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[0:00] Seeking the Lord's blessing, let's turn back again to Psalm 29. Psalm 29, and we're going to read again verse 2, but we'll be referring to various aspects of the psalm itself.

[0:12] But Psalm 29, and verse 2. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Worship the Lord in the splendour of holiness.

[0:26] Worship the Lord in the splendour of holiness. Those of you familiar with the older translation will remember that this is translated to the beauty of holiness, which is itself a rather poetic translation of these words, the splendour of beauty of holiness.

[0:52] As we read through this psalm together, as we study it, there are many aspects of it that are very familiar. Beginning, of course, with the title, the reference to the authorship of David.

[1:06] And the themes themselves are familiar themes that we find throughout the Bible. And the main theme, the main theme of worship, is one that relates to many, and in fact all, of the psalms.

[1:21] And so this is a psalm that is itself encouraging us as we come to worship God. Encouraging us as we seek to lift our voice in praise to the Lord.

[1:32] But what makes this psalm itself unique, its unique factor, is how it describes God. How David here describes God.

[1:45] And I suppose we're referring to it very much in terms of verse 2, where we're called to worship the Lord in the splendour of holiness.

[1:57] And these words, and how God is spoken of throughout the psalm, the voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory thunders. And then in verse 4, the voice of the Lord is powerful, and so on.

[2:12] And here, the psalmist is trying to ensure that we have our focus firmly upon the worship of God, in the splendour and beauty of holiness.

[2:26] And so the psalm here is supposed to educate us and make us ready as we come towards God. And we're all conscious that we come here, in some sense, never fully having prepared ourselves in the way that we ought to have, that there is some inadequacy in terms of our own spiritual preparation.

[2:48] And yet we come in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. But yet when we come and we sing psalms like this, and when we come to study them, they're educating and teaching us of how we ought to approach God, how we ought to approach worship.

[3:07] And we come to reflect on God in who He is. And the psalm here reminds us of the awesome and holiness of who God is.

[3:19] Isaiah speaks of the same thing in Isaiah 6 when he encountered God. And he says that he saw Him high and lifted up. That this was an experience that was beyond anything else.

[3:32] Because God is beyond anything else, unable to be compared with anything. And so the psalmist here is reminding us who God is.

[3:43] When we come to worship Him, we ought to think about who He is. And when we see that great picture that Isaiah saw in chapter 6, and we see the angelic song, holy, holy, holy, holy.

[4:00] And the nearer we come to God, the more we follow that example. The more we encounter in His holiness. And the more that we have this sense of awe.

[4:14] And that all that we can do in response is to praise Him. And to worship Him. And I hope that we can come today and take the opportunity to reflect again on who God is.

[4:30] To be stirred up in our heart. To be encouraged in our worship and our praise. To glorify and enjoy God.

[4:41] Because this is our very identity. This is the purpose to which we have been created. This is who we are to be. As we reflect on who He is.

[4:53] That this is our chief end. To glorify and enjoy Him. As we seek to draw close to Him. And as we seek to be informed.

[5:06] By of who He is. Our experiences of God. Our experiences of God. Is what truly changes us. What makes things different.

[5:19] Shapes the kind of people that we become. And shapes our very worship itself. As we come to God. And experience Him.

[5:31] You see this throughout the biblical narrative. You see it with Jacob. As he encounters God. After that meeting. Things are never the same again.

[5:44] You see it too with Moses. As he is there taking the sandals from off his feet. As he encounters God in the fire. Things are never the same again.

[5:56] He is never the same again. We see it throughout the Bible. We see it in Isaiah too. As he sees in chapter 6. And receives his calling.

[6:08] And the powerful transforming effect. Of experiencing God. We see it with the disciples too. That it said of them in Acts.

[6:19] That they were ordinary men. But that people knew. That they had been with Jesus. Something was different. They were different.

[6:31] Because they experienced God. They experienced what it was. To come. And to know Him. And here is this psalm.

