Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Psalm 62, and reading from
our text, verse 11. God hath spoken once, twice,
have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God. Psalm 62, Psalm of David, in
verse 11, and particularly the word power, belongeth unto God. Our text opens with the statement
that God has spoken once. Well, those of you that know
your Bibles will know that God has spoken many times throughout
the Word of God, in creation, in all of the prophecies, In
all through the word of God, God speaks. But what is set forth
here is that when God speaks, that word is settled in heaven
forever. Oh God, thy word is settled in
heaven. His words do not fall to the
ground. And we are to remember that. God's words are not like man's
words, that man can take them back, Man can forget what he
has said, how many times that someone might say, but you told
me that, or you said this, and we have no recollection of saying
it whatsoever. But God knows every word that
he has spoken. We have before us the inspired,
infallible word of God, though heaven and earth pass away, my
word shall not pass away. And when he uses that word to
speak to his people, be not silent unto me, lest if thou be silent
unto me, I become like them that go down into the pit, or like
Jeremiah, thy words were found and I did eat them. They were
to the joy and rejoicing of my heart. When the Lord gives that
word, he does not take it back. He does not forget that word.
That is why we have the comfort with the comforter. He shall
bring to your remembrance all things that I have spoken unto
you. We might forget, the Lord doesn't,
and He brings it back, and sometimes it can be through the ministry,
it might be this evening, that something is spoken that the
Spirit uses it to bring back to your remembrance things that
you may have forgotten, and bring it back with the sweetness and
power as well. So, when we have God has spoken
once, it's not literally God speaks just once, but when He
speaks, it is settled. He does not need to speak again
and again. In a way this is emphasised in
the start of this verse, God only really needs to speak once,
and all the power, all the authority is in that. A parent might say
to a child, I'm going to tell you once. A teacher might say
to students, I'm just going to tell you this once. I'm not going
to repeat it. The Lord doesn't need to repeat
things, but he does. He does, and that should immediately
draw our attention to what he is actually speaking. Our text
says God has spoken once, twice. Have I heard this? And we see
this in the word of God. When God speaks more than once,
it is to impress upon us the importance of that word. We think
of the law of Moses. We may read of it in Exodus. We may read of it in Deuteronomy. The law is given twice, written. We know it was from Adam to Moses'
day, death reigned. But a law is not imputed when
it is not given in that written word. And so we go on through
the scriptures. We think of the birth of our
Lord. We read it in two parts, two of the gospels, Matthew and
Luke. And then we think of the crucifixion. The death and sufferings
of our Lord, the payment, the price that was paid, the blood
that was shared, four times. Every single gospel records that. The resurrection, every single
gospel, four gospels. God only needs to speak once,
but when he speaks about his death, his sufferings, his resurrection,
we get it four times. The commission, interesting only
three times, going into all the world, preach the gospel to every
creature. But John brings it about in different
ways, setting forth to his people to make them fishes of men. And
that these are written that you might believe on the name of
the Son of God, and that in believing you might have life through his
name. But do notice through the scriptures, where you read the
same thing again and again, you think God does not need to do
that, but he is to impress it upon our hearts. You think how
sometimes it is used when David was dying, and the kingdom was
going to be usurped by Adonijah. Then Nathan the prophet came
to Bathsheba and told her of it. He says, now you go in and
you tell the king what is happening and I will come in after thee
and will confirm thy words. And there is an authority, really
a precept here that is to be remembered by us because God
does confirm the words of his servants. He confirms them with
signs following. He also confirms them when perhaps
another of the Lord's servant comes not knowing what the other
has brought and brings the same message, brings the same word
or the same import. Many of us have known a blessing
that is followed in that way. And so, this twice that is spoken
of here, twice have I heard this. You might be able to add in your
life, in your experience, twice have I heard this. And there's
a blessing wrapped up in it. How the Lord has spoken these
things twice. We might think that Does the
Lord really need a lot? When we think of Solomon, we
think of the wisest man you say that ever lived. God gave him
his wisdom. But he was left to go after strange
women, have many wives, and the Lord held it against him. He
said that he did not continue in the way of the Lord that appeared
unto him twice. two major blessings that Solomon
had. One, when he asked for the wisdom,
after the temple was dedicated and the cloud filled the temple,
the altar was lit from heaven, and the Lord appeared to him
