WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:06.980 Father, we thank you for your word that is like thunder, as the psalm says. 00:00:07.640 --> 00:00:11.620 Thank you for your Holy Spirit who works so powerfully through your word. 00:00:11.700 --> 00:00:19.019 And we ask that you will open the eyes of our hearts to your glory, your goodness, and your love for us. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:25.960 That we would be strengthened and know your peace by your word and by your power. 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:28.080 In Jesus' name we ask. Amen. 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:34.859 So you guys have been in a series on the psalms, is that right? 00:00:35.100 --> 00:00:37.000 And which psalm did you preach on last week? 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:39.239 You can't remember. Okay. 00:00:41.460 --> 00:00:42.799 I'm putting you on the spot. 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:47.599 And so I thought, well, I'd follow up the psalm reading with this psalm 29, 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:51.820 which is a marvelous, marvelous psalm about God's word. 00:00:51.820 --> 00:00:59.899 And the psalm that we are reading is one of a number of psalms that are about the glory of God. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:08.859 They express in song and in poem how glorious God is in his majesty and goodness. 00:01:09.379 --> 00:01:13.359 There's nothing like God's glory in the world, the psalms say here. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:21.260 It is about his beauty and his goodness and his love far beyond anything we can imagine. 00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:25.599 And our world wants to make God to be small. 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:33.200 It understands that God is one of many gods, the God that we worship. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:36.859 Or they think it's a personally held opinion. 00:01:37.219 --> 00:01:41.859 I mean, you know what your friends might be saying if they're not Christian, who God is. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:45.260 The assumption of many is that God is something that we create. 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:48.620 Like we come up with the idea of who God is. 00:01:49.780 --> 00:01:56.420 But God's glory revealed in this psalm and in the Bible really demolishes those ideas. 00:01:56.420 --> 00:02:04.079 Because there's a weightiness of God's glory that's far beyond what a human could come up with. 00:02:04.420 --> 00:02:07.099 It's far beyond anything that we have seen. 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:12.199 So it's very important for us to know the glory of God, something about it, 00:02:12.219 --> 00:02:15.139 to taste something about the glory of God. 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:19.400 Because this is what helps us and strengthens us to trust God. 00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:22.620 And to worship God with all of our hearts. 00:02:22.620 --> 00:02:26.420 And to love him with our heart, mind, soul. 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:37.300 And one of the very helpful books about the glory of God is the book Knowing God by Jim Packer. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:43.300 And if you have not read the book, I invite you to do that as soon as you can again. 00:02:43.740 --> 00:02:46.439 It takes a lot of thought to go through. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:48.020 It's very thought-provoking. 00:02:48.540 --> 00:02:51.099 But he talks a lot about the glory of God. 00:02:51.099 --> 00:02:56.359 Because if you want to know God, you need to know that he is the God of glory. 00:02:57.240 --> 00:03:03.079 And he says to form the right idea of God's glory, the Bible teaches us two steps to take. 00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:04.639 And I love how practical they are. 00:03:04.699 --> 00:03:11.099 He says, first, we have to remove from our thoughts limits that would make God small. 00:03:11.519 --> 00:03:12.359 That's the first thing. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:15.919 Remove from your thoughts limits that would make God small. 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:23.799 And then the second thing he says is to compare God with power and forces which we regard as great. 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:28.459 Compare God to powers and forces that we think are great. 00:03:28.959 --> 00:03:31.959 That's exactly what David is doing in this song. 