions of Moses here, but the Lord makes it clear that they were lacking in faith,
because it says there, because ye believed me not, okay, so there was some aspect of
Moses not believing that water would come out of this rock, and that kind of makes sense
a little bit because we know that rock represents Christ, it's almost like lacking faith that
we can have these eternal waters, these everlasting waters out of the rock of Christ, so that
would be a major blasphemy if you sort of preach that kind of thing, again these things
are symbolic, and so that lack of faith kind of demonstrates this not believing that through
Christ that you can be saved in a sense, I can understand that, okay, but again these
things are symbolic for us, I don't think Moses fully understood what was taking place
of course during this time, but because of his lack of faith, he and Aaron would not
enter into the promised land, he would not be able to lead these children of Israel into
the promised land after leading them in the wilderness for 40 years, for putting up with
these people for 40 years, and I think about this, I mean this must be surprising to all,
I expect this to be surprising to the Israelites, thinking boy, Moses, the most faithful man
of all here is facing God's judgment, God's judgment for him was that he would not go
into the promised land, and so when I think about Psalm 29 and I think about the voice
of the Lord, which shaketh the wilderness, the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh,
I kind of think about that idea, that you know sometimes you know to absorb God's
judgment, it is hard, it is difficult, you know I'm preaching through Jeremiah down in Sydney
and we see the judgment of God over and over and over again, so much so that even Jeremiah
is overwhelmed thinking about God's judgment, it's too much for him to bear, you know,
and anyway this is what I think it's referring to, that God's voice, the Word of God, you know
the judgments that come from God's Word, you know ultimately the judgment of eternal
torment in the lake of fire is just too much for some people to bear, it shakes them up,
you know, I mean I've had calls where, you know, we've left someone a tract, you know,
and they call me, oh don't tell people about hell, don't tell people about this, you know,
you're making people afraid, they should be afraid of hell, they should quake knowing God's
judgment, they should quake knowing that God's Word speaks of a great judgment to come and so
anyway that's the best that I can understand from Psalm 29 that the wilderness of Kadesh
shook with the voice of the Lord when they understood the judgment that fell upon Moses
who was otherwise besides this a very faithful servant, boy you know I don't want that for me,
I would hate to mess up like this, you know, as the pastor of this church, you know, pray to God
that I will remain faithful, you know, in His strength. Verse number nine, please, Psalm 29
and verse number nine, it says the voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve,
okay, so the hind is a female deer and it's saying that God's voice can cause a female deer to give
birth. Now again I'm just doing the best I can to understand this and my view on this and maybe
yours is a little bit different is it seems like that, you know, when God's voice speaks because
we'll see here it affects nature as well, it affects His creation as well, so much so that a
deer which might be a little bit timid, you know, I've seen these before, they see a human being and
they flee, they've got that timid approach when the voice of the Lord is heard by these deers,
they kind of give birth prematurely, that's kind of what I'm seeing here, right, it surprised them
and they end up giving birth here. So I do believe this is about God's creation because then it says
and discovereth the forests, okay, that's God's voice, He discovers the forests and in His temple
doth everyone speak of His glory. Now can you please keep your finger there and go to Isaiah 55
for me, Isaiah 55 and verse number 11.
So what I believe verse number 9 is speaking about is the fact that creation
recognises the voice of God, you know, whether it's an animal like a deer or whether it's the forests,
you know, when they hear God's voice, creation knows it, you know, we know the story of Christ,
you know, calm into the storms where He can just speak and, you know, God's creation,
the weather, it listens to God and obeys God, you know, God's creation, the storms, they're
actually more obedient than many Christians, when they will hear God's voice and obey,
they recognise the voice of God. Well in Isaiah 55 verse number 11,
one of my favourite passages in the Bible, it says, Isaiah 55 verse 11,
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
So whenever we send God's word, right now preaching, I'm sending God's word,
it's going to accomplish the thing that God wants accomplished. But then it says in verse number 12,
For ye, now speaking to us, for you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace,
now notice the next words, the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands, instead of the thorn shall come up the
fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for
a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. I love this because we go out with joy,
preaching God's word, I hope it's joy, I hope it's joyful for you, when you get out there, knock
doors and give people the gospel, I hope you go out with joy, but what are you going out with?
You're going out with the words of God, and as you're going about preaching God's word,
or someone may not even be interested, you say, well sir, can I just leave you John 3 16,
or whatever it is that you leave them, you know what, it's going to accomplish what God wants it
to accomplish, even if it's just for creation to hear it, even if it's just for the mountains,
and the hills to break forth into singing, even if it's just for the trees to clap their hands,
and they haven't got hands, but you know what I'm talking about, God's creation can hear God's word,
God's creation rejoices in God's word. Remind yourself of that when you go soul winning,
and you get no one saved, you know, you got a John 3 16 out, or at least creation hurt them,
at least God's creation is rejoicing in the hearing, at the hearing of God's word.
