In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the power and authority of God's voice. He refers to Psalm 148:5, which states that God's voice commanded the creation of all things. The preacher also highlights Jesus' teachings on the importance of being ready for the Lord's return, using the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. He further discusses Jesus' warnings about the days of Noah and Lot, emphasizing the need to live for God and not be consumed by worldly pleasures. The sermon concludes with a reference to the parable of the Good Samaritan, highlighting the importance of showing compassion and helping others.

Saṅgha-salaṁ chapter five, and we'll ask the bride what she thinks of her beloved. We've already sung it, haven't we? His name is wonderful. What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us? My beloved is white and ruddy, the cheapest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy in it and black as the raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitly decked. His cheeks are as velvet vices, as sweet flowers. His lips, like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with a barrel, his belly as white ivy all laid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the Cetus. His mouth is most sweet, yea, he's altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. The Gospel of Matthew, and I believe it's chapter six. Yeah, chapter six of Matthew, verse twenty-eight. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not of age like one of these. Now think of that. His lips like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. Solomon in all his glory was not of age like one of these. That's how his words were. Beautiful beyond description, falling from his lips. No wonder that I could say his mouth is most sweet, and it certainly is. Well, tonight we want to talk a little bit about our Lord's mouth. We've been talking about his head, his lovely face, last night about his eyes, and tonight we want to say something about his mouth and his voice, the words that fell from those lips. First, I would start with his mouth that's all powerful and life-giving. You know, it says in the word of God that he speak and it stood fast, in Psalm thirty-three, verse nine. He just speaks and it stood fast. How wonderful that is. In the book of Hebrews it says he upholds all things by the word of his power. Talk about a voice that's powerful. Revelation one, it says in verse fifteen, his voice is as the sound of many waters. Not only in the sense that it has volume, but it has power behind it. Powerful voice. How he could just command and it stood fast. He speak and it was done. He commanded and they were created, it says in Psalm 148, verse five. What a voice. The all-powerful, life-giving voice of our Lord. Remember, when he saith on earth, he likened his word to the sea. So on forth the soul, read about Matthew 13 and the other two synopsis gospels. And how he said that seed fell into four different kinds of soil. And in every case that seed had life in itself and it grew. But where it fell into that good soil it produced. There was nothing wrong with the seed of the soil. On different cases that didn't produce. But the seed, the word of God was that seed. The Lord Jesus interprets that himself. It's a life-giving word. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life. Life through that living written word. That word which is quick and powerful. How the Lord Jesus spoke those life-giving words. How to ease the dead. Remember he came into the Jairus' daughter's house. He had been interrupted on the way by the woman with the issue of blood that stole off and touched him. And then when he finally came to the house And he said to the daughter, the little maid is only asleep. And they all asked him to scorn. And he closed him up and he just went in there with the father and the mother and the three close disciples. And he spoke the word. Which means, and I said that he made a lie. Jairus' power in his word. He meant the funeral procession coming out of Maine in the book of Luke chapter seven. And he said to that widow that was weeping as her only son was being carried out in that funeral procession. Weep not. And he came near to the dryer. And he said to the young man, I say unto thee young man arise. And he sat up. And again at the graveside of Lazarus. He spoke. After he had lifted his eyes up to heaven as we spoke about last night. He spoke. Lazarus come forth. There shall hear the voice of the son of God. There shall hear. They shall live. We all do it in John. A powerful voice. Life giving voice. And friend isn't that true? Maybe one of those things here tonight we heard his voice. And that voice quickened us, made us alive. And we are now a new creation in Christ Jesus. There's power in that voice. Words that fell from his lips. He said the words that I speak unto you in John six and six is their spirit and their life. Their life giving. No one else has power in words like the son of man or the son of God. And they have power after we are saved as we spoke about too. That sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. The