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:42.560 And what David does here in taking that second step is he writes a song that shows how God's glory is revealed in the power of his voice. 00:03:43.620 --> 00:03:50.760 And you get a real taste of God's glory in the power of God's word, his voice. 00:03:50.759 --> 00:03:58.219 And so what David does is he compares that word to a thunderstorm. 00:03:59.379 --> 00:04:04.479 Now, to help understand this song, you have to be able to experience a thunderstorm. 00:04:05.139 --> 00:04:06.159 And you're living in Ottawa. 00:04:06.340 --> 00:04:09.139 I think you guys have thunderstorms here, which is a good thing. 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:13.099 Vancouver, we didn't have thunderstorms. 00:04:13.219 --> 00:04:13.899 Hardly ever. 00:04:14.039 --> 00:04:14.879 Very unusual. 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:17.800 And so my boys did not grow up with them at all. 00:04:18.659 --> 00:04:22.019 When they were little, not that, I mean, they were eight and ten, I remember. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:25.600 We went to Whistler, where they do have storms in the mountains. 00:04:25.899 --> 00:04:33.600 We were walking along near the village, where all of a sudden one of those mountain thunderstorms came rushing in. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:36.159 We, it got all black. 00:04:36.259 --> 00:04:37.719 You could hear thunder in the distance. 00:04:37.719 --> 00:04:40.240 And we ran underneath kind of an overhang. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:46.920 And suddenly there was this strong wind, bright flash of lightning that felt like it was right in us. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:52.379 And this instantaneous explosion, like this noise of thunder. 00:04:52.620 --> 00:04:54.699 And it was actually pretty frightening. 00:04:55.639 --> 00:04:58.040 And then there was this hail, and then it was gone. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:00.340 And I immediately turned to my boys. 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:04.220 He said, I said, your first thunderstorm, that wasn't so bad, was it? 00:05:04.220 --> 00:05:08.740 But I was actually quite struck by its immense power. 00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:10.920 And it was frightening. 00:05:11.540 --> 00:05:16.080 And that's what David is comparing God's glory to, his voice. 00:05:16.620 --> 00:05:20.640 He says, the voice of God is a voice that thunders. 00:05:20.940 --> 00:05:24.720 That power that we experienced in that thunderclap. 00:05:25.060 --> 00:05:32.860 He said, that gives you a little foretaste, a little sense of the immense power of God's speech, his word. 00:05:32.860 --> 00:05:42.800 And so to bring home to us the glory of God and his word, he says three things about God's voice. 00:05:43.300 --> 00:05:44.080 Three things. 00:05:44.379 --> 00:05:47.520 He tells us the source of God's word. 00:05:48.699 --> 00:05:51.420 And he tells us the effect of God's word. 00:05:52.040 --> 00:05:55.900 And then finally he tells us what the goal of God's word is. 00:05:56.220 --> 00:05:58.980 And I want to briefly look at those as we just work our way through the psalm. 00:05:58.980 --> 00:06:03.600 So if you can turn to Psalm 29, that would be very, very helpful. 00:06:04.500 --> 00:06:08.259 And the first thing he says about the source is that it comes from heaven. 00:06:09.080 --> 00:06:11.220 You know, Jesus said that about himself, right? 00:06:11.319 --> 00:06:15.300 I mean, he said only he had come from heaven. 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:19.120 He's the only voice that has come down from heaven and is the word of God. 00:06:19.460 --> 00:06:21.400 But listen to this in verses one and two. 00:06:21.399 --> 00:06:27.659 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 00:06:28.139 --> 00:06:31.060 Ascribe to the Lord glory due his name. 00:06:31.359 --> 00:06:35.319 Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. 00:06:35.799 --> 00:06:37.719 And you see what he's doing here. 00:06:37.879 --> 00:06:43.120 David is calling on heavenly beings to give God glory and strength 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:46.859 and to worship him in the splendor of his holiness. 00:06:46.860 --> 00:06:53.580 And he says this because if they are meant, if those who are in heaven are meant to worship God, 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:57.460 then everyone in the world is meant to worship him as well. 00:06:58.420 --> 00:07:02.360 And if God's voice comes from heaven with that kind of authority, 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:07.480 that is the word to listen to, to think and to meditate. 