In the 29th Psalm, David writes
as follows, Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord
glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory
due under his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. The voice of the Lord is upon
the waters. The God of glory, thundereth. The Lord is upon many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh
the cedars. Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars
of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like
a calf. Lebanon and Syrian like a young
unicorn. The voice of the Lord divideth
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 carve, and discovereth the forests, and in his temple
does everyone speak of his glory. The Lord sitteth upon the flood.
Yea, the Lord sitteth king forever. The Lord will give strength unto
his people. The Lord will bless his people
with peace. The voice of the Lord is upon
the waters. The God of glory, Thundrith.
The Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord. The psalm has much to speak of
the voice of the Lord. It opens with this wonderful
introduction where it encourages us to give
unto the Lord. Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty,
give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord
the glory due under his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. And this call to give unto the
Lord the glory due unto His name, to praise Him, to worship Him
in the beauty of holiness, is with regard to the content of
the rest of the psalms, because this is the God who speaks. Because this is the God who speaks
in righteousness, who speaks powerfully, whose speech, whose
voice is full of majesty. Because this is the God whose
voice breaketh the cedars, whose voice divides the flames of fire,
whose voice shakes the wilderness. whose voice maketh the hinds
to calf and discovereth the forests and in his temple does everyone
speak of his glory because this is the God who speaks and has
a voice with such power he deserves our praise he deserves our worship
he deserves the glory due under his name. This giving and this
message of the glory of God envelops this sevenfold account, this
sevenfold description of his voice. At the end of that description
in verse 9, we read in his temple, does everyone speak of his glory? Does everyone speak of his glory? We read in verse 3, the voice
of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of glory thundereth. He is a God of glory. Glory is due under his name. And in his temple, everyone gathered
in his temple, in his presence, speaks of his glory. He is a
glorious God. And he is worthy of our praise. Why? Well, we see the why in
the sevenfold account. describing his voice and what
he brings to pass when he speaks. He's due this glory because he
is wondrous in his person and he is wondrous in his ways because
he is righteous and holy and merciful and gracious. because he brings out of nothing
life. The voice of the Lord, make if
the hinds to calm and discover if the forests. Everything we
see in this world, everything we have, every blessing of life,
whether it is natural life or spiritual life, every blessing
we have, has come from this God. The Lord sitteth upon the flood,
yea, the Lord sitteth king forever. The Lord will give strength unto
his people, the Lord will bless his people with peace. He is the Almighty, the Sovereign
King of this world, of this universe, of all time. and all eternity. He is the One who speaks and
it comes to pass. He is the One who spake in the
beginning and the earth was formed out of nothing. Out of the void,
out of the darkness. In the beginning there was nothing
and God spake, let there be light and there was light. He spake
and the earth was formed. He spake and the dry land was
divided from the waters. He spake and living things were
brought forth. He spake and the stars and the
sun and the moon were put in their places. He spake and man
was formed out of the dust of the earth. He spake and he breathed
life into the soul of man. The same life which you find
within your being. He spake in the beginning and
Adam lived. He spake when you were conceived
and born and you lived. He speaks every day and you continue
to live and there will come a day when He will speak and you and
I will go from this world into eternity and where we will stand
before this God whose voice is upon the waters and we will answer
to Him and He will speak unto us And he will either say, well
done my good and faithful servant. He will either say, thy faith
have made thee whole. He will either say, enter into
my kingdom. Or he will say, depart from me.