[6:41] A psalm. That is part of our worship. A psalm that we sing together. A psalm that we come to. A psalm that we take on our lips. And here David is encouraging us.

[6:53] As we do this with these words. To adore the Lord. To worship Him. To joy in Him. To love Him.

[7:06] And I think that is what David. Is trying to take us through here. Reflecting on our appreciation. And our love of God. To adore Him.

[7:17] For who He is. And we see this here. First of all. Who He is. And in the day to day life. And in the reality.

[7:28] Of living out our ordinary experience. And the mundane of day to day. Week to week. In all the complexities. And tensions. And difficulties. It is easy for us to lose focus.

[7:40] And when we feel things moving. In a very negative way. In our society. And in our country. It is easy to become discouraged. But the call of faith.

[7:52] Is to see what is unseen. To be like the children of Israel. At the side of the Red Sea. And it looks like there is nowhere to go. It looks like there is defeat.

[8:03] Here is Pharaoh and his army. Marching aggressively against them. And there is nowhere to go. There is just sea. And the call of Moses is. To put his feet into that water.

[8:16] To see what is unseen. To believe and trust. The call of Abraham is the same. To leave his father's house. All the security.

[8:26] Everything he knew. And to journey. And to be a pilgrim. And to look for something better. And this is the call of faith. That in the midst of all the struggles that we face.

[8:39] That we don't lose sight of the reality. Of who God is. Of who God is. We need this in our faith. We need to consider time and again.

[8:53] The reality of who he is. To reflect on this. We are so easily distracted. We are often too busy. We are too taken up.

[9:05] We are too tired. We are too tired. We are too discouraged. There are too many fears and anxieties. There are too many things going on. And yet here David calls us to pause.

[9:18] And to reflect. And to wonder again. In the great wonder of the picture. Of the glory of who God is. To restore to ourselves.

[9:29] That great picture. And the reality. Of a sovereign. Holy God. And so. When we come to this psalm.

[9:41] We are called also to find this renewed appreciation. Even in the darkness. Even in the difficulties of life. That we keep on going.

[9:52] In faith. Believing. And trusting. Verses 1 and 2. Ascribe to the Lord. O heavenly beings. Ascribe the Lord.

[10:03] Glory and strength. Ascribe the Lord. The glory. Due his name. In verse 4. The Lord. The voice of the Lord. Is powerful. The voice of the Lord.

[10:13] Is full. Of majesty. Verse 10. The Lord sits enthroned. Over the flood. The Lord sits enthroned. As king. Forever. The picture here.

[10:25] Begins. With the majesty. Of who God is. Sovereign. Here is David. In the title. At Psalm of David. Here is the king of Israel.

[10:38] He knows his dominion. He knows his borders. He knows where he is. The sovereign king. Where his word is law. But he knows it doesn't go beyond the border.

[10:51] But yet when he looks upon God. He knows that God's sovereignty is universal. That it goes to all the peoples. All the lands.

[11:03] Over all the seas. That there is nothing that is outside his dominion. God is majestic. Everywhere. And with everyone. Everyone is under the sovereignty of God.

[11:16] Everyone must come and give their account before God. The majesty. Who is enthroned on high. All people. And all places belong to him.

[11:28] The God of creation. Is the God of judgment. The God to whom. We are accountable to. And so David recognizes here.

[11:38] A different kind of monarchy. Not the kind of monarchy he has. God has promised him. That he is going to bless his son. As a monarch after him.

[11:50] But when David comes to reflect on the kind of monarch. That God is. He realizes that he is encountering. An eternal nature. An eternal monarch.

[12:01] That is the kind of monarchy. He has. He is over everything. In verse 1. Ascribe the Lord. O heavenly beings. Not only things seen.

[12:14] But even the spiritual world. Is under his rule and dominion. Even the heavenly courts. God rules. God reigns.

[12:24] He is sovereign. Over everything. There is nothing. That is outside. By his sovereignty. And majesty. And in verse 3.

