Sermon: And God Created Sound

Don Ruhl

9 years ago

https://grantspasschurchofchrist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/10262014andgodcreatedsounddonruhl.mp3?_=1

10262014AndGodCreatedSoundDonRuhl

And God Created Sound

Proverbs 20.12

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • October 26, In the year of our Lord, 2014

Song Leader and Song Suggestions: Larry Amberg – Anything on creation or God as Creator

Prelude:

Why do we hear?
1. Think on the wonders of hearing, and
2. see the creative work of God in your life.
Sound itself is a creation, and
1. our ability to hear sound is a creation.
2. Where would we be without the ability to hear?
  1. Yes, the deaf manage to live, but
  2. they do so, because
    1. hearing people exist.

Persuasion:

God Created Sound
1. One thing that prompted me to preach this message
  1. was something a rocket scientist told me at the Singing School.
  2. Yes, at the Singing School I attended in Abilene, Texas this Summer,
    1. they used Paul Hoffecker, a Ph.D.,
    2. to talk to the advanced students about sound.
      1. I was not in his class, but
      2. I did talk to him and have been in email contact with him.
  3. He works as a Senior Structural Analysis Engineer
    1. in the Launch Systems Group of Orbital Sciences Corporation
    2. that is involved in space launches.
      1. Anyway the two of us talked about sound.
  4. He told me something
    1. that I have noticed before about Space Shuttle launches, but
    2. I had no idea why it happens.
2. Have you seen a Space Shuttle launch and
  1. wondered why they flood the area underneath the shuttle with water
  2. just before the rockets fire up?
    1. I have also wondered how much of the smoke that we see
    2. is actually steam from the rocket fire instantly vaporizing the water.
  3. Is the water to prevent the rocket fire from burning the ground structures?
    1. He told me that the water acts as a sound suppression system.
    2. Why do they need to suppress sound?
      1. Is it to make a launch quieter for the surrounding neighborhoods?
      2. No, because the water would have to follow the Shuttle all the way through the air.
        
        Kerri and I watched the last Space Shuttle launch from 30 miles away.
        
        Even at that distance the sound was amazing and loud.
      3. Although clouds obstructed our view,
        
        we could somewhat follow the path of the Shuttle
        
        by following the incredibly loud sound.
  4. No, they discovered that sound waves from the rocket blasts
    1. were damaging launch structures, and
    2. the Shuttle itself.
  5. When the Space Shuttle used to blast off,
    1. the rockets produced 215 decibels.
      1. 141 decibels will you make sick.
      2. A one ton TNT bomb makes 210 decibels.
      3. A jet engine from 100 feet is 140 decibels.
        
        Therefore, they devised this system
        
        that releases 300,000 gallons of water
        
        in 41 seconds as it runs through parallel 7-foot pipes
        
        to 16 nozzles on the launch pad!
    2. Did you know girls will sit in front of huge speakers and
      1. let a guy play music very loud,
      2. music that has very deep base sounds, and
        
        the vibrations will blow her hair.
        
        Sound is powerful.
3. However, this got me to thinking about
  1. the sounds of nature that God created, and
  2. our ability to hear those sounds.
    1. Without man’s noise pollution,
    2. what do you experience?
      1. The beauty of silence, yet,
      2. you discover that not all is silent.
        
        You start hearing things in nature
        
        that you did not notice before.
        
        God created sound and
        
        He created our ability to hear sound, but
        
        He did not create sounds in the beginning
        
        that would harm us.
4. Moreover, sound has changed your life.
  1. You heard someone teach.
  2. You heard someone express his or her love for you.
  3. You heard beautiful music.
God Created Our Ability to Hear Sound
1. The matching of sound
  1. with our ability to hear it is like
    1. the matching of food and
    2. our ability to digest it.
    3. Thus, the Lord created a perfect match between our bodies and food.
      1. He made the food, and
      2. our bodies handle it perfectly.
2. Likewise, God made sound, and
  1. our bodies handle it perfectly.
  2. Amazingly, the natural order of things is no problem for our hearing,
    1. it is when we add our sounds that
    2. we can make sound too loud, or
    3. undesirable, or
    4. even harmful.
  3. The creation of natural sound and our ability to hear it,
    1. happened intentionally.
    2. Someone had a purpose for it.
3. King Solomon said it all in a few words,
  
  12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye,
  The Lord has made them both.
  (Pro 20.12)
4. Psalm 94 alludes to the creation of the ear,
  
  9 He who planted the ear, shall He not hear?
  He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
  (Psa 94.9)
  1. Even as we can hear,
  2. so God can hear, and
    1. that is why we pray.
    2. Yes, God knows our thoughts before they come out as sound, but
      1. He has chosen to let us speak.
      2. He likes to hear the sound instrument He made in us!
        
