Lynn is, her white count is way
down, and she's on some kind of, they've given her a shot
that's supposedly going to raise it, and she'll find out in the
morning, you know, when she goes, but she feels good. I'm thankful
for that. But her white count is way down
right now, so everybody remember her. We should turn to Psalm
29. Now, you'll notice when we read
this psalm seven times, we read of the voice of God. Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty,
give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord
the glory due unto 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 Syria one of the
highest peaks in the mountains of Lebanon. They skip 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. They give birth at His voice
and discovereth the forests. And in His temple doth 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. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that we might hear your voice in your word. Lord, we don't want to hear the
voice of a man We want to hear the voice of the living God from
his word. Lord, we ask that your voice
would break our hearts. We ask that your voice would
create life. We ask that the voice of your
gospel might be clearly heard. We give thanks that you're pleased
to speak for Christ's sake. We give thanks for your salvation.
May we be enabled to worship thy dear son. Lord, we pray for
those of our number that are sick, that are sorrowing, that
are going through trial. We pray for your blessing and
healing hand to be upon them. Lord, we ask that you'd accept
our thanksgiving for Christ's sake. We're so thankful for who
you are. We're thankful that you sent
your son into this world to save your people from their sins.
Forgive us of our sins for Christ's sake. Lord, we pray that you
unite our hearts together to fear your name. Bless us for
the Lord's sake. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. I suppose if I was going to try
to give this psalm a title, I would call it the voice of the Lord. The voice of the Lord. Seven times we read in Psalm
29 of the voice of God and Christ is the voice of God. You know when it says the voice
of God was walking In the cool of the day toward Adam. I have
no doubt that that is the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember when
God was in the still small voice with Elijah? I have no doubt
that is the Lord Jesus Christ. You will remember the Lord saying,
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. It was his voice that said, Lazarus,
come forth. And he that was dead came forth. It was his voice that rebuked
the wind and the waves and the sea, and there was a great calm. Don't you want to hear his voice
from his word? Oh, I do. I pray that the Lord
will be pleased to cause us to be just like Samuel. Speak, Lord. Speak, Lord. Thy servant heareth. Now look in this Psalm, verse
one, Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty,
give unto the Lord glory and strength. Now you and I both
know that we cannot give anything to the Lord. What that is speaking
of is ascribe ye to the Lord. Acknowledge, ascribe to him glory
and strength. I can't give him glory and says,
Oh, thanks. You know, I can't give him strength.
He's omnipotent, but I can ascribe to him glory and I can ascribe
to him strength. And notice it says, give unto
the Lord. Oh ye mighty. Now, several people
that I read said, this is a reference to angelic beings. And it may
be, I wouldn't say it's not, but my marginal reading says,
the sons of the mighty, the sons of God, which every believer
is a child of God, given to the Lord, O ye mighty, given to the
Lord, glory, and strength. Ascribe all glory to Him. Ascribe omnipotence to Him. Give unto the Lord, verse two,
the glory due unto His name, and worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. Now, given to the Lord the glory
that's due His name. What's His name? His name's who
He is. His name is His attributes. His
name is His sovereignty. His name is His justice. His
name is His holiness. His name is His immutability. He can't change. His name is
His eternality. I love to think about this. Not
that I can. He never had a beginning. He never began to be. He'll never
end. given to the Lord the glory due
to his name. What glory is due to his name? What majesty and honor is due
to his name? He tells every child of God,
give him the glory due to his name. And I think as much as
anything else, that means fear him. That's what it is to give
him glory. It's to fear him, that fear,
which is the beginning of wisdom, fear him. And notice what it
says, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Now that
has two meanings, both of which are equally true. Number one,
it's only the Holy nature that worships God. It is impossible
for a natural man to worship God. It is only that holy nature
that he gives, that every believer possesses. And oh, it's so beautiful. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. And this word holiness is also
translated many times in the scripture, the sanctuary, the
sanctuary. And I always think it's, Weird
how churches call their auditoriums sanctuaries. Christ is the sanctuary. He is the house of God. It's not some silly room men
have put up. Christ is the sanctuary. And the only way I can worship
him is in the Lord Jesus Christ. With the holy nature in the Lord
Jesus Christ, my hiding place. Now he speaks of the voice of
the Lord. And he says in verse three, The
voice of the Lord is upon many waters. The waters, rather. He goes on
to say many waters. But what sounds more powerful
than the ocean? It's deafening. I mean, you walk
along when you walk along the beach and you hear the roar of
the ocean, it's deafening. It's powerful. And the voice
of the Lord is as the waters. The God of glory thundereth. Now, I know there's a scientific
explanation for thunder. It has something to do with the
lightning heating up the air and there's a change in air passing.
