The Awesome Voice of God — David Wilkerson

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, P .O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771, or calling 903 -963 -8626.

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And welcome to all of our visitors. We trust that you've had an encounter with Christ this morning. Deuteronomy 5th chapter. Now we love the Word of God here, and you don't come to this church without your Bible.

You just don't do it. You look around, you'll see Bibles there because we love the Word of the Lord. Deuteronomy 5th chapter, let's begin verse 22. Deuteronomy 5th chapter, verse 22, beginning to read.

God’s Voice at Mount Sinai

These words the Lord spake unto all of your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire of the cloud and of thick darkness with a great voice, and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone and delivered them unto you.

And it came to pass when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness for the mount and did burn with fire, that you came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said, behold, the Lord our God has showed us his glory and his greatness.

We've heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God doth talk with man and he liveth. Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die.

For who is there of all flesh who hath heard the voice of the Lord living God speaking out of the midst of the fire as we haven't lived? Go thou near and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and they're speaking to Moses, and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and we will hear it and do it.

And the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spake unto me, and the Lord said unto me, I've heard the voice of the words of the people which they have spoken unto you. They have well said all that they have spoken.

Oh, that there was such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children forever. Heavenly Father, I know you gave me this from your throne room.

I didn't get it from a book. I didn't get it out of my own fleshly thinking. You breathed this into my heart, and Lord, you're trying to say something to all who are gathered here this morning, and I come not in my flesh, for the flesh profiteth nothing.

I come in the might and power of the Holy Spirit who anoints his servants who walk with him, and I pray, Lord, that you give us a hearing ear that we may hear what the Holy Spirit has to say. Don't let anyone, Lord, just sit here daydreaming.

God, pierce that daydreaming with the word. Pierce, oh God, every heart that's hardened itself. Lord, break down the shields and penetrate with your living word, we pray. Give me love as I minister it.

May there be mercy and grace in what is delivered, I pray. Sanctify me in this delivery, I pray, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Now, this is one of the strangest scenes in all of the Bible. Incredible sight.

Fire comes down and ignites the whole mountain on Sinai. It's a consuming fire, consuming everything in sight. There's lightning, so powerful that it's supernal, and they know it's not natural. The thunder is peeling it like the earth is splitting in two.

And suddenly, out of all of that terror and out of all of that loud shaking, a voice comes, a voice that is beyond anything man has ever heard. It is the voice of God speaking to the people. And the people trembled.

In fact, the Bible said Moses quaked and feared exceedingly, this great man of God. The people thought they were going to die. They literally were hanging for a few hours perhaps, or I don't know how long it was, but they were hanging like with a thread over the mouth of hell.

There's no way that I could describe to you this scene that we could understand it fully. This is Mount Sinai, and this is the giving of the law. But you see, the voice is silenced, the thunder suddenly subsides, and the lightning stops, and the sun begins to shine, and they look around, and we're still alive, amazingly.

Nobody died. And they held a meeting, evidently, because the elders and the leaders came to Moses. And those leaders and elders didn't go to Moses on their own. They had gathered together and got the consensus of the people.

The people all gathered together after this great manifestation of the glory of God, and the presence of the Father, and the very audible voice of God. And they gathered together. You would think this should be the greatest praise meeting ever conducted on earth.

You would think that everybody would say, amazing, that we, of all people, no other people have ever heard the voice of God out of fire and survived, and we survived. God must love us in a special way.

There must be something beyond anything. There must be something we can conceive about this holy God. They should have been so excited what they're going to tell their children and their grandchildren.

I heard the voice of God. I was there the day God spoke to us. You would have thought that in that meeting, that the elders and the Levitical priesthood would have been holding little prayer groups and having little preaching groups where they were admonishing the people.

Now remember from this day on that we will live in the fear of God. He's a holy God and remember this moment. Is that what happened? No, no, no, no, not at all. The elders and the princes came before Moses and said, we don't want to hear this voice anymore.

We want to hear it only through man's voice. We cannot put up with this. We cannot handle this voice, this majestic voice of God anymore. You see there's a problem with these people standing before this holy God.

Those who gathered and said we can't handle this. And the reason they can't handle it because a majority of these had just come from their tents where they had bowed down to little graven images to the god Moloch and the star of Ramphah.

And according to Stephen they had brought them from Egypt, had never let them go and for 40 years they bowed down in their tents to these idols. They had just come from their tents where they had bowed before some little golden mouse.

