If you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Psalm 29. Psalms chapter 29. We, Lord willing, will look through
this 11 verses here in this chapter. Now this psalm may easily be
divided into three distinct parts. And these three parts are the
points of the message this morning. First of all, to ascribe glory
to God. That's the first part in verses
1 and 2. And if you'll notice in verses
3 down through verse 10, I mean, verse 9, it is regarding
the voice of God. The voice of God. It displays
for us the attributes of God's voice. And then the last two
verses are the assurance of the saints. The assurance of the
saints. God's glory, God's voice, and
God's assurance. God's glory, God's voice, and
God's assurance. First of all, the glory of God. The title of my message is actually,
God's Voice of Glory. God's Voice of Glory. So the
first point is that the psalmist excels us to ascribe glory unto
God. Friends, never has a wiser statement
been said than this, give glory unto God. Never a wiser statement. Give glory unto God. God is always and only worthy
of all glory. Glory. All praise, all honor,
all of our thoughts, all of the intents of our heart should be
geared to this, give glory and majesty unto God. That's what
God demands of every one of His creatures. God demands it of
you and God demands it of me because He is worthy of glory. He deserves it. He deserves it. Not only, we're not talking about
adding anything to God. When I say, when the psalmist
says, give glory unto God, it is not as though we are trying
to add glory to God by giving glory to God. We don't add to
God anything. God is perfect in Himself. He is complete. He is holy. He is righteous. He is self-existent. And friends, He does not need
us. We need God. You need God. I need God. God does not need
us. We are dependent upon Him for
everything, for our life, for our breath, for our salvation,
for our eternal life. We are dependent on Him. Dependent. Helpless to save ourselves. The Scripture says here, O ye
mighty, give to the Lord glory and strength. This could have
reference to the angels. They're mighty, aren't they?
God created the angels and they are holy. And what do they do? from all eternity. What have
they done? Ever since they were created, what have they done?
They have given glory to God. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
which was, which is, and which is to come. And they say this
over and over and over for all eternity. They praise God. They
do His will at His will. They are at His beck and call
and they perform His tasks. And they are mighty. You remember
there was one angel who went and killed 185,000 men in one
night. One angel. They are mighty, friends. Angels are mighty. But friends, what do these mighty
angels do? They continually bow and give
reverence unto God. Continually, forever and ever
and ever. Give glory to God. How much more
should man, who is but a few days and full of trouble? Friend,
we are but a few days and full of trouble. Our lives are very
short. And they're full of trouble,
aren't they? Now, there are some men who we
would consider mighty men, right? Men who are gifted in battle,
men who are warriors. We just this last couple of weeks
saw a young man receive the Medal of Honor. He was a courageous
man. He was a mighty man in the midst
of battle. And he was decorated for such,
and he is worthy of that honor, isn't he? Yes, he is. And we see men who are powerful
men and rich men. And these men have due honor. God sets them in authority and
we are to give honor where honor is due. But so should they. So should
they who are mighty in this world give honor and glory to God.
How much more us who are not mighty? How much more should
we give glory and honor who are weak and feeble creatures? We
should give glory to God and honor to God. It doesn't matter
our state among men if we are mighty or we are not. If you
are the president or the poorest man in all the world, if you
are the smartest man or you have no money and you're ignorant,
it doesn't matter. All glory belongs to God and
we should give glory to God. You should give God glory. Give glory unto the Lord. It
says it three times. Give! Give! Give! Why? Give glory to the Father, give
glory to the Son, and give glory to the Holy Spirit. You should
give glory to God. Give glory unto God to honor
and glorify Him. I'll tell you, the riches and
the things of this life will not go with us. If a man is honorable
in this life only, when he goes to the grave, his honor disappears
immediately. His power disappears. His riches
disappear. His life is like the flower of
the field. We may be the grass and he may
be the flower, but guess what? He fades and we wither. What's
the difference? But God is eternal. God is holy
and God is worthy of your honor. He's worthy of your glory. You
giving Him what is due His name. Friends, we must understand that
the purpose and providence of God in all His decree is for
His own glory. And it's reasonable that His
creatures give Him glory. It's just reasonable. That's
just the most reasonable thing I can think of, that God who
created us, God who sustains us, God who keeps us, God who
gives us every good thing that we have, we should give Him glory. That's just reasonable. That's
just a reasonable statement. Well, how then do we give God
glory? What does that mean? That's a
very ambiguous statement. And some people, it just doesn't
register. What is giving glory to God?
