[0:00] We're going to begin our worship singing to God's praise in Psalm 121. I to the hills will lift mine eyes, from whence doth come my need, my safety cometh from the Lord, who heaven and earth hath made.
[0:19] Thy fruit he'll not let slide, nor will he slumber that he keeps. Behold, he that keeps Israel slumbers not, nor sleeps. We'll sing the whole psalm to God's praise. I to the hills will lift mine eyes, from whence doth come my need, my safety cometh from the Lord, who heaven and earth hath made.
[1:06] Thy fruit he'll not let slide, nor will he slumber that he keeps.
[1:24] Behold, behold, he that keeps Israel, he slumbers not, nor sleeps.
[1:41] The Lord be keeps the Lord thy shame.
[1:52] On thy right hand, the sea, the dark moon by night, he shall not smite, nor yet the sun by day.
[2:18] The Lord shall keep thy soul. He shall preserve me from all ill.
[2:37] Henceforth, henceforth, thy going out and end. God keep on ever will.
[2:55] Well, let's call on the Lord's name. Heavenly Father, we bow before you this evening.
[3:09] Again, we thank you that as we gather for worship, we can come with these words calling us into the presence of the Lord. Words that remind us of your character.
[3:25] You are unchangeable in your care for your people. You are the one who is like the mountains that stand around the city of Jerusalem.
[3:37] These unchanging, stable, multi-generational monuments to an unchanging God.
[3:48] They are things, Lord, that we ought to look to ourselves. We consider the most ancient of monuments that surround us and the traditions that have been handed to us.
[4:01] We thank you that you outlive all of them and that you predate them. You are the supreme to whom all must come and pay allegiance and worship.
[4:17] And so we pray tonight that we would have a true sense, therefore, of your great majesty. That we would recognize the power of the living God. That we would long for an experience of intimacy with him.
[4:31] That we would know you in the power of the gospel. That we would know you in the power and working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. That we would know the presence of Jesus with us.
[4:43] That we would know the love of a father who cares for his people. So, therefore, we long this evening to have that wonderful, life-transforming sense of just who you are.
[4:58] We thank you that today we worship a God who speaks to us. We do not worship a God who is silent or who is oblivious to our needs.
[5:09] But who speaks into our lives continually with the word of truth. Which is able to make us wise for salvation. And so tonight we pray that you would help each one of us to recognize what the word says.
[5:23] To recognize our need of cleansing from our sin. To recognize our need for new life in Christ Jesus. And to therefore cry out to you for mercy.
[5:36] Because these are not things that we can achieve on our own. They are not things that we can deliver in our own experience. They are things on which we wholly depend on you, the living God.
[5:48] And so hear now our confession of prayer. Hear us as we confess before you our sins which are daily before us. Help us to understand that these sins are an offense to a living God.
[6:01] But that through Christ Jesus, a total forgiveness has been made available. And we are therefore tonight not obliged to somehow make up anything that is lacking in the work of Jesus.
[6:15] But to rest wholly on the completed work of Christ. To know that he has done all things for us. So we ask therefore your blessing upon us.
[6:26] And we pray this in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen. We are going to continue just now singing to God's praise in Psalm 51.
[6:42] And we are going to sing at verse 5. Through to verse 10 to God's praise. So five stanzas. And behold, I in iniquity was formed, the womb within.
[6:55] My mother also me conceived in guiltiness and sin. Behold thou in the inward parts with truth delighted art. And wisdom thou shalt make me know within the hidden part.
[7:06] And we'll sing through to verse 10. Create a clean heart. Lord renew a right spirit. Me within. Let's sing these verses after God's praise. Behold. Sorry.
[7:17] Behold I in iniquity was formed. The womb within. My mother also me conceived in guilty.
[7:50] Son. Son. Son. Son. Son. Son. Son. Son. Son. Son. Son.
[8:01] The Edward Park with blue delighted art, And with some bow shall make me new Within the hidden mark.
[8:31] To the wicked, not sprinkle me, I shall be cleansed so.
[8:48] Ye wash thou me and then I shall be whiter, And the snow.
[9:06] Of gladness and of joyfulness, Make me to hear the voice, That though these very bones which love has broken, May rejoice.