00:07:07.620 --> 00:07:10.160 It's the one that you want to hear with all your heart. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:16.140 And Isaiah picks up on this, you know, this fact that God's word is from heaven. 00:07:16.760 --> 00:07:20.560 And it's something that is far beyond heaven and earth. 00:07:20.680 --> 00:07:24.680 He says, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, in Isaiah 55, 00:07:25.240 --> 00:07:29.200 so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 00:07:29.840 --> 00:07:33.920 And that's such an important word for us today, that God's word comes from heaven. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:39.600 Because our world tries to muzzle God's word and his voice 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:44.720 so that it conforms to our present day thinking, our conventional wisdom. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:48.660 But the glory of God's voice is that it's from heaven. 00:07:48.939 --> 00:07:52.680 It is the voice that has actually brought this world into existence. 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:58.240 He has brought you into existence as well, just by his word. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:04.040 He is the one that everyone in heaven, as these verses say, and on earth, 00:08:04.540 --> 00:08:06.100 are designed to worship. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:08.100 And they're actually called to worship. 00:08:08.280 --> 00:08:12.120 And that God speaks to us, that glorious God. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:13.500 It's an amazing thing. 00:08:13.579 --> 00:08:16.460 It's not a word from earth to earth or earth to heaven. 00:08:17.460 --> 00:08:19.500 God speaks from heaven. 00:08:20.600 --> 00:08:23.199 And there's a great effect to that word. 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:32.819 Now, I want you to notice that God's word, because it's wiser than any of our wisdoms, 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:36.259 or a greater justice than anything good that we could think of, 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:38.080 and love greater than we can think of, 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:40.620 it's this voice that's worth hearing to. 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:43.919 And that's why three times in these two verses, the psalm says, 00:08:44.179 --> 00:08:46.439 ascribe glory to God. 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:49.860 And what he reminds us in doing that is he says, 00:08:50.160 --> 00:08:55.720 this is a word that's worth listening to humbly and obediently, 00:08:55.740 --> 00:08:57.400 without argument and objection, 00:08:57.660 --> 00:09:02.700 because his holiness and his goodness comes to us through it. 00:09:03.260 --> 00:09:06.820 You know, in receiving that word and hearing and obeying it, 00:09:06.900 --> 00:09:11.880 there is this deep goodness that comes into our hearts and into our minds. 00:09:12.680 --> 00:09:14.240 So there is the source. 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:17.399 It is actually a word from heaven for us. 00:09:18.060 --> 00:09:23.360 And the word, the thunderstorm of God's voice that begins in heaven in verses 1 and 2, 00:09:23.700 --> 00:09:28.960 it comes down to earth, if you notice, in the rest of the psalm, verses 3 through 9. 00:09:29.940 --> 00:09:33.139 And so in those verses, you not only see that God's, 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:35.659 where the origin of God's word is, it's from heaven, 00:09:36.340 --> 00:09:39.419 we see the effect of God's voice as well. 00:09:39.580 --> 00:09:42.720 And it's quite an effect on the earth and on the water. 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:46.820 David is a bit of a storm tracker in this psalm. 00:09:47.420 --> 00:09:50.980 And I don't know if you've been seeing the news of Hurricane Lee. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:55.040 It's being tracked very carefully as it makes its way. 00:09:55.139 --> 00:09:56.639 And where is it going to hit land? 00:09:57.340 --> 00:09:58.399 David is doing this. 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:01.259 He's following the path of God's word, the storm. 00:10:01.960 --> 00:10:07.259 And he sees that that storm of God's word changes the world. 00:10:07.379 --> 00:10:09.000 It turns us upside down. 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:12.179 It starts over the water in the Mediterranean in verse 3. 