Hold Not Thy Peace, O God of My Praise — Carter Conlon

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Hearing the Voice of God Amid Other Voices

Psalm 109, if you'll turn there, please, with me. I'm going to speak about other voices today. Other voices. There is only one voice, really, that calls to life. The Bible says clearly the voice cried in the wilderness.

God's voice has been animated as it is through various vessels that he has chosen throughout history. And the writer of Hebrews, in the beginning of Hebrews, says, in the last days, God has spoken to us through his son.

Jesus Christ is the voice of God to every generation. And God has left us his word. He's left us every promise. The Bible says these promises are sufficient for life and godliness, for health and hope, for everything that God has inspired that we should be in him and that our hearts are in agreement with him.

God says he will do it through this word. I've entitled this message, Hold Not Thy Peace, O God of My Praise, or I've also subtitled it, The Secret War of the Righteous. Psalm 109, verses 1 to 4. This is Psalm of David, the sweet psalmist, the king of Israel.

He said, Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise. For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are open against me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They compassed me about with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause.

For my love, they are my adversaries, but I give myself unto prayer. Now, this psalm is no doubt written about a specific incident. If you do research it, you'll find out this is probably somewhere in the middle ministry, as it is, of the call of God on David's life.

And it's written about specific incidents. And we could probably speculate about when that was written today, but I'm not going to go there with this psalm. I'd rather look today at the spiritual principles that are contained in these four verses of Scripture, because they apply to every true believer in Jesus Christ here today.

Spiritual Warfare After Conversion

This is a war. This is a battle that every person who knows Christ is going to have to go through. It's amazing, you know, you come into a warfare and a battle that perhaps you're not even aware of before you come to Christ.

You remember before you came to the Lord, you know, it didn't seem that the war was so intense. And I want to tell you why it wasn't so intense, because there really was only one voice, and it was the voice of the devil that was leading your life.

There was a lying voice, and you just simply walked in agreement with it. You'll never make it, you're no good, you're a loser, all of this stuff. And because you had no contrary argument that had any substance to it, essentially, there was not much of a war because you were already living in defeat.

But when you came to God, God said to you that there now are words that I have spoken into your life. And these words are sufficient to, if you will trust in the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary to save you from your sin.

These words are sufficient to open your heart to the power of the Holy Spirit to come and give you a new life. These words will keep you, provide for you. And by faith in the word of God, you will be changed by the power of God within you.

And now, we enter into a war that is incredible. The devil comes against us with all types of thoughts in our minds to try to rob us of these precious promises of God, which ultimately, if believed, lead us into rest.

You remember the Bible says that the Hebrew children, after they came out of the captivity of Egypt, could not go into the place that God had prepared for them. There was a place of rest, the writer of Hebrews says, and they could not enter in because of unbelief.

They received contrary arguments into their spirit. God had really proven himself. But the contrary arguments overpowered their thinking and overpowered their conscience. And they received them and because of it, they had no rest.

One of the evidences of true embracing of the word of God is peace. There's a peace in your inner man in spite of the storm, in spite of whatever comes against you. If you're going to be used of God, you're going to have to face into the storm.

It is wrong for preachers to stand and say to any generation that you come to Christ and it's just going to be peaches and cream all the way to heaven. You just lay back in an easy chair and pick up a CD player with nice songs on it and just enjoy your life.

It's not that way. To come to Christ means to face into an incredible storm. Everything in society, everything on earth and in hell is going to be against you. And even the frailty of your own heart will try to rise up and take control and imitate oftentimes even the voice of God.

David's Love, Trust, and Testimony

David says in verse four, he said, first of all, he says, I'm surrounded. There are lying voices all around me. Now, this is the man that God has called to lead his people into the very center of his heart.

He's got an incredible calling of God on his life, just like you have. You are called to lead people to the knowledge of God, whether it's in your home or mother's here today, it's your children. You are called to lead them.

Somebody had to lead John Wesley to Jesus Christ and somebody led Billy Graham to the knowledge of God. There were there were hands that formed these children and they became mighty in God's kingdom. And you are called to lead your children to God.