[9:41] All my equity flowed out, Life is high from my sin.
[9:58] Be in a clean heart, Lord, renew, Arise, send me within.
[10:15] Amen. Would you turn with me, please, in your Bibles this evening to read in God's Word in the book of Psalms, Psalm 29.
[10:55] Psalm of David. Psalm 30.
[11:26] Psalm 30. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. The Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf and Syrian like a young wild ox.
[11:41] 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 give birth and strips the forest bare.
[11:57] And in his temple all cry glory. The Lord sits enthroned over the flood. The Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
[12:09] May the Lord give strength to his people. May the Lord bless his people with peace. Amen. This is God's word to us this evening.
[12:21] Let's once again bow our heads in prayer to God. Heavenly Father, we give you praise and thanks this evening. As we have already done, acknowledging that you are a God who speaks.
[12:31] And that when you speak, the world is changed. We thank you for that wonderful truth that we have just read of in Scripture. And that the voice of the Lord is mighty and powerful. And tonight, that is our prayer.
[12:43] That we would indeed hear the voice of the Lord. As we gather tonight in worship, may we know that you are speaking to us. May we discover in our experience tonight that you are the one who is wrestling with us.
[12:55] Seeking from us a transformation in our hearts. That we would be brought more and more into compliance with your way. With your pattern for life. That we would recognize more and more the indebtedness that we have towards you.
[13:09] Not only for the day-to-day blessings that we enjoy. But that we would recognize and give thanks more and more. For the ultimate salvation that we have in the person of Jesus. And we thank you today for the cross.
[13:22] We thank you for the gospel. We thank you for the hope of the first day of the week. That as we gather on this first day, we remember the resurrection of Jesus. His victory over death itself.
[13:32] That death could not hold him. And that we are therefore tonight persuaded. That there is something beyond death itself. That there is some hope that we need to lay hold of.
[13:43] That will hold us, carry us, convince us. To the unseen things that lie beyond the experience of death. That comes to each and every one of us in this world.
[13:55] And so Father, we thank you tonight for the life that is in Christ Jesus. And for the peace that is to be found in him. For the shalom of God that reaches into the lives and experience of your people.
[14:06] And that brings to us blessing upon blessing. We want tonight therefore, Lord, to be people who are filled with thankfulness. For the many spiritual blessings that we have received. That we would recognize the gift of God to us in every way.
[14:21] We thank you that we have before us tonight the word. The great gift of God is his word to us. And we thank you that the pinnacle of that was the word made flesh. Who came and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus.
[14:34] We thank you that we have things to hear from you. We thank you that we have people who can come and expound the word to us. Who will explain to us what the word says. Who will apply it faithfully to our lives.
[14:47] And who will help and bless us in the pursuit of holiness. As we live for your glory day by day. We want to pray therefore, Father, that you would raise up preachers of the gospel.
[14:59] And we thank, Lord, of the needs of our communities across the island just now. In our own denomination we know six vacancies. And as we think further afield just now as well, Lord. Across other denominations in the islands.
[15:10] We know there's a crying need for ministers there as well. And we ask and pray, Father, that you would bless us. And we thank you, Father, that the number of ministers in the free church has risen in recent years.
[15:23] Perhaps at the highest level now that we've been since sometime in the 90s. And so we give you thanks for that. And we pray, Father, that you would help us as we seek in these congregations across the islands.
[15:36] As we seek pastors and ministers to preach the gospel and to care for the people of God. We ask and pray that your blessing would be upon us. Grant our congregations wisdom that they would make approaches to men who are already moved by your Holy Spirit.
[15:51] To receive that call and come and minister among us. We want to pray tonight, Father, for your blessing on those ministers who do faithfully serve. We ask and pray that you would bless them with your Holy Spirit's help and power.
[16:06] We think of that particularly in connection to their preaching. But also, Lord, in connection to their walk day by day. That you would guard them. That you would guard them where there are many weaknesses.
[16:17] Guard them, Father, where there are places where the evil one would come in and attack. And seek to trip them up and cause them undue concern and distraction. And we ask, Father, that you would be a wall around them.
[16:29] And offense to protect them. And to guard them in every respect. We know, Father, the evil one has many plans to afflict the church. And so we pray, as we do in the Lord's Prayer, that you would deliver us from evil.