If you've never heard the voice of the Lord, if you've never
heard the voice of Jesus Christ, You can be sure that one day
you will. You will all of us, you and I,
you will stand before him and you will hear his voice and it
will either be a voice of love and compassion and grace and
mercy and blessing as he blesses you and leads you forth into
an inheritance prepared for you. He will either give you the strength
of his people and he will either bless you with peace or he will
speak unto you in judgment and wrath and anger and say, depart
from me ye worker of iniquity. You will hear his voice and you
will hear a voice which speaks fairly and righteously according
to your deeds. If you have lived with your ears
shut to the voice of the Living God, if you have kept your eyes
shut, if your heart has been set on everything but Him, if
all your life has gone in a different direction, then when you hear
His voice, it will be a voice of judgment. But if there has
come a day in your life when He has come across your path
and intervened and as you were running from Him and as you were
cursing Him and as you were breathing out threatenings against Him
and His people as the Apostle Paul did, as Saul did perhaps
there would come a day in your life when you will be found in
your folly, found in your rebellion, found in the deadness of your
sin, turn from God. Perhaps there will come a day
when He comes in His gospel with a voice that says unto you, live
and you will be changed forevermore. And all the deeds that you endeavoured
to do in rebellion to this Lord, all the strength that you endeavoured
to use to run from Him as far as you could get, all the desire
that you placed in other things, all your pride, all your sin,
all your hatred, all your unbelief will melt away and will be washed
as the one whose voice speaks unto you comes unto you by his
spirit in grace and says despite all that you are and all that
you have done I have loved you when you were in your mother's
womb I loved you before you were ever born or thought of I loved
you Before you ever came forth and grew and lived, I loved you. Before you turned against me
and shook your fist at me, I loved you. Before you did those hateful
and wicked things, I loved you. Before you went your own way
in your own rebellion, rebelling against me, rebelling against
authority, rebelling against those set above you, rebelling
against friends and family, rebelling. before you went your way, in
your pride, in your hatred, in your sin, I loved you, I came
unto you, in your blood, in your iniquity, in the darkness, and
I saw you, and I loved you, and I took your sin, I took your
hatred, I took your rebellion, and I laid it upon my own son. and I judged him, not you. And therefore, when your final
day comes, I will find no fault in you, because it's all been
taken away. Perhaps that day will come for
you. Perhaps it has come for you. Have you heard of God, whose
voice speaks in this way? Have you heard his voice in the
gospel? come unto you in the darkness,
come unto you in your rebellion and say you're mine, you're mine
and I have forgiven thee because I have taken your sin and washed
it away. If you have, if you have, if
you have heard that voice Or if you hear that voice, if you
come to hear that voice, if you come to know that truth, if you
come to know that Gospel, if you come to know that Saviour,
then you will know the glory of this Lord. The glory of God,
the glory of Jesus Christ, the glory of the Saviour, the glory
of His salvation. And with all your strength and
all your being, when the psalmist says unto you, give unto the
Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength,
you will give all glory and strength that you can give. Your heart
of faith will rise up in thankfulness and worship, and you will say,
this God loved me when I hated him. This God had compassion
on me when I didn't care for Him. This Saviour died for me
that I should live when I deserved to die forever. He redeemed me. he suffered in my place he went
to the place where I should go he went into the place of judgment
he placed himself under the fires of God's wrath where I should
have gone because he loved me because he loved me and your
heart will rise up and give unto the Lord the glory you under
his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. True worship cannot come from
any other heart. The dead sinner may hear this
gospel, may hear these truths, may know of Jesus Christ, may
know of the God who speaks, may know all the facts, but they
have no faith in the heart. And they cannot worship. You
cannot worship except you have faith. You can say the words. You can acknowledge what the
scriptures say of God. But there's no holiness in your
heart. There's no righteousness within.
