I might please God to bless us
together this morning as we turn to his word. Let's turn to the
book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 8, and we'll read verse 4. The book of Ecclesiastes, chapter
8, and reading verse 4. Where the word of a king is,
there is power. And who may say unto him what
Doest thou? I suppose we live in a day and
age when such words are not as true as they were years ago. But without any doubt in the
days of King Solomon, such physical words were indeed very true. What the king said was carried
out. People didn't ignore, people
didn't disobey the word of a king. And therefore, as the king spoke
words, it was with power because those things had to be obeyed. And they were not allowed to
disobey them. And if they did, usually the
sentence was one of death. So it was nothing trivial to
ignore the word of a king. Well, how true that is, naturally,
but my friends, it is really far more important and more true
and more relevant for you and me today with regards to the
word of God. Because we know that we have
a God who is a king. In actual fact, he's the King
of Kings and he's the Lord of Lords. And the King of Kings,
he speaks many, many words. And what a blessing for us if
we know the truth of such a statement, where the word of the King is,
that's where the word of the Lord is, there is power. And by that I mean that the word
has an effect upon our hearts. such a word can come in various
ways. And sometimes we might think,
well, there's going to be a great earthquake, as it were, in my
life, and a tremendous upheaval, and a tremendous different situation
may occur. Well, that may be so, and the
Word of God may come, perhaps in such a way, but just because
we have this expression, is there is power, we should not think
that that only generates something in a physical sense. Because
when the Lord God speaks to our hearts, it is with power. And we shall be thankful to know
that God has, in fact, come and addressed us. Now, one thing
is very, very clear, and that is that God does, in one way
or another, still today, speak to his people. God's people don't
pass through this life without hearing from God. As God speaks
to them, through his word, perhaps reading his word, perhaps bringing
something to our remembrance, Perhaps a text to our remembrance.
Perhaps a word may be spoken. But nonetheless, the Lord God
does still today speak. And my friends, it is as the
word of a king. And it's the king of kings and
it's God Almighty. And what a blessing when you and I realize that God
has spoken. God has spoken. You know, I wonder
this morning, if we went round every one of you and you asked
the question, well, has the King spoken to you? Has the King spoken
to your heart? What would your reaction be? Would you say, well, I really
don't know what you're talking about. I really got no understanding
of that at all. or would you be able to say?
And it will be, I'm quite sure, in a humble way, but a very thankful
way, to be able to look back and trace out a period, a time,
perhaps a date, when God actually came and spoke to you. And you knew, emanated from God, And in that way, it was power. Where the word of a king is,
there is power. Now, let us be very clear that
God does speak today, and we should all be concerned that
we have heard, or we will hear, the voice of God, the word of
God, the word of the Lord speaking, to our hearts. Many things are
important, aren't they, in this world? Many things we think are
very important, but we need to have an appreciation of that
which is really important, that which is vital, and that which
is not so important. And the things In our worldly
life, the things that we have to do day by day may be important
to us, but they're not as important as the condition of our soul. And it's very clear why there
is that great difference. The difference is this. You and
I are concerned day by day with things of time. Our soul is concerned
with eternity. Now do try and evaluate the difference. It is a vast difference. It is
a difference which we cannot really fully comprehend because
our natural minds do not appreciate, cannot evaluate eternity. But nonetheless, eternity is
a truth. And so may we be concerned to
know that our souls are right for eternity. And it's important
because none of us know what a day or an hour may bring forth.
We may appear to be very healthy today, and yet you see we may
be struck down tomorrow or even today. And then you say, where
will our soul be? That's a great issue, isn't it?