[12:34] This is the uniqueness of the psalm. The way that he speaks of God. He says the voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders. David says as he looks upon this God.

[12:46] This is a thundering God. A thundering God. Thundering throughout the whole world. Through his whole province. A picture of his awesomeness.

[13:00] Of his strength. And his power. And his might. Going through his whole dominion. Thundering. For the children of Israel.

[13:11] This reminds them of Sinai. And the cloud was over that mountain. And the glory of God was in the cloud. And his voice thundered.

[13:22] From that mountain. And it was a reminder of the people of God. That they have to approach God with awe. In the majesty of who he is.

[13:34] That Israel had to come. With their hearts prepared. To meet with this awesome. And holy. And powerful majesty. It reminds us too.

[13:44] Of the creation. God said let there be light. God thundered his voice. Into the great darkness. And the illumination came.

[13:58] Divine speech so powerfully. Creating something. Thundering. Bringing forth light. And we know.

[14:11] That this continues. Throughout scripture. And in the end. In revelation. The picture of God. That we have there. As the great judge. Is the one who thunders.

[14:22] From heaven. His voice comes. In power. And all of these things. Remind us. Of the unmistakable.

[14:32] Presence of God. Thundering. A thundering God. Verse 4. The voice of the Lord.

[14:42] Is powerful. The picture of David. Then includes. That this God. Is a powerful God. His very voice. Has power. We know this.

[14:52] As we've already. Spoken of. In terms of creation. He's created everything. Through the power. Of his own word. From nothing. But we know it too.

[15:05] In the narrative. Not only of scripture. But in the narrative. Of our lives. How the voice of the Lord. Is powerful.

[15:17] It stopped us. It changed us. It's still transforming us. It's renewing us. In our minds. It's changing everything.

[15:28] How we comprehend. And understand. The world. And life. And suffering. And pain. His voice is. Powerful. It's going through the whole world.

[15:40] Changing things. Changing people. Turning the world. Upside down. Verse 7. The voice of the Lord. Flashes forth.

[15:51] Flames of fire. Fire. He says. This is an awesome God. An awesome God. God. The picture of fire.

[16:03] It's a picture of who God is. The consuming fire. The fire in the bush. That spoke to Moses. The experience here.

[16:16] Communicated. Of an awesome God. Who calls us. To worship. To come.

[16:27] And to leave. This deep. This deep. Sense. Within you. That as you encounter him. You are in awe. You wonder.

[16:39] At who he is. And has been. You wonder. At his glory. And what David. Is calling us. Here too. Is to adore him.

[16:50] To pour our hearts. In love. To truly. Worship him. The whole world. Ought to give him.

[17:02] The glory. But so many. Are under the dominion. Of darkness. Under the dominion. Of the devil. They can't see. They don't know. And yet.

[17:12] The people. Of faith. Need to demonstrate. And understand. And live. For this God. With his holiness. As the motivating.

[17:23] Factor of life. And worship. And everything we are. As we render. Our thanks. And praise. To him. And we adore him too.

[17:35] In the holy place. Verse 1. Ascribe the Lord. O heavenly blings. Ascribe the Lord. Glory and strength. Ascribe the Lord. The glory. Due his name. Worship the Lord.

[17:46] In the splendor. Of holiness. Yes. It speaks here. First of all. In verse 1. Of the heavenly beings. The translation. May be something like.

[17:57] Sons of God. And many wonder. What this actually means. Some people. Say it speaks of. The powerful people.

[18:07] In the world. As some of the other psalms. Referring to similar language. Others say that. This is the angelic. Court. Spurgeon says.

[18:19] It's the great ones. Of heaven and earth. And that's really. What I like myself. Because I. We understand everything. Here. Everyone is being encouraged.

[18:31] To lift their voices. Everyone is being encouraged. To be stirred up. To praise God. To glorify. And enjoy him.

[18:42] In a very particular way. His own people. Are mentioned. In verse 11. May the Lord blesses. People. And we're called. To worship him. In the splendor.