So your worship is of nothing worth. Your words are of nothing
worth. You draw near with the lips when
the heart is far from God. It's a deceit, it's hypocrisy,
it's a lie. It's a deception, it's an appearance
before man to appear righteous, to appear holy. It's a striving
to come before God by your own works, in your own glory and
say, well I say this and I do this and I attempt to worship
like this. Aren't I worthy? When the heart is full of sin
and rebellion. If there's no faith there, there's
no holiness there. But if God has come your way,
as I have said, and the Spirit has come into your pathway, and
spoken grace and life, unto your soul. If he's quickened you unto
life, if he's spoken forgiveness unto your soul, if he's led you
to the cross and a saviour crucified for sinners, if he put faith
in your heart, then your worship springing from faith will spring
from that life which has been cleansed in the blood of Christ,
a life which is full of righteousness, a life which is holy, and your
worship will be the worship of holiness. Worship the Lord in
the beauty of holiness. Because he is holy, be ye holy
as I am holy. Because he is holy, if you're
his, you're holy. You're one with him, you're wed
to him, you see his beauty. And as the bride of Christ, You
share His beauty. Give unto the Lord the glory
due unto His name. Oh, what a wonderful introduction
to this psalm. Oh, what glory is due unto His
name. Oh, what glory. But as I say,
the psalm envelops this sevenfold description of the voice of the
Lord with this call to give, and these words at the end, The
Lord will give strength unto his people. The Lord will bless
his people with peace. David exhorts God's people to
give unto the Lord praise. But he does it. because the Lord
has already given them strength. He's already blessed his people
with peace. Until God gives you strength,
until God blesses you with peace, you have no strength to praise
him, no ability to worship him of whom you do not know. But
if God in his gospel comes unto you and gives you who are so
weak, so dead, so empty, strength and wisdom and grace, if he blesses
you with peace, then you will in return give unto him the glory
due unto his name. Give unto the Lord, for the Lord
will give strength. and to his people. The voice
of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of glory, Phandreth. The Lord is upon many waters. This God is a God of glory. He is a God of glory. He's glorious
in all his being and in all his ways. But his glory shines forth
in its brightness through his son and the work of his son in
bringing this strength of whom the psalmist speaks and this
peace unto his people. The glory of God is seen in the
salvation of sinners. The glory of God is seen in the
redemption of sinners. And the voice of God is full
of activity in bringing about that redemption. We speak of
the voice of God in creation. and the voice which brought this
natural world into being is the same voice that speaks and a
dead soul lives it's the same voice that brings forth the new
creation it's the same voice that speaks and dead sinners
live it's the same voice and there's the glory of God
in that he comes unto sinners dead in trespasses and sins and
comes in the person of His Son, who takes their sin, and takes
the judgment of their sin, and takes the judgment and the sin
away, that as a consequence, He can speak and they live, and
they come forth from the grave with Him, without any sin. Oh, what glory there is in His
salvation. This sevenfold description of
the voice of the Lord is not merely some random description
of various aspects of God's almighty power. It's not David simply
speaking of various aspects of how wonderful God is, how mighty
God is, how strong God is. But it is a sevenfold description
that speaks in essence of the glory of God in the Gospel. The voice of the Lord is upon
the waters. It begins. And it ends with the voice of
the Lord, make of the hinds the calf. Now the voice upon the
waters is the same voice of the Spirit of God which went upon
the waters in the beginning the same voice which brought about
the creation and the same voice which judged this world when
man fell into wickedness and God sent judgment at the time
of Noah and poured forth the rains upon the world in judgment
and flooded the world it's the same voice which comes forth
in judgment and it's the same voice which will cause sinners
in the last day to be plunged under the waters as it were to
drown them, to judge them because of the iniquity of their sins
it's the same voice which comes upon the waters of our iniquity
which comes and speaks unto sinners and either speaks blessing or
curse him, either speaks life or death, either speaks forgiveness
or judgment forevermore. The voice of the Lord is upon
the waters, speaks of God's judgment and his righteousness, for that's
where the gospel begins. The voice of the Lord which makes
the hinds to calve, speaks of life speaks of the bringing forth
of life. And that is the end of the gospel.
That's the purpose. It begins with righteousness
and the result is the bringing forth of life. Life from the
dead. The voice of the Lord is upon
the waters. The God of glory, this God of
glory thundereth. The Lord is upon many waters.
