beginning in verse 1. And this also my heart trembleth, and is moved out of his place. Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth. He directeth it under the whole heaven, and is lightning unto the ends of the earth. After it a voice roareth, he thundereth with the voice of his excellency, and he will not stay them when his voice is heard. God thundereth marvelously with his voice. Great things doeth he which we cannot comprehend. For he saith to the snow, be thou on the earth, likewise to the small rain and to the great rain of his strength. He sealeth up the hand of every man that all men may know his work. Then the beasts go into dens and remain in their places. Out of the south cometh the whirlwind, and cold out of the north. By the breath of God frost is given, and the breath of the waters is straightened. Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud, he scattereth his bright cloud, and it is turned round about by his counsels, that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world and the earth. He causes it to come whether for correction or for His land or for mercy. Hearken unto this, O Job. Stand still. Consider the wondrous works of God. Dost thou know when God disposed them and caused the light of His cloud to shine? Dost thou know the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge? how thy garments are warm when he quieteth the earth by the south wind. Hast thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong and is a molden looking glass? Teach us what we shall say unto him, for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. Shall it be told him that I speak? If a man speak surely he shall be swallowed up. And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds, but the wind passes and cleanses them. Fair weather cometh out of the north with God his terrible majesty. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out. He is excellent in power and in judgment and in plenty of justice. He will not afflict. Men do therefore fear him. He respecteth not any that are wise of heart. And the Lord bless the reading of his word. Let us pray. Our heavenly father, we come to you this morning in great need of thy mercy and grace. For Lord, the adversary has been very busy this morning and seeking to hinder us from this worship service. And we pray that Lord God, that you would now bless the preaching of thy word. And I pray, God, that you might enable me to have somewhat of the spirit of Elihu, who said his heart trembleth and was moved out of his place concerning this divine subject. I pray that, Lord, all of our hearts this morning would be trembling and moved out of place by hearing of the great majesty and glory of our God in your divine providences upon earth. Father, I pray, grant to us a divine reverence for thy name, Lord, a humility to worship and praise You. And Father, I pray that You'd speak to those that are yet without Christ. Lord, I pray that they would see something and hear something of this noise and sound which proceedeth out of Your mouth in Your divine providence upon earth. God, be honored and glorified in all that we say and do. For Lord, we ask these things in Your name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. This morning's message is one which is not an easy one and yet it's one which I fear, believe that many Christians as well as men upon earth are ignorant of. It's such a divine subject that even Elihu himself in verse 1 said that his heart trembleth and is moved out of his place. In other words, he was saying he trembled so much he thought his heart would jump out of his very chest as he began to declare unto Job something which many Christians are ignorant of and the world denies and rejects. There's something in the providence of God and His working upon the earth that many ignore and Christians many times are ignorant of and yet we should not be. It's a subject which demands our greatest humility. and awe and reverence for God. The type of reverence which Elihu shows towards God is rare today even amongst many Christians, revering God for His greatness and His majesty and His power. Sometimes I believe that we have little fear of God as Christians. The world has none, even though throughout history, since the beginning of time, God has not been silent concerning His majesty and His power. What happened on July 4th here in Texas was not the first time that God and His providence would roar with a noise and a sound of His voice so that mankind might hear and know that He's God. There was a sound to be heard on the 4th of July. It roared. It thundered with the excellency and majesty of God's voice. Yet few heard it, and even fewer who believed that it was God who directed it as He does all things under the whole heaven. With that said, let me say one thing. We should never be indifferent about the tragic loss of lives. But we should always be humbled and greatly stirred by the loss of one soul. When we read of such tragedy amongst mankind, though we being Christians trusting in God's divine providence, it should never leave us cold nor indifferent. But it should also not allow us to find reason to find excuses for God's providence. Find a way of making God look like something He's not. What happened in Texas on July 4th, like many other times before it, was truly the hand of God. As bad and as cruel and as terrible as it might seem