Hear His Voice, O People!

Well, please take your Bibles and open them up this morning to Psalms chapter 29.

Psalms 29 · chapter mention

! Psalms chapter 29 is our passage this morning.

Psalms 29 · chapter mention

We've been in the Psalms for the summer.

We took a break from our series in Genesis to spend a few weeks over the summer months in the Psalms,

and we've come to Psalm chapter 29.

Psalms 29 · chapter mention

Now, if you don't have a copy of God's Word,

you are welcome to take one from the seat back in front of you nearby.

Use one of those.

And when you found it, let's stand in honor of the reading of God's Word from Psalm chapter 29.

Psalms 29 · chapter mention

And as you find it, as you stand, you know, every now and then as you study the Word,

you realize that there are some translation options,

and normally your footnotes in the Bible will indicate some of those options.

This is one of the times where I actually prefer some of the footnotes,

and so as you read along with me, you'll notice just a couple of differences,

but I promise as we get going, I'll try and explain what we're doing here.

So listen along as I read Psalm 29.

It's the Psalm of David.

He writes,

Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of God.

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name.

Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters.

The God of glory thunders.

The Lord over many waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful.

The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars.

The Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.

He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,

and Sirion like a young wild ox.

The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness.

The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord makes the deer shake,

and strips the forest bare.

And in His temple all cry, Glory!

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood.

The Lord sits enthroned as King forever.

May the Lord give strength to His people.

May the Lord bless His people with peace.

Father, once again we pray,

Lord, would You give us ears to hear,

would You give us eyes to see,

would You give us minds to grasp the truth of Your Word,

and would You give us hearts to love the truth of Your Word this morning?

We pray in Christ's name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

About 250 years ago,

August 23rd, 1775,

King George III issued what is now known as the Proclamation of Rebellion.

And this is his response to the Battle of Bunker Hill at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

And in it, he declared the American colonies to be in a state of, quote,

open and avowed rebellion against the king and his kingdom.

And so he ordered any and all officials to, quote,

use their utmost endeavors to withstand and suppress such rebellion.

His reason was that he believed the Americans desired to, quote,

create an independent empire.

And so the king sent a very clear message to the rebels.

Come back.

Honor the king.

Heed my voice.

Listen to my warning.

Stop rebelling against the king.

And, of course, less than a year later,

the Americans signed the Declaration of Independence to make our rebellion official.

And now every year we celebrate it with fireworks and hot dogs.

Earthly politics aside,

the reason that I share that little history lesson is because our psalm this morning,

Psalm chapter 29,

Psalms 29 · chapter mention

could be understood as a divine proclamation of rebellion.

King David is concerned that there are some in the kingdom who are rebelling against the king,

not against King David as an earthly king,

but against the Lord, the king of kings.

And so he writes this psalm urging them to come back,

to give the king the honor that he's due,

to heed his voice,

to remember that God is king and we rightfully belong to him.

So come and enjoy the peace and the blessing that can only be found in him.

This psalm is a warning to rebels.

Let's take a look together and we'll see three commands to rebels.

This will be our outline this morning.

If you're taking notes and trying to make it easy for you to follow along,

three commands to rebels.

First, he says,

Give God the glory he's due.

Give God the glory he's due.

Now this is the first command that he gives here to rebels here in verses 1 to 2.

But I do realize before we get too far,

I think I need to explain why I think we're dealing with rebels here

because it's not immediately clear from the passage that that's what's going on, is it?

Sometimes we've noticed this, haven't we?

As we've gone through the psalms,

sometimes the context is kind of hard to pull out from some of these psalms, isn't it?

Sometimes it's explicitly clear and it tells us in a subscript or a heading what's going on.

Other times we've got to do a little bit of digging, don't we?

But that digging is hard work,

but it's worth it because that context helps us to understand what's happening in the passage.

And often we get there by asking some really good questions of the passage.

The questions like, well, who is David speaking to here?

Who is David speaking to?

Who is he talking to?

