Okay, let's take a look this
evening at Psalm 29. Psalm 29. And I'm giving the
title to the message this evening from what is most obvious from
what is said six times. We read about the voice of the
Lord. The voice of the Lord. Would it be a miracle of grace
to hear in our heart God speak to us through His Word in the
power of God the Holy Spirit. The voice of the Lord is mighty. The voice of the Lord thunders
and it is most powerful. Again, this is another gospel
psalm. The voice of the Lord is another
way of saying the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord is
quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. The voice
of the Lord is the word of the Lord. We know God's spoken to
the fathers by the prophets he hath in these last days spoken
unto us by the word of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
what? In beginning was the word, and
the word was with God, and the word was God, and the word would
make flesh and dwelt among us. So this psalm is another gospel
psalm all about the word of the Lord, the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that is the power of God, the power and dynamite
and lightning of God unto salvation. That's why the apostle said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of
God unto salvation. The dynamite of God unto salvation. Now let's look at verses one
and two. Verses one and two. Give unto the Lord. Those who
have heard his voice and heard his word in power, their desire
is to give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, O ye sons of God. Give
unto the Lord glory, Give Him all honor and glory and give
Him strength. Now, can we give anything to
Him in that way? Can we strengthen the Lord? No. Give unto the Lord the glory
due unto His name. God has given Him a name which
is above every name. At that name, know the name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. That name Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. Give glory to His name. Worship Him and do so. This is the only way we can worship
Him. Worship the Lord now in the beauty of holiness. Worship the Lord in holiness.
Now three times in these two verses we're told to give unto
the Lord. What could we possibly give unto
him? Neither men nor angels can add
anything unto the all-sufficient, eternal Jehovah God. Hold your place there and turn
over here to Psalm 50. Psalm 50. He said, if I were
hungry, I wouldn't ask you. The Lord is almighty and all-sufficient. Psalm 50. Look at verse 10. For every beast of the forest
is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all
the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field,
they're all mine. The earth is the Lord, and the
fullness thereof. If I were hungry, I would not
tell thee, for the world is mine, and all the fullness thereof.
Everything is his. Everything belongs to Him. So
then what is David saying here when he says, give glory, give
honor, give strength unto the Lord? He's saying this, ascribe,
attribute, and acknowledge unto the Lord, celebrate who He is,
and ascribe glory, strength, and power, and worship the Lord. Give unto the Lord the glory
due His name, that is, acknowledge that God is God. That God is
God, that He has strength, that He has power. The only place
a sinner will absolutely worship is at the throne of an almighty,
sovereign God. That's the only place worship
takes place. And then it says, oh you mighty,
oh you sons of God. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God.
All men everywhere should honor the Son, shouldn't they? But
sadly they don't, but the sons of God, they do. Believers readily,
quickly give all honor and glory and blessing unto His matchless
name. Remember in the book of Galatians,
What Paul said, God forbid we should glory save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Give unto the Lord the glory
that's due His name. I thought of this scripture.
Don't turn, let me just read it to you. John 5, 23. The Father
judgeth no man, but committeth all judgment unto the Son, that
all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which
hath sent me. Give all honor and glory due
unto his name. He can't worship God apart from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers do desire above all
to worship Him and to do so in spirit and in truth. Not with
cumbered ceremony, not with traditions of men. Remember our Lord said,
in vain they do worship me, teaching for commandments the doctrines
of men. Not with ceremony, not with traditions
of men, but in simplicity, in our heart before God, acknowledging
that God is God. You remember Paul's sermon on
Mars Hill? He said, God is God, God is in
the heavens. He doesn't dwell, and he's not
confined. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth.