This righteous judgment It's like the sound of thunder. It's
fearful. When we first come to hear God's
voice, this is where it begins. O sinner, have you heard God's
voice? If you begin to hear it, this
is where you'll hear it. This is where it starts, an awakening,
an awareness of where we are before Him. A sense of his anger
against sin. You cannot begin with the voice
that makes the carves, that hinds to carve. You must begin with
the first voice which sounds. The first utterance. The thundering of God's judgment. Now many take the things of Jesus
Christ and His Gospel and try to water it down in a manner
that they can present to dead sinners to convince dead sinners
that they are actually saved and to get many into their meetings. They turn the Gospel into something
which is easy and palatable to rebellious hearts. And they say
to the wicked that God loves them. To all the wicked, to all
mankind, God loves you just as you are. And they present a gospel
that brings all the desire of your heart in this world to continue
in your sin, coupled with an entrance to heaven by believing
on Jesus Christ. And in so doing, they remove
and silence the voice of the Lord, which is upon the waters. They skip past the God of glory
that thundereth. They ignore the Lord upon many
waters, because this is fearful, and this is offensive to the
natural heart. But if you're ever to know the
voice which speaks grace and mercy and peace, if you're ever
to hear that voice that says, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, you will first hear a voice of judgment. a voice that thundereth
a voice upon many waters you will first know and feel and
sense the depth of the iniquity within your own heart you'll
see the waters within and you'll begin to feel yourself sinking
beneath the waters of your own sin you'll begin to know that
you are drowning and dying and you'll begin to call out and
cry out for help, because then you will discover that though
you thought you were mighty, though you thought you were strong,
yet you are without strength. The psalm opens, give unto the
Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
That is addressed to the one who has faith. but without it
you will discover that you are anything but mighty though you
thought you were that you have no strength though you thought
you were full of strength that all is not well though you thought
there was peace peace when there was no peace you will discover
a voice which speaks like a sound of thunder and you will feel
and sense the depth of iniquity within Depths into which you
are plunged. Depths which go over your head. Depths in which you drown. And
if God awakens your soul and speaks, if you hear that voice
from the depths of the waters, you'll begin to call. To call
unto the voice which is upon the waters. Do you feel a voice
echoing down through the waters of your iniquity into your ears? Are you drowning? But can you
hear a voice? The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty. Two more descriptions. It must
be powerful for this voice to sink down. through the many depths
of water through the many layers, the many feet, the many miles
of the iniquity that's above your head it must be powerful
if it can reach into the hard and the dead hearts of men and
women like you and I the voice of the Lord is full of majesty
this voice which is upon the waters This voice which is so
powerful it can speak and the whole heaven and earth was brought
into being. This voice which can speak to
the hardest of hearts and bring even the worst of sinners unto
eternal life. This voice which is so powerful
is full of majesty. because this is the voice of
the Lord that sitteth upon the flood, the Lord that sitteth
king forever. He speaks, his voice is upon
the waters because he sits and reigns over the flood. He's above
and over the sin of mankind. He reigns over this world. He
sits king forever and this king from his sovereign throne speaks
and his voice comes down into the depths of this world, it
comes into your soul, it comes down through the waters of your
sin, it comes powerfully down into the heart and you hear a
voice which is full of majesty. Because if you ever hear this
voice, you're hearing the voice of a king. You're not just hearing
words on a page, you're not just hearing the words of a preacher,
though you may hear the words of a preacher, but if you hear
this voice, the voice of the Lord, the voice of the Spirit
of God, the voice of the Son of God, if you hear that voice,
you're hearing a voice full of majesty. You're hearing the King. And when He comes unto His people
and speaks, He comes unto them and speaks their name. And they
who are so small, so poor, so weak, such nothings, hear the
voice of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, calling their
name in the darkness. There they are in the darkness. sinking down in the waters, drowning,
dying. And a voice calls their name. There they were, lost, thinking
they had no escape, no strength. They discovered where they were. They came to discover what they