How can I, as a weak, feeble creature, give glory to God enough
so that God would accept it? It's altogether different giving
God glory and God accepting what you give. Isn't that right? You're supposed to give Him glory.
But how? How? Look at verse 2. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. That's how. There it is. Worship
the Lord in the beauty of holiness. This is the command of God. This
is to commend God and to show us His beauty, which is His holiness. Holiness. God's beauty is His
holiness and it extends to all of His other characteristics.
You think about the characteristics of God. All-powerful. Everywhere present at one time. God is all-wise. He knows everything. He's omniscient. He's unchangeable. And friends, we can attribute
holiness to every one of those. What is holiness? Perfection. That's what it is. God is perfect
in everything that He does, thinks, says, and decrees. Everything. God is good. God is good. Jesus said there's only one good,
and that's God. That kind of excludes all of
us, doesn't it? It excludes all of us. We're
not good. God alone is good. He is perfect. He is holy. And we are to worship
Him in holiness. Therefore, if man who is sinful,
who is born dead in trespasses and sins, whose carnal mind is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, how then
can we give glory unto God? How can we worship Him in holiness
if we are not holy? This comes only by the hand of
God in salvation. The only way you can give glory
to God and it be accepted is if God comes down and saves you. If God delivers you and gives
you something you don't have. What is that? Holiness. We need
holiness in order to worship a God who is holy. in order to worship Him and give
Him the glory that is due His name, it must be without sin. And this is why Jesus Christ
gave Himself and was manifested for the glory of God. You see, He alone glorified God
perfectly. You and I didn't. We never did. He did. Jesus Christ glorified
God by obeying His law that we did not. We hated God. We cursed God in
our works, in our sins, by doing what we wanted to, which was
against God's law. But Christ, He obtained righteousness
by His actions. He obtained salvation by His
death. The Scripture says, God shall
see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. And God was
satisfied. God's holiness was satisfied
in the death of His Son. If you are lost, listen to me
very carefully. Listen to me very carefully.
Without Jesus Christ, you have nothing and are nothing. I'll tell you, men think a lot
of themselves, don't they? We, by nature, think a lot of
ourselves. Well, I'm somebody. I'm better than this person over
here because I have this and this and this, and I'm just better. If you're without Christ, you
have nothing. Nothing. And you are nothing. But in Christ, believing in Christ,
God the Holy Spirit comes and He gives us a holy nature so
that we can give glory to God and it be accepted. Only in Christ. It is only in Christ that we
can approach unto a holy God and be accepted. Who shall ascend
into the hill of the Lord? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. He that is free of sin. Friends,
by Jesus Christ, I am free of sin. By Jesus Christ, you who
believe, you are free from sin. Free from the penalty of sin.
Free from the power of sin. I know we're not free from the
presence of sin, but one day we shall be. One day very soon,
we'll be free from the very presence of sin. Why? Because of Christ. He redeemed us. And we must give
glory to the Father. We who believe, we can give glory
unto the Father who chose us, who set us apart in eternity
by His own love. who adopted us into His family
before the world began. And in Christ, we can give glory
to Christ for offering Himself for our sins. And friends, we
can give glory to the Holy Spirit who created in us a new nature,
a nature of love, a nature of mercy, a nature of grace that
loves to give glory to God. I recognize our feebleness to
give glory to God, but I tell you this, our glory to God is
accepted because of Christ. It is. God accepts our feeble
attempt. It is that, isn't it? A feeble
attempt. to give Him glory. But He still
accepts it because it's perfect in Christ. Worship God in the
beauty of His holiness. Salvation belongeth to the Lord.