[18:53] Of holiness. In the beauty. Of holiness. In one sense. If. We were to render. The heavenly beings. As the angelic court.

[19:04] Then. We can see this. As heaven. We could see. The redeemed. Of God. Who have gone home. Worshipping the Lord. With the angelic chorus. Praise.

[19:14] In his name. Forever and ever. We wonder. At that great paradise. We wonder. What it would be like. In comparison. To Isaiah 6. And what. What Isaiah saw.

[19:25] There. In the great. Wonderful picture. And yet. Too. We come to realize. That our worship.

[19:35] Is united. With the worship. In heaven. And when we come. To worship. The Lord. In the splendor. Of his holiness. Surely.

[19:46] What David. Is encouraging us. To do. Is to gather together. Is to be found. In God's house. Is to be found.

[19:57] In the particular. Place. Of public. Worship. Worship. Now. Don't get me wrong. Private worship. Is a wonderful thing. As you go through.

[20:08] Your own private. Devotions. And your own. Spiritual disciplines. It's a wonderful thing. To have there. Your worship. With God. As you pray. And as you read.

[20:20] His word. As you spend time. With the Lord. These are seasons. Of great blessing. For us. As God's people. But there is a unique. Blessing.

[20:31] In the gathering. Of God's people. That is. Incomparable. And we come. To receive. This blessing. We gather together.

[20:43] In this way. We're set apart. From all the. Weekly tensions. To come here. To taste. And see. That God is good.

[20:55] To have that great. Benefit. Deep in our. Heart and soul. To come. To the place. Where his beauty. Is appreciated. Where we gather. With his people.

[21:06] His bride. The subject. Of his particular. Love. And our praise. Unites. Us together. And unites us.

[21:16] With the redeemed. People of God. We worship. In the splendor. In the beauty. Of holiness. We worship. As we gather.

[21:27] Together. Together. The called out. People of God. To be the church. To be the family. To be God's people. To be Christ's bride. To live out.

[21:39] Our faith. To demonstrate. Our devotion. To our saviour. To do it together. God. To be the church. To be the church. To be the church. Because it's special.

[21:51] Unique. And incomparable. Unparalleled. God. God. God. God. God. And so. We adore God.

[22:01] And who he is. In his holy place. And David says. That we're to adore him. In the storms. To. From verse 3. On to the end of verse 9. There is this language.

[22:12] Of storm. And so. David here is saying. God is in the storms. God is in. Real storms.

[22:22] And David speaks. From. The position. Of. Around him. A denial. Of Jehovah. A denial. Of the one. Through God.

[22:33] All around him. In these nations. And in these people groups. Is the worship of Baal. Baal. Was the storm God. And so. People. Rendered some sacrifice.

[22:44] To Baal. In order. That they would have. Some rain. And that they would have crops. And that the land. Would be fertile. And that they would be. They would eat.

[22:54] And be wealthy. It was an anti-Jehovah. World view. It denied. The God of the Bible. It spoke of God. Not being the God.

[23:05] Of nature. And so. David. Counters this. He affirms. Who God is. And he is saying. God is sovereign.

[23:16] In every aspect. Of life. In every corner. Of who we are. And what we do. God is there. Even nature. Is speaking of God.

[23:27] And then. Faith. Affirms that reality. When we see the sun. And the rain. We say. God is in these things. God is in the midst. Of them.

[23:39] And we stand too. In the midst of a society. That is rejecting God. And ascribing the power of God. To other things. And we must meet it.

[23:49] With faith. And with the affirmation. And we believe. That God is in all these things. God is in the storm. God is in the rain. And in the sun.

[24:00] And in all of creation. To the ends of the world. To everything. In the heavens. God is there. That we do not deny.

[24:12] His majesty. But we affirm it. God is in the flood. In verse 10. This is the language. That we relate to Noah. And.

[24:24] That experience. With Noah. Is the experience. Of God coming. In judgment. In that power. And the whole world.