with the loss of children being ripped out of their beds as they slept, we still cannot deny that God providentially directed such a thing that man might see that He's God. The world, since the fall of Adam, has continued to deny and reject God. They oppose Him. They abuse His name and His people, reject His Word. God has been so long suffering and patient with the world, and He still continues to this day. to utter His voice with noise and with sounds, with roars and with thunders, as we read in this 37th chapter of Job, to remind men that He is God. If you could just imagine for a moment the awesome tragedy and power of God in that one event, and that's the one of many countless events that's already happened in the history of the world. that within 45 minutes 30 feet of water could rise, wiping everything out in His path, showing no mercy to men, women or children. Now in these times like this is when the wicked raise their fists and their voices to heaven declaring, where is God now? When before when everything was fine and they lived in their pleasantness, they never asked about God. As long as they were living in their pleasure and their sin and their wickedness, they never knew or cared about God. But now they'll turn their fist to God and they'll seek to blame God. Find some reason to hate God. And unfortunately, Christians throughout the world will find some way to excuse God's judgment upon mankind. as being a tragic accident or something that God really didn't want to do. God has not left the world without a witness of His majesty and power. And we as Christians should thank God for that. We're not alone. You know, sometimes we're a small church. Sometimes we feel as though we're alone in this spiritual battle that Christ has called us unto. But we're not alone. God still rules. He's still sovereign. And we can see His powerful hand throughout the world. Do you know how many natural disasters have happened in the world? Just in the last year? How many people have suffered under natural causes? We can blame the falling of the towers in New York on terrorists, on the sinfulness of man. We can blame wars and the killing of one another on man and sin. Yet when you have something like what happened on July 4th, you cannot but deny that that be of God. And to deny that, in spite of the fact that there's tragic loss, is to misunderstand the voice of God. God still thunders in the world and we can be thankful for that as Christians. God has not left the world without a witness of His power and of His might. Let us not cower in the corner and seek to hide from such mighty, powerful acts of God. As horrific as they might seem, it's still God. There is a special voice to be heard according to Scripture from the very heavens which declare the glory of God. and the firmament which showeth His handiwork, Psalm 19 says. A voice, it says. There's not a day that does not utter His speech, the psalmist said. Nor a night that does not show such knowledge. This is the mercy of God. Every single day and every single night in God's providence in keeping the universe and creation perfectly in place. It's God's mercy telling the world, I'm here and I'm God. It's gentle, it's kind, it's loving, it's gracious. Yet it's a voice. To this voice there is no speech, the psalmist said, nor language that does not hear them. Everyone, every mankind, all mankind hears this voice. Look upon the stars, upon the sun when it rises and setteth, upon the moon that lighteth the night. All these things speak of God's glory. Declare unto mankind there's a God in heaven and yet God still is ignored and rejected and denied. What does it take for sinful man to realize there's a God in heaven? For there's another voice of God, quite unlike that of the heavens and the firmament. Listen to me. It's a voice which is much greater than that, louder than that, more majestic than that. and more terrifying than the daily voice of His creation. You see, once God speaketh, yet twice, yea, twice the Bible says, yet man perceiveth not. How could one not believe in the total depravity of man and not realize that God has shown Himself so much to the world and yet man still rejects to believe in Him? He's giving them a heaven to adore and a firmament to admire. And they all have a language and a voice declaring the glory of God. And yet sinful man continues to reject God and go his own sinful way. Yet there's another voice. And it is also, even though it is more horrific than the other one, it is also out of mercy and grace. Yet it's a voice that many people ignore, still, and reject. It's one which Job or Elijah you hear says, roareth and thundereth with the voice of God's excellency and majesty. One which is directed, he said, by His sovereign providence. There's a voice to be heard that He directs. It's unlike the heavens and the firmament. It's a voice that God directly, directly, sovereignly purposes. yet it roareth and it thundereth and that in his infinite wisdom and power according to his own divine purpose and will. It is the noise and sound of his voice in the exercising of his divine providence upon the earth towards mankind. That's what this voice is. When God exercises the power of his divine providence towards mankind. not in general like the heavens and the firmament. It's when God sovereignly decrees and ordains that his voice roar and thunder in hopes that man would awaken