word of the Lord will cleanse us. Such a wonderful word that fell from his lips. And you know they're very instructive. It says he opened his mouth and he taught them in Matthew five verse two. Many of us we open our mouth but we don't teach much. For the Lord he opened his mouth and he taught them. And he taught them by parables and he taught them by illustrations. All these wonderful parables that he spoke. He said I'll open my mouth in parables in Psalm 78 too. And that certainly was he fulfilled that when he was here upon earth. How he speak these wonderful parables. Remember the parable of the two builders. He said I liken these men that hear the word of God to a certain type of a man. He built his house upon the rock. Upon that strong firm foundation. The rock being Christ Jesus himself. And when all the flood descended the house on the rock it stood firm. And so everyone who had placed their faith and their trust in the Lord Jesus they'll stand firm. But then he says I liken you to the man that hears my word but he doesn't keep it. He doesn't pay any attention to it. Like a man that built his house upon the sand. And the flood came down. What everyday illustration he used in these parables. So we could understand it. And friend tonight there's two classes of people here in this audience. Those that have built their house upon the rock. Those that are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ they've built upon that rock. And then there are those that say well I'll go my own way. I know better. My own religion is good enough. And the Lord said you're building upon sand and when the flood will come your foundation will be washed away. Wonderful parables that fell from the mouth of the Lord Jesus. Wonderful story of the good shepherd. The shepherd that went out to seek the Lord. And he was that good shepherd. Came all the way from his father's boozer. Came into this wilderness wild to seek and to save that which was lost. Oh what a beautiful story he told us. How he told the story of the good Samaritan. You can't find anything more beautiful anywhere than some of these parables the Lord Jesus told. How has this good Samaritan found this man that has gone from Jerusalem down to Jericho. A priest paid fine he went by on the other side. A Levi paid fine he saw him he paid fine on the other side. But then by chance this Samaritan this good Samaritan he came by and he saw him. He had compassion on him. He went near to him. He poured in the oil and the wine. He found up the wound. He set him on it from his old feet. He took him to the inn. What wonderful words. He paid the innkeeper. He said now if anything else when I come back I'll pay it to you. And there you have the beautiful description of the good Samaritan. The Lord Jesus himself likened himself to a despised Samaritan. Despised and rejected the men. The men of Saul and the Gwendolyn priests. And he came down to where we were right down the lower to the cross. He stooped even to the dead of the cross to lift us up. And then to bring us into the fellowship of the inn the local church where we should be looked after. And then when he comes back he'll reward the under shepherds and others that have been looking after his land. It's all such beautiful illustrations. What gracious words were seeded out of his mouth. We can think of that incident in Luke 14 where he provided that wonderful feast. In Luke 14 verse 16 he said a certain man made a great supper and paid many. And he sent the supper time to say to them a little bit and come all things are ready. Again the beautiful illustration of the gospel supper. And he sent out into the highways and byways to invite people. And they found and began to make excuses. One said I have bought some yoke of oxen. Another fellow said I bought some land. Another fellow he gave another illustration. I made a wife and I can't come. What kind of a wife did he marry anyway? But these are all so beautiful. They're so true to life. People make all kinds of silly excuses. And then he goes on to illustrate that all these were the excuses. They'll miss out. They'll miss getting to that wonderful feast. And others will be invited and taken in. Beautiful. Words that fell from our blessed Lord's mouth. And then he tells us about the man that traveled into a far country, you remember, in Luke 19. And he left a certain responsibility with the different ones. And he gave to each one of them a pound. And he said to them now I want you to occupy till I come or trade till I come. And by the way, Christian, I think it has a wonderful application for all of us. The Lord has given to each of us one life. We're to give account of our stewardship. And he wants us to so exchange that life and make it count for him so when he comes again he'll be well pleased with us. The Lord has only given you so many days, so many years, one life. Dear Christian, are we living it for him? Are we trading? Are we willing to give our life completely over to him for him to use those lives so they'll accomplish the most for him in the little while we're here? And parable after parable fell from his lovely