Seeking once again the help of
God, I'd like you to turn with me to the chapter that we read,
the psalm, or the psalm that we read, Psalm 29, and the text
you'll find in verse 9. The voice of the Lord maketh
the hinds to calf, and discovereth the forests, and in his temple
doth everyone speak of his glory. When I first began to think of
this text, my mind really thought about the providence of the Lord
and the way in which the Lord is in control over all things
and how he is involved in every single event that takes place
in this world. And as we go into the forests
or into the greens, the village greens, and you see the daffodils
beginning to appear and the other little spring plants that are
beginning to come up, we see that the hand of the Lord has
done this, or the voice of the Lord. has done this. He has commanded
those bulbs to come alive, to grow, to germinate, to produce
a stem that comes out of the ground. They've been there for
months, waiting for this event to take place. And as we look
around us, we see this life is beginning to come. As there has
been that coldness and that winter darkness and that death or that
stilling or hibernation, we see now this life that is beginning
to take place. And these are things that we
can take for granted. We can just think, because we
are surrounded by atheistic worldview and we can think that it's just
something that happens. It's springtime, the bulbs come,
the birds start singing and the sun comes out and it just happens
by itself. The scripture tells us very clearly
that the Lord is in control of all of these events. It is him
that permits these events to take place and those insignificant
bulbs that appear out of the grass only do so because God
makes them do so. And in this verse we have the
voice of the Lord makes the hinds to calf or the deers to calf. In the book of Job. Job 39, when the Lord is speaking
to Job and he is telling him really how insignificant Job
is and Job has been saying, you know, when I get to God, I'm
going to speak to him, I'm going to lay my case out before the
Lord. And the Lord begins to speak
to Job and he says, knowest thou the time when the wild goats
of the rocks bring forth? Or canst thou mark when the hinds
do calf? Canst thou number the months
that they fulfil, or knowest thou the time when they bring
forth? They bow themselves, they bring
forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows, their
young ones are in good liking or fat, they grow up with corn,
they go forth, and return not unto them who has sent out the
wild ass free or who has loosed the bands of the wild ass whose
house I have made in the wilderness and the barren land his dwelling.
And so the Lord tells Job and tells us that it's him that does
all of these things. These are his creations. He created the flowers. He enabled
them to multiply, to bring forth after their kind. And as we see,
or as we will begin to see, the lambs in the field, it is just
a constant reminder of the power and the consistency and the love
of God towards this rebellious world in which we live. He says to Job, you don't really
know anything, it is me I am in control of all of these things. I have created this order. I
have selected the amount of time that the babes will be in the
womb. I have selected the amount of
time that the bulbs will remain in the ground until the sun begins
to shine. I am in control of all of these
things. The voice of the Lord maketh
the hinds to calf. And so we serve a true and a
living and almighty, powerful God that is in control of absolutely
every single thing. There is nothing that is out
of the control of God. Yes, there are times when he
removes his hand and he allows sin to multiply and increase. Yes, there are times when he
restrains sin and Yes there are times when he allows people to
fulfil their own will like we have with Jonah, to go their
own course, to do their own way but ultimately still then God
is able to overrule these events and work all things out to the
counsel of his own will. And so we serve a true and a
living God. A God who created the ears and
is able to hear. A God who created the mouth and
is able to speak. And He does speak. He speaks
to us through His Word. He speaks to us by His Spirit. He speaks to us through providential
circumstances. He speaks to us through the wonder
of His creation. It shines forth that we serve
an almighty and all-powerful God. And as we begin to see the
springtime, we are reminded of the Lord's goodness, the Lord's
faithfulness, His long-suffering with the children of men. But
His voice is a voice that is powerful. The psalm portrays
the voice of the Lord like a great storm coming. The voice of the
Lord is upon the waters. The voice of the Lord thundereth. The glory of the Lord thundereth. The Lord is upon many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful, full of majesty. The voice of
the Lord breaketh cedars. If you look on the map of the
Cedars of Lebanon, the Lebanon was by the Mediterranean Sea
and the storms would come off that sea, would be powerful. We don't really see real extreme
weather in England very much. But if you go to the tropical
countries where there was a lot of heat, then you see mighty
storms. There were times when Elsie and
I would lay in bed and you would wonder, is the roof going to
collapse? So, so powerful was the rain
hammering down on the iron sheets and so loud was the thunder. You would think, is this, this
is the end of the world. It was terrifying. We had an
old man, his name was Mr. Sudi, Muzamer Sudi, and when
the thunderstorms came, he used to crawl under his bed, petrified
of these storms. And many children and even adults
are scared when they hear the thunder and see the lightning. It's something that is completely
out of our control. It's something so powerful. It's so immense and can be so
destructive and we have no control over it whatsoever. And then
comes the heavy rain and we've seen floods, flash floods and