out of his sinfulness and sloth and turn to God. If they don't listen with the first voice, God says, then I'll make it louder. Are you hearing me? If you don't listen with the first voice, God makes it louder. It's a voice that you cannot deny. Many people go through their life denying the voice of the heavens and the speech of the firmament while they live in their pleasure and sinfulness. But when God uses this voice of roaring and thunder, the world stops. The world stops, even if it's for a faint minute or two. Give it two, three weeks, and this news, what happened in Texas, will be history. Mankind, sinful man, will continue on his journey, doing what he wanted to do. But I hope and pray that not be with you, or with those that hear this message. I pray that you'd hear the roaring and thundering of God's voice, and that you'd listen. Elihu said, Joe, listen, I want you to hear it attentively in verse two, listen closely to it. It is to this divine noise and sound of God's voice. Like I said, the Elijah exhorts Job to hear and that attentively, lest he charged God to be too rigorous and unjust in his divine providence toward him. You see, that was one of the mistakes of Job. He thought God's divine providence was too rigorous, too unjust. The world looks at what happened on July 4th and said, this cannot be God, it's too unjust. There's no mercy in that. Why would God allow such a horrific thing to happen? Did you see the videos of how fast that water rose and how it quickly took everything out of its path? People were asleep in their beds and awoke to rushing water, pounding through the walls, tearing them out of their sleeping bags and out of their beds. and rushing them down a mighty river. You say, preacher, we shouldn't speak of such things. Why not? The world has long ignored God and continues to do so. And I know that there's pain and agony in losing a loved one. We've all experienced that. We're not impartial. We're not indifferent as Christians. We too have sorrow and heartache. We too are saddened by this tragic event. Yet we look to our God to find comfort and hope because we know our God is just and right and doeth nothing wrong. Everything He does is right and just. And for thousands of years the world's ignored His voice. and they continue to do so. This was just a small portion, a small county, a small place. God could have made it much more. It could have been much worse. The meteorologist said we didn't see this coming. We could never have predicted that this much rain would fall at one time. We thought it would be a flood, but not to this extent. Few said this was the hand of God. One man even admitted that it was God and that he divinely ordained this to happen. So there are some people who heard that voice and heard that noise and sound which God thundered on that day. Yet many didn't. The divine providences of God, though mighty and excellent in themselves, can be ever so gentle and affectionate. I'm talking to the people of God who understand and have experienced God's providences and you'll admit God's providences can be so gentle and affectionate. They can be merciful and kind, loving and caring. We thank God all the time for His good providence in keeping and preserving us, in watching over us, knowing every hair that falls out of our head, knowing what needs we have, taking care of us in the simplest things in life. Yet there is also to be heard in the noise and sounds of such divine providence a voice, Elihu says, of roaring and thundering, these too directed by His sovereign will and purpose. It's to these acts of providence that we look this morning, that we might see the hand of God. Look at verse 11 to 14. Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud. He's talking about rain. He scattereth his bright cloud. And it is turned around about by his counsel, the rain. that they may do whatsoever He commanded them upon the face of the world and the earth." They're under His divine command. Now watch this. He causes it to come whether for correction, talking about the rain, or for His land, or for mercy. Now watch how he stops and calls Job to attention. Hearken unto this, O Job. Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. Stop for a moment, Job, and consider the wonderful works or the wondrous works of God. So let us, for a few minutes this morning, stop and consider the wondrous works of God. You say, preacher, such an event as July 4th, you call a wondrous work of God? I do. Why would you call such a thing a wondrous work of God? Because it was the hand of God and everything that God does is right and just. God doesn't do anything just to spite man. Listen to me. He doesn't do anything to man just to aggravate him, like men do with one another. He doesn't simply do it because there's nothing else he can do or has done. There's always a divine purpose in everything God does in this earth. There's always a divine purpose for everything God does. And it's always done in righteousness. It's always done in righteousness. And always in accordance to his sovereign will and purpose. That's why he says in this verse or in this chapter, we cannot comprehend the great things he doeth as touching the almighty. We cannot find him out. Many people say, for Christians, that's just a cop-out. No. I'm getting ahead of myself, but I want you to know, Elijah talks about a voice of God, but there's no