lips. Then he tells also the story of the returning bridegroom. You remember Matthew 25? The story of the ten virgins? What a gospel application they found in that one. You remember at midnight the cry was heard at the bridegroom's coming? All that were ready to go to meet him? Five of those virgins had oil in their laps. Five of them had no oil. It's a picture of people all professing to be Christians. Five genuine, they had the Holy Spirit as the oil. Five were not genuine, they had the possessions but no possessions. And when the bridegroom came those that were ready they went in with him but those that had no oil in their laps they were on the outside and when they returned the door was shut. And the Lord Jesus he drives home his point, be ye therefore ready for you know not what hour the Lord will come. Are you ready tonight? Smiley words that fell from his wonderful lips. And we could go on. Then he gave illustrations. He started with Abel. Spoke about Noah and the flood. As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the days of Solomon. Men be eating and drinking and so on, living, living just for this world, living for pleasure, living for faith and then suddenly judgment day. And then he warns them about the days of Lot again in Luke 17. Due to these illustrations warning would come. Here's a man like Lot, he's lived for this world and it's my friend he's been working for the New Testament you'd never never guess that Lot was a believer. And he lost everything of his possessions and he escaped out of there with two daughters, unmarried daughters. The cost of worldly living. Some people are afraid to pay the price to surrender themselves to Christ and really live for him thinking it's too expensive. It's too expensive not to. And then the Lord Jesus had to remember Lot's wife. She looked back. She became a pillar of salt. Her heart was back there. Her feet were outside but her heart was back there. She looked back. All the powerful illustrations the Lord gave him his word. See the time moves on and I must move on. Then there's something else about his wonderful lips that were not only powerful, life-giving and instructive, but there's something that marked him that were absolutely undefiled. Clean, very, very clean. You know we read in Luke 11 and verse 54 about these people, the death that were laying wait for him and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they might accuse him. They were laying in wait for him that they might accuse him. Could they accuse him? Not a word. He would ask, which of you can convince me of sin? There's only one thing that could convict him of, really. He called himself the Son of God. In Luke 22, verse 7 we read, And they said, What need we any further witness? For we ourselves have heard of his own mouth. What did he say? That he was the Son of God. Back in Isaiah 53, verse 9 we read, Neither was there any deceit in his mouth. Peter puts it this way, Who did not know sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. He was absolutely pure. His lips were absolutely clean. The marvel of those gracious words that were seeded out of his mouth. And now that we have been redeemed by his grace and by his power, Now that we have this new and divine nature, All lips should speak clean too. Before I was saved, And I shudder to think of it, I think of some of the awful words that were seeded out of my mouth. I think of some of the stories that came out of his mouth. But I'm thankful to God since that day he's taken it all away. All lips should be clean. We should be speaking pure things. Things that are good. Things that are lovely. The things that Paul tells us about in Philippians 4, verse 8, The thing he thinks to think about. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. It's out of the heart that's seeded all these things. And if we think upon the things that are lovely, The things that are good, The things that are pure, The things that are true, and so on, Then we'll speak these things. My meditation of him shall be sweet. And if I'm meditating about him and his word, Then the thing will proceed out of my mouth. The word of God says we're to put away all this foolishness, And all this other stuff, you know. All language should become the gospel of Christ. It's Christ living in us through us. And he hath to speak through us. Then his mouth was inviting. The seven S's I might just mention under this. One is salvation. Those of you that say you heard that, come unto me. Or ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. In Matthew 11 and 28. And then in John 7, 37, Come unto me and drink. Him that is at first with the Lord Jesus, And come unto me and drink, And out of his inner being shall flow rivers of living water, This may heal the spirit. That's sanctification. The filling of the spirit in the believer's life. And then there's the invitation to service. Remember he called his disciples in Mark chapter 1, Come and follow me. What a simple invitation. That's a full life occupation though, isn't it? Come, follow me. Three words. For they'll keep you busy the rest of your life. Wonderful savior to follow. In John 1, 