This psalm is a little bit unique in this section of the psalms

in the sense that David is not speaking directly to God, is he?

This is not a prayer.

He's not directly asking the Lord to do anything in this psalm, is he?

Verse 1 tells us who he's talking to.

What does it say?

He says,

Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

And you'll notice, again, that in our reading,

this is one where I follow the footnote.

Your Bible should have a footnote down there at the bottom

that says the Hebrew there says,

Sons of God.

So read it again with me.

Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of God.

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

That's one clue for our context.

And another question that we might ask would be,

well, what does David seem to be describing here?

What's the picture that he's painting?

What does he want us to be thinking about

as we read the psalm?

Did you notice how he keeps talking about the waters here?

The voice of the Lord is over the waters.

Verse 3.

The God of glory thunders the Lord over many waters.

It seems like he's describing a storm, doesn't it?

The Lord is breaking cedars and he's flashing forth flames of fire.

That sounds like lightning to me.

Down in verse 10, he says,

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood.

This is interesting.

There's 13 times in the entire Old Testament

where that word flood appears.

All 12 of them show up in Genesis chapter 6 through 11.

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

The 13th, you know where it is?

It's right here in Psalm chapter 29.

Psalms 29 · chapter mention

You put it all together here.

All of this leads me to think that David is writing this psalm

reflecting on the events of the flood.

And if you remember what provoked the flood, what was it?

He's thinking back on the time when the sons of God

intermarried with the daughters of man.

They rebelled against the Lord

and the Lord punished that rebellion with this global flood.

He's reflecting on this whole event,

reflecting on this rebellion then,

and as king of God's people,

he looks out to those under his reign,

to the sons of God in his time,

and he says,

Don't make that same mistake.

Don't rebel as they did.

And his first instruction to rebels

and would-be rebels,

to people like you and I

who are so prone to wonder against the Lord,

is this.

Give God the glory that he is due.

Ascribe to the Lord,

you sons of God.

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name.

Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

We need to realize,

all sin

is a failure

to give God the glory that he's due.

All sin

is a failure

to worship God

as he deserves.

At the heart of all sin

and all rebellion against the Lord

is a failure to honor him

as God.

Isn't that what the Apostle Paul

told us in Romans chapter 1?

Romans 1 · chapter mention

He looks out at the Gentiles

and he says that although

they all know God

in a general way

because creation has revealed him

to them,

to all people,

they did not honor him as God

or give thanks to him,

but they became futile

in their thinking

and their foolish hearts

were darkened.

You realize,

our fundamental duty

as God's creatures,

the reason that we exist

and the reason that you have

breath in your lungs

this very moment

is that you might

give God

the glory

that he's due.

Our God

is the most

glorious,

most

infinitely

perfect,

most

beautiful thing

in all the universe.

And we believe

that he is

good

and holy

and

perfectly just

and

gracious to sinners

and merciful.

And because

he is infinitely

good

and infinitely

holy

and infinitely

strong,

because he is

who he is,

we believe

he is worthy

of all praise,

worthy

of all

honor,

worthy

of all

worship.

We read from our

catechism this morning,

didn't we?

Who is the first

and best

of all beings?

And the answer,

God

is the first

and best

of all beings.

And we read,

what is the chief

end of man?

What is my purpose

here on earth?

Man's chief end

is to glorify

God

and to enjoy

him

forever.

Our God

is king

of all the universe

and we

as his

royal subjects

are called

to ascribe

to the Lord

glory.

glory.

Now,

what does

this mean?

We have a mission

statement

as a church.

Do you remember

what it is?

We exist

to magnify

the glory

of God

in the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

That's our mission

as a church.

We exist

to magnify

the glory

of God

in the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

We want to

magnify

the glory

of God.

John Piper

points out

that there's

two kinds

of magnifying

and it's important

that we know

which one

we're trying

to do.

There's

microscope

magnifying

and there's

telescope

magnifying.

Do you know

the difference?

Microscope

magnifying

on one hand.