But there are voices, David says, that have risen against everything that God wants to do in my life. They're surrounding me on all sides and their words of hatred. You can identify quite often that the spirit that is speaking to you because of the hatred.

When God speaks to you, it will always be loving. Even in reproof, it's loving. There's a there's a drawing. There's an entreating, as the Bible says. And even if it's a hard word, there's that drawing to the heart of God because of the incredible depth of his love.

Even when God speaks to chase in us, it's because he wants the best for our lives. David says, for my love, I'm compassed about and they're fighting against me without a cause. And they have they are my adversaries because and because of the love.

Now, David, no doubt, loved many who turned against him. But I want to look deeper into the source of his love in Psalm five. If you go there with me very quickly. David says it this way. I call this David's statement of faith.

He had a love birthed in his heart for God. And I know you have that. If you've come to Christ, you have that love. There's a love that's born in your heart when you begin to realize that everything I've ever looked for and long for is found in Jesus Christ.

Verse 11, he says, let all those that put their trust in the rejoice and let them never shout for joy because you defend them. But also let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. For thou, Lord, will bless the righteous with favor and you will compass him as with a shield.

And David said, let everybody be as I am. Let everybody around who have found God as I have found them. Let them put their trust in him and let there be a shout of joy, even in the midst of adversity in the worst storm that could come into their life, because God, you will defend them.

You will bless them and you will surround them with a shield. Now, the original text says it this way. God, let them shout for joy because you will bend your knee to them and you will voluntarily delight to do something in their lives.

You will crown them with loving protection. David says it this way. Everybody, I want you to love God because I've found his love and I found something about God that I want you to find when I cry out to him, even though he's a king, even though he's righteous and holy, but I've trusted in him.

And because I've trusted, he has he has bent his knee to me. He has kneeled down to me and he has crowned me with kindness and with protection. And he has surrounded me with himself. And he says, oh, saints of God, shout for joy because of this.

I have discovered this. I've seen it. And it has kept me. It has protected me. I want you to shout for joy with me. And then in Psalm 18, David has a personal testimony. And the longer we walk with God, that testimony will be formed in you and I.

In Psalm 18, he starts out in verse one by saying, I will love the Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength and whom I will trust, my buckler, the horn of salvation and my high tower.

I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. And so shall I be saved from my enemies. Now, David is writing this in retrospect after a very difficult time in his life. And he said there was a time when I was surrounded.

All my enemies made me afraid and I had no power to withstand them. So I cried out to God. And when I cried out to him, he heard me. If you read through the psalm, he says God became angry. You know what a revelation he had.

I cried out to God. I was surrounded. I didn't know what to do. But God became angry. He became aware that there's a wrath in the heart of God when somebody is messing with one of his children. And he said he smoke came out of his nostrils and he stood up and started and said, I don't know how long it takes God to answer a prayer.

But in the interim between when he heard David's cry and he answered the prayer, he said he sent hot thunderbolts down and jumped on the wings of a I think it's a seraphim or cherubim and rolled down to answer my prayer.

I mean, it's spiritual typology, but David had this revelation and he said he gave me strength and I was able to overpower my enemies. And he invited me into the battle and I took them and I cast them into the dust and they even cried to God, but he didn't answer them.

And I cast them out as dirt into the streets and they were not able to rise up anymore. And David said, because of this, I will call. I will call. And he starts out in Psalm 18. He says, I will love you, O God, my strength.

I will love you and I will call you because when I call you, you will save me from my enemies. You have saved me and you will save me. And that's his testimony. If I were to ask some people to stand in this sanctuary today, I know there are people all over here in the education annex who could stand up.

And that's your story. I came to God and I loved him and I found out it meant she loved me. And then I entered into a battle and God gave me strength I didn't possess. I was gripped by alcohol, gripped by pornography.

I was gripped by immorality. I was gripped by a desire for vengeance. I was gripped by an angry tongue or a wrongly passionate heart. But I cried out to God, even though I was surrounded by this iniquity.

