Don't forsake the voice of the Lord. So let's talk briefly about the benefit and what that would mean. What is the benefit of hearing the voice of Jesus in the darkness through preaching and through reading? One, His voice is what gives you hope, the very hope we talked about, right? Romans 15 verse 4, Whatsoever was written aforetime, That's our text and the whole Old Testament was written for our learning and admonition that we through patience and comfort of the scripture might have hope. Now the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in believing something. The scripture that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. It gives you hope! And you're forsaking your own hope when you shut off the voice. of your Savior, the servant of the Lord. It awakens your faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10, Galatians 3, 2. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, by the hearing of faith. By the hearing of faith, or the hearing of the voice of Jesus in the Word. It was awakened. It's sustained. Paul had received grace and apostleship for the obedience to the faith among all nations for his namesake. Obedience is listening under So faith produces an obedience which is a listening under the voice of the Lord. Faith is sustained. Faith is awakened. Faith is strengthened. And in your darkness, you shut off. You shut off the very thing that will awaken you again and again. It's been shut off. What else? The voice of the Lord keeps us following Jesus. My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. I give unto them eternal life. They hear my voice. They know me and they follow the voice of the Good Shepherd. How do you hear that? How do you keep going? It's the voice of your Savior in the word. He speaks to you. He speaks to me. So I haven't heard him speak recently. He speaks. Stay with it. The voice of the Lord sustains spiritual life. Man shall not live by bread alone. Now what happens, tell me, if you cut off bread? You say, well, I'll eat steak. That's not what it's talking about. It means food. I'm just going to go the next six months without eating food. Well, just go ahead and buy the burial plot. Your physical life is sustained by bread. Man doesn't live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of your God. That's Jesus. What sustains the vitality of your spiritual life in the darkness? You say, well, I can't see Him. I'm not experiencing Him. The voice of God. You must have the Word. The voice of the Lord warns us we've already seen. Psalm 19, rather. Psalm 19. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, they're much fine gold. Sweeter than the honey in the honeycomb. Say, I don't feel it that way. It's not gold to me. It's not honey to me. Moreover, by them thy servant is warned. See? It may not be like honey today. In fact, I would say in the darkness, it's just not my experience. But it warns us. It doesn't have to be sweet to receive a warning, does it? You can receive a warning. Don't go play in the street, child. You go live out there, you could die. Nothing has to be sweet to receive that. We are warned by the voice of Jesus Christ. And the voice of the Lord brings the spiritual filling. It brings the Spirit. When He comes, He's going to come by the voice of the Lord. That's what He does. We learn in Ephesians 5.18, Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking and singing. Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. The parallel of Colossians 3.16 says what? Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. Singing. To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with the Word of Christ. Now you just cut yourself off from the Word of Christ. You just cut yourself off from the Spirit of God. How would that work? The voice of the Lord overcomes the devil. 1 John 2.14 I have spoken to you fathers, because you have known Him from the beginning. I have spoken to you young men, which is just a paraphrase for young people. Because the Word of God is in you and you've overcome the wicked one. Love not the world. The Word of God is the power to overcome the accusations and the methods of the wicked one. Now here's the question. You're in darkness. You shut off the voice of the Lord. You don't want to hear preaching. You don't want to read the Word. I get it. It's a chore. It's a dread. It's just not what it once was. Let me tell you what just happened. You just cut off hope. You just cut off your faith. You just cut off spiritual life. Because that's what sustains it. You just stop following the Lord. You have no warnings. The Spirit has been pushed aside. And the devil, who was once overcome by the Word of God, comes in like a flood. In your darkness! Now we're already susceptible in the darkness, and then we shut off the voice of the Lord, and what happens? Hope and faith. The Spirit begins to wane. Oh beloved, stay with the voice. of your Lord. He knows the darkness you're in.