A little golden calf. In fact the big golden calf represented those little golden carved cast gold and silver idols that they had bowed down and said, you are my God, you delivered me from Egypt. And what did God say?

What was that voice that made them quake? Why did they think they were going to die? Because they are now in the presence of a holy God. They're now in the presence of not a little idol that they have carved.

Now their consciences are raking them over. Now they know that they're in the presence of God. Now folks, you would have thought that hearing the actual voice of God and seeing this great manifestation of the glory and power of God, they would have ran to their tents.

They would have run to their tents. They would have dug up those. They would have opened their shawls and pulled them out and got hammers and crushed them. You would have thought that they would have been on their face before God repenting and said, oh God, I have been worshipping an idol in secret in my tent.

You see, it was secret sin. It was a secret, hidden thing in their life that God was dealing with because God had just spoken, Thou shall have no graven images. Thou shall not bow down before Him. That's what the voice said.

Beloved, God was not playing the role of a divine monster. He was not trying to terrorize His own people, not my God of love. No, no, no. He was not terrorizing the people, trying to extract obedience through fear.

That's not what Sinai is all about. Scripture said, the martyr Solomon called them the church of the wilderness and he said of this church of the wilderness, before the Sanhedrin, but they would not obey and in their hearts they turned back again to Egypt.

They stood before Mount Sinai, before Holy God with their hearts given to Egypt. Their hearts were not given to God. In fact, Isaiah said their hearts were far from God. He said, they worship me with their lips.

They've got the right words. But their hearts are far from me. Moses said unto the people, Fear not, for God has come to prove you that His fear may be in you before your faces that you sin not. He said, this is all about God empowering you with His mighty, awesome fear to give you weapons against sin.

He's trying to embolden you against sin. He's not mad at you. He's trying to give you weapons against the devil. That you may live and that it may be well with you that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

But now the fire is gone. The lightning and the thunder is all gone. And they come back to Moses with this pious, religious response. Moses, we've met together and here's the conclusion. Here's the consensus of all the people, all the elders, the princes, and all the people.

I'm sure Joshua and Caleb were not among that number. They said, we have seen how great and glorious our God is. We have been privileged to hear His audible voice. And we know now that you can hear His voice and still live.

Well, so far, so good. Right words. Now comes some of the strangest logic in all the Bible. Strangest logic you can ever find in the Scripture. Makes no sense at all. Here's what they said. We know that God speaks to man and that He lives.

So now, therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that hath heard the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we haven't lived?

Well, you did. All of you. You just said, we know you can hear His voice and live. And they said, who among the whole world can hear His voice and live? What's going on? What kind of logic is this? Let's hear it again.

We know we can hear from God. We know He speaks out of the fire and that we live. We've seen it this very day. Now, why should we die? Because who in all the world has heard the voice of God out of fire and lived?

Then we hear God saying to Moses, I've heard the voice of the words of this people which they've spoken unto thee. They have well said all that they have spoken. You know what God is saying? They have all the vocabulary right.

They have all the words right. They know the religious lingo. You know people like that? Oh, they can talk about Jesus. They've got all the doctrines right. I just got a story of a rock and roll Christian.

They were having a so-called Christian concert or something and these kids, you know, they've got pierced tongues and beads and spiked hair and purple hair and looking just like demonic groups. And they were being interviewed.

He said, it kind of scares the pastor so we throw in a little sermon to appease them. We throw a little bit of Jesus and a little bit of the Holy Ghost at the people. All the lingo. They've got it all right.

Just add a little Jesus to it and everything's okay. The Lord said they have all the... What they said sounded right. Sounds religious. Sounds like they're humble. Sounds like they have the fear of God.

They're talking about obedience. They're talking all the right language. They've spoken well. Isaiah said to them, these people draw near to the Lord with their mouth and with their lips they honor Him but they've removed their hearts from Him and their fear toward God is taught by the precepts of men.

Do you know, folks, that these people were so attached to their idols? They were so devoted to that secret little thing in their lives that nothing in heaven or earth is going to separate them from their sin.

Not the fire. Not the thunder. Not the lightning. Not the very voice of a holy God is going to separate them from because they're so given to it, so attached to their sin. So they tried to strike a deal with God.

We'll serve you if you'll give us a softer message. We want it filtered through man. You've got to give us a man. Now folks, they already had the meekest man on earth. Already we're hearing from a man who was meek and a man who said it was God and hearing it and they're saying, God, we don't want to hear this voice anymore because if we hear it anymore we're going to die.