[24:36] Quakes at God's coming. Quakes that he is going to come. And at that moment. That the Lord comes again. In that great thundering experience.

[24:49] In that great judgment. There will be no unbelief. Everyone will believe. Everyone will bow.

[25:01] Everyone will confess. Today the devils tremble. But they believe. And man. Is filled with unbelief.

[25:14] But on that day. Everyone. Will believe. But maybe here. David writes this. In a story. You remember of course. Psalm 19.

[25:25] And Psalm 19. Speaks of. The natural revelation. The heavens declare. The glory of God. The sky proclaims. The sandy words. And there is this. Wonderful picture.

[25:36] Of the beauty of creation. And you could imagine. There. The psalmist. Under a beautiful day. Writing these words. The farming. The reality. Of God.

[25:46] Speaking to us. In these things. But yet. Maybe too. There is a testimony. In the story. There is.

[25:59] Maybe. Even there. A rugged beauty. Speaking to us. Of the wonder. Of God's creative work.

[26:12] Where I live. And cross. You can see. The butt. And there you see. The storm. You see the waves. Crashing in. And testifying.

[26:24] And speaking to us. And it humbles us. It said that one of the great emperors. Of the Roman Empire. That when there was thunder. He hid. The most powerful man.

[26:35] In the whole world. Was hiding. Because of the storm. It struck fear into him. And in the day of David. A storm was devastating.

[26:46] Devastating. And it leaves you with awe. When you see these clouds moving. And when you see the wind. Picking up. And the storm coming.

[26:57] And yet it is still. A testimony. Of God's creative act. That God has done these things. That even the storm. Displays his glory.

[27:08] Every clasp of thunder. Calls you. To worship him. To praise him. Every wind. Everything is calling you.

[27:20] Calling you. Not to fear man. But to fear God. And the believer sees the storm. And is reminded.

[27:32] That God is with us. And so maybe the storm wasn't natural. That David wrote in the context of. Maybe it was a metaphorical storm. Maybe there was something inward.

[27:45] Maybe there was a storm. And a tension. In his own experience. Maybe there was a personal conflict. And the believer knows. That there are many storms in life.

[27:58] Many difficulties. But when the disciples were on the boat. And the storm picked up. Jesus walked. Jesus walked.

[28:09] Over the waves. And he said to this eye. Whatever you go through. He is with you.

[28:22] He stills the storm in your heart. And he'll still the storm. In the experience. That you are going through. You come and reflect on who this God is.

[28:35] For he will protect you. He has a purpose. Even in the storm. And God is more powerful. Than any storm.

[28:48] Than any difficulty. Or any experience. That you will have. And I just want to conclude. By saying that we ought to adore God.

[29:00] In his peace as well. Verse 11. May the Lord bless his people. With peace. Whatever turmoil. Or trauma you go through.

[29:13] God gives his people. Peace. A peace no one can take away. And no storm. Can eat away either.

[29:24] The Lord is with you. He will give you grace. For every situation. He will be with you. And everything. Will be okay.

[29:37] If the Lord is with you. He will give you strength. When you are weak. And he will give you peace. In the storm. And how we respond.

[29:51] Is exactly. What David is calling us to. Here. He calls us. To praise God. To worship him. In the splendor.

[30:03] Of holiness. Let's pray together. God our Father in heaven. We give thanks to you. For your word. And for all that it means to us.

[30:15] We pray that you would help us. To live it out in our lives. And to be encouraged. By the wonder of who you are. And your being. Bless us we pray. And forgive us our sins.

[30:25] In Christ's name. Amen. Let's sing then these words. In Psalm 29. On page 238. We sing verses 1 to 4.

[30:36] Psalm 29 verses 1 to 4.

[30:52] On page 238. Give ye unto the Lord. Ye sons that of the mighty be. All strength and glory to the Lord. With cheerfulness give ye.

[31:02] and so on to the end of the verse marked 4. Amen. Amen.

[32:02] Amen. Amen.

[33:02] Amen. Amen.

[33:33]  Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.