[16:41] And that we would know the deliverance of God helping us day by day as we live for your glory. We want this evening, Father, to ask and pray your blessing on the wider church in Scotland.
[16:54] We pray for our nation, that you would revive the church. And that you would bring a day of awakening across our land. We thank you, Father, for the news that we have that comes to us occasionally of the so-called quiet revival that's happening.
[17:07] And we do see, Father, across many places, a growing number of younger people, particularly young men, coming to know Jesus. And we thank you for places where that is happening. And we thank you for the openness that there is there, particularly through the Internet.
[17:22] And we ask and pray your blessing on those who minister in that particular sphere. And we thank, Father, of apologists who work in the Internet context.
[17:33] Who are really good at presenting aspects of the teaching of the Bible faithfully and powerfully. In short videos, whether it's on YouTube or TikTok or on social media.
[17:45] We ask and pray, Father, that you bless them. That you prosper the seed as it's sown in that place. And that it would indeed fall on good ground. Ground that you have prepared. And that it would bring forth fruit.
[17:57] Some 60, some 80, some 100 fold. We thank you, Father, for the amazing harvest that can be brought in. And the word of God is faithfully declared. And where the people of God are praying earnestly and faithfully.
[18:09] For the blessing of God upon them. We pray, Lord, not only for the church and our nation. But we pray for our leaders. We pray for those who serve in the sphere of politics.
[18:19] We ask that they, too, would come to hear the good news of Christ. And that they would receive the gospel. That they would come and put their faith, their trust in Jesus. We pray that, Lord, from the highest of our leaders.
[18:32] Those from the office of the Prime Minister. And the First Minister. And all of the Cabinets. Right the way through to our local authority. And those in positions, Lord, of responsibility.
[18:42] In our local communities as well. We ask and pray your blessing on them. We pray, Father, for the needs of these communities. That you would bless us. That you would remember us. They're trying times, Lord.
[18:54] We see our nation desperately brought to difficulties. Lord, we've become so acclimatized to saying that we are a wealthy nation.
[19:05] And yet, as we look at our land, we see there is poverty in many places. Sometimes where we would least expect to find it. And so we ask and pray, Father, that you would help us. Make us committed to justice.
[19:16] To generosity. To kindness. And to meeting the needs of people. And we think, Father, of those who work. And therefore, our health service. Those who work in the provision of care for the elderly.
[19:28] These are all areas that are so important to people's lives day to day in our community. And we ask and pray your blessing on all of these spirits as well. We remember, Lord, today. The church indeed to the ends of the earth.
[19:41] We thank you, Father, for what we see happening in many places. Where your people are being encouraged. But we remember that still there are many places where the gospel is suppressed. And where your people gather in great fear.
[19:54] And with anxiety. Knowing that they may well be imprisoned. Or even put to death. For professing the name of Jesus. And so we remember, Father, today. The church in places where persecution is right.
[20:06] We ask, Lord, that there you would bring forth peace. The shalom of God between people. And that, Lord, as we pray for that spiritually. And the experience of the church. We pray for it practically. In the many places where we see war and strife continue.
[20:20] So, Lord, bless us. Bless your church in this world. Bless the cause of the gospel. Remember the work of Christ among us. And bring forth, we pray, fruit in our own lives.
[20:32] In keeping with repentance. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, before we turn back to God's word. We're going to sing again in Psalm 85.
[20:44] Psalm 85. And we're going to sing from verse 6. Psalm 85 at verse 6.
[20:55] Psalm 85. That in thee may thy people joy. Wilt thou not us revive? Show us thy mercy.
[21:06] Lord, to us do thy salvation give. I'll hear what God the Lord will speak. To his folk he'll speak peace. And to his saints. But let them not return to foolishness.
[21:18] We long to hear what God has to say to us. But equally, we have to guard against becoming complacent with what God has said to us. That's perhaps the lesson of this psalm.
[21:29] So, let's sing from verse 6 through to the end of the psalm to God's praise. That in thee may thy people joy. Wilt thou not us revive? Show us thy mercy, Lord.
[22:01] To us, who thy salvation give. I'll hear what God the Lord will speak.