Well, if not in temple made with hands, neither is worship with
men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing that he giveth
to all life and breath." He did not worship with our hands, in
our heart is where we honor and worship God. And he says to do
so, look what he says in the last part of verse 2. Give unto
the Lord the glory due his name. Now God's highly exalted his
name. Worship the Lord. Worship Him. Who is the Lord? Worship Him
as Lord. And do so in the beauty of holiness. Now, we don't have any holiness
that's inherent to us, do we? The only holiness and the only
beauty we have is His. is His. So we only worship God
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The only true beauty and perfect
holiness and perfect righteousness is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's called the Lord our righteousness. Our Lord said this, I am the
way, I am the truth, I am the life, And then he said, no one
comes to the father but by and through me. We have no access
to God who is holy, apart from the designated mediator, the
surety of the covenant, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
look at verse three, down through verse nine, we have various descriptions
of the voice of the Lord and the almighty powerful effect
upon its target, not only in the kingdom of nature, but also
in the kingdom of grace, in raising dead sinners to life. Notice verse 3. The voice of the Lord is upon
the waters. The God of glory thundereth. The Lord is upon great, great
waters. Our Lord said this, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, 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. He speaks, and it's done. He
commands, and it stands fast. When he says, Lazarus, come forth,
What's going to happen? Lazarus, who was dead, came forth. When God says, Sinner, live,
we live. In Him we live and move and have
our being. Verse 3, the voice of the Lord. The voice of the Lord is upon
the waters, the God of glory. I love that statement. You see
that in the middle part of verse 3? The God of glory thunders. Did you ever think about that
in a thunderstorm, in a lightning storm? Did you ever think about
the glory of God as He thunders and that sky lightens up with
the lightning and you hear that thunder roll and it almost causes
it to echo within you when that loud crack of thunder That's
power, isn't it? The God of glory thunders. Every time I'm in a thunderstorm,
I think of God speaking. The God of glory thunders. And He is the God of all grace,
and He is the God of all glory, isn't He? The Lord is upon many
waters. Storms, rain, Thunder, lightnings
are all sent and controlled by the sovereign God of all creation. He controls the weather, whether
it's a drought or a flood. He sends a storm and he sends
a calm after the storm, both the fair weather and the foul
weather. This all speaks of his sovereign majesty. I don't like
to hear people talk about Mother Nature. Mother Nature did this,
or Mother Nature did that. Oh, no. God Almighty controls
all things, a flood or a drought. He sends the floods. The voice
of the Lord is upon great waters. The flood in Noah's day came
by the what? The decree of God. God said,
let it rain. And it rained and rained and
rained. The flood in Noah's day or any
flood in our day It's the Lord who sends the flood and the Lord
who stops the flood, isn't it? That's true in nature, right?
But it's also true in the kingdom of grace. All things are controlled
by God. It's true in the kingdom of grace.
God sends almighty storms of His mercy. the water of his word,
the lightning of his grace, the thunder of the gospel, where,
when, and to whom he pleases, and when he sends mercy to whom
he will. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that shows mercy. He'll
show mercy to someone over here and leave the other man over
here to his own devices and perish in his willful rebellion against
God. And yet he'll reach way down over here and pick a sinner
up and save him by his grace. He'll have mercy on whom he will
have mercy. Just as he sends rain over here
in this part of the county, and they have a plentiful rain, and
over here on this part of the county, doesn't rain a drop.
God will have mercy on whom he will. He reigns on the just and
the unjust. The voice of the Lord is in the
waters of his word, isn't it? The water of his word, the voice
of the Lord. He said to that woman at the
well, he said, You drink of this natural water, you'll first thirst
again. But if you drink of that water
that I will give you, will be a well of water springing up
into everlasting life. And I like what she said, Lord,
give me that water. I want that kind of water. Our
Lord said, everyone that is thirsty, he said, come, come unto me. The word of the Lord is powerful,
sharper, quicker than any two-edged sword. Living, the living word. The voice of the Lord is in the
thunder of the gospel. When he speaks not in word only,
but in power. The God of glory thunders in
the gospel of God's grace, for it is called the blessed gospel
of what? The glory of God. The God of
glory thunders. He thunders in the kingdom, the
natural kingdom, but thank God he thunders in the kingdom of
grace. And He accomplishes salvation
in us. God who has begun a good work
in you, He will finish it. Look at verse 4. The voice of
the Lord. Could it be anything but powerful?