are and where they were. And here's this voice calling. And it's a voice of majesty,
full of majesty. It's the King calling. If that
doesn't melt you, I don't know what will. Oh, the grace and the mercy of
God, that he will speak to such wretched sinners by name in the
darkness, in the floods, upon the waters. The voice of the
Lord breaketh the cedars. Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars
of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like
a calf, Lebanon and Syrian like a young unicorn. The voice of
the Lord divideth 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 discovereth the forests. Now this God who
speaks in righteousness, this God whose voice is upon the waters,
this God whose voice is powerful and full of majesty, this God
so described is a God that breaks the cedars. that divides the
flames of fire, that shakes the wilderness, and as a consequence,
makes the hind to calve. Now what is this? But a threefold
description of the judgment of God against sin at the cross
in his own son, Jesus Christ. He breaks the cedars, he divides
the flames of fire, He shakes the wilderness and as a consequence
the hinds bring forth calves and the forests are discovered. You see he's breaking the cedars,
he's breaking the trees. And we know throughout the scriptures
the importance of the trees. Man when he was created was created
in a garden. surrounded by trees, told he
could eat of the fruit of every tree, but not of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. There were two great trees in
the garden, the tree of life, of which if he'd eaten, he'd
have lived forevermore, and the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. he chose to turn his back upon his God as you and
I have done and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil eating of that wisdom of man that turned us from God in
our own pride and our own rebellion and it cursed us eating of the
law the do's and the don'ts go this way and do this and you
will be righteous striving to make ourselves right before a
holy God rather than coming humbly under Him and coming under Christ
and eating of the tree of life. We ate of that tree and it cursed
us. It brought forth the judgment
of God. And that judgment is upon our
heads and will be upon our heads if it's not answered by another.
But the Gospel makes known a Saviour who came and was nailed to a
tree in the place of sinners. He was nailed to a tree upon
which He bore their sins. He was nailed to a tree upon
which the writing of the ordinances of the law as pictured by the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil were nailed and taken
away forever. He was nailed to a tree and he
broke the cedars in being so nailed. The voice of the Lord
divideth the flames of fire. When he was nailed to that tree,
in order to take her people and cause them to be planted by the
waters as trees of righteousness. When he was nailed to that tree,
in order that he should bring forth life, cause the hinds to
calf and discovereth the forest, in order that he should take
a great company of people and plant them by the waters and
bring forth a forest of trees of righteousness, wed with him,
one with him. When he was nailed to that tree,
The Lord God sent forth his judgment against his own son in fire. He took their sin and made him
to be it. He took their sins and laid them
upon him and the consequence was His wrath, his anger, his
judgment poured down from heaven upon his own son. The voice of the Lord divideth
the flames of fire. When Adam and Eve, having eaten
of that tree, were cast out of the Garden of Eden, cast out,
There was a sword which turned every way that prevented them
entering in again. And you could only enter back
in to such a place if you went through that sword and went through
the fire. Well, the voice of the Lord broke
the cedars of Lebanon. It took the tree and it broke
it. It took the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil which cursed us and destroyed it and took
its judgments away. Took the handwriting of ordinances
which were against us. They were nailed to the tree
of Christ to the cross and they were taken away. God broke the
cedars. And he divided the flames of
fire which poured down in judgment upon his own son. And as a consequence,
the voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness. The Lord shaketh
the wilderness of Kadesh. He shook the wilderness. There
we were, cast out from the Garden of Eden, cast out the other side
of the burning flaming sword, cast out into a wilderness. There we were in the wilderness
and here we are by nature in a wilderness, outside of God's
garden, outside of God's glory, no means of getting to the tree
of life, no means of entering into his forest, no means of
bringing calves forth in life, no means of living, no means
of salvation, we're in a wilderness. the same God whose voice is upon
the waters, the same God whose voice is powerful, the same God
whose voice is full of majesty, the same God whose voice breaks