        This is why He tells us to sing.
        
        He loves hearing His children sing!
  3. Peter quoted Psalm 34 about God hearing our prayers,
    
    12 “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    And His ears are open to their prayers;
    But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
    (1Pe 3.12)
5. What exactly is sound?
  1. When something vibrates it creates energy.
    1. In the air, the vibration hits particles, and
    2. those particles hit other particles and
      1. they reach our ears,
      2. which we perceive as sound.
  2. Sound waves are like the waves created by a rock thrown into water.
    1. They eventually dissipate.
    2. These vibrate at different speeds, and
      1. that is how we hear different sounds.
      2. Fast vibrations create high sounds, and slow vibrations low sounds.
  3. Our brains and our minds process what we hear and
    1. we interpret it,
    2. such as how Paul said in First Corinthians 14,
      
      7 Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played? 8 For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? (1Co 14.7–8).
      1. You can distinguish the sounds of the flute and harp, and
      2. you can identify different tunes played on each.
  4. So it is with our voices, Paul argued in the rest of the chapter.
    1. We know what someone is saying, or
    2. at least we do when they speak our language.
      1. Vibration occurs in their voice boxes, and
      2. their mouths also work to make a distinction in the sounds,
        
        then we hear what they say, and
        
        we process it.
        
        We decide whether it is the truth or not.
        
        Then we decide what to do with it.
Why Did God Create Sound and Our Ability to Hear It?
1. Genesis 3 records the first time that man made reference to hearing,
  
  10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Gen 3.10).
  1. This was not the first time that man heard,
  2. for surely he heard God say
    1. that it was not good for the man to be alone, and
    2. that He would make a helper for man who was like man.
  3. However, knowing the rest of the Bible,
    1. we can safely say that God created our ability to hear
    2. that we might hear His voice.
  4. Think of it.
    1. How many times in Scripture has the Lord said to listen to Him?
    2. I know that we cannot literally hear His voice,
      1. as Adam and Eve did in the Garden, but
      2. that day will arrive, and
        
        when it does,
        
        even the deaf shall hear Him.
2. Ecclesiastes 12 chronicles the sad decline of our bodies as we age.
  1. In verse 4, Solomon poetically referred to gradual hearing loss,
    
    4 When the doors are shut in the streets,
    And the sound of grinding is low;
    When one rises up at the sound of a bird,
    And all the daughters of music are brought low.
    (Ecc 12.4)
  2. My hearing has already started to decline.
    1. I can’t imagine what it would be like
    2. not to hear the voices of my family, or of you.
      1. I love music, and I am always playing it, and
      2. to lose that ability, to even think of losing the ability to hear it,
        
        saddens me.
        
        What do those of you
        
        who have lost your hearing
        
        think of the ability to hear?

Exhortation:

Later when we can hear the Lord, there are somethings we want to hear.
1. When Jesus says, “Well done,”
  
  21 “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord” (Matt 25.21).
2. The inexpressible words Paul heard,
  
  4 …heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter (2Co 12.4).
3. God hears us sing all the time.
  1. I want to hear Him sing,
    
    17 “The Lord your God in your midst,
    The Mighty One, will save;
    He will rejoice over you with gladness,
    He will quiet you with His love,
    He will rejoice over you with singing.”
    (Zep 3.17)
  2. What shall that be like?
Do you want to hear your name in heaven?
1. Do you want to hear the invitation to enter heaven?
2. I cannot think of anything better to hear.
However, we need to understand
1. that the present heavens and Earth
2. shall pass away with an awesome sound,
  
  10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2Pe 3.10–13).
  1. How many decibels will it take to make the universe pass away?
  2. First Thessalonians 4 reveals the dual sounds of
    1. the shout of the archangel and
    2. the trumpet of God,
      
      16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first (1Th 4.16).
3. Therefore, do not think to yourself
  1. that you will just skip that event.
  2. Every eye shall see Him, and
    1. every ear, even the deaf,
    2. shall hear the announcement.

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