The voice of the Lord is quick and powerful, sharper than any
two-edged sword. The voice of the Lord is, and
it is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty. full of majesty and glory. We read in Ecclesiastes chapter
8 verse 4, where the word of the king is, there is power. Who can say unto him, Lord God
Almighty, what doest thou? He speaks and it's done. Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he. He said, I've spoken it. I've
purposed it. I'll bring it to pass. I will
do it. true in the kingdom of nature, but the power of the
tornado, hurricanes, lightning, earthquakes, who can accurately
gauge the measure of his power, the measure of his word when
he speaks? Remember the Pharisees sent out
some soldiers to arrest the Lord Jesus Christ one day, and they
came back without him, and they said, why didn't you bring him?
Remember what they said? No man ever spake like that man.
His word was with power. They couldn't lay a hand on him. His word is with power. When God speaks, the earth quakes,
the mountains quake. Don't they? How much more in
the kingdom of grace for who can accurately describe the measure
of his infinite limitless sovereign power of the Almighty God. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The word of the Lord is powerful.
The gospel of the Lord is powerful. And the gospel of the Lord, the
word of the Lord is full of majesty. Whose majesty? His. His majesty. He is the majestic, almighty,
sovereign King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In creation, He created
all things by the word of His power. In providence, unfolding
the events in time are merely the eternal decrees of God revealed,
known unto God are all His works from the beginning. The things
that are done is what He has decreed from eternity in His
word. The Word of the Lord. The Word
of the Lord is full of power, full of majesty. And in salvation,
the Word of the Lord convicts us of sin. The Word of the Lord
is powerful to reveal His salvation to our heart. in the gospel makes
us to know the majesty and the glory of God's salvation to sinners. This is a faithful saying and
this is worthy of all acceptation. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. Who made you to differ from another?
What do you have that you didn't receive? We receive it as a gift
of the Lord. The voice of the Lord is mighty
to save. The voice of the Lord is powerful.
And the voice of the Lord is His gospel, His word, His truth. It's full of honor and glory
and majesty. Look at verse 5. The voice of
the Lord, or the word of the Lord, or we could say the mandate
or decrees of the Lord, breaketh the cedars. Yea, the Lord breaketh
the cedar trees of Lebanon. Now when you read back through
Old Testament history, the scriptures talk a lot about the trees, the
cedar trees in Lebanon. The cedar trees in Lebanon were
well known for their lofty, proud majesty, but there is no tree
too large that cannot be whittled down to mere kindling by the
powerful word of the Lord or by a powerful strike of lightning. You ever see those Film clips
where they show lightning hitting a tree, and the tree almost like
explodes, doesn't it? There's no tree too big, too
mighty that the Lord can't bring down, even those mighty redwood
trees out there in California. Some of them are hundreds, even
thousands of years old, but the Lord can whittle them down to
nothing, mere kindling. If that's true among the trees
in the forest, How much more among the trees of men? There's
no tree among the forest of men that God can't whittle down. There is no sinner too proud,
too arrogant, or self-righteous that the voice of the Lord can't
whittle down in the dust of repentance and cause that sinner to cry
out for what? Mercy. Have mercy upon me. the sinner. I love the story
of Saul of Tarsus. He was so proud, so arrogant.
He was such a big tree, a big shot. And when God unhorsed him
and put him in the dust, old Saul of Tarsus cried out, Lord,
what would you have me to do? Lord, when the Lord sends his
word in power, it breaks the stout heart of any sinner. No heart too hard, too guilty,
Too wretched for the God of glory to save by His grace. He's nigh
them. Look what it said just across
the page over here. Psalm 34. Psalm 34. The Lord is nigh unto them of
a broken heart. Save us such as be of a contrite
spirit. The Lord is nigh unto them. Who breaks the heart? If God
ever convicts you of sin, He's going to save you by His grace.
If God ever convicts you of your sin, you're going to repent and
believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The voice of the
Lord breaketh. It's a stony heart, doesn't it?