the destruction and the death and the fear that that brings
because people have no control over the elements of this world. And it says the voice of the
Lord is like that. The voice of the Lord thunders. The voice of the Lord is powerful. It is terrifying. It breaks the
cedars of Lebanon. Remember the storm in, I think
it was 80 something. I was only a little boy coming
home from school and I remember the wind up in the Midlands. It wasn't quite so bad as you
had it down here, but it flattened thousands and thousands of trees. The wind. And it says, the voice
of the Lord breaks the cedars. It flattens the cedars of Lebanon. It makes them to skip like a
calf. Those strong, immovable objects
buckle and bow and break under the effects of the wind. And
so even today, those hard-hearted, proud trees of people can buckle
under the voice of Almighty God. He can break the proud cedars. He can break open the proud people
of this world and bring them down to nothing. Powerful and terrifying is the
voice of the Lord. But also it says that he shakes
the wilderness. Now this word shakes can also
be translated as he brings forth. He brings forth the wilderness. And so the voice of the Lord
is both terrifying and powerful and destructive yet it's also
a tender voice. Elijah who saw the lightning
and the whirlwind and then the still small voice. And the still
small voice brings forth life in the wilderness, in the desert
where it is barren and there is no life. This still small
voice brings life into the wilderness. He causes the calves, the deers
to calve. And so the same voice, the voice
of God, is both terrifying but also life-giving. His word is powerful. If it's his voice, you see, what
comes out of the mouth is the voice and it's words. The Lord speaks words. Come forth. Go out. Come down. Powerful words filled with authority. We don't really have powerful
people anymore. not in our society, but I was
thinking about Donald Trump. You know, he's a man who, naturally
speaking, has immense power. President Lincoln, he said, I'm
the president of the United States of America, and I am clothed
with immense power. Donald Trump is clothed with
immense power. His decisions that he has made, they get done. The commands,
the laws that he has put in place, immediately he's able to control
thousands and thousands of people. And you've got someone like the
president of North Korea, a dictator, or Putin. They have immense power. Their voice can command multitudes
to move and obey them. But all of them fall into insignificance. in comparison to the voice of
Almighty God, the King of kings that sits upon an eternal throne
that spans generations and generations and generations. God will still
be there when Trump is gone. God will still be there when
Putin is gone. God's word is an eternal word. Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my word will not pass away. Look at the immense power that
was in the voice of God when he spoke of the world into being. Think how many things or people have to be involved
in doing the work of Donald Trump or doing the work of Mr. Putin, how many people have to
obey his command. But think of God and God said, Let there be light and there
was light. That's authority. That's power. No person, no matter how powerful
they are, no matter how many people they have under their
authority, are able to command light to come out of the darkness. And it was so. We read through
those six days of creation and we see, and God said, it was
done. Immediate response, the elements
or however the law did it came together in a moment and it was
done. As Lincoln said, I'm the President
of the United States of America and I'm clothed in immense power
but that is nothing, absolutely nothing in comparison to the
power that is at the voice of Almighty God. Remember when
the law was given on Mount Sinai there was that thunder and that
lightning. There was the darkness and the
fire that overshadowed the mountains and the people were filled with
fear, terrified at the voice of God. They said, Moses you
speak to God. We are petrified. When the Lord spoke to the Lord Jesus Christ, he
spoke on, after he was baptised, this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. He spoke to him when he was transfigured. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye him. But in John 14,
sorry, John 12, verse 27, It says, now is my soul troubled. What shall I say? Father, save
me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto
this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then
came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified
it and will glorify it again. The people therefore that stood
by heard it, said that it thundered. And others said, An angel spoke
to him. Jesus answered and said, This
voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the
judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, I will draw all men unto me. This he said, singing
of what death he should die. And when the Lord spoke, some
said it thundered. Some said an angel spoke. unto him. It was terrifying. It was the voice of the Lord
Jesus Christ that spoke to the storm and it was made a calm. What power, what authority, what
manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey
him? He maketh the hinds to calf a
seeming insignificant event that takes place throughout the whole
world all of the time, yet it is the voice of God that does
it. Nothing takes place without the
voice of God allowing it to take place, the authority of God allowing
it to take place. Peace be still. And there was a great calm. It
was the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ who commanded Lazarus
to come out of the grave. Lazarus, come forth. And he who was dead came forth
bound hand and foot with grave clothes. The voice of the Lord. What power, what authority. When the Lord Jesus cried out,
it is finished. Was it not his voice that spoke?