Clap, you have that thunder. But the Lord is the cause of
that. And what is more powerful sounding
than thunder? That's the Lord's voice to let
us know of his power. The Lord is upon many waters. Verse four, the voice of the
Lord is powerful, omnipotent. Now you think of the voice of
the Lord that he exercised in creation when he spake the world
into existence. Is that powerful? Light be, and
light was. Oh, how powerful his voice is
in creation. The voice of the Lord is powerful
in providence. And this is the example I thought
of. When Shimei was cursing David. You ever been cursed by somebody?
You ever been Had people say things harshly toward you? Well, Shimei was cursing David
and Abshi said, you want me to go take his head off? And David
said, no, the Lord said, curse David. Now the Lord's voice is
so powerful. That's an example of how everything
that happens in providence happens at his command. The Lord said,
curse David. No, don't take off his head.
He's only doing what the Lord told him to do. Now, what that
is a reminder to us is it's the voice of the Lord that is behind
every event. It happens because he says for
it to happen. Aren't you thankful it's that
way? I'm so grateful. how the voice of the Lord is
seen in salvation, the power of his voice. I love what the
centurion said to the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, speak the word
only and my servant shall be healed. Now that is the powerful
voice of the Lord. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord, verse
four is full of majesty, splendor, honor, glory, excellency. Verse five, the voice of the
Lord breaketh the cedars, yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars
of Lebanon. Now that was the hardest wood.
You read so much in the Old Testament about the cedars of Lebanon.
That's what they built the temple with and the viewers of wood,
the experts in cutting up these cedars of Lebanon, they were
so hard. But you know what the voice of the Lord does? Splinters
them, breaks them, crushes them. And I love to think of the Lord
crushing with his voice the hardened heart and making the hardened
heart to be broken and to hear. That's what that's a reference
to. The voice of the Lord breaks. We can be so arrogant and so
cocky and so filled with ourselves. Lord takes care of that when
he speaks, and it is no more. He breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. Verse six, he maketh them also
to skip. And that word skip is dance.
It's talking about movement. These mighty cedars, all of a
sudden there is movement. And then he speaks of the highest
peak in the cedars of Lebanon, Sirion. It skips like a young,
it moves like a young unicorn or bull dancing, writhing around. Now the point is motion. The
point is motion. That which cannot move is moved. Now what is spiritual motion? Coming to Christ. That is spiritual
motion. Coming from the place of deadness
to the place of salvation and the voice of God causes that
to happen. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. That's the voice of God. You
come and him that cometh to me. He promised I will in no wise
for no reason cast out. Now that's the voice of God.
It causes this spiritual motion. You know, I can preach till my,
um, can't say anything else. It won't do a thing. He won't
do a thing. But when God speaks through the
preaching of his word, when God speaks, people come to Christ,
not in my voice, but at his voice. Now look in verse seven. The
voice of the Lord divided the flames of fire. Now that's a reference to lightning.
The forks of lightning. And the psalmist is thinking
of the Lord's voice as lightning. Oh, how powerful, how enlightening. Have you looked at lightning
going across the midnight sky? How bright, it's so bright and
it's just awesome and amazing. And it gives light in darkness.
That is the voice of the Lord. Verse eight, the voice of the
Lord shaketh the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness
of Kadesh, or the holy place. This is the power of his voice,
shakes. Verse nine, the voice of the
Lord makes the hinds to calve. Now this is talking about the
doe has its babies at the voice of the Lord. The point being,
the voice of the Lord creates life. Oh, I pray that the voice of
the Lord creates life in me and creates life in you. That's talking
about spiritual life. When the Lord said with regard
to the man that was beaten up and left
half dead, he was half dead. He was alive physically, but
he was dead spiritually, half dead. Alive physically, but not
spiritually. It's only the voice of the Lord
that can create spiritual life and bring about birth. Of his
own will begat he us with the word of truth. Oh, what power
there is in his voice. And it discovereth the forest,
it makes bare the forest. Here's the point, when God speaks, there's discovery, there's revelation,
there's making bare. He makes bare the force, the
deep force where you can't see what's in it, all of a sudden
you see. Now what that means is first
of all, when God speaks, we're made to see who He is. You know,
we can't see who he is. We have our guesses and we have
our thoughts and our natural thoughts with regard to God,
but they're all wrong. Every one of them are wrong.
Everything I think naturally about God is wrong. And you know,
I believe that. But when God speaks, You find
out who he is. Joe put it this way. I've heard
of thee with the hearing of the ears, but now mine eye seeth
thee. Wherefore I hate myself and repent
in dust and ashes. He saw who he was. And when the
Lord reveals who he is, it's always this way. He reveals who
he is. And that's when you see who you
are. You won't see who you are until you see who he is. And
if you see who he is, you will see who you are. Now, somebody
that's walking in pride and arrogance, they just haven't seen the Lord. It is that simple. They haven't
seen the Lord. If somebody sees the Lord, it's
gonna humble them. You're going to see who you are
and you're going to see salvation is of the Lord. That's what you'll
understand when God speaks. The voice of the Lord makes the
hinds to calve and it discovers the force. There's revelation
in his voice. And I love this statement in
his temple. Now that's not talking about
a physical building. Every believer makes up the temple
of God, don't they? That's mysterious, it's glorious.