Thy blessing is upon Thy people. Let us who believe give glory
to God. Second of all, the attributes
of God's voice. And in verses 3 to 10, we know
that the psalmist gives us a vivid picture of the power, majesty,
and glory of God's voice in the midst of a storm. You can see
this in verse 3. It says, "...it thundereth."
You can see it in verse 5. He says He breaks the cedars.
What is that but a tornado or a hurricane? A big gust of wind
who pulls these cedars out of the ground and breaks them. We
can see that the voice of the Lord is divided into flames.
That speaks of lightning and how the lightning divides the
darkness and the light. We see that the voice of the
Lord shakes the wilderness. You ever been in a thunderstorm
where the thunder rattles even under your feet? Oh, it's majestic. It's powerful. Powerful. Now then, the attributes of this
voice in the midst of the storm. It is true that we may see the
power and majesty of God in the storms of this life, in the tornadoes
and hurricanes. A friend of mine, he used to
live in Wichita Falls and it's just flat land out there, so
you can see a storm coming from miles away. And one time he told
me a storm was coming and he said it was just like an ocean
wave of clouds. They were just rolling in and
the thunder in the background was just so majestic and beautiful. Friends, we know that all the
storms of this life are ushered in by the voice of God. Mother Nature does nothing. There
is no such thing. God does it. You remember those
tornadoes and the storms that ripped through this country this
year? It said there were over 300 tornadoes. Who did that?
God did. Who sent the floods in on the
eastern coast and dried up the south? with no rain. God did. God did it. God is majestic. He is sovereign in the aspects
of the elements. God does all these things. He does it by His commands. And
these are visible to all men. And God should receive the glory
for them. All these are not by chance,
but by the effects of God's sovereign rule. But this has a greater meaning
than just some physical storm, doesn't it? This is not just
talking about God controlling the elements. But friends, this
is speaking about the voice of God in salvation of sinners. That's what this is speaking
about. The voice of God in the salvation of sinners. This is the voice of the Word
of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is an allegory. An allegory. The voice of the Lord, it says. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look what it says first. The
voice of the Lord is upon many waters. What does that mean? I was watching the rain come
down yesterday, and you watch a puddle, and man, there is many
waters that come down from the sky. I didn't even see the rain.
I just saw the effects of it. I just barely felt it, but I
watched the puddles, and they ripple everywhere. When God rains
down His Gospel, He has rained upon this whole earth His Gospel. And the effects of His Gospel
are seen everywhere. Everywhere. whether the hatred
of it or the love of it, but God's Gospel is seen, the effects
of the Gospel are seen everywhere. God is upon many waters. His
Gospel has gone out into all the earth. And so His Word is being declared
in all the earth. God has sent forth His Gospel
of Jesus Christ, and His voice has thundered in the earth. Twelve men in a little city of
Jerusalem, locked up in a room, scared to death that soldiers
were going to come and take them away and kill them. And yet it
was the same men the Lord Jesus Christ used to turn the world
upside down. And He did. He did. You cannot
look at history and not see the thunder of God's Gospel, the
effects of God's Gospel on the earth. God has poured forth His
Spirit, and His Spirit goes out in free course to whomsoever
He will. Who's going to stop God's Gospel
from coming to the sinner? What will stop God from bringing
the sinner to His Gospel? Nothing. Can you stop the rain? You'd have a better chance of
stopping the rain than you would stopping God's Gospel. I remember
a picture of that man in the tsunami. Somebody took a picture.