00:10:12.299 --> 00:10:12.759 So he says, 00:10:13.299 --> 00:10:15.500 The voice of the Lord is over the waters. 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:17.860 The God of glory thunder. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:20.080 The Lord over many waters. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:22.320 The voice of the Lord is powerful. 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:25.799 The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. 00:10:25.799 --> 00:10:31.339 The people listening to this for the first time would have been quite struck by it. 00:10:31.339 --> 00:10:39.299 Because water was a sign of chaos and of death and destruction in the Old Testament. 00:10:39.699 --> 00:10:43.899 And so that's why there's the great flood that destroys the world. 00:10:44.139 --> 00:10:49.179 And the Red Sea was the instrument of God's wrath. 00:10:49.179 --> 00:10:54.719 And also there was chaos and fear through which people had to be saved. 00:10:55.059 --> 00:10:56.779 So Noah is saved through the flood. 00:10:57.099 --> 00:11:01.639 And the people of Israel through the dangers and the death of the Red Sea. 00:11:02.620 --> 00:11:09.239 And so God's promise to Noah and to Moses to save their people really thundered over those waters. 00:11:09.699 --> 00:11:13.059 Over the waters of the flood and over the waters of the Red Sea. 00:11:13.059 --> 00:11:20.959 And his word was much more powerful than the forces of fear and destruction that Noah faced. 00:11:21.419 --> 00:11:23.559 And that the people of God faced in Egypt. 00:11:23.739 --> 00:11:25.719 Those words were full of majesty. 00:11:25.959 --> 00:11:31.819 Because out of love for his people, God, their king, is saving them. 00:11:32.839 --> 00:11:34.839 And this is a word for us this morning. 00:11:34.919 --> 00:11:42.599 Because I know that many of you are facing various things that cause you, would cause you to be fearful. 00:11:43.059 --> 00:11:48.599 Or that there may be chaotic waters that trouble your heart and your soul this morning. 00:11:49.179 --> 00:11:53.319 It may be you're facing uncertainty or a lack of direction. 00:11:53.599 --> 00:11:56.239 You're worried about somebody who is close to you. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:11:59.539 There might be a sense of your own frailty. 00:12:00.379 --> 00:12:04.899 Or you see the pain in the world around you, which really can hit our hearts. 00:12:05.139 --> 00:12:08.019 When you look and see what has happened to Morocco with that earthquake. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:10.959 Your hearts are struck by it. 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:18.480 We see every day the deep confusion of our world about who we are. 00:12:18.580 --> 00:12:19.320 Our identity. 00:12:19.680 --> 00:12:20.580 Our sexuality. 00:12:21.280 --> 00:12:22.860 How God designed us. 00:12:23.240 --> 00:12:27.040 That has been lost and obscured in our world. 00:12:27.400 --> 00:12:30.960 There is a deep sense of confusion. 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:41.000 And here there is this majestic, powerful voice which promises to you things that are true. 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:44.720 That actually thunder over your fears and uncertainty and death. 00:12:44.820 --> 00:12:49.160 They actually kind of burst through God's word to us. 00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:54.060 And many of those promises are Jesus' own word. 00:12:54.059 --> 00:13:00.479 And I do invite you when you read God's word to really think, what is God promising in this word that I'm reading today? 00:13:00.979 --> 00:13:04.839 What is he saying that he has for you? 00:13:05.659 --> 00:13:13.679 Well, John 6, for instance, says, Jesus says, this is the will of my father that everyone who looks to the son and believes in him should have eternal life. 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:16.239 And I will raise him up on the last day. 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:21.019 That is the promise that defines our life and our future and our present. 00:13:21.779 --> 00:13:26.220 And Jesus' word says, behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. 00:13:26.299 --> 00:13:33.919 He is with us, that he is in us, that he is intimately close to us to the end of the age, whatever happens in this world. 00:13:34.860 --> 00:13:42.460 And then David himself constantly heard God's promise to be with him even in death. 00:13:42.940 --> 00:13:44.399 It drowned out death. 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:52.439 So he said, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. 