It seeks

to take

something

really,

really small

and make

it look

bigger

so that we

can understand

it

and study

it

and see

its inner

workings

and understand

what's going

on.

But telescope

magnifying

on the other

hand,

that seeks

to take

something

really,

really,

really big

like the

moon

and the

stars,

the Milky

Way.

It takes

something

really,

really big

and it seeks

to allow

us to see

it for as

big and

as glorious

and beautiful

as it

really is.

That's what

we're seeking

to do when

we say we

want to

magnify

his glory.

We want

to take

this big,

glorious,

good,

infinitely

worthy God

and see

him for

who he

is and

declare

him to

be as

glorious

as he

is with

all of

our

being.

That's

what it

means to

ascribe

to the

Lord

glory

and

strength.

Do you

see him?

Sons of

God,

do you

see him

as first

and best

of all

beings?

do you

see him

as

glorious

and more

glorious,

more infinitely

worthy of

your life

than sex

and money

and influence

and popularity?

Do you see him

as more worthy

of your life

than sports

and politics

and entertainment?

do you see

him as

strong

and capable

and strong

to provide,

strong to

save,

strong to

carry your

burdens and

sorrows?

Do you

see him

as infinitely

holy,

infinitely

just,

infinitely

glorious?

Do you

see him

as worthy

of your

life?

Do you

see him

as worthy

of your

total

worship?

that's

what it

means

to

ascribe

to

the

Lord

glory.

David

knows

that

to

see him

in this

way

and to

ascribe

this

to him

not just

with our

lips

but with

our

heart,

this

type

of

seeing

and

believing

is the

antidote

to

all

rebellion.

Do you

want to

know how

to fight

against

sin

in your

life?

The

answer

ought

to

be

yes.

I'll

give you

a strategy.

Fix

your

heart

on the

worth

and the

glory

of

God.

Ascribe

to the

Lord

the

glory

due

his

name.

Magnify

the

glory

of

God

in

the

gospel

of

Jesus

Christ.

When

you

begin

to

see

how

good

God

is,

the

allure

of

rebellion

is

squashed

in our

hearts.

Sin

becomes

less

appealing

when you

see

how

worthy

God

is.

So

David

calls

us

rebels

see

him

as

he

is

give

him

the

glory

that

he

is

due

but

not

only

this

second

second

command

he

says

heed

his

voice

heed

his

voice

look

there

to

verses

three

through

nine

seven

times

in

these

verses

he

reflects

on

the

perfect

and

powerful

voice

of

the

Lord

and

again

I

want

us

to

get

this

imagery

of

the

flood

back

in

our

minds

!