And as soon as he spoke, did not the temple curtain rip from
the top to the bottom, signifying a way had been made into the
Holy of Holies through the Lord Jesus Christ? It is finished. What power, what authority ripped
open that curtain and that way that had been made now by this
great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself as an
offering for sin, for the sins of his people, who shed his blood.
He went into the holy of holies, not made with hands and presented
not the blood of lambs or goats, but presented his own blood. That way was made. It is finished. The temple curtain ripped. The voice of the Lord had done
it. But not only is the voice of
the Lord terrifying and powerful, yet the psalmist
says in Psalm 119, 103, It says, how sweet are thy words
to my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through thy
precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false
way. And so to the Lord's people who
have known something of the voice of the Lord calling them out,
the voice of the Lord breaking them down and giving them spiritual
life, to them, That voice is no longer a terrifying voice. It no longer speaks of judgment
and destruction and justice, but it speaks of peace. The voice
of the Lord is now a sweet word to them, sweeter than honey to
their taste. I wonder, is the Word of God
like that to us? Have we experienced something
in our lives of the breaking down? the voice of the Lord breaking
us down, revealing to us that we have broke his law. We once
stood proud like the cedars of Lebanon. We once attempted to
make our own way to heaven. We once attempted to run away
from God as far as sheep could run, but we were proud in our
own strength and our own ability. Then the voice of the Lord came.
like a mighty storm, like a wind and knocked us down or a still
small voice that spoke to us. Yeah, I have loved you with an
everlasting love. And now the voice of the Lord
is a sweet word. Sometimes children, often children,
when they go out, they want to go to the sweet shop. They spend
their pocket money on sweets. They don't buy some carrots.
They don't buy some lettuce or potatoes or a healthy snack. They go straight to the sweet
section. And the Lord's people, where
do they go? They go straight to the sweet section. the word
of God. It is now honey to their mouth. It is sweeter than honey to their
mouth. They delight in the word of God. It is now a word that revitalises
and strengthens and encourages them as they pass through this
wilderness below. And so the voice of the Lord
then is powerful and terrifying. Yet it is a still small voice.
It is a voice that gives spiritual life. It is a voice that says,
come forth, you who are dead, bound hand and foot in grave
clothes, come forth and listen to my word and taste of this
sweet word of mine, this sweeter than honey. How sweet are thy words to my
taste, yea, sweeter than honey. to my mouth. The voice of the
Lord make it the hinds to cough and discovereth the forests. This word discovereth means basically
to make bare, to be stripped completely. So on one side we have the voice
of the Lord bringing forth life. And in another side we had the
voice of the Lord stripping completely bare. I should say this really
as there is some discussion as to the voice of the Lord making
the hinds to calf. It could be that through the
terrifying events of the storm the calves, the deers, give birth
in fright. Or it could be that, as I've
said providentially, the voice of the Lord causes the dears
to give birth. But either way, it doesn't alter
the meaning of the word. The Lord is in control of all
of these things. But here he discovereth the forests
as this mighty storm sweeps down from Lebanon, knocking over the
trees, terrifying those people who are in its vicinity. It strips bare the forest. leaving empty branches, empty
trees, all life, all leaves have been torn from this forest. We could say spiritually speaking
that the voice of the Lord does strip bare people. We must be stripped bare, we
must be emptied, before we can be dealt with but also it's a a word of a destruction You see, if you were to go into
a forest after a mighty storm had swept through it and you'd
see the boughs that had broken, you'd see the chaos that had
taken place there, you would say it's been destroyed. All life has gone. And so the voice of the Lord
not only gives life, but also brings death. You see we will
stand before God on that day of judgment. We will stand before
Christ on that day of judgment and it will be his word, his
voice that speaks life or speaks destruction. In Matthew, Matthew
chapter 7 and also repeated throughout the Gospels The Lord Jesus says
in verse 21, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of
my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name
cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? Then
I will profess unto them. His voice, I never knew you. Depart from me, all ye that work iniquity. Strip the bear. Destruction. With the same voice that brings
life will be the same voice that brings judgment. A judge that
sits before a criminal has that authority to say, I pardon or
go to jail. From the same mouth has that
power. He's able to assess the case,
guilty, not guilty, and with the same voice that speaks, come
in thou blessed of the Lord, or well done, my good and faithful
servant. will be the same voice that says
depart from me for I never knew you, you workers of iniquity.
It's the same voice. The voice of the Lord maketh
the hinds to calf and discovereth the forest and in his temple
does everyone speak of his glory. Those that are outside they're
terrified but those that are inside those
that are in the temple the spiritual temple or the physical temple
they are speaking of the glory of God They've experienced His
voice calling them from darkness to life. They've experienced
being brought from the broad road that leads to destruction
to the narrow way that leads to life. They've experienced
that word come out from among them. They've separated themselves
and now they are speaking together of the glory of the Lord in the
same voice that they hear It gives them comfort in their trial,
comfort in their distress. The same word. Verse 10. The Lord sits upon the flood.