And God came and invited me into the battle, not just to stand as an idle observer, but he showed me his strength and I said, come now and fight with me and I will empower you. And I stepped into that covenant power of God and I was able to overpower my enemies.

And I stand today a free man or a free woman by the power of God. Then again, in Psalm 31, David exhorts others. And I see this as the three stages really of much of Christian living, the beginning of understanding God's love and then the testimony of God's faithfulness and then to do as I'm doing for you today to exhort you to trust God and those that have come through battles and are the ministry that God gives to all of us is to exhort and to encourage others to trust in the faithfulness of God.

In Psalm 31, verse 23, David says, Oh, love the Lord, all ye his saints, for the Lord preserves the faithful. Verse 24, he says, Be of good courage and he will strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.

He says, God will. God will strengthen you. Love him. Love him, all you saints. Let let him be the passionate delight of your heart. Let your day be established in this book. Let your delight be in him.

Let your strength be found in God. Don't look to other sources for strength. Let it be all found in Jesus Christ and he will preserve you. He will give you courage and strength in your heart because you have chosen to place your hope in him.

And these are the words of David as he's growing in grace and knowledge. And then Psalm 109, he comes to a point in his life. And it's Psalm 109, verse one, he says, Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise.

O God, I have declared you. I have praised you. I have exhorted others to love you. I have seen and known your power. And it's all because I've heard you in the midst of my storm. I've heard you. Your voice is common.

Your voice is overpowered. The other voices around me that wanted to destroy me. I've heard your voice, but now I'm not hearing you. Now, this is not in the beginning of David's life. Psalm 109, it's somewhere middle to end.

And he cries out and he says, Hold not your peace, O God of my praise. Why am I not hearing you? Why am I not encouraged by you the way I used to be? What what is is there something wrong? He said the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me, and they've spoken against me with a lying tongue.

They've surrounded me with words of hatred and fight against me without a cause. David says there's other voices now choosing voices are surrounding me, reminding me of my failures and my unworthiness to even be in your presence.

And go on a little farther to verse 22. And David says, I'm I'm poor and needy and my heart is wounded within me. I'm gone like the shadow when it declines. In other words, David's crying out to God. This is an honest cry.

It's not wrong to be honest with God. He said, God, I feel like a shadow when either the sun is going down or coming up. But it's moving. It's just I feel my strength leaving me. I am tossed up and down like a locust.

He's talking about like a like a grasshopper in the wind trying to fly into a windstorm. I'm I'm I'm being driven by every current of wind around me. My knees are weak through fasting and my flesh is failing of fatness.

Verse 25, he said, I became also a reproach to them. And they looked upon me and they shake their heads. Now, we know these verses also refer to Christ, obviously. But it also has an application to every saint of God that will ever be called and ever has been called by his name.

My heart is wounded, he said. And I'm being tossed around like a grasshopper. Have you ever felt like this? Have you ever felt like this? It happens to every one of us. It happens when you least expect it.

Sometimes you're going along and you've got victory. You're encouraging other people and you've seen God move in great power. And all of a sudden this wind comes and you're like a grasshopper in the wind.

It's saying, God, isn't it nice to look in the Bible and see that that these mighty men were just like we are? They had like passions like we do. That's why James says in the book of James that Elijah was just a man with like passions, like struggles, like frailties, just like we have.

And he asked God to stop the rain and God stopped the rain. That's why he exhorts us to pray. They're not superhuman. They were just ordinary people who laid hold of faith. But faith and this walk with God will lead us into battles.

And sometimes the battles will just be there to test our hearts. We'll get into a battle and say, God, why are you not speaking to me? Why are you not speaking to me in the midst of this battle? I've been there.

Testing Faith Through Personal Trials

I'll tell you a story as best as I can recall it. I was here just a couple of years, maybe two, three years. And, you know, in the beginning of this, when I came here, we went through some battles and we came through and God marvelously, marvelously undertook for us.