words. It's noise and sound. Isn't that amazing? He said there's a noise in his voice, verse 2, and the sound that goeth out. He doesn't say there's audible words. He simply says there's a noise and a sound. It's almost as though Elijah said God is not liable or not charged or not ordered to answer man why he does what he does. He just makes a noise and a sound. But it's a noise and a sound that shows the distinctness of His power and His majesty and His might. God doesn't owe man any explanation for what He does. But there's a noise. There's a sound. But you notice first and foremost that this noise and sound of which Elijah speaks of God's providence is not by chance nor choice of men, but sovereignly directed and caused by God. Look in verse 13. He causeth it to come. That's the very root of this whole thing. God causes it to come. Look in verse 3 when He talks about His voice and His sound and the noise, He directs it under the whole heaven. It's sovereignly caused by God. It's not by chance, nor is it ordered by men, but it's because of divine ordination, decree, Such providences of God, be they good or bad, comforting or confusing, all are the cause of God's own sovereign choosing. You say, preacher-wise, that's not important. The world will not start here because they know not God, but Christians must start here. Never look at the effects. Look at Him who caused the effect. Because if you do, you'll interpret it falsely. You've got to look to God, the author of it. Because once you look at God who is the author of it, and you realize who God is, that He's just, He's right, He doeth good, He does nothing wrong or unjust, everything He does has a purpose to it, then the effect begins to make more sense. We might not understand the why of it, but we'll understand the effect of it. We'll understand who caused it. Wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God? You know, you get that question a lot in Psalms. The heathen constantly asking the psalmist, where's your God? Where's your God? Where's your God? You know what they're asking right now? Where's your God? I remember when the towers fell. 9-11. I was sitting in McDonald's talking to a woman in our church. She was a single mom with two daughters and wanted to talk about her daughters. And so we met in a public place, McDonald's, and I counseled her a little bit. And while I was talking to her at a TV going to McDonald's, I looked up, and it's breaking news, and the towers are on fire. I couldn't believe it. I rushed back home, looked to see what was going on. The world back then was saying, where's your God? The psalmist has the answer. Where is now their God? The psalmist said, but our God is in the heavens. You know where he's at? He's in the heavens, far above you and I. He's God. Sometimes it seems so ignorant of sinful man to question God. He's God. And the psalmist doesn't even waste time trying to defend God. He said, but our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. That was a good enough answer for the psalmist. He's high above you, he's done whatsoever he pleased, and he's not responsible to give you an answer why he did what he did. He's God. Such noises and sounds of God's voice and His providence must be traced back to the hand of God. He caused it to come. This is vitally important for every true believer, especially in all dark providences of God. Listen to me. When things seem to appear around you as being troublesome and trialsome, and it seems like things just seem to be against you, it seems like the providence of God is dark and you can't understand it. Like Job, I looked to the right, to the left, front and back, and I can't find him. You need to trace your thoughts back to God. For even if God doesn't give you and I the answer of why, we find comfort in knowing that He's God. He's in heaven. He's done whatever He pleases. That should comfort us. Not knowing or not needing to have an answer why. And believe me, I've been in that situation in life where tragedy struck and I answered myself all the time or asked myself why. God's not obligated to tell us why, but He does want us to look to Him so that we might find comfort in Him. I can't tell you why God allowed or ordained that to happen. I can't tell you why it was that place. People try to blame the Christians, God, that was a Christian camp. I can't tell you why God allowed that. But I know it was God. Sinful man plays with God. Let me tell you something. God is not obligated to His creature to tell Him anything. We are nothing but creatures. That's all we are. Created beings. That's all we are. Man in his best state is altogether vanity. What God does is His prerogative. It's His right as God. He's not insensitive to these things. God created man. Tell me God's insensitive to the tragedy of human and mankind that we suffer. He sent His own Son into the world that He might save some. God's not insensitive to sinful man's tragedy. God sent His greatest gift and man still ignores Him. So you tell me, what more can God do if you ignore the simple gospel message of Christ? Come unto me and be saved, all ye earth. If you ignore that, what else can God do but show you His thunder and His roaring? Show you that He's still God. You'll either bow your heart or you'll bow your knee. One way or another, He's God. And it's time God's people awoke out of their sleep and stopped being spiritual