The temple of God is not some physical temple. Now, that physical
temple was given to represent the true temple of God, His people,
His body, every member of His church. Now, in His temple there
are no exceptions to this rule. In His temple doth everyone speak
of His glory. You know, I have no doubt that
every believer will respond positively to Jesus Christ getting all the
glory and salvation. You know that's so, and you don't
want to hear anything else. You won't hear anything else.
But that which gives him all the glory, and as I've said several
times, there's two reasons for that. One, because he deserves
all the glory. And second, I want him to have all the glory because
if he doesn't get all the glory, something's expected out of me.
And if something's expected out of me, I'm in trouble. But I
want him to have all the glory because he deserves all the glory.
And that lets me know that salvation is all what he does in his temple. In his temple, does everyone
without exception speak of his glory? We love him getting all
the glory in salvation. Verse 10, the Lord does what
only he can do. He sits on the flood. Now what
happens if you or I try to sit down on the flood or in the sea?
We sink, don't we? But not the Lord. This is showing
us his omnipotence at all times. And even the flood, unstable
as water. You know, I think it's interesting
how in creation, Water, water everywhere. I don't understand
all that. Water above, water beneath. The earth was covered
with water. But water, what water speaks
of is instability. And the Lord has absolute control
over instability. And he sits, he sits upon the
flood. Not pacing back and forth worrying. He sits in absolute control of
the flood. Now I don't understand. why he
sent the tornadoes. He does. And the Lord's always
good. And I don't want to be hardened
toward those people. I want to be, you know, what
that could happen to me. That could happen to you. The
Lord said it, but here's the point. He reigns. He sits on the flood in uncontested
sovereignty. None can stay his hand. We're
saying to him, what doest thou? Give it an explanation for yourself.
He sits on the flood. Yea, the Lord sitteth king forever. Now, king. He's prophet. Aren't you thankful for him being
the word of God, bringing you the word of God? He's priest. Oh, I want him to be my representative
and bring me before the father as my great high priest. He's
priest. But really none of that is effectual
unless he's king. Now, the verb form of king is
reign. I need him as my king to reign
in me. I need him as my king to cause
me to believe because he reigns and his will is done. I need
him as my king to save me. He sitteth on the floods, on
the waters as king. And then we're given this promise
in verse 14, The Lord will give strength unto
his people. The Lord will bless his people
with peace. Now, his people. There are people called his people. I shall be to them a God and
they shall be to me a people. That's the word of God. Thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save," who? His people. His people from their sins. Now,
what that is a reminder to us is that God is God and his people
are the people he calls his people. I'm going to say this in the
preaching service, but you know the best way to begin with an
unbeliever is election. There's a people called his people
and what that lets the people know who are listening, God's
God. Election is God being God. And if I was going to begin to
preach to some people who had never heard the gospel, Here's
where I'd want to begin. God is God. That means you're
in his hand. That means your eternal destiny
is up to him. Isn't that a good place to begin? I think it's almost amusing how
people say, well, you ought not preach election to unbelievers.
Why not? It's the best thing they can
hear. It's where we begin. The character of God, who God
is. Now, there's somebody called
his people. His people. That's scriptural. Somebody says, I don't like that.
I do. I do. His people. Now, look at this
promise. The Lord will give strength unto
his people. Now, strength is the power to
do. That man with the withered hand,
he couldn't stretch it forth. He couldn't believe. He couldn't
repent. He couldn't love. He couldn't
see God. When the Lord said, stretch forth
thine hand, he stretched it forth. The Lord will give strength. Paul said, I can do all things
through Christ which strengthens me. Now, I realize people try
to use that verse to say you can do anything you want, you
can succeed, you can become the president, you can make money.
That has nothing to do with what that verse of scripture means.
Not a thing. But what He requires you to do,
He gives you the strength to do it. The Lord will give strength. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Now you're gonna have to be willing.
And the only way you'll be willing is Him making you willing in
the day of His power. The Lord will give strength to
His people. And the Lord will bless his people with peace. Now, there's only one thing that
gives me peace. Listen real carefully. There's
one thing that gives me peace. That everything God requires
of me, I have in Christ Jesus. That everything God requires
of me, he looks to Christ for. I have the peace of knowing that
before God, because of what Christ did only, I have nothing but
peace. I'm wholly unblameable, I'm unapprovable,
perfect in Christ Jesus. That's the peace of God that
passes all understanding. He will give strength. He will
give peace. You see, Christ Jesus is our
peace. Having made peace through the
blood of his cross, we have peace. He will give strength. He will
give peace. The voice of God. What a voice.