The Lord breaketh the cedar of Lebanon. Look at verse 6. He
maketh them also to skip, Skip like a calf. Lebanon, Sirion,
like a young bullock or an oxen. Now, verse 6 mentions these mountains
here, the mountains of Lebanon, Sirion or Mount Hermon. The Lord
not only has his way with the trees, but also with the mountains.
By the command of God, mountains are melted down to nothing. You ever see them big mountains
out west? You remember Mount St. Helens? You remember that big mountain?
Snow-covered glacier mountain? What happened to that mountain?
It melted down. It blew up. It blew out. Who did that? The command of
God Almighty makes the mountains to melt. Even more so in the
Gospel The gospel of God is the dynamite of God to level mountains
of pride and self-glory. Think about this. The dying voice
of the Lord from Mount Calvary caused the rocks to rent and
the graves to open in his day. Let me read it to
you. Don't turn, let me just read it to you. Matthew 27. Matthew
27. You remember when he said, it
is finished, and the veil on the temple was rent from top
to bottom. The earth did quake, Matthew
27, 51. The rocks rent. The graves were
open. Many bodies of the saints which
slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection.
and went into the holy city and appeared unto many." When God
speaks, things are done, aren't they? Look over here at Isaiah 40.
Isaiah 40. The voice of him, verse 3. The
voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare you the way
of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a
highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,
every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord, the voice of the Lord," what? He
has spoken it. He has spoken it. He's going
to bring down the high and lofty looks of men, the pride of men,
and make them confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. Look at verse 7. The voice of
the Lord, the decrees of God, the word of the Lord divideth
the flames of fire. That word divideth. Notice a
marginal reference, cut us out or splits, splits. The voice
of the Lord divided or cut us with flames of fire. Lightning
flashes across the sky with tremendous, tremendous energy. I love to
see those pictures of the lightning. I remember one time we were staying
in a room on the beach in Daytona Beach, Florida. and there was
a lightning storm that rolled in. I stood out on that balcony
and watched the lightning dance in the clouds, and one time a
lightning strike came down and hit the water, and I was able
to take a picture of it. It was quite something to behold,
like flames of fire generating Great heat and great light. Who can measure the power of
the lightning? Who can measure the temperature?
They tell me that lightning is, I forget how many times, hotter
than even the sun. The heat and the light that's
generated in the lightning. Even more so in the kingdom of
grace. The flames of God's fire, lightning
attend the voice of God in the gospel, illuminating and melting
the stony hearts of men. When God sends out the gospel
thunder and the gospel lightning and when it strikes, You know,
they say lightning doesn't strike the same place two times. Thank
God, in the Gospel he does. He strikes over and over and
over again, warming our heart, illuminating our heart, regenerating
us and making us new creatures in Christ. Flames of fire. Remember what those men said
on the road to Emmaus? When the Lord opened to them
the Word of the Lord, did not our heart burn within us when
He spoke unto us and opened to us the Word of the Lord? Lightning
does strike. The lightning of the Gospel does
strike repeatedly in the hearts of His people. Look at verse
8. The voice of the Lord shaketh.
He shakes the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness
of Kadesh. In the desert and desolate places
of the world, the Lord still sends his mighty voice. He causes
a storm to ride upon the wasteland where no voice of man is heard,
where there's nothing there but the voice of God thunders and
shakes the wilderness. Only God can do that. Even so,
in the desolate wilderness in a sinner's heart, the Lord does
send his mighty voice. How does he do it? Through the
preaching of the gospel. He shakes our mind in conviction
of sin, breaks our stubborn will, turns a wilderness of sin into
a fruitful garden of His grace. The Lord does that. The Lord
does that by His grace. Verse 9, the voice of the Lord
maketh the hinds, the calf. That word hinds there is a reference
to a deer that's ready to have a baby deer. The voice of the
Lord maketh the deer to give its birth, and discovereth the
forest, and in his temple Doth everyone speak of His glory? His glory. The voice of the Lord
makes the deer to bring forth their young, and then He strips
the forest bare. In the kingdom of nature, the
mighty world of thunder causes the deer or the sheep or other
animals to cast forth their offspring. In the kingdom of grace, we are
regenerated and born from above by the mighty voice of the Lord. Are we not? The voice of the
Lord, of His own will, beget He us with what? The word of
truth. We're born again, not of a corruptible
seed, but of an incorruptible seed by the word of the Lord. When He speaks, there's a birth. There's the birth from above.