cowards and let the world know that He's God. For though we might not know the reason why or the present meaning, God doing great things which we cannot comprehend. And though we cannot find him out, that's what he said in this verse, don't try to figure him out. Don't try to comprehend him because you can't. We do know in verse 23, touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out. But this we do know, he is excellent in power. You see, Elihu says we can't find the Almighty out, but we do know this. He's excellent in power and in judgment and in plenty of justice. He will not afflict. What do you mean he will not afflict? He just did, no. That means he will not do unjustly or without cause or reason. That's what that means. He will not afflict unjustly or without cause or reason. That much we do know about God. that he is excellent in power and in judgment and in plenty of justice and he will not afflict unjustly. And he would exercise such a noise and sound of his voice in working out of his divine providence amongst men concerning the reign in our text for three distinct purposes. And Job, Elijah mentions that in this text, in verse 13. He calls for this to come, God calls it. Why does he call it? Whether for correction, that's a rod, or for his land, or for mercy. Now, I want you to understand, he's still talking about the power of God's providence working amongst men. And the providence he's talking about, is simple rain. That's what he's talking about in the text is rain. That God would out of His goodness and mercy cause His voice to be heard by the simply providence of rain. When the land is parched and ready to die, God sends the fresh rain to replenish and bring back the fruit of the land. He says, I bring rain for the land. If it's parched and dried, talk to farmers who depend upon the rain. Oh, how they pray for rain. Lord, bring us rain. It's out of God's mercy and grace. He sendeth rain to the parched lands to bring the fruit of the land back, that it might blossom. Psalm 147 verse 7 and 8 said, Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving, sing praise unto the harp, unto our God, who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. We praise God for the rain. for the land. He causes, in Job 38, He causes it to rain on earth where no man is, on the wilderness where there is no man, to satisfy the desolate and waste ground and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth. That's the goodness and grace of God. Do you realize that everything God does in this world and His divine providence in maintaining and keeping this world is mercy? The rising of the sun, the moonlight in the heavens, the stars in the heavens, the rain. It causes everything to flourish. Sun, moon, and stars above, join and glad. Amen? With all nature. Yet man refuses to still hear the voice of God. God does that wonderfully. I was off for two weeks, a couple weeks back. And in the nursing home, I do all the landscaping and mowing and hedging and planting flowers and all that stuff. Well, when I was gone for two weeks, which always happens, nobody waters the flowers. So I get back and they're all wilted. And there's a couple pot plants next to the business office, nice flowers. Everybody loved them. They were almost dead. They were just all dried up. And I just watered them things constantly for two days. Just that taste of water brought them flowers back. It's amazing how we can look at such simple providences of God and see His mercy and grace. That's the providence of God for His land or for His mercy. For the benefit and comfort of all mankind, He sent His rain upon the just and the unjust. Yet there is a third purpose for God causing the rain to come. Turning it round by His counsel, He says, that it may do whatsoever He commanded. Namely, he said, for correction. He causes it to come whether for correction or for his land or for mercy. So let me first and foremost tell you that what happened in Texas on July 4th was God's providence for correction. You say, but preacher, it cost hundreds of lives. It was for correction for those who yet live and breathe. Listen to me. We can't do anything about those who've gone on, many of them children. It's a tragic event, and we're not indifferent to that. We suffer like everyone else, but it was a correction from God. People say, I don't like that kind of correction. Well, then you should have listened to the first one. There is a strange understanding about God which has grown over the years. And churches today are engulfing that. That God is not a God of judgment. He's a God of mercy and love and grace. And such a thing God would never do. In fact, I've heard many of them say, that wasn't God. That was the God of this world. That was Satan trying to wipe out God's children. No. It was the judgment of God. I want you to understand that because both the righteous and the unjust suffered under that judgment. Do you know that? I believe there were Christians in that camp. That correction was not for those who died, but for those who are yet breathing and living. Listen to the noise, listen to the sound of his voice. God's simply saying, you see what I can do. If you're not gonna listen to my heavens, if you're not gonna listen to the firmament, if you're not gonna listen to the birds and creation, if you're not gonna understand when you look at the stars that I'm in heaven, then