those times. And the Lord held it to him. He didn't need to
appear every year or continually appear. Those were enough. Now, maybe some of you here are
thinking, well, sure, I need the Lord to come and to bless
me again, to visit me again. Now, if you take Jacob and you
read us some of the blessings he had, probably his long life,
137 or so years, and five, six times major blessings, many of
the Lord's people have not got Lots of times the Lord has given
them a real, a great blessing. But the blessing of the people
of God is they walk with the Lord. They speak with the Lord. They have communion. They have
fellowship daily. They walk by faith, not by sight. And we need to remember that,
not despise, where the Lord has spoken to us once and twice and
confirmed the word to us. Remember what we said about the
speaking ones, he won't take that back. So those of you perhaps
feeling discouraged, and perhaps feeling, well, what the Lord
has spoken in the past, if he's still my God, why doesn't he
come in that great way again? Some of the Lord's dear people
have got right down to the end of their lives, and the Lord
has visited them again in the same great way that he did right
at the start of their journey, and blessed them. And the Lord
knows when we need a blessing, when we need that help, he doesn't
just dispense it just to satisfy what we think we want. But may
we really desire that daily walk with the Lord and to understand
how the Lord uses his power in our lives. And though we may
not be blessed in the blessing of the Lord, maketh rich, blessed
like Jacob at Bethel, or may her name, yet we may know that
power day by day, the Lord's power still the same. What is
the definition of power? where the dictionary describes
it as the ability to direct or influence others' behavior or
a course of events. And when we speak of that definition,
when we think of a call by grace, we think of providence, we think
of our God and the power that belongs to him. A teacher has
power over their students, a disruptive student. That student might think
they've got power to disrupt the class and they might try
and do it. That teacher can expel them, fail them, stop the whole
course of their career, not get their grades, not go to university. That teacher has power. A judge
in the court with a criminal, he may disrupt the court, held
for contempt of the court, told to do time for that. The judge
has a power. In Romans 13, the powers that
be are ordained of God, God giving to men a power, a sovereign power. And like in the case with the
students, they don't have power, but the teacher does. And we
have these illustrations in our lives of the exercise of power
and submission to that power. But supreme power belongs to
God alone. We don't have power to change
one's heart, or even to change a person's mind, or to make them
do what they don't want to do. We don't have that power, God
does have that power. Power belongeth unto God. God has reserved to himself that
which man cannot break through and take of himself. He has given man the dominion
over the fishes and over the creation, but man is under God. And especially when it comes
to the gospel and the saving of sinners, we read the special
reserve of God of that power that belongs to him alone. Paul makes this very clear, and
it often so strikes me, where the wisdom that is given to man
as he writes to Corinthians, great wisdom, and we see it today
the electronics, the cars, the travel, and it's all foretold,
much coming and going, it's all foretold, knowledge shall increase,
it's all there. And God's given that power, given
that wisdom to man. But to know God, man cannot do
that. Man has withheld that from him.
The natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither can
he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And he
is dead, dead in trespasses and sins. And the power to change
that belongs unto God and God alone. And he is sovereign in
that. and yet he uses means to exercise
that power and to bring that power to bear. Well, I want to
look at three points. Firstly, God's power over the
course of the world. Thinking of the definition that
we said to influence the behavior of others or the course of events. And secondly, God's power to
save sinners from just condemnation. And then lastly, God's power
in the conversion and keeping of his people. Firstly, God's power over the
course of the world. I feel it is very necessary for
us, especially when we have a world where there is conflicts, There
are many things that are happening. There's many things that are
saying, well, you look at Britain. We'll soon be overrun by the
Muslims. We'll soon have our laws all
changed. And when we know the wickedness of our nation, we
wonder what the Lord will do. But the Lord has warned over
all these things, nation rising against nation, all of those
things happening. And it's good for us to remember
that power does not belong to our king, to our parliament,
to men, to rulers, it belongs unto God. And we've only got
to look through the word of God. We see Pharaoh, for this cause,
have I raised thee up? Why? To show my might and my
power in thee. And Pharaoh there is shaking
his fist at God, thinking he can hold the people of Israel
in bondage, and God is just ruining his whole land. And Pharaoh doesn't
succeed. God succeeds. God knows exactly
what he's doing. He knows exactly why he's raised
up. And we need to remember that.