00:13:53.379 --> 00:14:00.919 See, those are powerful and majestic words of promise to you that rules your fears. 00:14:01.179 --> 00:14:06.600 It rules your uncertainties and the things that trouble my soul and your soul. 00:14:07.259 --> 00:14:09.120 God saves you every day. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:15.279 He saves you by his voice, by those promises that he is giving every day. 00:14:16.500 --> 00:14:23.840 But I want you to know that there is something much more far-reaching than this about God's word. 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:31.279 Because it not only carries us through the things that trouble us, but it actually shakes our world. 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:36.899 And it tears down the pride that you and I suffer from. 00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:41.939 Pride is constantly kind of rearing up its head in our hearts, in our minds. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:47.339 And God turns our lives upside down in a good way. 00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:55.220 You know, I always tell people who have a first child, I said, it's going to turn your life upside down in a really good way. 00:14:55.220 --> 00:14:56.840 But it won't be the same. 00:14:57.240 --> 00:14:59.080 And that's the truth with God's word. 00:14:59.560 --> 00:15:01.660 Look at verse 5 and 6. 00:15:02.259 --> 00:15:07.980 David follows the thunderstorm of God's word from water to land in Lebanon. 00:15:08.860 --> 00:15:16.620 And the most impressive thing about the land around Israel, to the north of Israel and in Lebanon, was the forest. 00:15:16.899 --> 00:15:17.879 Incredible forest. 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:20.860 And the greatest of the trees of the forest was the cedar. 00:15:20.860 --> 00:15:24.940 If you look at the flag of Lebanon, what is in the middle of the flag? 00:15:25.940 --> 00:15:27.419 It's a big cedar tree. 00:15:28.100 --> 00:15:29.580 It's a beautiful flag, actually. 00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:31.419 And those trees were strong. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:35.259 They grew to 120 feet high, 10 feet in diameter. 00:15:35.940 --> 00:15:39.360 They were very long-lived, and they had a beautiful aroma. 00:15:39.639 --> 00:15:41.879 The resin from it is just beautiful to smell. 00:15:42.580 --> 00:15:49.180 And they were used to build the world's great palaces in Egypt and also Solomon's temple as well. 00:15:49.179 --> 00:15:58.699 And David paints a picture of God breaking through and breaking down those massive trees in verse 5. 00:15:59.019 --> 00:16:02.939 The thing that's the pride of Lebanon is broken down. 00:16:04.359 --> 00:16:11.399 And then he takes us from Lebanon to this mighty, immovable Mount Syrian, which is Mount Hermon. 00:16:11.459 --> 00:16:17.299 You can see it up in the north of Israel, this huge mountain that's almost 10,000 feet high. 00:16:17.299 --> 00:16:24.120 And he says, God's voice makes that mountain skip like a young wild ox. 00:16:24.839 --> 00:16:29.939 And then from there, the storm moves down to the massive forbidding wilderness of Kadesh. 00:16:30.319 --> 00:16:34.959 And it makes an earthquake happen that strips the forest bare. 00:16:36.500 --> 00:16:38.599 Well, why does God do this? 00:16:38.939 --> 00:16:40.519 Why does he give us that picture? 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:44.019 And I'll ask another puzzling question. 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:51.019 All of a sudden, we hear that there is a deer that is born. 00:16:51.879 --> 00:16:53.059 And it's interesting. 00:16:53.159 --> 00:16:57.100 In the middle of it all, in God's voice, a deer gives birth. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:01.100 His voice brings about new life in the midst of this upheaval. 00:17:01.639 --> 00:17:02.699 Why is that happening? 00:17:02.700 --> 00:17:09.559 Well, it's because it's showing us that God breaks down those things that oppose him. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:13.620 It actually tears down our pride. 00:17:14.539 --> 00:17:18.420 You know, we can think of ourselves as being as impressive as the cedars of Lebanon. 00:17:18.860 --> 00:17:23.660 And we can find ourselves in a spiritual wilderness like Kadesh that really needs to be shaken. 00:17:23.660 --> 00:17:31.779 And only God's word has the power to break through our pride and to crush hearts of stone. 00:17:32.620 --> 00:17:36.720 And in the midst of that, bring about living hearts. 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:39.759 Like that little fawn that was born. 00:17:40.060 --> 00:17:42.080 Making us alive to God. 00:17:42.220 --> 00:17:45.540 Because his word has torn down like an earthquake. 