And I was just so happy to be here. I'd come through some struggles, obviously, in the beginning, because it was coming to New York from Riceville is like landing on the moon. There's no other there's no other way to describe it.

It is so utterly different. I would sit in my seat over here. I was actually sat where Pastor Neil is now. And I would stare into that light just to say, God, let me survive. That was my prayer. I just want to survive here.

I was not used to not seeing people's faces. It was so different. I preached in a small country church where I knew the people and I could engage them. And here I couldn't see anybody. And if I could see anybody, I didn't know who they were anyway.

And it was it was just a very difficult time of transition. Then we came through it with a marvelous victory. And then God began to speak some powerful things into my heart, things that he wanted to do through my life, things that are almost incomprehensible other than the fact that God has done them and continues to lead me in his pathway.

I come into the church one Sunday and then Pastor David sitting beside me. And normally we would banter and we would engage in a bit of conversation before the curtain would rise on Sunday morning. And this particular morning, he had a very pained look on his face and it was very difficult to engage him.

And all through the day, all through the service, I just simply I couldn't engage him. And then this voice came to me and said, you know, he your time is done here. And he realizes that you came here for a purpose and now you have to go.

And he's very pained. He loves you and he doesn't know how to he doesn't know how to release you from the church. And so I try to push that voice away. That's you know, that's that's just the voice of fear.

And so then we went through the week Tuesday. We meet in the office and there's Pastor David. He's got that same pained look on his face. It still hasn't gone away. You still can't really engage him. Something is really bothering him.

And so I start reasoning in my heart. Well, I guess my time is done here. And how am I going to break it to my children? They're just just resettled. And I don't know what I'm going to do for the future, but I'll trust God with my future.

And I just think he just kept staring at me and bothering me. You ever been there? And it kept bothering me. And then so finally, I was hoping this thing is is all going to pass. So finally come back to the next Sunday.

I sit down and Pastor Dave's there and he's still got that pained look on his face. And I couldn't handle it anymore. I got to know if you if you if you think my time is done, then just say so. Don't sit there with that pained look on your face.

Let's deal with the issue. So finally, I turned to him. I said, Pastor Dave, something is bothering you. I know something is bothering you. So tell me what it is. In other words, I'm ready for this. I can handle it.

So he looked he looked over at me. He said, oh, I picked up some kind of a bug. And I've got stomach pains for the last week. And, you know, the curtain rises and you feel like saying welcome into this idiot.

You know, God, help me. I've been seven days blown around like a grasshopper by opposing voices coming against what you're speaking into my life. Imaginations that have nothing to do with reality. They've nothing to do with the things that you have spoken.

They're vain, empty imaginings. And quite and there are times that God will wait to speak to us. So to test our hearts, to prove us whether or not we really do trust him. I want you to think about the children of Israel for a minute.

Israel, Unbelief, and the Report of the Spies

They're coming out of Egypt. They've been in bondage for 400 years and God has brought them out miraculously. They have seen the plagues that have come upon those who tried to captivate them. They've had a word from God.

And that word from God was true every step of the way. They were released dramatically from Egypt and not just released, but they took the spoil as it is of the people around them. The people gave them everything.

God said to his people, you're not going to leave as slaves, just sneaking out the back door, but you're going to go out gloriously clothed. You're going to have the best of clothing and the best of everything that is in Egypt.

And that was the time God says, I'm not I'm not taking my people out as as sneaking out slaves out of this kingdom of of darkness and captivity. And I think of the fathers and mothers walking with their children and talking with them full of faith and talking about how faithful God has been.

I think of the mothers here today that are are commissioned by God to to form the heart of your children, not the not the hand, the heart, to form their heart by speaking into their lives and telling them.

That's why Moses said in Deuteronomy, talk about these things when you are walking through the day. Just let it be part of your natural conversation. Talk about the past. Talk about what God has done.