I'm gonna do something more drastic to get your attention. And it will either draw you to me or force you away from me, just like the gospel. It's for correction. You know, Hosea says, hear the rod. Hear the rod. Again, it talks about hearing and the hand that holds it. That's what he says. Hear the rod. That's what Christians do. When God chastens us, we don't look to the rod. We look to the hand that holds it. When we punish our children, we don't want them to notice the rod, we want them to notice the hand that holds it. I'm your father. I love you. The rod is for correction. Do you know the first mention of rain in scripture? Do you know where that's at? Genesis. With Noah. Before the flood, God caused a moisture to come up out of the earth. It never rained. A moisture came up out of it, like a fog, come up out of the earth and it watered all the plants. There was no rain from heaven. That's why when Noah said, water's gonna fall out of the sky, they said, you're a nut. Water from the sky, you're a nut. The first time you hear the mention of rain in the scriptures, it's for judgment. It's for destruction. For 40 days and 40 nights, rain was upon the earth and flooded the whole earth. Killed every man, woman, and child who was outside that ark. God didn't bear any of the cries, the whimpers, the screams, the hollers. God destroyed them all. You say, God wouldn't do that. God did that. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire out of heaven. You see, the church over the years have given the world a false impression of God. They've made Him weak. They've made Him something that He's not. And God sending His Son into the world was not a sign of weakness. Are you listening to me? It was not a sign of weakness. It was a sign of strength. It was a sign of God saying, this is the only way you can get to me. Your way has failed. And all your trying and conniving and everything you want to do is not going to make it. You've got to come through Him. It wasn't a sign of weakness. Christ didn't come and change God. Now the God of the Old Testament is some kind of pacified God sitting on a throne, old and weary and not doing anything. He's still God. The church is made something about Christ that is not true. Yes, he's merciful, and kind, and gracious, and compassionate, but he's still God, the same yesterday, today, and forever. And what people seen on the 4th of July, and in New Mexico, and in the Carolinas, and times, countless times before with floods, and hurricanes, It was gone. And if you just take a minute and think about how many times that happened, you know, 40% of all world disasters is floods. 40%. Alone in 19, or in 2024, 16,000 people died from floods. And they're increasing. Do you know that? Floods, typhoons, hurricanes, they're increasing. The weather's getting bad. Tornadoes are increasing. Listen to me, God's voice is getting very loud, very loud. He's come to the end of His patience. He's long-suffering in patience, but the day of the Lord will come. I'm telling you, the voice of God is getting louder and louder. And if the world don't listen to that voice and realize first and foremost that there's a God, They'll never turn to Christ because once they realize there is a God and He's majesty and He's perfect, He's majestic and powerful, they're gonna go, who am I to stand before this God? That's when the gospel comes in. The noises are getting louder. The sound of His voice is getting longer. and more and more people are suffering. In 1985, there was only 10 reported floods. In 1985, over 60, I'm sorry, over 70 in 20,000, or 2018, over 70. It went from 10 to 70. I won't bore you with statistics, look it up for yourself. His voice is getting louder. And I think it's about time the church stood up like Moses, or I'm sorry, like Noah, and say, you might not believe there's rain coming, but there's rain coming. And I'm telling you, it's coming with a vengeance. If you think this was something, just wait till God comes back. 30 feet in 45 minutes, that's a lot of water. He causes it for correction. Though such divine correction be not the same voice or noise like that of the deluge or the flood in Noah's days, beloved, think it not little or insignificant. Look at the videos of that rainfall in Kerrville. How fast that water rose and with what power. And I watched her just tear over a big old huge tree like it was nothing. Pick up houses, whole houses, and carry them down the river and crush them against a bridge. Power was in that thing. Power was in that. Though it's not a judgment to condemnation, it was one for correction. And it came with power and destruction. You know, correction, let me speed up here a little bit, just a few more minutes. Correction is the action of correcting one who has erred from the way. That's mercy. You say, Preacher, I don't see no mercy in what happened. There was a lot of mercy in that. A lot of mercy. Because God could have done much worse. It's mercy in that God didn't destroy the whole world. It's mercy for those who are yet breathing and living because God's saying, this is who I am. I'm still here. I'm still in heaven. You've ignored me long enough. It's an attempt to rectify an error or an inaccuracy. That's correction is. Such is the great and glorious corrections that God uses in turning sinful man unto Himself. You see, God is still being merciful to sinful man. He's still showing that He's merciful to sinful man. What more can God do? So God keeps sending His noises and His voice. Over 167 million people have been affected by floods. 