00:17:46.259 --> 00:17:48.259 The trees of our pride. 00:17:48.420 --> 00:17:52.380 The wilderness of the sense of being far away from God. 00:17:52.380 --> 00:17:58.580 The power of God's voice makes our hearts alive to God and dead to sin. 00:17:58.980 --> 00:18:03.140 And so that's the thunderstorm of God's voice that does this mighty work. 00:18:05.180 --> 00:18:07.420 I don't know if any of you have heard of John Donne. 00:18:07.540 --> 00:18:09.240 He is a famous poet. 00:18:10.460 --> 00:18:18.280 And one of his most famous poems from the 17th century was one that you wouldn't hear written probably today. 00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:20.540 But I want to read a couple of lines from it. 00:18:20.540 --> 00:18:21.340 He says, 00:18:21.339 --> 00:18:42.720 Now we don't often pray like this. 00:18:42.819 --> 00:18:44.480 But you see what he's saying. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:48.620 You know, we often will ask for things that benefit us immediately. 00:18:48.620 --> 00:18:50.000 Which is a good thing. 00:18:50.360 --> 00:18:56.640 But we don't often ask God to batter our hearts like he is doing here with the thunder of God's word. 00:18:57.480 --> 00:19:04.660 Well, John Donne does this because he wants God to overthrow his sin and make him new. 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:07.900 He wants God to make him alive to God. 00:19:07.900 --> 00:19:11.259 And that's what God's voice does for us. 00:19:12.040 --> 00:19:15.920 That's what David is talking about here in this marvelous psalm. 00:19:16.560 --> 00:19:19.180 And this is how God works in our life. 00:19:19.320 --> 00:19:23.120 God the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin. 00:19:23.240 --> 00:19:25.000 He leads us into his truth. 00:19:25.360 --> 00:19:33.220 He brings Jesus into our lives so that we, our daughters and sons of God, deeply loved by the Heavenly Father. 00:19:33.220 --> 00:19:37.360 And we receive this incredible gift of the forgiveness of sins. 00:19:38.059 --> 00:19:44.160 It only is God batters our hearts that we receive that gift of the forgiveness of sins. 00:19:44.819 --> 00:19:47.720 The Holy Spirit inhabits God's word. 00:19:48.120 --> 00:19:51.920 He makes it a living word that burns in our hearts. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:56.180 The Holy Spirit always goes with God's word. 00:19:56.460 --> 00:19:57.300 Look at verse 7. 00:19:58.220 --> 00:19:58.500 It says, 00:19:58.620 --> 00:20:01.660 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. 00:20:01.779 --> 00:20:05.980 Literally, it says that God's voice is dividing flames of fire. 00:20:06.660 --> 00:20:10.820 Well, what do you think of when you think of that verse of dividing flames of fire? 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:13.560 You think of the day of Pentecost. 00:20:14.259 --> 00:20:20.480 You can't help but think about the Holy Spirit resting on the people of God at that time. 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:27.299 And, you know, it's no accident that that psalm is read during the Jewish feast of tabernacles. 00:20:27.420 --> 00:20:28.440 That's called Pentecost. 00:20:29.140 --> 00:20:33.259 It was on that day that the Holy Spirit filled the followers of Jesus. 00:20:33.420 --> 00:20:40.140 There's the sound of the mighty rushing wind and dividing tongues of fire appear on each of them. 00:20:40.900 --> 00:20:43.779 And what happens immediately after is they start talking about what? 00:20:44.019 --> 00:20:48.140 The glory of God in languages that are not their own. 00:20:48.140 --> 00:20:58.100 And I want to say that today in this confirmation service, we are praying for the Holy Spirit to fill each of these young people. 00:20:58.099 --> 00:21:01.639 We ask the Holy Spirit, and we are praying together. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:06.519 I'm praying on your behalf and on behalf of the whole diocese of Anak. 00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:12.480 That God will fill each of these young people so that they will follow him. 00:21:12.740 --> 00:21:19.299 That their humility before God will make them open to God's voice and his love in them. 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:26.700 And that by that Holy Spirit, he would strengthen them by the power of his word to be his ministers in this world. 00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:30.079 You know, in their school right now and as they grow up as well. 