[22:21] To his folk he'll speak peace. Unto his saints.
[22:32] But let them not return to foolishness.
[22:44] To them that fear him surely fear. This is salvation.
[23:00] God's glory in our land may have unhappity station.
[23:16] Truth met with very righteousness. Truth met with very righteousness.
[23:28] Unfeet is mutually. Truth met with very righteousness.
[23:39] Of earth and righteousness. Truth met with very righteousness. Truth met with very righteousness. Truth met with very righteousness. Truth met with very righteousness. Truth met with very righteousness. Truth met with very righteousness.
[23:50] Truth met with very righteousness. Truth met with very righteousness. Truth met with very righteousness. Truth met with very righteousness. Truth met with very righteousness. Truth met with very righteousness.
[24:05] God bless you.
[24:35] Would you please turn with me this evening in your Bibles back to the Old Testament, to Psalm 29, which we read. Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
[24:55] Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. Let's bow in prayer before we study the word together.
[25:11] Heavenly Father, as we come now for a short time in our service, in worship, to listen to what the Bible is saying to us. Seeking to apply it to our lives.
[25:21] We pray that you would help us to engage in this task faithfully. And also independence. We can never, Lord, take for granted that we will understand things of God.
[25:37] We need the Holy Spirit. And so, it's out of that sense of our need tonight that we come to you. We ask that the Spirit of truth would enlighten our lives in the things of the truth.
[25:48] And that we would be blessed in receiving the good news this week. Help us, we ask. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I recalled recently an experience.
[26:06] It was a good few years ago now, but sitting one night at the top of a hill in Point. And watching a thunderstorm across Broad Bay.
[26:19] And it was really quite spectacular. just watching the the lightning actually was coming down and crashing in a few different places and there was a number of lightning strikes and it was really quite something to behold and as we were sitting there, one of my pals was with me and as we were sitting there, the thought dawned on us of what a precariously stupid place we were that there was a thunderstorm probably just a mile or so maybe a few miles away from us that we were observing and actually had the wind changed, had the storm moved in a different direction we were probably in a prime location for the storm to catch us and so although we had a great sense of awe, we were gradually points overcome with a growing sense of fear of terror that was coming upon us because of the position we found ourselves in a storm can have that effect on our lives it can fill us with wonder and awe and sometimes when we get caught in the thick of it it can fill us with fear and terror and that's what Psalm 29 is trying to convey to us that's David's objective in this Psalm it is to say to us there is something in our lives working which will either convey worship and wonder and awe to us or on the other hand will or should certainly terrify us there are some things that are meant to have that effect and the storm if you can picture just to begin by just laying out the geography of this Psalm the storm begins in the north up near Lebanon and Mount Hermon and it sweeps down towards the south passing Jerusalem and rumbles off into the southern desert and you can see the locations in the Psalm as it works through there are the cedars of Lebanon and of Syria up in the north and then there is the crash that is heard in the forests and the effect throughout the land as the storm passes the temple there is a response from the people there and you see the storm retreats off into the wilderness of Kadesh as well but we should stop first and although there is an interesting perhaps the storm has been used metaphorically and the Psalm we'll come to that in a moment but we should begin by noting the opening two verses of the Psalm before the storm is even mentioned there is this call
[29:27] David calls the children of Israel calls the Hebrews to worship ascribe to the Lord O heavenly beings and the phrase that is used in Hebrew there is the sons of God and in Hebrew idiom and throughout the Old Testament that often sometimes can refer to the angels that surround the throne of God himself and it is used as a way of speaking not only therefore about the heavenly beings and the angels that surround the throne of God but also the worshipping church it is very similar to the imagery of the book of Revelation where the saints are gathered around the throne of God in the book of Revelation and the imagery is meant to draw us to the same conclusion that those who want to worship the Lord are called to worship him that those who want to sit around the throne of God those who want to be in the presence of God are invited are called to engage in worship worship and so in a sense there is a bit of an attention grabber at the beginning of the psalm where David is referring to these heavenly beings but he says ascribe to the Lord glory and strength ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness so there is obviously this dramatic attention grabbing phrase that even the powerful angels worship the Lord how much more so therefore ought we the angels who have never known let's remember this the angels who have never known redemption all the angels in heaven have ever known is perfect continuous worship of God the correctly orientated relationship with him since they were created there are other angels who were created and who fell