And oh how right they were. You sit under Holy Ghost preaching. You sit under the anointed word of men that are sided with God with no agenda and they have no hidden sin in their life and they have been to the throne of God and you hear from heaven you better believe you're going to die.

You're going to die to your sins. You'll die to the flesh. You'll die to hype. You'll die to foolish manifestations that are not born of the heart of God. You'll die to all of that. They said we can't sit under that voice anymore.

There are people who walked out of this church because they said we can't stand that doomsday preaching. I got a letter this week from a man. He said I don't know who in the world put me on your mailing list but get me off immediately.

He said I cannot handle your doomsday haranguing against sin. He said I've had enough of your King James foolishness. Does this sound familiar? Isaiah 30 verse 9. This is rebellious people lying children children that will not hear the law of the Lord which say to the seers and to see not and to the prophets prophesy not unto us or prophesy to us right do not prophesy to us right things speak to us smooth things prophesy deceits get you out of the way and what they're saying look I don't want to hear that.

I don't want to hear any more doomsday. I don't want to hear anything negative. I don't want anybody hanging around sin haranguing against sin. I don't want that. I want a preacher. I want somebody to tell me how God's going to use me.

I want them to tell me how good it's going to be how prosperous I'm going to be and if not get out of my face. That's what it says. Are you in the wrong shirt sin friend. I'm not going to stand before a holy God when you and I stand before the judgment not on my watch because the greatest act of mercy God can do is to deal with me and my sins and point them out and let me sit under holy ghost message and let me hear the genuine voice of God and put me under conviction so that I can repent and get right with God.

I ask the Lord when I sit there to help me not to get loud. But I'm sorry that's the way I preach. I'm sorry I wanted to do. I'll try a little better here. But you see they said give us a softer message.

Give us a softer voice. We can't stand that voice of God. 24 hours later they're still clinging to their sins. 24 hours later they're back in the tents bowing to their gods. And then just 40 days later they have they have erected this large golden calf dancing naked around it.

Let me put it in in modern modern terms. No more of this negative preaching. No more scaring. No more negative preaching. None of this thunder out of heaven. We can't handle that one thing you can be sure of in this whole affair on Mount Sinai.

Rejecting Smooth Messages

Any believer who is hiding secret sin in their heart does not want to hear holy convicting messages. They don't want to hear it. They'll find churches and preachers who are soft on sin smooth flattering prophets.

I am the Lord thy God that brought you up out of Egypt from the house of bondage. Thou shall have no other gods before me. Thou shall make no graven images. Thou shall not bow down before them. That was a pure unadulterated straight word from the very mouth of God.

And this is what many people don't want to hear today. No more fire no more audible voice speaking to us. Speak to us through a man. And God immediately answered that request. They said we don't want to hear your voice God audible voice.

We want to hear it through a man. So God came upon Moses and he prophesied these words the Lord thy God. In fact I want you to go to Deuteronomy 18. Please Deuteronomy 18 then show it to you. It's so powerful what God said.

What a great prophetic word. It is the 18th chapter of Deuteronomy beginning at verse 15. Are you there. Here's the answer Moses. The people just said speak to us through a man. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken according to all that thou hast desired of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly saying let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God.

Neither let me see this great fire anymore that I die not. And the Lord said unto me they have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee.

I will put my words in his mouth. And he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him.

Now look at me please. Who do you think that prophet is. Stephen made it very clear when he was speaking before the priest. He made it very clear in Acts 737 that this was Jesus Christ incarnate among men became among us just like one of the brethren took on human flesh a man just like Moses and that he was human and meek.

God answered that. But for it took 1500 years from the time Moses spoke that prophecy for Christ to appear 1500 years. But I tell you folks in that 1500 years God did speak to his people. He spoke through prophets and seers and righteous kings.

He sent them rising early. Rising early doesn't mean they got up at 4 o 'clock. Rising early means that they prophesied of coming judgments long before it happened. God raised them up months and years before the prophecies came to pass prophesying an economic collapse in the United States.

People say you've been saying that for a year now that the depression is coming and it's not there. God raises up. I'm not a prophet. I'm one of his many many watchmen. But folks. He said I raised them up early and God spoke for 1500 years.

Prophet after prophet seer after seer king after king he sent. He raised up young boys even like Samuel. He spoke to them. The scripture says. But our fathers would not obey. They thrust Moses from them and in their hearts they turned back again into Egypt.

Israel became the scripture says a stubborn rebellious generation a generation that did not set their hearts aright and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. I want you to go to Jeremiah the 7th chapter now and show you something further on this matter.