167 million people. And let me wind this down. You say, preacher, why there? Why then? For what reason? The answer to this question and more lies not with man, nor is there a literal word to be heard from God. You don't find a literal word in our text, only the noise of his voice and the sound that goes out of his mouth. Therefore, Elijah says, Job, stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. So what are we to do? Stand still and consider. Look at the hand of God. Like I said, the world since the fall of Adam has heard the noise of God's voice and the sound that goeth out of his mouth countless times. Thousands of years. Yet countless perceived it not. Heath directed it, yet countless refused to hear his counsel. And like in the days of Noah when God delayed his vengeance, While Noah preached for 120 years, he delayed his vengeance and he didn't immediately execute judgment when he could have. You know what the ungodly did? They boldly disregarded and ignored all threatenings of God from Noah until that final day when nobody but Noah and his family got in that ark. Isn't that amazing? Only eight people. Nobody listened. Then the rains came. When the rains came, it was too late. Let me close with this thought. What we've witnessed so close to home is just a small portion of what God's capable of doing. And though it's tragic, loss of lives, believe me, losing loved ones, family members, children, It's hard, especially losing them like that. But beloved, God's still in the heavens, and He's still done what He is pleased to do. It wasn't unjust. It wasn't unrighteous of God. It was God doing something that He said in Job 37, for correction, for the living and the breathing. You're alive. You've seen it. Now, how are you going to respond to that noise, that voice of God? You say, how should I respond? Let me close with this verse. There's one more voice. that you need to hear. Hebrews chapter one, one more voice. In the midst of all those rowings and thunderings, here's a voice. Hebrews chapter one, verse one. God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his son. That's the voice you need to hear this morning. That's clear. It's not a noise. It's not a sound. It's not a roaring. It's not a thunder. It's one of mercy, grace, compassion, and love. He speaks to us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the world. That's the voice. that one should hear after hearing clearly the sounds of roaring and thunderings of God's voice and His divine providence, and one realizing and understanding that that's God who is in heaven doing whatever so He pleases, and if that's so, you need to hear the voice of His Son saying, come unto me, all ye that are labored and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You see, that's the voice people need to hear after the thunders, after the roarings. They need to hear that voice, now coming to Christ. Because you see, again, I want to emphasize that before I close. With Christ coming, it didn't change the character of God. It didn't change who God was. God's still God. People say, well, that's the God of the Old Testament. Huh? Same God in the New Testament. God didn't come and change God. They make it sound as though God the Father is some terrifying God sitting on the throne with a cane fixing to smack somebody over the head every time they picked up a rock. And when Christ came, he pacified him, said, oh, sit down, old man, and calm down. I got this. That's blasphemous, but that's how they think. Christ right now is the Lamb of God. You know who he's coming back as? The lion is the tribe of Judah. You know what people are going to say when he comes back? Hide me from the face of him that sits on the throne. Let the rocks fall upon me. I do not want to see his face. Isn't it amazing how people try to change God and who he is? He's not. If the world continues to ignore and deny and reject God, the noises and sound of his providence will continue until God has come to the end of his patience. When that happens, it won't just be a few hundred people. It'll be the whole world. And if you're without Christ, like Noah in the ship, in the boat, in the ark, if you're without Christ, you'll suffer the punishment of his wrath. But God's mercy is still here. Do you hear the noises? You hear the sounds of his voice? You hear the roaring and the thunder? He's gone. Turn to Christ. Listen, listen. Hearken intently to his voice. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word. We thank you, Lord, for Job 37. We thank you, Lord, for how it reveals unto us again, Lord God, thy power and thy majesty and thy might. Lord, many times we know not why, we know not how, But Father, Lord, we trust in you. We ask you now, Lord God, that you'd help us as your children also to realize and recognize the noises and sound of your providence. Lord, and I pray that, Father, you'd help us to take messages out in events like this, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. to turn from the wrath to come. They might turn unto Christ and be saved. Father, be honored and glorified in all that we say and do. We give you the praise, the honor and glory for all things. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.