[31:13] Satan among them who rebelled against God's leadership no redemption has ever spoken of for them they are going to a place of a lost eternity prepared for the devil and his angels in hell so they are not the ones the heavenly beings who are called upon to worship here but the contrast is with us men and women of this world who like the fallen angels have rebelled against God but who are offered something truly incredible we are offered salvation I wonder tonight if we would just all of us would just pause over this simple fact that our heavenly beings who know no redemption who know only the purity of unfallen nature and they worship God and tonight as human beings made in the image of God and so therefore higher than the angels anyway in our in our in our image bearing capacity the angels are powerful beings the seraphim the burning ones are in the presence of God but we are offered salvation we are offered an opportunity of redemption but the angels don't know this that God the Son took on human flesh he took on our form he came and dwelt among us and lived among us and experienced human life among us and we tonight are invited to respond to that offer of grace through what the Psalm calls us to to ascribe to the Lord glory to worship the Lord to speak and to sing and to think of the majesty of God because that's really what the glory of God is really pointing us towards it is that his supreme majesty the highest majesty conceivable now dwells among us in David's case that was at the tabernacle or the what he calls the temple in the sand the place of worship in Jerusalem where the tribes of God would be gathered together to the tabernacle itself where the ark of the covenant was and on the lid of the ark of the covenant there was fashioned two angels two heavenly beings with their heads bowed covered in their faces places because between them on the mercy seat was the presence of
[34:00] God himself a point of radiance that filled the light of which filled the temple the shekinah glory of God and here we're called to remember the glory of God and to come and to worship him in all the trappings of his majesty so this is a psalm that actually begins with in fact an evangelical message why should we worship him because he has come to redeem us because he has brought redemption and salvation to us not merely because he has created us not merely because he is the God who sustains all life without whom the sun would blink out of existence without whom the breath of life would depart from us without whom the seasons would break down not merely the fact that God is gracious to us in giving us a world in which we can live for the few short years that we have here but a God who offers us the hope of eternity of eternal life and this psalm calls us to worship him and the language of it is very interesting as well it says worship him in the splendor of holiness that's not referring I think to
[35:29] God's innate splendor that somehow we should come recognizing the splendor of God and perhaps even outwardly look splendid ourselves this is not a psalm that says wear your Sunday best when you come to worship God this rather is a psalm that speaks about our need to come appropriately into the worship of God Jesus speaks of this in Matthew 22 there's a parable there of the wedding feast and on that occasion the first part of the parable is very familiar to us the guests are invited but they won't come and so the master of the feast says go out into the streets the highways and byways of the towns and the villages and the hamlets around about and gather in as many people as will come bring everyone they're all welcome to come to the wedding feast and so the servants do this they go out now once the guests arrive at the wedding this is the second part of the parable in Matthew 22 it's interesting some of the guests or one of the guests in particular is inappropriately clothed and the rationale actually the cultural rationale of the parable is that for a wedding feast of that nature if you were not appropriately dressed yourself you would be provided with clothing so if you weren't from the wealthy noble classes coming to the king's wedding feast you would be provided with what you need to come you would be given appropriate clothes and yet some guy has come to this wedding and he has said to himself
[36:55] I look okay I will come dressed as I want I will come in my own or we could say it my own righteousness I will come clothed in my own splendid clothing and the king will respect me for what I am but the king spots him and the king says hang on a minute you are not appropriately dressed what happened to the clothing you were given why have you not warned him and the king was incensed he was angry because he had provided everything for this guest the guest had to do nothing but the king then ejected him and was thrown outside to a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth why because he had depended on his own righteousness to come and worship the lord he had depended on himself and this psalm before we get into anything that it says to us about the voice of the lord which is the main theme of it it begins with this simple but important message concerning the gospel of Jesus