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:34.639 It's an incredibly powerful work that God does over much time. 00:21:35.699 --> 00:21:48.179 And the thing that I pray for in those services is that this will open their minds and their lips to speak about God's glory that this is all about. 00:21:48.460 --> 00:21:52.679 Remember what happened for Peter on that day of Pentecost when he was filled with the Holy Spirit? 00:21:52.680 --> 00:22:01.960 Is he immediately preached about Jesus and said that God had made Jesus the one crucified to be both Lord and Messiah. 00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:08.180 And when people heard this, they were cut to the heart and they said to the people and to others, what must I do? 00:22:08.500 --> 00:22:09.320 What must I do? 00:22:09.900 --> 00:22:11.299 They wanted to follow Jesus. 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:12.840 They wanted to live for him. 00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:14.240 That's the work of the Holy Spirit. 00:22:14.360 --> 00:22:19.660 It's the power of his word changing hearts as they hear the voice of the Lord. 00:22:19.660 --> 00:22:31.380 Now, I want to end the sermon because we come to the end of the psalm by the fact that in this storm, not only did we hear the source from heaven of God's word, 00:22:31.600 --> 00:22:37.160 the effect that it really shakes our lives in the most wonderful, powerful way and sometimes difficult. 00:22:37.779 --> 00:22:40.700 We also see the goal of God's voice. 00:22:41.140 --> 00:22:43.440 And this is a very short point because it's very simple. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:52.000 The goal of God's voice is that we would glorify God, that we would glorify Jesus in our lives. 00:22:52.740 --> 00:22:58.559 So Jesus, God speaks so that we will see and experience his glory. 00:22:58.920 --> 00:23:04.400 So verse 9, it's the aftermath of the storm and all the temple cries holy. 00:23:04.900 --> 00:23:09.360 They all see that God is enthroned over the flood, the chaos of our life. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:16.699 They all see that he is enthroned as God and king forever, king over sin and death and evil. 00:23:17.559 --> 00:23:24.819 So you see, God speaks so that we see the weighty goodness and greatness of God that's far beyond this world. 00:23:25.259 --> 00:23:28.019 And we are blessed by it forever. 00:23:28.019 --> 00:23:47.180 Christ, the king of glory, risen from the dead, is the one we experience in his glory as we love Jesus and follow his powerful voice and reflect his glory as we know that God is our father and we live more and more through him. 00:23:47.180 --> 00:23:53.160 And the practical outworking, if you look at verse 11, are two things. 00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:54.420 You get strength. 00:23:54.519 --> 00:23:58.420 He gives strength to his people from hearing God's word. 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:04.960 And I love the way that's put because the strength comes because I am encouraged by God's word. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:08.799 I am filled with hope by God's word. 00:24:09.420 --> 00:24:13.120 I am led by God's word in the way I should live. 00:24:13.960 --> 00:24:16.980 I am strengthened to serve him. 00:24:17.180 --> 00:24:18.080 By God's word. 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:23.200 And I am deeply aware of God's love for me in God's word. 00:24:23.340 --> 00:24:26.279 There is a strength in God's word in that way. 00:24:26.340 --> 00:24:26.960 It's so true. 00:24:27.660 --> 00:24:32.700 And he also says God gives his people peace as they hear God's word. 00:24:33.080 --> 00:24:43.500 And the fundamental peace is the great peace between us and God and our relationships with each other because Jesus accomplished it by the forgiveness of sins. 00:24:43.500 --> 00:24:47.039 The word of God gives you the forgiveness of sins. 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:48.819 There is deep joy in that. 00:24:49.319 --> 00:24:57.640 There is a peace that comes in your hearts and in your relationships by knowing the joy of the forgiveness of sins. 00:24:57.640 --> 00:25:12.400 May God give us grace and give you strength and peace that fills you even in the midst of your darkest fears as you experience and receive the thunder of God's word in your life. 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:16.460 Not only today but in each of the days of the week to come. 00:25:17.100 --> 00:25:26.259 To God be all glory, honor, praise, thanksgiving forever and ever for he is worthy of all our goodness and our praise. 00:25:26.460 --> 00:25:27.600 He is the God of glory. 00:25:28.220 --> 00:25:29.780 Amen and amen.