These things are written in the word of God for our learning. And we think while we're dwelling
on that, we think of nine signs that were not effectual in their
release at all. The children of Israel's release,
except when the blood was shed, and then they're released. And
it's such a reminder to us, without the shedding of blood, there
is no remission. We think again with Elijah in
the cave, and the Lord passed by, and there's a fire, there's
earthquake, there's a wind, and the Lord is not in there. The Lord passed by, but the Lord
was not in it to have any effect, but a still small voice. And
Elijah, he wraps his face in his mantle, he goes and stands
at the entrance of the cave, and the Lord speaks to him. The
power of the speaking word of the Lord. The Lord's voice, a
still small voice, doesn't need to be a loud voice. A preacher,
we don't need to raise our voice. We don't need to make a lot of
noise. A gentle, the word of God. We don't have authority. The
word of God is our authority. And as that is spoken, that will
have the power as God gives it the power. And so when we think
then through, History, we think of Hezekiah's time, and we think
there's little Judah and Assyria, and Assyria has taken all the
nations round, and God defends Judah. And he slays the Nacrib,
185,000 dead, and he delivers them. God's power, God's power
at that time, when Hezekiah was sick, and to give him, Life,
to change the course, as it were, of the nations there. If Hezekiah
had died, where is the line to Christ? And then comes Manasseh. You see, the course of history,
right through the word of God. Babylon, my messenger, Nebuchadnezzar,
to fulfill 70 years in Babylon. But then the Lord brings that
kingdom to naught, in the night, destroyed. He's not there anymore,
gone. The nations are as a drop of
the bucket. They have no power before God.
And we need to remember that. Otherwise, when we hear the news
reports, we fear, our hearts fail us, we tremble. The Lord
says that, fear not them, that kill the body. And after that,
there's nothing more they can do. But fear him. who hath power after he hath
killed to cast both body and soul into hell, yea, I say unto
you, fear him. God has power over the nations. Let me remember that too, that
we are to make intercession for kings, for rulers, and for all
in authority. that we might live lives in all
godliness, in quietness, knowing that God has that power. Let us not just look at our parliaments
and look at the situation and say, well, what will be, will
be. God will work it, and it will
just happen. We warned this afternoon about
a fatalistic spirit in waiting. But it is when we realize the
power of God that we are to cry to him, we are to pray, we are
to ask. We are to pray for those in authority
over us. We are to know that God can change
them, can raise up those in our parliaments that shall make a
difference and that shall change the course of this world. God's power over the course of
this world. He says, one day it shall end. Time shall be no more. The Lord
himself shall come. How? With power and great glory
in the clouds of heaven. Every eye shall see him all the
time. We are reminded of the power
and might of God. Who is he that saith, and it
cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it? Well, secondly,
God's power to save sinners from just condemnation. I say this with reverence of
a mighty God. God's great power, God's power
that he exercises over the nations of the earth. Without our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ, and what he accomplished at Calvary, he could not use
that power in saving one sinner. God is a holy God, a just God,
a righteous God. He cannot look upon sin with
any degree of allowance at all. He must hold his word. Remember the word in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. In dying, thou
shalt die. The Lord doesn't say, well, that
word, I'll forget that. I've said it once, but we'll
just pass over that. And I'll use my power to just
decide which ones I'm going to save and to give life and to
be with me forever, having banished them from the garden. No, God
cannot do that. He would be against his justice. He would be against his righteousness
and holiness. Right the way through the word
of God, you read a just balance and a just weight is of the Lord. Right through Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
you have it. that you pay exact what amount
that is required for the debt. And that is vital for God to
exercise his power to save a sinner. He must be given the power to
do that, the ability to do that. God's people are chosen in Christ
from the foundation of the world. He says, thine they were thou
gavest them me. and they were given to Christ
to redeem, so that God can have power justly to save them. You think of going back to Egypt,
the Passover. God didn't just say, I'm gonna
send my angel through the land, and I'm gonna kill all the Egyptians,
but I'm gonna save the Israelites alive. You just stay in your
house and be right. But what about the lamb? What
about the blood? What about the death? What about
the bloodshed? That was vital, wasn't it? When
I see the blood, I will pass over you. When the children of
Israel went into the wilderness to be the people of God, they
had to remember that their firstborn were redeemed. How were they
then to remember that? They were to remember it by the
number of the Levites redeeming the firstborn. You read it in
the latter part of number three. They had to number the Levites.
