SPEAKER_00: You have a Bible, go ahead and grab it.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to Psalm 29.
SPEAKER_00: As I said last week, we are going to start our series uh looking at the book of Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh we're make our way through, and this morning we are going to kick off that series looking at Psalm 29.
SPEAKER_00: If uh you're new to church or the Bible, uh open up the Bible halfway through, and you should find yourself in the book of Psalms or close to it.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it is uh 150 uh books within uh or 150 um chapters within the book of Psalms, um, all uh hymns of of praise, different kinds of hymns to be sung unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh Psalm 29 is where we're gonna start.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you're able and willing, would you stand with me in honor of reading God's word?
SPEAKER_00: We are gonna read Psalm 29 together, and then we will walk through it.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 29, starting in verse 1, this is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Ascribe to the Lord, oh heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory in strength, ascribe to the Lord glory, the glory to his name.
SPEAKER_00: Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
SPEAKER_00: The voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory thunders the Lord over many waters, the voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty, the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, the voice or the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
SPEAKER_00: He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf in Syrian like a young wild ox.
SPEAKER_00: 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 forests bare, and in his temple all cry, glory.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord sits enthroned over the flood, the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord give strength to his people, may the Lord bless his people with peace.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we come before you this morning, and God, we pray as we start a new series looking at these songs, God, that you would speak to our hearts through them as we see their practical app practical application and their theological implications.
SPEAKER_00: God, may we just marvel at who you are and may who you are comfort us in moments that cause fear, cause anxiety, moments where we're confused, moments where we're convicted, moments where we can only simply confess sin and ask for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: Father, may we be comforted by your word, may we be comforted by the psalms.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, may we learn more about who you are as we journey through them.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray that you would speak to us this morning, for we desperately need to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray, God, that you would give me the words to say, that it would be your words and not mine, that you would keep me from going against your word.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, as we just sang, as we will read in this psalm, God, may you receive all honor and glory that is due to your name.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this all in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You can be seated.
SPEAKER_00: The word psalms is praise in the Hebrew text.
SPEAKER_00: The Hebrew text actually would call this the uh songs of praise or the uh the songs of praise.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it is in the Greek translation of that word where we get the word psalm, which a psalm is simply a hymn.
SPEAKER_00: So the psalms are a collection of hymns that were sung among the people, uh, and there were different occasions where they would be sung.
SPEAKER_00: There are some psalms, and we'll look at one of them, that would be sung as the people would be ascending their way to Jerusalem to take Passover and to go there for the Passover.
SPEAKER_00: We would call those Psalms the Psalms of Ascent.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but there are many other different types of psalms, and they're they cover a broad array of theology or the study of God or who God is that is fleshed out with practical day-to-day realities.
SPEAKER_00: As one commentator would put it, all cycles of human troubles and triumphs provide occasions for expressing human complaints, confidence, prayers, or praise to the sovereign God of the universe.
SPEAKER_00: And with this, there are many different types of psalms.
SPEAKER_00: There are psalms of praise and thanksgiving, there are psalms of penitence or repentance or confession, there are imprecatory psalms, psalms where uh the writer feels like his enemy is out to get them, asking for justice for the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: There are psalms of lament and mourning, and there are psalms of wisdom and psalms of trust.
SPEAKER_00: And this morning we're gonna look at Psalm 29.
SPEAKER_00: And while some might call this a nature psalm, at the heart of this psalm, Psalm 29 is a psalm of praise.
SPEAKER_00: David uses a violent storm to describe the majesty, strength, splendor, holiness, and glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: And in this psalm, as Robert Murphy McShay would say, the strength of Jehovah is celebrated, and the exemplification of it is evidently taken from a thunderstorm in Lebanon.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I went to Liberty University in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Lynchburg, Virginia.
SPEAKER_00: And one of my favorite things to do back home whenever I was in school in Asheville, and one of my favorite things to do when I went to school in Lynchburg was when a thunderstorm was meant to be coming through, I would go and sit at the top of Liberty Mountain whenever I was at school, and you could look out and see uh at least 50 miles west.
SPEAKER_00: I could see from the south 50 miles as it went over the horizon all the way to the north, and I could watch a thunderstorm.