this

morning

he

says

the

voice

of

the

Lord

is

over

the

waters

verse

three

the

God

of

glory

thunders

the

Lord

over

many

waters

the

voice

the

voice

of

the

Lord

is

powerful

the

voice

of

the

Lord

is

full

of

majesty

the

voice

of

the

Lord

breaks

the

cedars

the

Lord

breaks

the

cedars

of

Lebanon

you

all

know

that

the

upstate

they're

still

recovering

from

hurricane

Helene

and

just

a

terrible

storm

nobody

was

ready

for

it

just

mountains

of

water

the flood

waters

came

nobody

was

expecting

that

much

water

and

especially

to come

that

quickly

Amanda

and I

went up

there

last fall

and it

was so

strange

to look

up on the

hillside

at the

mountains

and see

just rows

of trees

laying down

if you've

been up

there

you know

what I'm

talking

about

trees

are

just

horizontal

when they're

supposed

to be

vertical

it's

very strange

to see

the waters

had

rushed

through

and laid

them

all

out

that

seems

to be

what

David's

describing

here

I don't

know

much

about

trees

Treg

would

know

a lot

more

than

I

would

but

I

do

know

that

some

cedar

trees

can

grow

over

100

feet

tall

these

are

very

strong

very

sturdy

trees

the cedars

of

Lebanon

in particular

were very

sturdy

very strong

they were

famous

in the

ancient

world

it was

these

trees

that Solomon

requested

to be

used

to build

his

temple

it was

these

cedars

of

Lebanon

that the

Phoenicians

used

to construct

their

famous

ships

they're

a symbol

of

strength

and

stability

but here

David says

the voice

of the

Lord

goes

forth

the

waters

rush

through

and these

trees

they snap

like a

twig

just imagine

the flood

waters

going

through

all the

earth

you've

all seen

videos

I'm sure

of ships

out in the

middle of

the ocean

in a

storm

and the

waves are

ebbing and

flowing

they're rising

and falling

and that

ship is

just bouncing

on the

waters

you know

what I'm

talking about

up and

down

up and

down

up and

down

the boat

is tossed

up and

down

David says

in verse

6 that

this flood

is so

great

it makes

entire

areas of

the earth

Lebanon

Sirion

which is

another name

for a

mountain

Mount Hermon

it makes

them look

like they're

skipping like

a calf

or a

wild ox

up and

down

up and

down

the earth

itself

the mountains

are swelling

and ebbing

and flowing

like a boat

on the

waves

we can

hardly

imagine

this type

of power

and destruction

and it's

funny

in God's

providence

as I

was reading

this passage

this week

started to

storm

this was

Tuesday

afternoon

and it

was raining

and then off

in the distance

we saw some

lightning

a flash of

lightning

and one of

the boys

was in the

kitchen

and he

started timing

it to see

how far

away it

was

one

Mississippi

two

Mississippi

three

Mississippi

and at

first it

took several

seconds

so we

knew it

was

several miles

away

it was

kind of

far

off

but

eventually

it got

closer

and closer

and closer

to the point

where it

was almost

instant

you saw

the flash

and you

heard the

thunder

and things

started to

shake and

rumble

in the

kitchen

and the

closer we

got to

the storm

or the

storm

got to

us

rather

the louder

it was

the brighter

it was

the more

we felt

it

David says

here

the voice

of the

Lord

flashes

forth

flames

of fire

that's

lightning

the voice

of the

Lord

shakes

the

wilderness

that's

thunder

he shakes

the wilderness

of Kadesh

the whole

world is

shaking

under the

force of

this storm

even the

animals

verse 9

he says

the voice

of the

Lord

makes the

deer

to give

birth

now that

doesn't

make much

sense

at all

does it

in context

until you

realize that

it's the

same root

word

as up

above

the voice

of the

Lord

makes the

deer

shake

all

the

animals

all

those

who

didn't

make it

onto

the

ark

shake

in

fear

and

writhe

in

pain

as the

voice

of the

Lord

strips

the

forest

bare

and the

response

in his

temple

all

cry

glory

glory

you realize

that's the

proper

response

to the

power

of the

voice

of the

Lord

don't

you

to

ascribe

to the

Lord

glory

and

strength

when you

consider the

power of

the voice

of the

Lord

the

proper

response

of our

heart

ought to

be

awe

and to

marvel

at the

Lord

and to

ascribe

to him

glory

that

moment

in the

flood

it was

undeniable

the

Lord

God

is

king

of

all

the

earth

his

voice

is

powerful

to

accomplish

all

his

purpose

and

none

can

rebel

against

him