Talk about what he's doing today. Talk about where he's taking you to tomorrow. Talk about it in the morning. Talk about it at noon. Talk about it to your children at night. When I can picture the fathers and the mothers and they are they're talking about God's past faithfulness and all the promised places that are soon to be theirs, telling their children, not only did God bring us out of this dark, awful place, but God is now taking us into a new place of promise.

And in that place, there's going to be an everlasting supply of milk and honey. We will never want for anything. Every man is going to sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree. It's going to be a wonderful place that God is taking.

He's promised. He's given us his promise. And they walk through this journey. God endures their failings as he does with ours. Thank God for that. They fail him time and again, but he endures the failings.

And they come right to the shore, the very shore of the place of promise. And when they're right at the threshold of obtaining it, that's when these other voices arise. Oh, no, I'll tell you something.

The greatest weaponry the devil has is other voices. God gives you a word and quite often you can be right at the threshold of receiving what it is that God's speaking into your life. You can be right at the threshold.

These other voices will begin to rise to instill unbelief in your heart. The spies went into the land. Now, there were 12 sent to scout out the land. Ten came back with an evil report. And I believe God allowed this to test the people's hearts.

Coming back with this report and saying, who are you going to believe? Which report is the one that you're going to ingest into your heart and into your mind? They came back with a report about how wonderful the land was.

They came back with a stock of grapes so large that it took more than one man to carry it. They said, look at the fruit in the land is not only incredible, it's beyond what we could have even thought of.

It's incredible what grows in this place. But they said, there's going to be opposition to get in here. There are going to be giants that we have to face. There are going to be difficulties. And they're so big and we're so small.

They look so big and we look like grasshoppers. And that's exactly what the devil will try to do to you when you're growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. When you're beginning to move in the realm of faith.

When God's kingdom is beginning to advance through your life, these voices will come up and say you'll never make it. The opposition against you is too strong. The power of this society is too great an influence on your children.

They'll never get through. All you are is a little voice and they hardly even listen to you. You have your little devotional time for 10 minutes a day or 15 minutes a day. And it's not enough. There's too much pressure out there.

They'll never amount to anything and neither will you. And how can you be sure that God will fight for you? Think of all the mistakes that you've made along the way. And the devil comes to torment because he knows what happens when one man or woman or young person rises up in the power of God.

He has been alive longer than we have. He knows what happens when a Gideon rises up. He knows what happens when an 80-year-old Moses grabs a hold of a stick and heads into Pharaoh's court. He's seen it one time too often.

He will fight against you with other voices to try to steal that faith out of your heart that God plants in there through His Word. But I remind you today, the devil is a liar. He is the father of lies.

The Bible says that all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried and the people wept that night. What a hard testimony it is to our children when we begin to look at circumstances as the things that are victorious around us and cast away our confidence in God in times of adversity.

And they began to murmur against leadership, against Moses and Aaron and against God and began to move in a direction which would only deepen their defeat. I do believe with all my heart that all the murmuring that ever happens in the Church of Jesus Christ against leadership is rooted in unbelief.

These are people that have listened to other voices. They do not believe that God is able to take them through and they begin to murmur against those that are encouraging them. Verse 10 tells us in Numbers 14, they wanted to kill those who were only urging them forward to victory.

Joshua and Caleb stood up and said, No, don't listen to this report. Don't listen to these men. We've been there. We've seen what God can do. And he said, Joshua and Caleb said to them, don't fear the people of the land.

He said, they're bread for us. Their defense has departed for them and the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid for them. And basically what they're saying, they said, they're bread. In other words, they're ours to consume.

Now, think of how strong our faith will become at their defeat. Everything that was theirs is now ours. Think of how strong. Yes, they have built up fortifications. And yes, they have what they think is power.

But we have God with us. We can walk into any situation. And the power and the dominion of God will walk into that room with us. And think how strong our faith will become as all of their years of defenses are consumed by the power of God in a moment.

Think how strong our faith will become. Think how strong we will be when we begin to see that the power of God cannot be resisted by anything of this world. Christ really did triumph. He really did rise from the dead.