[37:57] Christ that if you want to come to worship God and I hope tonight all of you do I hope that's why you're in church I think in this day and age it probably has to be because there's plenty other things you could do that might be more entertaining than listening to me for half an hour but I hope you've come to worship God but I hope you've come in the right spirit because the right spirit to worship God is in complete dependence on Jesus it is clinging to Jesus as the only way you will be accepted in God's presence that without Jesus you cannot worship the lord in the splendor of holiness holiness because you're not wearing the splendid clothes that God has provided because you're saying I don't care for the splendid clothes he's provided I'm okay without Jesus I'm okay without the good that he has provided to cover me kind of like
[38:57] Adam in the garden of Eden where Adam when God comes they're saying to themselves oh no God is coming into the garden to see us we need to cover ourselves up because we're naked before him and so they sewed fig leaves together to make loin cloths for themselves and God in turn provides them with a better covering the first sacrifice in the bible is actually God sacrificing an animal to provide a covering for Adam he clothed them with animal skins so that they could be separate and God does this he provides coverings for us he provides clothings for us he makes us acceptable but if we reject his clothing if we reject his preparation if we reject his ways then we will be cast out and rejected so worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness moving on though the psalm begins to use this refrain David comes back time and again to this expression the voice of Yahweh the voice of the covenant
[40:01] God of Israel and that's the main body of the psalm is actually about this and he uses a picture for us of a storm rolling through the country now David is not merely writing about a storm some people would approach this and they'd say ah this is an example of one of the big failings of organized religion some people would say when God in the Bible is presented he's presented us as an explanation for things we don't understand so you might imagine David doesn't understand the science of meteorology and so he doesn't understand why a storm would come rumbling through the land he doesn't understand that lightning comes from highly charged particles in the upper atmosphere where there's an awful lot of energy and that these particles they want to earth and so they create lightning bolts that shoot from the clouds where they're negatively charged to the ground and that creates a lightning spark and they say well David didn't understand that science and so what David's doing in this psalm is he's filling in the blanks in his understanding and he's saying ah that lightning that's God and David's not doing that and the reason
[41:07] I say that is because David knows what the voice of the Lord sounds like David doesn't need to think about the storm and say there's God speaking I wonder what he's saying in the storm and then kind of work it out and think well what is the storm God saying to us in this storm of wrath that he's sweeping through the land is he angry with us because of this storm that is not what David is saying we should not imagine that David knows what the voice of the Lord sounds like because he knew Samuel he was anointed by Samuel and draw the conclusion that David takes some of his theology his ideas his biblical training from Samuel and Samuel remember he begins his career as a prophet hearing the voice of the Lord calling to him at night and Samuel doesn't doubt that there's a voice calling him Samuel when he hears the voice of the Lord he says there's a voice calling me I think it's Eli I better go and check him up on it so he goes to see Eli are you calling me
[42:09] I'm here and Eli says go back to sleep I didn't call you I'm having a dream and the same thing happens to him again and again and Eli realizes that it's actually the voice of the Lord calling Samuel and so he says to Samuel when you hear the voice again say speak Lord your servant is listening and so Samuel responds to the voice of the Lord now David therefore knows that when God speaks he doesn't speak in a thunderstorm he doesn't speak in an unobvious way when God speaks he speaks audibly and clearly to us he is as we would say in the New Testament he is a God of order not a God of chaos and so the orderliness of the voice of the Lord is there in David's mind anyway he doesn't need a metaphor to say that is the voice of the Lord what he means is it's like the voice of the Lord what this storm does in the land is like what the voice of the Lord does in our lives the effects of this storm are like the effects of God when he speaks to us and he can remember a moment of that in his own history he can go to the book of
[43:20] Exodus and he can read there what happened at Mount Sinai when the voice of the Lord spoke out of a raging tempest to the children of Israel Mount Sinai you remember the experience of Mount Sinai when God gave the children of Israel the Ten Commandments that wasn't conveyed via Moses it's not like Moses came down from the mountain and said this is what God's saying by the way God audibly spoke to the children of Israel as one constituting them as a nation and telling them the foundational truths of how they should live as his worshippers what worshipping the Lord and the splendor of holiness really looks like and the Israelites after they heard the voice of the Lord speak to them went to Moses and said we do not ever want to experience that again we never want to be exposed to the voice of the Lord like that it's too much for us and so in future if God is something he wants to say to us you go up the mountain and meet with him you hear from him and you come back down and tell us because we cannot bear to hear the voice of the