SPEAKER_00: And the typical trajectory of those thunderstorms is they would move south to north.
SPEAKER_00: And so I would watch that storm start in um Alta Vista, Virginia, and make its way up to Timberlake, Virginia, and then I would watch it go over Liberty and either downtown Lynchburg or Liberty University, and then I could just watch it go north.
SPEAKER_00: And it was one of my favorite things to do, especially if you're someone that likes thunderstorms, you like seeing the lightning, you like hearing the thunder, you like watching the rain clouds go.
SPEAKER_00: It's it was it's one of my favorite things to do.
SPEAKER_00: As David is looking out over the Mediterranean, he begins to see a thunderstorm develop.
SPEAKER_00: And from that thunderstorm, he takes that and he writes this psalm to describe the Lord and his majesty in splendor, both before that storm gets there, while that storm is happening, and then shortly after that storm leaves.
SPEAKER_00: And all throughout the Psalms, you will see the theme of amazement and splendor that David has as he watches this powerful storm and he ascribes both of those things to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord in his splendor, his strength, his might, and his holiness is evident in this storm as it is passing through.
SPEAKER_00: You'll also see within the psalm repeated themes, which in Hebrew literature repetition is how you emphasize a point.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you a couple of repetitions during this.
SPEAKER_00: You see the word the Lord, which in our translation is just the the Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D.
SPEAKER_00: But that is not simply a word for Lord, that is the word for the Lord being Yahweh, uh the one who uh always is.
SPEAKER_00: The same word that that or the same name that God gave Moses in the wilderness is used here 18 times in 11 verses.
SPEAKER_00: This psalm is about the Lord, and everything in it is about the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Seven times in seven verses from verses three through nine, you will see the phrase, the voice of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Three times in the first two verses, you will see the word ascribe.
SPEAKER_00: And then you will see the glory of God mentioned three times throughout this psalm.
SPEAKER_00: And the point is that these very various poetic devices all come together to make a simple but profound point.
SPEAKER_00: God speaks in the storm, and as one pastor would say, if we could take it a little bit deeper, but the God who speaks through storms can meet your needs.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the psalm verse by verse as we go, and we'll look at the first two verses, focusing on this theme, and it's point number one, and that is God is worthy of our praise in every season.
SPEAKER_00: Uh David has not described the storm yet, but the storm is on its way.
SPEAKER_00: But before the storm even gets there, David wants to go ahead and say that already, without even seeing the storm, he knows that the Lord is robed in majesty and splendor, that his strength is powerful, and that he is to be praised according to what he is due.
SPEAKER_00: So let's look very quickly, verses one and two again.
SPEAKER_00: Ascribe to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: There's that one word used three times in the next two verses, O heavenly beings.
SPEAKER_00: This this would be um translated multiple different ways throughout history, but the the consensus this would be um that David is calling the angels in heaven and all of heaven to ascribe to the Lord praise.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Ascribe, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory, do his name, worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
SPEAKER_00: Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings.
SPEAKER_00: Again, uh this is David calling out for the host of heaven to uh praise the Lord, to to uh give credit where credit is due, is what a scribe can be broken down to.
SPEAKER_00: To to praise him for for what he deserves.
SPEAKER_00: And not only that, this is not simply a job for the angels, but much more, this is a calling for you and I as well.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 96, verses 78 says, Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name.
SPEAKER_00: Again, to ascribe is to acknowledge or to grant, to publicly acknowledge, to give credit where credit is due.
SPEAKER_00: As H.
SPEAKER_00: B.
SPEAKER_00: Charles Jr.
SPEAKER_00: would say, worship is not about what you get from the Lord, worship is about what you give to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in a culture today, we get that backwards.
SPEAKER_00: We think worship is about what I give to the Lord, and I can't give worship to the Lord if the right song isn't sung.
SPEAKER_00: I can't give worship to the Lord if the lights aren't all the way down.
SPEAKER_00: I can't give worship to the Lord unless the lights are all the way already up.
SPEAKER_00: I can't give worship to the Lord, and but worship and ascribing praise to the Lord is not about what you get from worship, worship is about what you give to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And when we ascribe praise to the Lord, we are acknowledging God for his nature and his character.