He really did give us promises that are better than money in the bank. He gave us things that we can trust in. They're bread for us. They're bread for us. In other words, they will strengthen us. We won't run from them.

We won't run from their words. We won't run from their threats. We won't run from their fortifications. We will walk into the midst of entrusting in God. And as they are consumed by the power of God, we will be strengthened.

This is what Joshua and Caleb were saying. They're bread for us. Let's move in. Let's take the land. God has given us his promises. Incredible. As we see all the people beginning to weep in the midst of such positive and wonderful encouragement.

Gideon and the Strength of God's Word

Gideon was a young man in the book of Judges called by God to head out and bring deliverance to his own people. But he was a fearful young man. And God is very tender with our fearfulness. He doesn't get angry because we're fearful.

And Gideon was putting first. Gideon said, Are you sure, God, you have the right person? I have the least in my father's house. My father is poor and he has an altar to Baal in the backyard. And you're calling me a mighty man of God.

And God says, No, he said, It's the strength you have is the word that I'm sending with you. I'm giving you a word, Gideon, and this word is the source of your strength. Incredible. And so he still in his fear, he said, Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to sign that you're going to go with me.

And he says, And then he does the whole fleece thing. If the fleece is dry, the ground is wet, then I'll know that it's you speaking to me. Of course, he is talking to an angel. And so he does it and then he sees it the next day.

And then he says, Well, let's do it one more time. We'll we'll we'll try it the other way around. If the ground is dry and the fleece is wet, then I know you're sending me. So God does it. He's so gracious.

And Gideon begins to prepare this army to go against the Midianites. And there were, I believe, one hundred and thirty or one hundred thirty five thousand Midianites. And then the Lord says to him, Gideon, it's the night before the battle or just just immediately before.

And he says, Gideon, if you're still afraid, he says, I I'm going to I want you to go down. Just take a friend and sneak down to the camp of the Midianites. And he says, you'll hear something there that will encourage your heart.

And so Gideon does. And he goes and he sneaks down by the tent. There are two men sitting by the campfire outside their tent. And one says to the other, I had a dream last night. And the other guy says, Well, speak on.

What was your dream? He said, Well, I had a dream that that we were camped here and a loaf of barley bread, a loaf of bread came rolling down the hill and rolled over my tent and it was all flattened.

You know, typically we would say, well, that's some dream. That's interesting. But the other man says, oh, no. He said, this is the sword that God has put into Gideon's hand. And he is surely destined to overpower us.

You see, the other man was saying, God, you have to understand, God put the dream in that man's mind. God put the dream about the loaf of bread coming down the hill and rolling over the tents of the wicked.

And this is the power that God has put into Gideon's hand. It is God's promise to him. And even the enemies know, even the devils believe in trouble. The scripture says they know God has given this man a promise and this promise like a loaf of bread.

Remember, Joshua and Caleb said they're bread for us. And this promise, like a loaf of bread, is going to come down from the mountainside. And we are going to be consumed. Now, you know, the rest of the story, 300 men that God gave to Gideon, this entire Midianite army was consumed and destroyed by the power of God.

Jesus said himself in John chapter six, I am the bread. I am the bread of life. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. And if any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give him is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

Verse 57, he says, as the living father has sent me and I live by the father. So he that eats me, even he shall live by me. Now, this is the bread. This is the bread. This is the word of God. And God says, I've given you the bread.

And Christ said, I am the bread. If you eat this and this becomes the source of your nourishment, you're going to have the same life that I have. You'll have the power of an endless life living within you.

You will have the power to go into the camp of your enemies. And strictly with the bread that I give you, you will roll over all the encampments of the wicked one. Yes, they'll come against you. Yes, they'll look powerful and big.

And they might be 100 ,000 more than you are. But you will have a promise in your heart. And that's all you need to win the victory. That's all you need. Bible says, train up your children in the way they should go.

And as they're growing old, they will not depart from it. That is the word of God. That's all you need. You don't need anymore. We'll be faithful to his word. I have led people to Christ who have had praying parents, praying grandmothers.