[44:32] Lord the voice of the Lord when he speaks is utterly dismay to people not prepared to hear it and the Israelites were unprepared on that occasion they wanted to know that God was going to deliver them and take them to the promised land yes but they were not prepared for what he had to say and hear him and you see that in their subsequent actions they take him for granted constantly Moses goes up the mountain a few weeks later doesn't come back for some time and what do they do they build an idol one of the things they've just been commanded not to do not to make idols the second of God's command so the voice of the Lord is not the storm the voice of the Lord instead is when God speaks into our lives and our lives are shaken in some way our lives are rocked to their core and the pictures of that rocking experience are prolific in this psalm they're everywhere through it the voice of the
[45:40] Lord it breaks the cedars of Lebanon the cedars of Lebanon were the strongest material that they had for building within the ancient new east if you wanted your building to be earthquake you put Lebanese cedar into the structure and that acted like a shock absorber so that the stone structure would not crumble and fall in the presence of an earthquake and yet this storm is breaking the cedar these strong powerful building materials Lebanon itself skips like a cat the very earth itself is shaken by the tremor of the storm the power of the storm passing through it seems even to shake the very earth itself and then the flashes of thunder and lightning come and they are dramatic in that effect we know what it's like we've just been through fireworks again just recently we've seen the terror of animals in the presence of these loud bangs and these bright flashes anyone who's got dogs this time of year knows what it's like it's terrifying for and David's saying that's what the voice of the Lord is like as it sweeps through the land it terrifies the people and tonight that's the question for us that's what
[47:11] David wants us to do with this psalm as we sing it together he wants us to question and ask what effect does the voice of the Lord have in your heart in your life what's going on inside you when God speaks because certainly one response to that ought to be terror that if you don't know God and you aren't a friend of God's then when he speaks it ought to terrify you it ought to leave you trembling because it is a solemn thing to hear what God has to say to us it's a solemn thing to hear as we've been singing tonight that we were conceived in our mother's wombs guiltiness and sin that's not to say that there was a sinful act that caused our conception but it is to recognize that we are sinful from our first beginning right from the very beginning sin characterizes us is that something that terrifies you tonight that it ought to because that leaves us in the hands of a righteous and holy
[48:25] God who wants to be worshipped in the splendor of holiness and yet we by nature are guilty and sinful before him we are not at the same level of what we should be and therefore we ought to sink away in terror before him and that's what questions you know there's a question I have about why people keep coming to church if you're not saved if you haven't come to faith if you haven't repented of your sin what on earth do you keep coming for when what is it that brings you because it should terrify the life out of you to hear repeatedly Sunday after Sunday that there is a righteous God in heaven who will one day come and judge the living and the dead and we stand before him with no covering unclothed without the splendour of Christ by nature we have no chance what I don't understand is why you're still here why would you not run to the hills and ask him to cover you and hide you from the righteousness of God and from his holiness it is however one group of people who are different as the storm thunders through the land there is a group of people in the temple and their response is different in the temple all cry glory see in the temple the people who are there their people whose lives are orientated towards
[50:22] God in such a way that when he speaks they recognise his majesty and they do not tremble in fear they tremble in wonder they say the voice of the Lord is like the shekinah glory shining in the temple that when God speaks to us when God has something to say to us it's actually a wonderful experience for us because what God says to us what God speaks to us gives us hope it gives us life it gives us in fact peace we know that because Jesus said the same thing Jesus said my sheep know my voice and I am the gate of the sheep I am the one who guards them protects them when they hear me they know I have good things for them they know
[51:25] I will bless them they know I will protect them they know in fact that I am the shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep they have nothing to fear from the shepherd he is not going to abuse them he is not going to put them through terror he will lead them to green pastures and flowing fresh water and so when my sheep hear my voice they do not fear they rejoice in the one who speaks I wonder tonight is that you this is one of these great assurances that we come to as Christians that we come to a place where when the Lord speaks we are thrilled to hear it I will hear what God the Lord says to his folk he utters peace and is that your experience tonight when you hear the gospel when you hear the news that yes there is a righteous