39, Andrew, and I think the other one was John, the beloved apostle, They left John this absence, And they asked the Lord Jesus, Where dwelleth thou? Remember the Lord Jesus said, Come and see. Come and see for yourself. And that's when they got their eyes really opened. That's when they really received their sight. And they left John. And they thought of the Lord Jesus. And that's what John wanted anyway. And then, in Mark 6, 23, Come ye yourselves apart. And that's through solitude and separation. Come ye yourselves apart. Like someone said, If you don't come apart, you will come apart. And I have found that out. Only too late. Sometimes you think you can go on and on and on and on, And you think these bodies are made of iron. But now we need to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, Come ye yourselves apart, And rest a while. That's how the Lord made it. I thought I could go day and night, year in and year out. But it just doesn't work that way. You pay the consequences. And then he says in John 21, 12, Remember after the resurrection, As they were fishing, Peter said to his brethren, To some of his brethren, Come, I go fishing. And he said, We go too. And they saw somebody who was in the shore. And a voice called over across the water to them, Children, have ye any meat? And John, the one that was close to them, He said, It's the Lord. He knew his voice. Peter jumped in the water. He went and put the fish in the water, And he jumped in the water. And when they got there, Remember the Lord said to them, Come and dine. I got it all ready for you. Oh, what an invitation. Come and dine. Here's a table set. A table spread. Come and dine. Peace and the good things of the Lord. But then there's another invitation, Number seven, as to suffering. He said, Come, take up your cross, And follow me. If any man will be my disciple, he said, He has to deny himself, take up his cross, And follow me. I call this suffering. Expect a fellow Christian in this world not to be popular. You never will be if you're a faithful Christian, But you will be respected. You will be respected. And then there's some wonderful promises that fell from his lips. First of eternal life, And I don't have to enlarge on that, all of you. Here tonight, I believe all of you know these promises. I give it to my sheep eternal life, he said. He that believeth on the Son, Does not perish, but hath everlasting life. The promise of eternal life. All through the gospel of John. But then he says in the second promise he gave, Was in John 14 through chapter 16, Was the promise of the Holy Spirit. He said, Now I'm going to go back to heaven. And when I go back to heaven, I'm going to send another comforter. Meaning one just like himself. And he's not only going to be with you, But he is going to be in you. Marvel of marvels, my friends, We have God dwelling in these bodies of ours. Knowing it not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. What a promise. And he kept it. On the day of Pentecost, When the day of Pentecost was fully come, The Spirit of God came down, And he baptized the believers into the one body, And he filled all those that were in the upper room. Solomon said when he dedicated his temple In his dedicatory prayer, He said, Shall God indeed dwell with men upon earth? Yes, indeed. He came and he dwells right in the believer. He's going to be in you forever. Isn't that a grand truth? What a promise. And that promise was kept. And then he gave the promise of answered prayer. He said, If two or three of you shall agree to return to anything, It shall be done unto you. Ask, and you shall receive. In Matthew 7, 7. Speak, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. In John 14, verse 13 and 14, He says to him there to ask anything in his name, And he'll do it. And, of course, it's conditioned in other scriptures according to his will. Oh, how he taught prayer so wonderfully. Remember the story about the friend who came at midnight? He came and woke up his friend. Friend, he said, lend me three loaves. He said, I can't get up from bed with my children. I didn't stop him. I can just see him rattling everything and banging the door and shouting, Get up, I need three loaves. Loan me three loaves. And he kept on and on till that point that if I don't get up now, I won't get any sleep tonight. So he got up, gave him the three loaves. Now the Lord said, that's how you're to pray. You keep on persistently asking until you receive. He promises a prayer. So you're to ask your Heavenly Father. And then he promised victory. Victory in John 16.33. We should overcome the world. Also he says in the first epistles of John, This is a victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Let me repeat that one in John 16.33. These things have I spoken unto you, that in ye may have peace. In the world ye shall have preservation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. And the word of God says that he is in the world for a week. Promise of victory. Are you a victorious Christian tonight? He's promised victory. He has won the victory. All you have to do is claim it in and through him. The more