They had to number the firstborn. There wasn't enough Levites.
So what about the others? Well, don't worry about that.
Doesn't need to be a real balance, does it? Near enough is good
enough? No. Everyone that was not numbered
with the Levites, five shekels according to the sanctuary had
to be paid for them. Everyone was redeemed. Particular
redemption. Not just a general redemption.
Christ did not just die for everybody. Not just a potential salvation. I lay down my life for the sheep. Ye are not of my sheep because
ye hear not my word. The love of the Lord for his
people in his sufferings, in his death, it is a particular
love. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, and therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee, and
I have redeemed thee, suffered, bled, and died for thee. And in Calvary, you might say
God gives himself the power to save sinners. He pays the debt
on their behalf. He satisfies justice. He makes
it honourable and right that everyone that he has taken and
will take and bring them to heaven, and before that, called by grace,
he has first suffered, bled, and died for them. It is not without cost. Remember the times that, like
when David numbered Israel and he wanted the threshing floor
of Arona, the Jebusite, and he said, I give it, I give it all,
you can have it. No, says David. I will not offer
sacrifices without cost. Declare the price or pay the
price. That price our Lord Jesus Christ
paid. It was not without cost. We have
to remember the cost of our redemption. Not forget the sufferings of
our Lord in body, in soul, in spirit. I never listened to Satan
say, well, he wasn't a real man, he was a god man. And so his
divinity sustained him in such a way that he didn't feel pain
and rejection and what we do. No, he was a real man. He subjected
himself. to real humanity, why it's even
said the last day, knoweth not any man, no, not even the Son
of God, Son of Man, in his voluntary humility, taking upon him flesh
of our flesh, bone of our bone, our infirmities, not our sins,
not our sinful infirmities, but the Lord Jesus Christ as our
near kinsman, Redeemer. He has finished what the Father
gave him to do. He's redeemed his dear people
and is rising from the dead, gives assurance unto all men
that death is dealt with for the people of God. Remember the
sentence in the garden, in the day that thou eatest thereof,
Thou shalt surely die. There's no cause of death in
the Lord Jesus Christ, but he did die. No man taketh my life
from me. I lay it down to myself. Power
to lay it down, power to take it again. All the time you see
this word power coming in, power, power, power, given to the Lord
to do that. and then gives to God that power
to save sinners. It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, that sitteth on the right hand of the throne
of God on high. Now I want to look then in the
third place of God's power to convert and to keep his people. You know, let's think of the
balances again. If the debt is paid, and then those for whom Christ
has paid and suffered are not given life, are not redeemed,
are not brought to heaven, There's the same injury to the holiness,
justice, and righteousness of God if God has used his power
without blood to save those that have sinned. This is the message of the gospel. This is what we set forth before
sinners, that Christ has died, that the debt is paid for his
people. And the thing is, none of us
know who are the Lord's people until they are called. The word
of the gospel is to be sent forth into all the world and preached
to every creature. The only name given among men
whereby we must be saved. The finished work of our Lord
Jesus Christ. and it is known by calling. The Lord said, I, if I be lifted
up above the earth, will draw all men unto me. And in preaching
the gospel, we seek to do as Paul said, to preach Christ and
him crucified and lift him up on the pole of the everlasting
gospel. Here is for sinners, sinners
that deserve nothing but wrath and eternal hell fire. sinners
that God could not save without Christ dying, but God commendeth
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. He commends this, and this is
in the gospel, to preach and to proclaim that which Christ
has done. We are not to make men to believe
or to think that he has died for every man, woman, and child,
but that he has died for the sins of this world, not for the
sins of the whole world, but for the sins of the people of
this world, not for in other worlds, but for sinners. He was made like unto us, sin
accepted. And so that's why everyone that