We may have been setting our hearts upon things in this life
and building up our expectations. Well, in one sense, nothing wrong
with that. But the more important thing is the condition of our
soul and to know whether God's word has come to us with power. And I believe, generally speaking,
when God comes in that way, We don't forget the word that God
speaks to us. We don't forget. It's quite amazing
really, sometimes when people have become old and have lost
a lot of their memory, they're able to still remember quite
clearly what God has spoken to them. And that's a good thing
because they have then a good foundation. So that when they
pass out of time, it will be well with their soul. So let us remember such a statement
as this. Remember, here was Solomon, who
had done all he could to find out wisdom in this world, to
find happiness in this world. He had as much money as he needed
to explore every avenue. He'd done all that he could,
and yet he realised that in actual fact, everything in this world
did not bring true happiness, did not bring true peace, did
not bring true peace. Now, I believe this, when God
speaks his word to our hearts, there is power and it may be
It comes like this, when the Lord was speaking to his disciples
in the upper room on that Passover night, on the 14th of John, he
tells, he spoke these words, peace I leave with you, my peace
I give unto you. And then he says, not as the
world giveth, give I unto you, let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Now I believe when the Lord's
Word comes into our hearts, it brings with it a real peace. And the peace is this, to realize
that God has taken notice of us, that God has called us, that
God has spoken to us, and there's no greater blessing than to have
God speak to our souls. You can be the most successful
person in the world, but that success will die with you. My
friends, if God has spoken his word to our hearts with divine
power, then it will have an effect and it will produce that peace
Because it's the evidence that Almighty God has and is dealing
with us. He's not left us. He's not pushed
us aside. He's come to us. And He's remembered us. And He's
called us. Where the Word of the King is,
there is power. Now, that Word then, will be
in power, even if it is a very small, still small voice. Remember Elijah, when he ran
away from, soon after he'd been up on Mount Carmel, and he was
afraid of the Queen, and he ran away, and he found himself in
a cave, and the Lord came and he spoke to him. But there was
an earthquake, and God didn't speak then. And there was a great
wind, and God didn't speak then. But God came like this, in a
still small voice. But the prophet knew that God
had spoken. And you know, the word he spoke
was so appropriate, wasn't it? He spoke these words, What doest
thou hear, Elijah? And it may be in a similar way
for us in our life. We may have gone to some place
which we shouldn't have gone to. We may have even thought
we could justify it and think, well, there's no harm in it. Well, my friends, when you ever
think that there is harm in it, you must try and avoid going
to any place or doing anything that there might be harm in.
And so perhaps you've gone to a place, and perhaps you're fearful
what might happen to you. In my life on two or three occasions
I've gone to places which I shouldn't have gone to. And I was very
fearful the Lord would take my life. in those situations. Well, I believe there, the Lord
spoke, perhaps not in an audible voice as such, not with any particular
text, but I knew God had spoken to me. Well, it would be a blessing
if perhaps you've been found in a place where you know you
shouldn't have been. And although you thought it was alright and
you tried to justify doing it, In your very deep conscience,
you realise you shouldn't have been there. But it's a blessing
if God comes and doesn't let you just carry on in such a situation. But as it were, He strikes your
heart. And what is it? Well, it's the
Word of God. What is it? It's described, you
know, as the sword of the Spirit. When God applies that to your
heart and my heart, you see, it has an effect. Well, where
the word of a king is, there is power. Well, this morning
I wonder whether you can look back in your lives to such a
place. You perhaps wish you could erase
it from your life. Well, we're not allowed to erase
things like that from our life. You see, they're there. And God
sometimes brings them back to our memory to remind us of His
mercy, of His goodness toward us, insofar that He hasn't just
ignored us and left us. No, my friends, God watches over
us. And God deals with us in His
gracious way. Sometimes He permits us to go
and do those things which we should not do. We have that perhaps
relatively extreme case which we read of with regard to the
person that we refer to as the prodigal son. He got fed up with living with
his father. He looked around and he saw the
world and he thought that's a wonderful place. I want to get there. I want to spend my life in the
things of the world. So he came to his father and
said, give me my inheritance. I want it now. Well, the father
gave him his inheritance. And off went the son. What did he do? He spent all
his money in riotous living. He tried to have a good time.
He thought, well if I do all this, I'll really enjoy myself."
Well, the time came of course when he'd spent it all. Nothing
left. What was he going to do now? Well, we see the miserable condition
he was in. He went and fed pigs and was
quite happy to eat the pigs' food. Then you see God came. And he
began to be in want. And he realized, by the grace
of God, what a foolish person he'd been. And he decided to
return to his father. And he acknowledged that he probably
wouldn't have a very good reception. Nonetheless, he was willing to
return. The fact was, he did have a good
reception. And the wonderful thing was that
the Father was looking out for him. And so, he returned. My friends, what a blessing it
is when God calls us. He called that prodigal son to
return. Those examples in the Word of
God are there for us to take notice of. And not to just read
and think, well that's an interesting story. It is an interesting story.