Jeremiah the 7th chapter. I'm sure you love the word don't you. 7th chapter. Verse of Jeremiah. God didn't wait for 1500 years to speak. He spoke through one man after another one prophet after another.

Verse 25. Jeremiah 7 beginning verse 25. I'm going to read through verse 28 since the day that your fathers. Jeremiah 7. Verse 25 since the day that your fathers came forth out of land of Egypt unto this day.

You understand that all this time 1500 years God did it. I have sent unto you all my servants the prophets daily rising up early and sending them. Yet they hearken not unto me nor incline their ear but harden their neck.

They did worse than their fathers. Therefore shall thou speak all these words unto them but they will not hearken to thee. Thou shall also call unto them but they will not answer thee but thou shall say unto them.

This is a nation that obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God nor received correction. Truth is perished and cut off from their mouth. Year after year went by 1500 years. Isaiah said the word that he received was directly from the mouth of God.

He said when I speak you didn't hear. You did evil before mine eyes before the Lord's eyes and didn't choose that which the Lord delighted not in God. All those 1500 years was wooing his people. He was warning his people.

He even threatened his people out of grace and love. He did all of this and they turned a deaf ear all the way through to Malachi all the way up to the time of Jesus Christ just prior to his coming. But the Bible says in the New Testament under the New Covenant God speaks to his people in another way.

God Speaks Through His Son

He speaks to us through a man that man is Jesus Christ himself. And I read to you don't turn to Hebrews one and two. God hath in many ways in various manners spaken in times past unto the fathers by the prophets.

But he has in the last days spoken to us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the world. See God waited 1500 years looking for fruit looking for obedience. He had all this strength.

I want you to know God is a God of mercy in the Old Testament just as he is in the New God is unchangeable. He was that was mercy at Mount Sinai. I get a little peeved when I hear pastors and ministers and theologians say oh thank God.

Sinai is gone. That wrath of God. No no no that was mercy. God's mercy was shown in such a way. But you see Jesus gave us a parable of a vineyard owner that was looking for fruit. And so he sent servant after servant after servant looking for fruit.

And they killed every one of those servants. They wouldn't listen. The masters through his own voice sent his messengers speaking through men. And then he finally said I'll send my own son. Perhaps they will reverence him instead of reverence the voice of their own of his own son God's own son.

They killed him. The scripture says Jesus gave that parable to describe what's happening here.

1500 years. I sent my servants and then I said I'll send my son. Perhaps they'll hear my voice. Then now let me show you the point of all of this. What's the point. What's this message all about. God is still speaking out of heaven.

The voice of God is still sounding mightily through the whole earth. I want you to turn to Hebrews the 12th chapter and let me show it to you. Hebrews 12. 12th chapter of Hebrews. I want you to start at verse 18 with me please.

You see that voice that first came came at Mount Sinai the mountain that couldn't be touched. Verse 18. But we are not come to that mount that might be touched that burned with fire to the blackness the darkness and tempest the sound of a trumpet the voice of words.

Which voice that they heard entreated. That the word that they heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them anymore and said we don't want to hear that voice anymore. But they could not endure that which was commanded.

Do you understand that they couldn't endure not the voice but what the voice commanded. And if so much as a beast touched the mountain it should be stoned or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake.

But you are come unto Mount Zion and into the city of the living God.

The heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable company of angels to the general assembly of the church of the first born which are written in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Refusing the Voice from Heaven

Now listen closely verse 25. See that you refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth. How much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven whose voice then shook the earth.

But now you see. They said we want a man. Look at me folks. Get the picture. They said we want a man to speak to us. God said I'll give you a man to speak to you. I'm giving you my own son. And the bible said there were many witnesses.

Jesus came to this earth. He lived a short life he had a short ministry. And many witnesses saw him ascend to heaven as a man. Understand that Jesus is not a spirit right now the spirit of God is upon him.

He is God. But he's also a flesh bone man seated at the right hand of the father. He's a man that still touched on the feelings of our infirmity. If he stood here now out of glory you could touch him.

You could kiss him. You could embrace him. You could feel him. He's a man again from heaven not Moses. Now anyone who didn't listen to Moses was cut off to ruin. He was left in the wilderness to despair without hope waiting only to die.

And he said anyone who didn't listen to this man was destroyed. How much more are we going to be held to account if we will not listen to this man. We ask for. We ask for a man. There's a man in glory.