do you

ever

just

marvel

at the

power

of

God's

word

just

consider

the

power

of

the

voice

of

God

we

know

that

the

voice

of

the

Lord

created

all

things

we

saw

this

in

Genesis

didn't

we

Genesis

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

chapter

1

tells

us

he

simply

spoke

and

all

things

came

to

be

let

there

be

light

and

there

was

light

he

spoke

all

things

into

existence

in

Hebrews

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

chapter

1

tells

us

that

it

is

his

word

it

is

his

voice

that

sustains

all

things

Jesus

upholds

the

universe

by the

word

of

his

power

we're

told

apart

from

the

power

of

the

voice

of

Jesus

all

things

are

blasted

into

nothingness

we see

clearly

here

the

power

of

his

voice

to

judge

it

is

his

voice

that

executes

judgment

on

those

who

rebel

we see

that so

clearly

in the

flood

but as

we've

seen

before

we need

to

remember

again

this

morning

this

global

terrible

destructive

powerful

flood

is

just

a

small

picture

of

the

future

judgment

to

come

on

all

who

will

not

heed

his

voice

second

Peter

chapter

three

tells

us

the

earth

was

formed

out

of

water

and

through

water

by

the

word

of

God

and

that

by

means

of

these

the

world

that

then

existed

was

deluged

with

water

and

perished

listen

to

this

but

by

the

same

word

the

heavens

and earth

that

now

exist

are

stored

up

for

fire

being

kept

until

the

day

of

judgment

and

destruction

of

the

ungodly

God

destroyed

the

rebels

in

Noah's

day

and

we

are

told

he

will

destroy

all

the

ungodly

at

the

return

of

Christ

the

Bible

tells

us

that

each

and

every

last

one

of

us

is

a

rebel

against

the

king

every

single

one

of

us

in

our

own

way

has

sinned

against

him

and

if

that's

true

if

judgment

is

stored

up

for

rebels

and

that's

us

friend

what

hope

do

we

have

to

escape

the

flood

of

his

wrath

we

must

heed

his

voice

because

praise

God

his

word

is

also

powerful

to

redeem

rebels

I

think

often

of

the

valley

of

dry

bones

in

Ezekiel

37

do you

remember

that

story

the

valley

of

dry

bones

Ezekiel

is

brought

out

this

prophet

is

brought

into

a

valley

he

looks

out

it's

full

of

dry

bones

it's

full

of

skeletons

scattered

about

it's

a

picture

of

the

spiritual

state

of

Israel

it

truly

is

a

picture

of

the

spiritual

state

of

all

people

we

are

all

by

nature

we

are

dead

spiritually

dead

we

are

dry

bones

by

nature

what

hope

do

those

who

are

dead

in

sin

have

of

coming

to

life

surely

it's

nothing

we

can

do

dead

people

can't

stop

being

dead

in

their

own

strength

we

need

some

outside

power

to

act

upon

these

dead

bones

and

cause

them

to

come

to

life

so

what

does

God

say

he

says

Ezekiel

prophesy

over

the

bones

speak

the

word

of

the

Lord

say

to

them

oh

dry

bones

hear

the

word

of

the

Lord

thus

says

the

Lord

God

to

these

bones

behold

I

will

cause

breath

to

enter

you

and

you

shall

live

I

will

lay

sinews

upon

you

I

will

cause

flesh

to

come

upon

you

I

will

cover

you

with

skin

I

will

put

breath

in

you

and

you

shall

live

and

you

shall

know

that

I

am

the

Lord

and

what

happened

Ezekiel

speaks

to

these

dead

dry

bones

and

as

they

hear

the

voice

of

the

Lord

they

come

to

life

this

is

a

picture

of

what

has

happened

in

every

single

Christian

we

are

those

who

have

been

brought

from

death

to

life

how

did

that

happen

the

power

of

the

voice

of

the

Lord

resurrected

you

the

gospel

came

to

you

whether

it

was

through

a

Sunday

school

teacher

or

a

pastor

standing

in

a

pulpit

or

a

friend

opening

up

the

word

to

you

the

word

of

God

came

into

your

ears

and

by

his

grace

he

caused

it

to

cause

you

to

come

to

life

we

believe

his

word

is

powerful

to

convert

sinners

his

word

alone

is

powerful

to

take

rebels

and

to

bring

them

into

the

fold

of

God

what

does

what

does

Jesus

say

in

John

John 10 · chapter mention

chapter

10

he

says

my

sheep

what

help

me

my

sheep

hear

my

voice

and

they

follow

me

what

does

Paul

say

in

Romans

he

says

faith

comes

through

what

help

me

help

me

faith

comes

through

hearing

and

hearing

through

the

word

of

Christ

he

says

I

am

not

ashamed

of

the

gospel

for

that

gospel

is

the

power