But my friends, it's very pertinent to our lives today to realise
how very relevant such an account is and therefore not to want
to escape the restraints of our home life, not to try and Enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season. What a blessing it is when the
Spirit of God comes like this. The word of a king is, there
is power. And God comes to us. And you
know, it's wonderful, isn't it, that God goes to every place. You and I can't go to a place
which God doesn't know about. And you and I can't hide in a
place that God won't find us. God knows every movement. God knows our every thought. He can't hide anything from Almighty
God. And so what a favour it is when
we understand that the Lord God is taking us in hand. We may not be very happy about
it, We may not want it. We may rebel against it. We may say, well, I'm going to
please myself. The blessing is that God doesn't
allow you to go beyond the bounds that he sets for you. God sets
a fence, as it were, round about us. We may struggle sometimes
to get out of that fence. Sometimes the fence is so high
and it's so strong that we can't get through it. We may try. We find there's obstacles. God
puts obstacles sometimes in our way. Sometimes those obstacles
may be an illness. God may bring illnesses into
our life which stops us doing certain things. We may not be
very happy about it at the time, but what a blessing if God brings
us to our senses and we realise it's God who's bringing these
difficulties into our life. What's he doing? He's hedging
up our way. He's dealing with us as his children. We know, don't we, how parents
endeavour to look after their children, don't they? Well, my
friends, our Heavenly Father, he looks after his children.
What a mercy then to realise that we have such a God, who
comes like this, as a King of Kings. Where the word of the
King is, there is power. And perhaps we may not like to
acknowledge it, but we may try and put it from us. We may try
and turn away from it, turn away from the word of God. I think I've told you before
but I'll tell it again. When I was a youngster we had
an old deacon in London who was a real rough diver and He'd been
brought up to go to chapel and he'd rebelled and left and got
married and had a little family of children. And there he was
one day, he was digging in his garden on a Sunday morning. And
God spoke to him the same words I've just mentioned. And the
words were, what doest thou hear Elijah? And he couldn't get those
words out of his mind. So in the end, he packed up digging
through his spade or fork, whatever it is, into the shed and went
indoors and he got the radio on, on a shelf, and he turned
it up to try and drown out these words. And while the radio fell
off the shelf and smashed on the floor, so that stopped that.
And anyway, he said to his wife, well, he said, next Sunday we're
going to chapel. And next Sunday he did go to
chapel, he picked all the kids up, dirty as they were, playing in
the garden, put them in the pram and off they all went. You see,
God had spoken his word and it was as the word of a king. Where the word of a king is,
there is power and it was power to change that man. Change that
man from following his own way. Our Lord stopped him. What a blessing in our lives
when God comes and stops us. And we realise God is speaking. The King is speaking. We may
try and ignore it, but you won't be able to. Where the word of a King is,
there is power. And so to record in our lives
God's Word. And my friends, you know, you
may still rebel against God's Word. God may have spoken to
you, it's come with power and you know it's God. And what are
you doing? You're rebelling against it.
You're rebelling against it. Well, let me tell you this. The
Bible explains a condition like that, and it's like this. The
word tells us, the rebellious dwell in a dry land. You may
think that rebelling against God is a good thing and you can
get away with it. Well, you won't. And you'll find that rebellion
is not a happy place. Indeed, the Bible explains it
like this. It's like the sin of witchcraft. It's so, so evil
to rebel against God, to try and do that which you think is
right and pleasing to you. You don't want to bow down before
God. Well, let me tell you this. Every
person ever born in this world bows down before God. His people bow down before God
in this life. The rest of mankind bow down
before God on that great day of judgment. Every knee shall
bow. My friends, what a blessing it
is if you and I bow down before God in this life, when his word
The word of the King comes to us and the favour that we experience
is this, we are made willing in the day of His power. We may
rebel initially, but my friends you see God does not give up. God does not give up. God's purposes
will be fulfilled. You can struggle. You can kick,
you can try and get away. But you see, you won't be able
to escape. God will put a rope around you. You may kick and try and move
somewhere else. What a blessing it is to realize
that God who has loved us with everlasting love, then you see,
draws us to him. And gradually we understand.
Oh, what love there is in such a God. He hasn't dealt with me
as my sins deserve. He hasn't cut me off. But He's
dealing with me in love to my soul. And how humbling that is,
to realise that God is dealing with us in love to our soul. That's how God deals with His
people. It's in love. It may not always seem that way.
You see, the word tells us, the hymn writer says, rebellious
thou hast been, and art rebellious still, but since in love I took
thee in, my promise I'll fulfill. You see, God fulfills his promises.