Back to Psalm 29 and verse number 10, Psalm 29 verse number 10,
it says the Lord sit off upon the flood, yea the Lord sit off king forever. Now this is where I
believe we can understand verse number three a little bit better, I think verse number three
and verse number 10 go hand in hand, so let's read verse number three again, it says the voice
of the Lord is upon the waters, so what's a flood, wouldn't you say a flood is excessive waters,
all right, but then it says the God of glory thundereth, and then it says the Lord is upon
many waters, that's verse number three, the Lord is upon many waters, verse number 10 says the
Lord sit off upon the flood, yea the Lord sit off king forever, and so you know I don't believe this
is speaking of a flood in of itself, maybe, but I don't think so, especially with that phrase
the Lord sit off, sorry is upon many waters, because that same phraseology is used in the
book of Revelation, so let's turn there in Revelation chapter 17, Revelation chapter 17
and verse number one, and what we're looking at here is the great whole you know mystery Babylon
of the end times, and it says in verse number one, Revelation chapter 17 and verse number one,
it says and there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials and talked with me
saying unto me come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great hall that sit off upon
many waters, so this great hall, this Babylon sits upon many waters, what could that be about,
well then it says with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication and inhabitants
of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication, so what we learn in that passage
there is this spiritual Babylon, this future Babylon to come will be judged by God but it
sits upon many waters and of course that's symbolic that under its authority has many kings,
see of whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, so with that in mind of course the
hall doesn't represent the Lord at all, but with that mindset that she sits upon many waters,
she sits upon many kingdoms, she has an influence, she's able to rule over these many kingdoms,
these many nations and so when we go back to Psalm 29 and it says the Lord sit upon the flood
and then not only says that but yea the Lord sit of king forever should remind us I believe that
the Lord God is king over the entire earth, you know the Lord is king of kings, yes even the
corrupt kings, even the king that died was not really king is he, what's his name, prince,
what's his name, anyone, come on guys, his royal highness, what is that, prince,
prince Philip, the same guy that wished to die and come back as a virus to kill all of humanity,
okay, isn't that what he wanted, isn't that what he wished, someone can confirm that,
all right, all right, even these wicked kings, you know there's a greater king above all,
that's Jesus Christ, the voice of God, it sit upon many waters, okay and you know what the
antichrist since we see in Revelation, he's going to try to be you know put in place his kingdom,
he's going to try to take the powers you know of this earth and he's going to succeed for a brief
period of time but when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh, the Lord's
going to step in and destroy those nations and of course Christ will come back with his millennial
kingdom and so yes you know I look forward to the future time when Christ will be king upon the
whole earth but the reality is he's the king right now, he's the king of the whole earth right now,
so we shouldn't be afraid of these many nations, we shouldn't be afraid of these many kings,
many authorities that want to inject you vaccinations and who knows what,
you know what there's someone above him and I talk to him, you know I hear his voice,
I've got his voice right here, it can destroy them, it can destroy them, they hate the bible
by the way, they hate the bible, verse number 11, Psalm 29 verse number 11, this is the best part,
I think after we praise God and we recognise the power of his voice, then it says the Lord will
give strength unto his people, the Lord will bless his people with peace, so the same strength
that we just spoke about, the same power that we just read about okay, the voice of the Lord,
he gives up to his people, he goes you take it, you become strong in my word, you know in 1 John
chapter 2 verse 14 it says I have written unto you fathers because you have known him that is from
the beginning, I have written unto you young men because you are strong, then it says this,
and the word of God abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one, God gives us his
strength, we can overcome the wicked one, the devil, you know if the devil came into this
building right now, we shouldn't be concerned at all, this thing's going to destroy mountains,
trees, the cedars of Lebanon, you know the devil's going to take, you know even stand close by if
we're preaching from God's word, we've got the strength of his word, not only should we listen
to it and preach from it, it needs to abide in us, it gives us the strength to be able to fight
the wicked one, can you please turn to Acts chapter 10, we'll end on this one,
Acts chapter 10 verse number 36,
who would have thought this still small voice was so powerful, praise God for his word,
Acts chapter 10 verse number 36,
I just want to end on this one, Acts chapter 10 verse number 36,
the word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace, what did we see in
the psalm, it says the Lord will bless his people with peace, so we have the word of the Lord which
has been sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all,
that word, what is that word, I say you know which was published throughout all Judea and began from
Galilee after the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost
and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil
for God was with him and we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews
and in Jerusalem whom they slew and hanged on a tree, him God raised up the third day and showed
him openly, not to all the people but unto witnesses chosen before of God even to us who
did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead and he commanded us to preach unto the people
and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be judge of quick and the dead, to him
give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive
remission of sins, what do we see there, God has given us his word, amen, soul winning, preaching
the gospel, God has given us that word so we can testify of the death of Christ, his resurrection,
this is the power right here brethren in our hands to save the lost, we all have unsaved family and
friends, we all have unsaved co-workers, people that we know, you know this is the power to change
that, to change their eternal destiny, to him give all the prophets witness, this whole bible can be
used to win people to the Lord and that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive
remission of sins, that's how the Lord blesses us with peace, you know I don't expect peace on this
earth in the sense that I'm going to get along with everybody, I know I'm not going to get along
with everybody, if we stand for God's word it's not going to happen but I know I have peace with
God, the most important of all I have peace with God you know and it's come through his word,
it's come through the strength of the voice that he's given us.