comes under the sound of the gospel, the good news of salvation,
of the Lamb of God that was sent into this world to be slain,
none must think, that is not for me. That is for someone else,
but not for me. None must rule themselves out
and say that, that is not for me. You know, Israel of old,
when they were exhorted to repent, to turn from their wicked and
evil ways, they said, there's no hope. We will go on every
one in our own evil way. But we never walk in that way. However much sin, is holding
to us however much we love our sin, however much we feel alienated
from God, however much we feel dead or as the things of this
world. When we're hearing the gospel preached, where we never
say, there's no hope. There's no hope for me. You know,
one thing that really grieves me is when I hear, when I say
about giving a Bible to this one or that, and someone will
say to me, oh, no use giving it to him. He's hardened atheist. There's
no hope for him. I've heard it so many times,
as if you're wasting your time, you're wasting your breath. It
agrees me. You know, the apostle said that
he was the chiefest of sinners. How many in Jerusalem were praying
that this one was hailing men and women to prison, that he'd
be converted to be saved? What a difference it would make
if Richard Hawkins was saved. What if he was converted? Those
down our street, when we first come to Cranbrook and they made
himself known, he was an atheist, he wasn't hearing anything. It
didn't stop me just before our services the other day, putting
an M sheet and invitation to service through his door too.
And I want them to know they can come, that the word of the
gospel is still open while there is life. And don't despair for
yourself and don't despair for your loved ones and your children
and those about you. Why? If we believed in free will,
I would despair. If it was up to their response,
my response and changing and turning myself, I would. But
when I know the power of God, and when I know the justice of
God, I know how God saves sinners through the prayer to please
God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Then there is hope. Then we can
go forth and spread forth the word, and then we can preach
forth the gospel. We read the portion in Ephesians. because the Apostle is writing
to these Ephesians. He's writing to them, they've
been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
He says that he had chosen us in him, and we didn't read this
first part, before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace. In the second chapter,
he says, by grace ye are saved through faith, that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. But in the portion that we read,
the apostle wanted the Ephesians to know that the power that was
put forth in them to convert them, to bring them from darkness
to light, was the same power that raised the Lord from the
dead. That's how fallen and dead we are, and that's how much a
miracle of grace every believer, every sinner is that is brought
to know the Lord. They're miracles of grace. The
apostle says, he wants them to know the eyes of their understanding,
and I want you to know that you may know what is the hope of
his calling. and what the riches of the glory
of his inheritance in the saints, what is exceeding greatness of
his power to usward who believe. You that believe here, do you
know that? The power to usward who believe,
do you understand that power? Do you know that? You might feel
I'm a poor, weak thing, a weak believer, but that power that
he's put in. You know, this time of year,
all the leaves are falling off the trees. When it comes springtime,
all the fresh buds come. Do you think you could go around
all the trees and trying to restrain that and say, I don't want you
to break out. I like you better with the autumn
colors. Do you think we'd have power? You know, I sealed up some area
in the footpath near us with some tarmac. You know, the plants
are pushing up through that tarmac. You think I compacted that down
hard and this seed has grown up through that bitumen, through
that tar. No noise, no commotion. for the power that is done so
gently, so certainly, and we're reminded of it all the time. The power of God doesn't need
to be in great demonstration and noise, just quiet, gently,
changing the heart, renewing the will, turning the feet to
Zion's hill, opening the ear. That's the power, that's the
work of God. Very different in a way to what
we're used to. You go outside and someone starts
up their car and roaring hot, exhausting, what a lot of power,
what a lot of noise. But that's not the power of God.