And the big wave was way up there, and this man just stood there
and looked at it. What could he do? Nothing. It crushed him. And anybody that stands in the
way of God's Gospel, it will crush him. But it will have free
course. It will have free course. And
we who believe, we should witness of this Gospel because God has
given us free course. God is upon many waters. God
thundereth in His Gospel. Don't be ashamed or afraid of
it. It's the voice of God. I speak
to you. Don't hear my voice. Hear His
voice. He thundereth. His Gospel goes
forth without Hesitation. Isaiah 55, He said, My word goes
forth as I sent it. And it will accomplish the purpose
that I sent it to. The voice of the Word of God
has gone out of His mouth. The gospel that I preach to you
is the voice of God. It is the Word of God. It is
powerful to save. It is powerful also to damn. He that believeth on Jesus Christ
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned." That's not my word. That's God's
Word. You see, it doesn't matter what I say. It only matters what
God says. And God says, you'll be damned
if you don't believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And my message
is triumphant no matter if you believe it or not. I am a savor
of life unto life to some, and a savor of death unto death to
others. But my gospel triumphs. It does
what God sends it to do. And none will stop it. Praise God, not even me. Not even my bumbling. Not even
my mistakes will stop God. He will accomplish His work in
His gospel. Romans 9 tells us, for God will
have mercy on whom He will and whom He will, He hardens. To some, this will be a majestic
gospel. To some of you, you will love
this. To some of you, it will be a
breath of fresh air to hear of God's grace and salvation. It
will be joy to your heart, and some of you will not love it
at all. Others will despise this gospel,
but make no mistake about it, the gospel of God is unhindered
whether you believe it or not. It is unhindered. It will accomplish
what God sends it to do. It will thunder in the hearts
of His people, and they will see Jesus in the fullness of
God's majesty, that He is the sum and substance of all God's
gospel of salvation. And when this message comes to
the sinner's heart, It will come like a mighty wind. Look at this
in verse 5. He said, the voice of the Lord
breaketh the cedars. The Lord breaketh the cedars
of Lebanon. Lebanon was known for its great trees. Its massive
cedars. They were huge trees. And there
were large forests of them. There were large numbers of them. But what is a tree to a tornado? Sometimes when tornadoes come
through, they tear up houses, they take roofs off of houses
and send them miles away, don't they? Trees are just splintered into
nothing. You remember that little town
that the tornado went through? There was nothing left! Nothing! Even so it is, when the voice
of God comes through the heart of a sinner, He comes through
and tears out all of the pride. Strips a man of all of his worth
and self-righteousness. He takes all of his value and
He brings him down to nothing. Verse 6, "...he maketh them to
skip like a calf." Have you ever seen a huge tree just skip around
on the earth like it was like a calf just bouncing around,
running in fear? That's what a tree would do in
the midst of a tornado. That's what a sinner does in
the voice of God when he comes to his heart. He runs in fear
like a little calf. Skips along the ground like nothing.
running from the terror of God's law. Have you ever felt your
guilt and need? Have you ever felt the weight
of God's law? That God demands of you perfection? When God thunders that law into
the heart of men, they run like a little calf, scared. And they should be. They should
be. Man must be plucked up by the
roots of his sin. We are so rooted in sin that
we must be plucked up like a tree that's rooted in the ground. God will and shall break us so
that we have no hope in ourselves. When the holiness of God comes into the heart of a sinner,
he runs helpless and defenseless and guilty before God. But praise God, he never leaves
one of his children there. I've known many men who have
been blown around by the wind, but never been broken. Some men
will come to me weeping and crying, Oh, I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner.
Oh, I need to be saved. Oh, I want to be saved. I want
to believe in Christ. Oh, I'm saved now. I believe
in Christ. And they just walk away. They go away the same way
they came in. Why? They've never been broken.