the cedars, the same God whose voice divides the flames of fire,
shakes the wilderness, his voice shaketh the wilderness, he comes
to us in the wilderness and in the darkness in his gospel and
because Christ died, because he was nailed to the tree, because
he divided the flames of fire, because he swallowed up the judgment,
he brings his gospel into the wilderness and speaks by his
spirit in the darkness of this world, wherever you may be. You may have run as far off from
God as you possibly can, you may be hiding in the darkest
wilderness, and when His voice comes, skipping across the waters,
entering into the darkness of your soul, entering, breaking
through the cedars, breaking the flames of fire, it will come. shaken the wilderness in which
you dwell shaken the wilderness of your soul shaken the wilderness
of Kadesh and it will come in as a powerful storming blast
and it will come in in the end because of all that he spake
and all that was done and all that this voice is and has said
it will come in to your soul and the voice of the Lord will
make the hinds to carve and discover the forest. It will bring forth
life in your dead soul, if you hear this voice. That's the consequence,
that's the result of the breaking of the cedars, the dividing of
the flames of fire, and the shaking of the wilderness. That's the
result of this voice which began upon the waters, which funded,
which is powerful, which is a voice full of majesty. When this king
comes with his voice into your wilderness and speaks, then hinds
will come. There will be life. Your dead
soul will live. and it will skip and it will
leap up and it will find itself planted as a tree beside the
waters in a great forest surrounded by other trees all of whom lift
up their arms, lift up their branches, lift up their leaves
in praise and glory unto the God that gave them strength and
blessed them with peace. In his temple doth everyone speak
of his glory. Have you heard this sevenfold
voice? Has he come into the darkness? Has he come into the wilderness
of your soul? Has he come in through the depths
of the waters of iniquity in which you found yourself drowning?
Has he spoken to you? Has your dead soul brought forth
life? If he has, then you, gathered
into his temple with his people, will speak, as with everyone,
of his glory. Of his glory. Because the Lord
sitteth upon the flood. Yea, the Lord sitteth in forever. You were drowning. You were in
darkness, you were flooded. You were as those in Noah's day
when the rain came, when you were wicked, when you weren't
in the ark, when you were drowning. The rains came, the storms came,
the judgment came and it was swallowing you up and you thought
you were God and this God comes in the darkness and speaks and
delivers you and puts you upon dry ground. and you find him
sitting up above the flood over above it he's over it he's not
under it he's not like the wicked he's not affected by it he rules
over all and you see him sitting upon a throne the king forever
and having heard his voice You can say and you know that the
Lord will give strength unto His people. I was there, I had
no strength. I was lost, I was drowning, I
was dead and He heard and He came unto me and He spake and
I heard His voice and He delivered me. The Lord will give strength
unto His people. The Lord will bless His people
with peace. Oh, what a consequence! What
an effect of this voice! that here we are, this God gives
under his people and he blesses them with peace. How do you know the peace of
God's salvation? Do you know peace within your
heart? Or are you troubled on every
side? Where are you today? In your
heart is there peace? Do you know that all is well
with God? Do you know that all is well
with your soul? Do you know God's salvation? Do you know the Saviour? Do you
know the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you heard Him? Do
you hear Him? Do you hear Him each day? Are
you walking with Him? Are you living with Him? Are
you journeying to that day and that place where you will live
and reign with Him forevermore? Is your soul at peace? Or is
there a warfare within? Is there trouble within? Do you
fear? Do you know you don't know God? Do you know that you're a sinner?
Do you know that your heart is flooded with iniquity? Do you
know that God will find you wanting in the end? Are you full of fear? Or are you listening in those
waters? for the sound of a voice upon
the waters. Are you listening for a God of
glory who fundrifts? Are you listening for the Lord
who is upon many waters? In the depths of your darkness,
can you hear that voice in the gospel upon the waters? Speak in peace unto your soul
as he leads you by faith. to a sight of a saviour nailed
to a tree, who broke the cedars, who divided the flames of fire,
who shook the wilderness. that His people might be brought
forth, that His people might be made a forest, that His people
might be gathered into the temple where everyone, everyone speaks
of His glory. Do you know, have you heard the
voice of the Lord? Amen.