And his promise is to save rebellious man, those whose names are written
in the Lamb's book of life. Where the word of a king is,
there is power. And then, you know, when the
Lord then directs us to the great Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ, when the Blessed Spirit comes and then touches
our hearts, enables us to look up, that time when the Spirit
of God has humbled us, we realised how Stupid we've been, how foolish
we've been, how ignorant we've been, and yet God has still been
gracious. We realise something of His love
and we look out of ourselves and we see the Saviour standing
between, between us and a just God, in garments dyed in blood. Now my friends, if God comes
and speaks his word and reveals to us the Saviour. Oh, you know,
that brings peace, you know. That'll bring peace, that'll
bring sorrow into your heart. It'll make you sorry for the
way you behaved. Sorry for the rebellion that
you've had. Sorry that you've offended God
so much. And blessed it is to realise
the power of God has turned you right round, right round, from
following your own evil way, to follow the example of a despised
and crucified man and giving you that winning spirit to be
a true disciple. Yes, to forsake all. and to follow
Him. Where the word of a king is,
there is power. You see, God's word controls
us. God's word directs us. God's word influences us. And then it is, you see, that
as we come to this situation and we acknowledge for He doeth
whatsoever pleaseth Him. You see, God does that which
pleaseth him. Natural king can do things which
please him, but my friends, what a blessing it is to realise we
have a God who does those things which please him and will bring
honour and glory to his great and holy name and bring salvation
to our souls. For he doeth whatsoever pleaseth
him. My friends, God's purpose is
are wonderful, they are eternal. It's beyond our comprehension
to realise that Almighty God has ordained all things, everything
that comes to pass in your life, to bring you at last safe home
to glory. What a mercy it is to have such
a God. You know, our life, if we're
the children of God, our life here is just a preparation for
our eternal home. And the Lord therefore takes
us like a bullock and accustomed to the yoke where we kick and
strive against God. He then breaks us in, breaks
us in. And what does He do? He makes us willing in a day
of His power. We're made willing to submit
ourselves unto our God. We're willing to come and to
bow down and acknowledge Him as our Lord and Master. as our
great and glorious Saviour, as that One who has died for us,
given His life as that perfect sacrifice to take away all our
sin. Yes, you know what a blessing
it is when the Word of God comes powerfully and makes us repent
of our sins and to confess our sins and to bow down before God
and to acknowledge we're a great sinner. and to seek for pardon,
and then to have the Saviour direct us to himself. And we
see that he's died to take away our sins. And what a cost, what
a cost our salvation. Our sins, bad sins, terrible
sins, and yet they're all being dealt with. Everyone, everyone. The Saviour's paid the price.
He's died upon Calvary's cross to redeem our souls. Oh, my friends,
what a great God we have. What a merciful God we have.
What a kind God we have, who doesn't deal with us as our sins
deserve, hasn't left us to perish in our sins, to just go away. Where the Word of a King is,
there is power. And you will know what this power
means. As I said, it's not in a great display of noise, but
it's the blessed influence of the Holy Spirit that turns our
life, that changes our desires, and it's the power of God through
His Word. Where the Word of a King is,
there is power. Well, let's come back. My friends,
do we know anything of this in our own hearts, our own souls? You know, it's so important and
it's so wonderful if we can see God's work in our hearts. His wondrous grace has come to
us. We didn't deserve it. No, but
we stand amazed at God's goodness to us and we recognise the favour
of God who's given us this blessing to realise when his word has
come, in whatever form that has been, there has been power to
our souls. And we realise, yes, it's God's
word, it's God's work, and how thankful I am that almighty God
hasn't cast me out, but he looked upon me in love and compassion
towards me. and has caused me to hear his
voice and to do his word. Where the word of a king is,
there is power. And who may say unto him, what
doest thou? You see, the Lord will take away
all objections. We may have many reasons why
we don't want to do this and do that. The Lord comes, and
one by one, he removes the objections. And we recognize, yes, Almighty
God has a perfect right to govern me. I am nothing in myself but
he is all and in all. What a mercy then to be brought
to that condition and it is then to be realised that yes, God
has been gracious to me and I desire to acknowledge his mercy and
his favour, and to praise him for his great blessing to my
soul. And then you see, by his grace,
we can look forward to that eternal happiness in glory, when we shall
be forever with the Saviour. Where the word of a king is,
there is power. And who may say unto him, what
doest thou? Amen.