SPEAKER_00: Because he is worthy of it.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what he first says to ascribe to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
SPEAKER_00: Glory, the visible manifestation of the power of God and strength, his might within that manifestation.
SPEAKER_00: True worship is the proper response to God's self-revelation to us.
SPEAKER_00: God does not need to give you any more signs for you to worship him because he has already revealed himself enough to you in scripture for you to have a severe arsenal of different things that you can praise the Lord for.
SPEAKER_00: Strength and might and glory are all things that we read about in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: This psalm would be early on, more than likely, in David's life, and a lot of it is uh that he'll talk about looks not only at this storm, but even looking back at past storms.
SPEAKER_00: And so David is looking back at what the Lord has done.
SPEAKER_00: He's looking at what the Lord is doing now, and he's ascribing to him praise.
SPEAKER_00: You and I do the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: We can look back in scripture and read about what the Lord has done and seen his power and his might and his strength and his glory, but you can also think back onto times in your life, on things that you've seen, where you have seen the Lord work and his strength and his splendor and his glory and his might, and you would say, The Lord is worthy of praise, and you would ascribe praise to the Lord in that way because you have seen it and he is worthy of it.
SPEAKER_00: True worship is our proper response to what God has done, both within his word and within our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We worship God based on his revealing of himself to us in scripture, and we worship God based on his revealing of his might and strength through all of his works that we've gotten to see with our own eyes.
SPEAKER_00: So he says, ascribe to the Lord, oh you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord strength, glory and strength.
SPEAKER_00: Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name.
SPEAKER_00: God's character is enough to lead us to ascribe to him praise.
SPEAKER_00: God's nature is enough to lead us to ascribe him his praise.
SPEAKER_00: God, God's power is enough to lead us to ascribe him praise.
SPEAKER_00: God's authority, God's splendor, God's majesty all deserves praise.
SPEAKER_00: All deserves us acknowledging it, crediting it to him, and worshiping him because of it.
SPEAKER_00: Worshiping the Lord according to what he is due is to worship him with every fiber of our being, because that is what he is worthy of, and that is what he has ransomed by his blood for us.
SPEAKER_00: The glory to his name is not only based on his character and his nature and his splendor, but also what he has done within his people and his children and his salvific work.
SPEAKER_00: All of those things, again, are ample enough reasons to worship the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: All that we are is his.
SPEAKER_00: The reason that you and I are here is because of him.
SPEAKER_00: The oxygen we are breathing is his, and he is deserving of every credit and praise that you and I can give him.
SPEAKER_00: To worship the Lord and to ascribe him the glory that he is due is then seen in worshiping the Lord and the splendor of his holiness.
SPEAKER_00: Ascribe and worship are synonymous.
SPEAKER_00: A scribe is how we proclaim the glory of God, but worship is how we submit to the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: Worship involves the mind, the heart, and the will.
SPEAKER_00: And the will is the key factor.
SPEAKER_00: The Hebrew word here for worship would mean to bow low.
SPEAKER_00: That is the posture of worship, that he would be seen as high and lifted up as we would make ourselves bow low in reverence and response to his character, nature, and splendor.
SPEAKER_00: Worship involves all that we are, and it speaks to our posture.
SPEAKER_00: It is submitting our heart and mind and will to the God who created us, sustains us, and has redeemed us.
SPEAKER_00: It is the holiness of God that caused Isaiah to feel like he was coming apart at the seams as he stood before the Lord in his vision.
SPEAKER_00: It is the holiness of God that sets him apart from everything else.
SPEAKER_00: And it is because of his holiness and his splendor that you and I are to worship the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the thing: our worshiping the Lord does not make the Lord any more worthy of worship.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is worthy of worship whether you worship him or not.
SPEAKER_00: But what the psalmist is saying is that he is worthy of worship and your life should be lived to praise him because he is worthy of that worship.
SPEAKER_00: We are to praise God because he is worthy of it.
SPEAKER_00: But David will go on to depict a nasty storm that would show his strength in splendor.
SPEAKER_00: So the second thing that I want us to see this morning that we see within this psalm is that the Lord speaks in storms.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have seen our fair share of storms.