Oh hallelujah. There's a man in glory. And God said there was a voice came. I spoke once verse 26 whose voice then shook the earth but now he is promising once more not only the earth but also heaven this word yet once more signifying the removing of those things that are shaken as the things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Listen folks God has said in the last days my son is going to rise and he is going to speak from heaven. And he's going to shake everything in sight. He's going to begin.

With the nations he's going to turn to the nations and he's going to say to the armies and the navies and all the all the commanders begin to shake tremble. He's going to cause conditions that make them shake and tremble.

He's going to look at every government agency and he's going to speak the word tremble. He's going to speak to all of the elements of the weather and say now rain be withheld shake. And God is going to shake everything.

The nations of the world are being shaken right now. Tell me a nation that's not being shaken every nation. Last days he said my son is going to speak folks. He's going to shake every institution. He's going to shake our courts that have ruled God out of our society.

He's going to shake the judges. He's going to shake the supreme court. He's going to shake every court and every legislation. He's going to shake it. He is going to shake the economies of the world. He's already doing it in Asia.

He's doing it in Brazil. Now Brazil is next to go down followed by Mexico and Argentina. He's going to shake every nation every economy. He is shaking it now beginning to see the shaking of it. He said.

I'm going to shake everything. But folks the greatest shaking is coming to his body. God is going to have a house cleaning. The house cleaning is coming. He is going to shake the church. You talk about a coming revival.

My bible says here there's a shaking coming a terrible shaking when everything that is unholy everything unclean everything is a flesh is going to be wiped out and shaken. I get letters especially from the elderly.

I have hundreds of thousands on my mailing list from all over the world. And the pitiful cry of thousands of letters is this Pastor Dave I can't stand to go to my church anymore. Entertainment. Choreographed worship that looks more comfortable on Broadway or in a nightclub.

Our church one says they push all the pews out once a month and they have rock concerts. And he said those kids that are performing are in the nightclubs in our city. One night and the next night they're in our church.

He wrote to me and said the preaching thank God. There are many churches on fire for God. God is raising up a young ministry especially. They're so sudden with God and they have the mind of God. And they're coming forth to expose.

All of this hype and foolishness is going to be exposed. How is it going to be exposed. God said you want to speak. You want to hear through man. Jesus is going to speak into the hearts of young men. They're not looking for mailing lists.

They're not looking for money. They're not out for big offerings. They're not out for any kind of bigness. They just want to preach the truth. They want to be sudden with God. And when they stand in the pulpit you can hear them.

They may murder the king's English. But you know you're hearing from the heart of God. You know Jesus is speaking. I don't want to hear some great theologian. I want to go hear a young man. I want to hear anybody that's been sudden with God and I want him to tear everything in my heart apart.

I want God to shake me. It shall come to pass that whosoever shall not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name. I will require it of him. And you know what that word means. He said I'm going to.

I'm going to hunt it down and expose it. He said I'm going to hunt it down. The Holy Ghost is going to chase it down. Now folks in this pulpit we preach so much mercy and grace. I have spent a whole almost year and a half preaching on the love and grace of the new covenant.

My next book is called the new covenant unveiled. It's all about the grace and mercy of God. But folks we are seeing so many do. Despite to that grace of God today I will require it of him. See that you refuse not him that speaketh.

For if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth. How much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him. That now speaks from heaven. We're not going to escape as a nation. We're not going to escape as individuals.

Conviction, Repentance, and Personal Holiness

Beloved it's not the devil that's going to do the shaking. God said I'm going to do the shaking God said I'm going to shake it now. Let me come down to where we're all living now. So far you may have been able to shake it off but now I'm going to get real personal.

I'm going to start digging by the Holy Ghost to every one of his people. He began with me. He does it every day in my prayer closet. The Lord Jesus is coming by his voice to every child who calls himself by the name of Jesus.

You say Christ is my Lord if that be so you have hidden sin in your life. You're going to hear him speak. Let me tell you what he's going to say. Why have you not listened to my voice. Why have you refused to obey me.

First of all to every backslider every one listening to him right now that you once had such a touch of God. You had fire burning in your soul. You loved the word of God. And you sit now under my preaching.

You've been straying. You've been drifting away from Jesus. You've heard all of his mercy and grace and love. You've heard it all and yet you've been doing despite to his grace. And the voice of the Lord is going to come before your whole life is being shaken to the foundations.

He's going to come one day and shake you. Yes because there comes a time when we harden ourselves where God in spite of his mercy cannot penetrate that shield. We put up. And the Lord is speaking you now through my voice through the Holy Spirit in my body controlling my voice saying why have you not come back to my grace.