than conquered through him that loved us at all. Sometimes you see Christians going around to long faith and so defeated looking, you know, and so discouraged looking, and so on. And the Lord will remind you, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. What are you downhearted about? What are you discouraged for? Satan has gotten the best of you. Claim your victory. This is the victory. Even those that believe the Lord Jesus will victory through him. And then he promises blessings. When two or three are gathered together and my name is there, am I there. He says, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and so on. And lo, I'm with you even to the end of the age. Promise of his presence. If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere. For where Jesus is, is heaven there. Doesn't matter where it is. Promise of his presence. Paul, I might say, in 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 1, we read these verse by way of application, Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the sight of God. Having all these promises, let's put them to practice, he's saying, in effect. Then those wonderful lips from his lips tell wonderful words that are able to convert. Think of Nicodemus, think of the woman at the well in John 3 and John 4. Think of the words that he spoke to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. Saul, Saul, why do you do this to me? And Paul, Saul asks two questions. I think they're very significant. The first question is, who art thou, Lord? And once that was established, then he said, what wilt thou have me to do? Once you know who he is, then we should be willing to say, like he did, what wilt thou have me to do? You're Lord, you're the master. I'm willing to do whatever you want me to do. There's many things I can't touch on tonight about his mouth, but there's one I want to let me mention, and that was, that lovely mouth was silent. You know, it says in the word of God, in one place, I think it's in John 19. You have to come back to me now. You met Bethel, asked him a question. Hi there. Thank you, sir. Thank you, brother Bob. When thou doubt, verse 9, for Jesus gave him no answer. Now this is the first aspect I want to mention. There comes a time when the Lord has no answer for a man, and that was at the time for this man. Just terrible thing when the Lord has no answer. When a man has sinned beyond a certain stage, and then as it were, heaven becomes black. There's no answer. He had no answer for him. But then I think of it in a different aspect. In Isaiah 53, verse 7, where it speaks about he was obsessed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He squatted the lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before a shearer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Here he is, silent in his suffering. And now he's feeding his own cage. He's completely given over to God and to men. There to undo those awful hours on Calvary. And after that silence, we hear him break the silence with two words, I serve. What do they do? Bring him some nice cool water to refresh him? According to the prophetic scriptures in Psalm 69, they bring vinegar and wet his lips. Do you remember David? On one occasion, he was in great thirst. They were fighting the Philistines, and three of the great men heard him say, oh, I wish I could have a little bit of that water from the spring in Bethlehem to refresh my thirst. Do you remember that? And three of those men, they broke through the ranks of the Philistines. They endangered their lives, and they came back with that cool, refreshing water for David. But he wouldn't drink it. He poured it out on the ground. And here's the greater David, David's greatest son, hanging on the cross. He had chosen twelve followers, and not one of them had broken through the ranks to relieve him. For the enemies, they gave him vinegar to drink. Think of it. Those lovely lips were parched as he hung there upon the cross, silent and then parched to life. But I'm glad those same lips, they also spoke. As we mentioned the other night, he'd been finished. The work that his father gave him to do was accomplished. He bowed his head. He rose again. But you know that thing lips do while he was here on earth? He also speaks many words of warning. We haven't got time to go into detail now, but it's useful. And as many of you know it only too well, Matthew chapter 23. Think of how he exposed and how he warned the religious professors. What an indictment he gave to the mass. How he warned people of living and dying in sin. Luke 13, I'll just read you a verse or two. Jesus is in verse 2, he says, And he said unto them, Suppose ye that the Galilees were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, nay, except ye repent, ye shall also likewise perish. The word of God tells us it's a true friend that warns. And the Lord Jesus, we see him truly warning. He tells them whom to fear. He says, don't you fear him that can kill the body, but fear him that can kill the soul. Or cast that soul into hell. He warns of the terrible wrath to come. If you read the last part of the Gospel of Mark, chapter 9, all the psalm verses there, It's better for man to go into interlight, maimed without a hand or foot and other things, rather than be cast into hell, with a weeping and wailing and gnashing of pants where the fire never quenched. We don't hear much preaching like that today. But the Lord was a faithful one to warn. And then think of these verses. In Revelation, chapter 1 verse 16, it speaks about them that coming day, out of his mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword. He says in John, the words that I speak unto you, they shall judge you in that day. Revelation 19, verse 15 says, out of his mouth brought a sharp sword, that within he should smite the nations. 