We are born again by His power, by His word. And those who were
born again and put in the kingdom of God by His grace, adopted
by love, saved by His grace, and put in His temple, what did
they speak about? Look at the last part of verse
nine. They speak about, oh, you know, I made such a decision.
I let Jesus save me. God did His part and I did my
part. No, everyone that's saved by
His grace and put in the body of Christ in His church, which
is His temple, they all speak of His glory. When Isaiah saw
him, he spake of his glory. Remember? When Isaiah saw him,
he spake of his glory. Those who have heard his voice
in the word of the gospel, those who have had a soul-shaking,
Christ-shaking experience of grace in their heart, conviction
of sin, giving us a glorious revelation of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We speak about what He has done.
We speak about His glory. Not unto us, O Lord. Turn over
to Psalm 115. Not unto us, O Lord. Remember
Psalm 115? Not unto us, O Lord. Not unto
us, but unto Thy name give glory for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's
sake. Psalm 115, verse 1. Not unto
us. Not unto us, but unto thy name we give glory
for your mercy and for your truth's sake. For the gospel's sake,
we give glory unto his name. Look at verse 10. The Lord sitteth upon the floods, When He by Himself
purged our sin, He sat down on the right hand of the throne
of God. The Lord sitteth. He's not, as
some people say, that He's walking up there in heaven, looking over
the banisher of heaven, wringing His hands, all upset because
things aren't working out. That's not the God of glory.
The God of glory sits in absolute Sovereignty upon His throne and
glory. And He sits there as King. Look
what it says. He sits there as King upon His
throne forever. How long? Forever. Forever. He is the King upon His throne. He is called in Scripture, King
of kings and Lord of lords. He is called in Scripture, Psalm
74, the King of salvation. In Isaiah 9, he's called the
King of Peace. In Hebrews 7, he's called the
King of Righteousness. He sitteth King forever. He is
my Lord. I'd say with Thomas, can't you?
He's my Lord and my God. He's my King. He's not my co-pilot. God is my co-pilot. Remember
that bumper sticker? God's not my co-pilot. He's my
Lord, and He is King forever. He said, Come boldly unto the
throne of grace, that you may obtain mercy and find grace to
help in time of need. Verse 11. The Lord will give strength to
His people. The Lord will give salvation
to His people. Turn back a couple pages. One
page. Psalm 27. The Lord will give
salvation to His people. Who are these people? His elect. His chosen. He will give salvation
unto His people. You remember the angel from heaven
said, call His name Jesus. He will save His people from
their sin. Psalm 27 verse 1. The Lord is
my light. and my salvation. Whom shall
I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
life. Whom shall I be afraid? The Lord
will give strength unto His people. Oh, His people are blessed. His
people are blessed. Do you remember Ephesians chapter
1? He has blessed us with all spiritual blessing and heavenly
in Christ Jesus. The Lord will give strength unto
His people. The Lord will bless His people with peace. We have peace. We have peace
with God. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We're not
trying to make peace. They say in religion, they say
in religious circles, make Him your Lord. Well, you can't do
that. He's Lord by God's eternal decree.
People say, well, I'm trying to make peace with God. You can't
do that either. He made peace for us with His
own blood. The Lord will give strength unto
His people, salvation to His people. They are depraved, totally
depraved sinners. He came to save, not the strong,
He came to save sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous,
sinners. The Lord will give strength,
salvation unto His people. His covenant people. The Lord
will give and the Lord will bless. He will give and the Lord will
bless. Isn't it good to think about
that? The Lord will give and the Lord
will bless His people with peace. Let me read this to you. In Hebrews 13.20, let me just
read it to you. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work, to do His will, working
in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory both now and forever." What did they do in
His temple? They give glory to Him. They speak, everyone, of
His glory. The Lord will give salvation
and He will give peace unto His people.