SPEAKER_00: Two years ago, around this time, maybe a month from now, um, you would be marking two years of watching Hurricane Kaleen Helene come through here and all of her uh uh all of the wind that came with that storm and and uh the rain that came with it and other places.
SPEAKER_00: But what the psalmist is saying here is he sees a storm like this on the Mediterranean as it's coming towards him, and he says, It is a depiction of the majesty and glory and strength of God, and how this storm moves, and how much destruction comes with it.
SPEAKER_00: Again, verses three through nine will have seven times of the use, the voice of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And some interpreters have broken these seven verses into three parts, and that's what I want to do really quick.
SPEAKER_00: And the first is the the buildup of the storm.
SPEAKER_00: Visualize for me with me for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: If you love the beach, you're standing out on the beach, and um you're you're having a great day, and all of a sudden you can see the thunderheads start to build on the horizon, and and you just are get to watch that storm come in, and and you see the lightning, and you can hear the low rumbles of thunder reverberating off the water already making its way onto shore.
SPEAKER_00: This is exactly what David is describing here, this buildup of this massive supercell.
SPEAKER_00: And he says in verse 3 the voice of the Lord is over the waters.
SPEAKER_00: The glory of God thunders the Lord over many waters.
SPEAKER_00: So the the storm is is forming, it is over the water, and the voice of the Lord speaking through thunder is causing so much reverberation that it's making its way onto the shore.
SPEAKER_00: The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
SPEAKER_00: Those low rumblings of thunder that shake the whole house, where mom's fine china kind of get tested if it's gonna last, because you can hear it shaking within the glass display cabinet that it sits in, except for Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but but you you can hear it reverberating all throughout your your house.
SPEAKER_00: You know that that that thunderstorm that comes through, where it feels like the testing of the foundation is occurring with how vast this is.
SPEAKER_00: David says that that is that is the voice of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And the emphasis is on the voice of the Lord in those verses, which is compared to that sound of roaring thunder.
SPEAKER_00: The the next section we see is verses four through five, and the storm is starting to make landfall.
SPEAKER_00: The storm makes landfall in Lebanon, around where Mount Hermon would be, and it's making its way south as it's as it's heading down.
SPEAKER_00: It's heading south towards the wilderness of Kadesh, and with it comes fierce winds, which are also described as the voice of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4 says, uh, verse 5 says, the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
SPEAKER_00: He makes the Lebanon like I'm sorry, he makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Syrian, or where Mount Hermon is like a young wild ox.
SPEAKER_00: The wind is so powerful that it is breaking the cedars of Lebanon, which during that time.
SPEAKER_00: Of ancient days, the cedars of Lebanon would be known as the strongholds uh that that would that would be referred to as something that is very strong, something that's very sturdy.
SPEAKER_00: These trees would have uh bases, uh or the uh the base of the tree would be almost averaging somewhere around six to eight feet wide, and they would go anywhere from 40 to 120 feet tall.
SPEAKER_00: And what David is saying is that the wind is snapping these trees in half.
SPEAKER_00: The same trees that Saul or that Solomon would um export to come and put in the temple to be the support beams for this temple are snapping in half.
SPEAKER_00: It's causing so much chaos that it's ripping these trees apart to where the trees are like skipping calves that are just kind of being tossed to and from.
SPEAKER_00: Again, you've lived through a storm like that where the wind is just snapping trees left and right, and you can see it's ferocity, you can see how ferocious it is.
SPEAKER_00: And what David is saying is this is this is the voice of the Lord, this is the strength of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He can take these trees and snap them in half.
SPEAKER_00: The storm is terrifying, that the wind has caused all kinds of havoc and damage.
SPEAKER_00: But not only that, we we see that the voice of the Lord is heard through the lightning flashes and the roars and rumbles of thunder.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7 the voice of the Lord flashes forth like flames of fire.
SPEAKER_00: The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness, the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
SPEAKER_00: Um you saw that, maybe you didn't, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Um, as we were preparing for Wednesday night up here, that nasty storm that came through on Wednesday, where uh it actually looked like it had a uh a wall cloud with it, and then it's coming through, and and and the lightning flashes that are constantly going down with roars of thunder.
SPEAKER_00: The worst ones are when lightning flashes are close, because shortly after that lightning flash, what do you hear?