They've never been broken. Praise God He doesn't leave us
there, but He also gives us light. Look at this in verse 7. The
voice of the Lord divided the flames of fire. The voice of
the Lord shaketh the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness
of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh
the hinds to calve and discover the forest. And what is this? The lightning. The lightning
strikes in the sky and what do you see? You see darkness and
light, don't you? You see darkness and light. But
when God comes and breaks a man, He also gives him light to see
his darkness and also see the holiness of God. He divides the
light from the darkness. Lightning divides that. And when
a man is broken, the voice of God divides that light by setting
a flame in his heart. to see His need of a Savior.
Do you need a Savior? Or can you just do everything
by yourself? Are you okay? If you are, I'm sorry for you.
If you're alright, I'm sorry for you. I need a Savior. I've seen, I know the holiness
of God. I don't know it like I want to.
I know my depravity. I don't know it like I should.
But I know this, I need a Savior. I need a Savior. And when He
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, guess what I
saw? A Savior. I saw a Savior! I saw Jesus Christ,
my only hope, my only righteousness. And I ran like a scared calf
to Him. When His voice thundered, friends,
a flame was set in my heart, a zeal was set in my heart to
seek Christ. And not only a flame was set
in my heart, but life was given. He maketh the hinds to cap."
The hind is a deer. That's all it is. It's a deer.
And a deer, when it gives birth, is one of the most painful experiences
that an animal can go through. But yet, when she gives birth
in the midst of a storm, it's instant. Why? Because the thunder! Makes her muscles to clinch and
she would give birth in an instant. That's exactly what the Spirit
of God does with the thunder of the law. Comes in and clinch. And life is given by
the Spirit of God. Life is given. And we discover
the forest. Have you ever walked through
the forest in the dark? You can't discover anything but vines. I tell you, I've tried that.
When I was a kid, I got lost, and I got lost in the dark, and
everything I ran into was a vine or a thorn. That's all I ran
into. I couldn't see anything until
someone came and gave me light. Then I could see clearly the
path. And that's exactly what God does.
He gives us light to see Christ. And where do we go? Where do
we go when we are given this light and this life and this
faith in Christ? Look at this, "...and in His
temple doth everyone speak of His glory." We went to Christ, the temple
of God, the refuge. You see, Christ is the only refuge
for our souls. There is no other refuge. He's
the temple of God. He is the only place where we
can give God glory. And it's accepted. And His people
give it all the time. Everyone does speak of His glory. You who believe, you speak of
His glory. I know you do. Why? It's in your
heart too. God's given you a nature too.
And you love too. And so do I. I love to give glory
to God. And friends, He also gives the
assurance to His saints. Look at the last two verses. The Lord sitteth upon the flood. Yea, the Lord sitteth king forever. Believers, we are surrounded
by floods. Just because we are believers
in Christ will not stop the floods. It will not stop the hurts. It
will not stop our pains. But what should give us peace
is the Lord sitteth upon the flood. Whatever flood it is,
He's on top of it. He's controlling it. He's moving
it. It rises and falls at His decree. He's King over the flood. What flood do you have? Well,
He's King over it. He brought it. He gave it to
you. Give Him glory. Should we not
expect good at the hand of the Lord and not evil? Isn't that
what Job said? Should we not expect these troubles and trials
as well as the good times? Yes. And he said to the king
over them. And his assurance to us is this.
The Lord will give strength to His people. And the Lord will
bless His people with peace. There is peace and safety in
Christ. There is peace and safety only
in Christ. But there is peace and safety.
There is peace and safety. Rest in Him. In the previous Psalm 27, I believe
it is, the psalmist said that He hideth me in His pavilion. If you remember that Old Testament,
Holy of Holies, Nobody entered into there for fear of death.
But that's where God has us. God has us in His own presence
and nothing, nothing will enter in and disturb our peace with
Him. Nothing. Not even our own follies. Is that not gracious? It is. Friends, the voice of the Lord
is what saves sinners. Jesus said, "...the hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live." What a powerful voice! Is it not majestic? It is. Is it not worthy of praise? It
is. Is it not a place of peace? It
is. It is if you believe in Christ.
I pray that God blesses to your hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.