2, 16, it says, I'll fight against him with the sword of my mouth. Revelation 19, 21, the rest were slain with the sword of his mouth. There's a different picture altogether. A picture when he deals in judgment. But I don't want to finish on that note. In the song of Solomon's again, she said, his mouth is most sweet. In fact, his mouth was unique. They had to confess, never man speak like this man. You know, it's only to the believer that his mouth is most sweet, and that his words are sweeter than honey on the honeycomb. He said, he delighted in his word as one that findeth great spoil. And to the believer, it'll be so sweet when we're going to hear him coming and saying in the words of the song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 10, my beloved spoke and said unto me, rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away from all the winter's air. And the rain is over, and it's gone. We spoke about that this morning, the coming of the Lord Jesus for the church. When we'll hear his voice saying, come. You know, he says in John, chapter 10, in three different places, in verse 2, verse 3, and verse 4, and verse 27, he speaks about there that my sheep, they know my voice. They follow him, they know my voice. And you remember the morning of the resurrection, when Mary Magdalene thought he was the gardener, he spoke one word to her, Mary. And he said, Abolai, she recognized his voice. My sheep hear my voice. One of these days, we're going to hear his voice, and we're going to know it's real. He's going to say, come away, my love. And we're going to hear that sweet voice. And we're going to be taken up. All through all of our lives, since we've been saved, we've been feasting on the word from the written word. That word is quick and powerful. And those words have become sweeter and softer than honey. Those are the greatest treasure that we have, the word of God. Like Paul, when he was in prison, he said, he wanted to get his clothes on, but he says, especially the parchments, the scriptures, they're the ones I want. But when he comes with that sweet voice and says, come away, the winter's past, the rain is over, we're going to hear his real voice. Faith will give away the sight, and we're going to hear him speak like Mary did, calling us by name. Oh, what a wonderful moment would that be, to see his face, to hear his voice, to be in his presence. And you know what I want his voice to say to me? After he has called me by my name, I want him to say to me, well done, good and faithful servant. You want him to say that to you? Now we all want to hear that, I'm sure. But there's a price tag with it. We can't live the way we want to live and do what we want to do and go where we want to go and everything else like that, and then hear, well done, good and faithful servant. They know my sheep, they know my voice, and they follow me. It is we follow him step by step, moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, month by month, year by year, day in and day out, year in and year out. As we walk with him and talk with him, fellowshipping with him, then we'll hear, well done, good and faithful servant. I long to hear his voice, and it's going to be a wonderful moment for all of us. And I hope we'll also hear, well done, good and faithful servant. Let's bow in a brief word of prayer. Oh, Father, we thank thee that, our Lord Jesus, he bears the sweetest name we know. He's the sweetest person we know. And we know when we really hear his real voice, we'll know it. His voice will be most sweet, calling us, come away. Oh, Lord, how wonderful that will be. Help us all to live in fond anticipation of that moment when we shall see thee face to face and hear thy voice calling us by name. And Lord, by thy grace, give us the desire and enable us to so live that we'll also hear thee say, well done, good and faithful servant. Use thy word, speak to all our hearts. May we live with eternity values in view. Help not our spiritual sight to be clouded by the things of the world and the riches and all the things around us. But may our eyes be upon him. Looking unto Jesus, laying away every weight and sin that hath easily beset us, running the race that sets before us, looking unto Jesus. We just commend ourselves to thee. We thank thee for his wonderful words to our ears and to our hearts. Help us now to appropriate them and obey them and to live them out. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.