SPEAKER_00: That thunder, and it is fierce and it is loud, and it startles you a little bit, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's it scares you awake.
SPEAKER_00: This storm is flashing lightning, and thunder is hitting so much to where if you continue to look in verse 9 that it's causing deer to give birth prematurely.
SPEAKER_00: That is how fierce this storm is.
SPEAKER_00: It not only is taking care of all the agricultural elements of trees and plants and stuff, but it is even causing harm to the animals around, deer are giving birth prematurely because this massive storm is moving through.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when you and I uh have one of these massive storms that are coming at us, or while we're in one, we always sit back and go, I want to get as far away from this as I can, or I want this to move on as fast as possible.
SPEAKER_00: Our response is to run and to hide, but look at the response at the end of verse nine.
SPEAKER_00: David says, and in his temple all cry glory.
SPEAKER_00: Storms remind us of the strength and splendor of God and should lead us to worship him.
SPEAKER_00: Now, oftentimes when we think of storms and the things that come through, we simply think that this is just the elements of nature, this is just how it works, but there is no rumble of thunder or no uh flash of lightning that has not already been ordained to happen by the God of the universe.
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing that happens within the storms that we see, the storms in your life that happen outside of the God of the universe.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's then get to to the part that we're all wondering about.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so so these storms, allowed by God, we see the power of God, but but but what about when when storms in my life become uncomfortable?
SPEAKER_00: What about when storms in my life start to mess things up for me?
SPEAKER_00: They start to tear apart houses, they start to to turn the power out, which for some of us, once a storm turns the power out, we might as well just pack it up and go home.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what happens when when things in life start to get overwhelming?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we know that there are a lot of storms that come in life because of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: The biggest storm, and what'll be referenced here in a second, that we see in scripture is Genesis chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: Most storms that that that happen, like what we see in Genesis chapter 6, come as forms of judgments of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It is a judgment of the Lord onto his people when he sends the flood because of all of their wickedness.
SPEAKER_00: Jonah gets in a boat to go the opposite direction of what God wants them to do.
SPEAKER_00: And what does God send as a form of judgment to get him to go back that direction?
SPEAKER_00: A storm.
SPEAKER_00: One so bad that these well-trained sailors would be fearing for their lives until they chuck him overboard, and then all of a sudden, the the God who uses storms can also calm storms in the blink of an eye, and it's it continues to work within what God desires of him getting glory.
SPEAKER_00: That's the second reason that we see storms that happen in life.
SPEAKER_00: There are other storms in life where the Lord sends them to remind us of his power and for us to remember and to ascribe glory to his name.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus and the disciples are in the boat in Luke chapter 8, verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: The storm comes upon them.
SPEAKER_00: These are veterans, fishermen, they're afraid they're gonna be capsized.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Jesus is asleep in the bottom of the boat.
SPEAKER_00: What happens?
SPEAKER_00: They come to him, they say, What are do you not care that we're gonna die?
SPEAKER_00: And he gets up, he goes to the storm, and he says, Peace be still, and what happens?
SPEAKER_00: The storm calms.
SPEAKER_00: The storm didn't just come for no reason.
SPEAKER_00: What did the disciples say after after this incident?
SPEAKER_00: Who is this?
SPEAKER_00: That even the winds and the waves obey him.
SPEAKER_00: They they they begin to see Jesus for who he is.
SPEAKER_00: If you remember in John 9, let's look at a storm that doesn't really look like a storm.
SPEAKER_00: In John 9, the man was born blind, and the disciples said, Who was who sinned?
SPEAKER_00: This man or his parents, that he would be born blind.
SPEAKER_00: And what did Jesus say?
SPEAKER_00: Neither, but so that the glory of God might be displayed through it.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens in that moment?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus heals that man, and the disciples more and more see he who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: This man more and more sees who Jesus is, and the Pharisees become even more blind to the things of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There are some times where the Lord sends a storm that that is judgment on someone else that you kind of get to you get a piece of, but it while it's judgment on someone else, it is sanctifying work for you.
SPEAKER_00: There's a salvific work that gets done in that moment as well.
SPEAKER_00: Storms bring us down low so that we can exalt God on high.