Yea, the Lord sits king forever. The Lord will give strength unto
his people. The Lord will bless his people
with peace. So there is this great contrast,
this great separation, this immense storm that passes over and comes
through Lebanon, destroying the trees and flooding the area. And yet there are those that
are in the temple, safe and secure in Christ, and they're not looking
at the storm. They're not looking at the lightning.
They're not looking at the rain or the effects of the wind or
the broken trees or anything like that. Where are they looking?
They are looking to the Lord that sits above the flood, who
is King forever. The hope of many of the Americans
is Donald Trump. They're looking to him as their
saviour, as their hope. he may bring about great change
but he is only under the Almighty God, he is only under the Lord
who sits as King forever and ever. And so the people are looking
above the storm to the one who sits upon the storm the one who
the storm is underneath his authority. He causes the dears to give birth. His people look to the one who
causes it all to take place. If you think when we sit down
for a meal and we say grace or we say a prayer, we have the
food before us. We look beyond the food to the
giver of the food. God in his mercy and his grace
has provided. And so the Lord's people look
beyond. Yes, they see the wonder of creation. They see the lambs being born. They see the daffodils coming
forth out of the ground and the buds on the trees and the birds
singing and they marvel at it. But they look above all of that
and they see the Lord sitting upon the flood, the Lord King
forever. The Lord will give strength unto
his people. That is his promise. Those that
are, as it were, outside of the storm, in the safety of the temple,
talking of the glory of the Lord, he gives his people that strength. and he will bless his people
with that peace, that peace which they have in Christ, that peace
which has been given to them through the finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is their peace. But it's peace in time, peace
in spirit, peace in providence that the Lord is able to give.
as they look beyond the trials of this life, the storm of this
life, and they look to the one who sits above, who is all-mighty
and all-powerful, the one who said, And God said, let there be light
and there was light. That same God who sat on the
throne then, 6,000 years ago, it's the same God who sits on
the throne today. And he says, and it is done. The voice of the Lord, it is
mighty. The voice of the Lord shakes
the wilderness. The voice of the Lord thunders. Terrifying, yes. But there is
the still small voice of the Lord that whispers peace to his
people. Peace in trouble, peace in trial,
peace in the turmoil of the conflict of sin. Peace, and be still. And also my last thought was,
it's a glimpse of heaven. You know, as Christ comes to
separate the sheep from the goats, here there is that separation.
There is those that are speaking of the glory of the Lord. They're
looking at the Lord sitting upon the flood, sitting upon the throne.
And the glory of the Lord is round about them and they have
peace. But outside is this thundering storm. That's how it will be. Christ
will separate his people, the sheep from the goats, and those
on the right hand, on the left hand, so I will go into everlasting
torment and fall under the storm of God's wrath. His voice will
condemn them as guilty. There will be terror. They will cry, won't they, to
the mountains to fall upon them. But the Lord will bring his people
to that eternal kingdom, that temple, where they will speak
of his glory. They will view him face to face
upon his throne and there will be that eternal peace. May the Lord grant us that faith
to listen to the still small voice of God. Even if we hear
the terrifying voice of God that is a good thing and that will
cause us to run to the Lord Jesus Christ and find eternal peace
in the forgiveness of our sin. The voice of the Lord maketh
the deers to calf and discovereth the oar, discovereth the forest,
lays bares the forest and in his temple as everyone speak
of his glory. And may the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. Let us sing our final hymn from
Gatsby's 1039 to the tune 172, 1039. Lord, we adore thy boundless
grace, the heights and depths unknown, of pardon life and joy
and peace in thy beloved Son. 1039. O'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave? ? As in labor glory shine ? ? How
rich thy fruit is bound ? ? Calv'ry high in earth reborn ? ? The
stake hath found it taken ? Thee, O Lord, I'm never failing so,
Though ev'rywhere I'm cast. This child of mine at once will
see, ? Love free our foes doth fly ?
? Give us, O nature, peace to be ? ? And Christ have mercy
on us be ? Dear Lord and loving Heavenly
Father, we thank Thee that we come unto Thee, the true and
living God. O Lord, that Thou art in control of all things. We thank Thee, O Lord, that Thy
voice is able to terrify and able to comfort. And we pray,
Lord, that we may heed today. That today, if we hear Thy voice,
that we will not harden our hearts. to give us then, Lord, ears that
hear and hearts that receive thy word, thy voice, and to bid
us and dismiss us with thy blessing. And now may the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with us each now and for
evermore. Amen.