Gentle, and yet powerful and effectual. And the apostle wanted
them to know that. Now he mentioned this afternoon
of the Thessalonians. They received the word. not in
word only, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. You think of Psalm 107, he sent
his word and healed them. One word, the power, the authority. Some of us here know what it
is to have had years of bondage or darkness broken by one word,
the power of God. It's a blessed thing to know
the power of God through the word, through the preaching of
the word. The hymn writer says, my heart will move at thy command. And it's a good thing to know
that. So my heart has moved at thy command. I know those times
that has moved my heart. You know, you mentioned with
Alf Chapman, One of the illustrations that he used when he used to
come, because he took our Thanksgiving services at Cranbrook, and he
spoke of a power harrow. That's how he said it, a power
harrow. And he said it was a thing behind
the tractor and spinning rotors that went under, instead of a
rotavator going that way, I think it went that way. But he says
it's impossible for any saw to escape those blades when he went
over the field it reduced everything underneath it to fine, just for
the seed to go in. And he said, God is like that,
God's power, God's word. He said, you cannot escape it.
God will deal with his people and he knows how to soften them,
how to bring them down. You think of dear Joe, I've heard
of thee by the hearing of I seeth thee, wherefore I repent
in dust and ashes. God maketh my heart soft. And
the power of God that does that. And sometimes you might have
those things that happen several things in a row in your life.
And it makes you harder and harder, and you think, what shall soften
this heart? I get more and more angry. This
gets broken, that gets broken. And I'm like this, and I feel
like I throw the Bible through the house. And then the Lord
brings something to remembrance, a letter or some mercy that he's
done. And in a moment, the heart is
softened and broken, and it's done what all of those other
things couldn't do. You might think, all these things
are happening in my life, and I don't seem to change, and my
heart is not changed. Judgment nor mercies ne'er shall
sway the roving heart to wisdom's way. And we prove that through
our lives. We might think, well, we need
some great judgment or great thing happening or some great
loss to move my heart or to bring me to repentance or to bring
me to the feet of the Lord, it only takes one soft word with
the power attending and it will bring your heart down before
Him, soften before Him. And when the Lord shows us His
love, His grace, His blood, what He has done to give Himself the
power to save us, the cost of our redemption. Now, I want to
speak on this just briefly because we said this last point, the
power not only to call, but also to save. Peter, in his first
epistle, chapter one, verse five, he says, of the people of God,
they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last day. Kept by the power of God
through faith. Through faith. God's power acting
through faith. How does faith come? Faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord. May our gathering
together and hearing the word of God be lifted up in our estimation
because the Lord will use what we hear and use the word to keep
our souls. There are many times in my life
I've blessed the Lord for one word of His that has been brought
to my remembrance just at a time to stop me in my tracks, just
at a time to prevent me walking in a way that was wrong. The
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, but it is the
Lord that gives that power and gives it to His people. May we
recognize how the Lord exercises his power in calling through
the ministry and in keeping through the ministry and through his
word. We're not to be like Naaman.
And so I thought the man would do some wonderful thing and call
upon the name of his God, strike his hand over the leper, but
to do some small thing be saved through preaching, to be kept
through the word, don't despise what God has said he'll use and
what God does use. It is that way that God puts
forth his power and it's no lesser power because it's not done in
a dramatic and great way. What a powerful thing when one
comes into the house of God and they hear the word and they go
out They changed their life. They put something right. They
stopped doing what they were doing wrong. They go and settle
a debt. The Lord knows how to make us
to be what he'd have us to be through his word. The power of
God, also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy. For thou renderest
to every man according to his work. What a beautiful thing.
Immediately after our text, we have the mercy of God. And rending
to every man according to his work, according to Christ's work
upon Calvary. Here they behold I and the children
whom thou hast given. me, those whom have been redeemed,
while I leave this word with you, God has spoken once, twice
have I heard this, that power belongeth.