[52:35] God and yes he is a God who will judge the living and the dead and yes by nature our skin our sins are a scarlet and yet that holy God that God who was wronged that God whose righteousness is terrifying has said I love them and I will send my son as a redeemer and I will bless them with life everlasting and they will come and they will sit with me at my table and I will provide for them for all eternity I will give them peace I will give them shalom and what they will discover is in fact that I am enthroned over everything and this is what we cling to as Christians tonight this is the reason
[53:36] God's voice actually makes sense to us and doesn't terrify us it is because there is an article of faith embedded in the conclusion of this psalm that we must hold to always and it is a simple article of faith the Lord sits enthroned over the flood the flood for David was terrifying the terror of the flood is going back to the days of Noah and even in fact further back it was back to the days of creation at the beginning of creation when you're reading Genesis the story is of the spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters and it's interesting because that's the same phrase that's used at the end of the flood but there is the face of the waters that have covered the air and the spirit of God is there present protecting Noah and his family the idea is that beneath them there is just destruction and chaos there is no life there is nothing that can sustain life there is nothing that can make life possible that it's just devastation and over that God says over that picture of devastation and creation
[54:47] God says let there be light in the book of Genesis when it's Noah God blows in the face of the water and the wind blows the same word as the spirit the Ruach God is present and the waters are baited from the face of the earth and the ark comes to rest on Mount Adarat Noah and his family rejoice and they leave the ark because land has been available to them the Lord sits enthroned over the flood David says over the chaos of our lives and I don't know what chaos is unfolding in your life tonight I know there's enough of it in my own there's enough chaos around us to leave us feeling hugely uncertain you don't need to go very far in our news cycle to see that the last week has been just weird as if our leaders just don't know how to govern the country and you look at this and you think the world is chaotic the world is going mad this last week maybe you've had cancer diagnoses maybe you've had news from your doctor that you haven't shared with anyone yet maybe the world feels like it's falling apart maybe you're in relationships that are chaotic and messy you're in the depths of despair because things seem utterly hopeless in a situation in your workplace maybe even things in your workplace are just too much for you the world and the demands that we put on people they're huge and it is too much for us and we're overwhelmed the
[56:39] Lord sits enthroned over the flood he is there enthroned as king forever this Lord of ours this Jesus and so when he speaks he will strengthen when he speaks he will bless his people with shalom he will bless us with peace that's what happens when you hear the voice of the Lord as a Christian that into the chaos of our lives into the destruction and devastation of whatever we are going through the Lord comes in and he says my peace be with you words of Jesus in the upper room the fear of disciples in a locked room it's been a 2000 year experience for the church now and Jesus says my peace
[57:44] I give to you that's where we are tonight a place where we receive the peace of God when he speaks and so what do you hear tonight in the voice of the Lord my hope and my prayer is that what you hear are words of peace words of comfort words of salvation words of hope and not words of devastation and destruction and terror because you have come to Jesus who offers you his presence in the splendor of holiness and simply says now come come to me and I will give you rest let's bow in prayer heavenly father we thank you for your word we thank you that you are God who speaks we thank you that that speech found its climax in the person of
[58:44] Jesus who came as the word made flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory glory is the only son from the father peace and truth and so tonight I pray father that that would be the portion of each one of us that we would know the peace of God in our lives that when you speak we would say glory because there we hear the words of eternal life of hope for the lost and hopeless of this world help us to receive your peace in Jesus name Amen!
[59:22] from verse 7 so psalm 29 at verse 7 we're going to sing three stanzas through to the end God's voice divides the flames of fire the desert it doth shake the Lord doth make the wilderness of Kadesh all to quake God's voice doth make the hind to calf it makes the forest bare and in his temple everyone his glory doth declare the Lord sits on the floods the Lord sits king and ever shall the Lord shall give his people strength and with peace bless them all so let's sing these three stanzas to God's praise in the vision God's voice divides the flames of fire the desert!
[60:16] Lord does shake the Lord does make the wilderness of Kadesh all to quake of Kadesh all to quake God's voice does make the hines to cry it makes the forest bear a dim list and for every one!
[61:13] His glory just! He His glory just He creed!
[61:27] ! The Lord sits on the clouds, the Lord sits King as ever shall.
[61:45] The Lord will give His people strength, and with peace bless them all.
[62:04] And with peace bless them all. Now the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit, be with each one of us now and always. Amen.