SPEAKER_00: As the psalmist would say in Psalm 46, 10, be still, the Lord says, and know that I am God.
SPEAKER_00: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Well, look at verse 11 of that psalm.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress.
SPEAKER_00: And that same promise that we see in that psalm is the same type of promise that the Lord gives us here in verses 10 and 11.
SPEAKER_00: So let's look at that while we also see that the Lord is with his people in storms.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is with his people in storms.
SPEAKER_00: If you are in a storm this morning, know that the God of the universe is not only over that storm, but the God of the universe is in the boat with you as you are going through that storm.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord sits enthroned over the flood.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the first part of that.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord sits enthroned over the flood.
SPEAKER_00: The word used for flood there isn't used except one other time, and that's in Genesis chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a good news with that.
SPEAKER_00: The good news with that is that while you might think the storm that you're going through in life is the worst storm you've ever seen, you can at least know that it's not the worst storm that God's ever seen.
SPEAKER_00: That the situation that you find yourself in in this moment where you feel like everything's falling apart, the one who sustained Noah and his family and saved them through that flood is the same one that promises this to sustain you as you make your way through this difficult storm that you find yourself in.
SPEAKER_00: Every physical storm in life should remind us of the majesty and power of God.
SPEAKER_00: And every spiritual storm should remind us that the one who is over the storm is the one who is with us in the storm.
SPEAKER_00: And this is good news for the people of God, because the greatest testimony of God of a storm saving people is in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You and I were headed towards a story, a storm was coming towards us, and we were on a path towards it, a storm of judgment because of sin, and yet the Lord spared us by sending himself in the form of Jesus to endure that storm in all of its ferocity and all of its wrath against sin, so that through the storm you could be spared and you could receive salvation.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is not against using storms to bring about a work within his people or a work of salvation, because he has used that before, and it is a work that works.
SPEAKER_00: There's three things that I want you to see from that truth, and from this truth here, to remind us as his children who have been purchased by his blood, though we deserve that storm of wrath, Christ took it for us on our behalf.
SPEAKER_00: There's three things that I want you to see that that gives us as we walk throughout this life.
SPEAKER_00: The first one is confidence.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the second half of verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: Not only do we see that the Lord sits enthroned over the flood, the Lord sits enthroned as king forever, is what verse 10 says.
SPEAKER_00: The one who is enthroned over the flood of Noah is the same one who is enthroned over the wrath of God poured out on Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And that same God is the one who is enthroned on your life now, who works on your behalf, now who strengthens and gives you peace, now who has purchased you by his blood, now so that anything that you go through, past, present, or future, does not look any different to him because he will be enthroned forever.
SPEAKER_00: What was it told about Jesus from the prophet Isaiah of his kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: His kingdom will have what?
SPEAKER_00: No end.
SPEAKER_00: The same storm that the Lord brought you through 20 years ago with that thing that happened in your life is the same Lord that is with you now as you walk through this storm.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not comforting?
SPEAKER_00: Is that not comforting to know that the storm that you are going through now, though it seems fierce, is not the worst storm that he has ever seen, nor is it will not be the worst storm that he will have ever brought you through.
SPEAKER_00: He is Lord over all and in all and through all, and he has authority over all, and he is the one who sits enthroned forever.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the psalmist David would go on to encourage us with two things that we see from that.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord give strength to his people, may the Lord bless his people with peace.
SPEAKER_00: So as the Lord speaks through storms, and as the Lord is with us in storms, we we know that the one of the things that he gives us within those storms is strength.
SPEAKER_00: He gives us strength to endure the storms, strength, perseverance, steadfastness.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the Lord gives us.
SPEAKER_00: What is John or what does James tell us about trials in life?
SPEAKER_00: So let's change change trials and storms.
SPEAKER_00: He says that it produces a good work within us.
SPEAKER_00: He said it produces in us steadfastness, it produces within us uh a continued love for the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, James chapter 1, starting in verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: Count it a joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord uses storms to sanctify us or make us more like Jesus, but he doesn't leave us alone in the storm.
SPEAKER_00: He is with us in the storm, and he gives us strength to endure the storm.
SPEAKER_00: All the promises of God, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, is yes and amen in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Christ both secures the promises of God and governs them.
SPEAKER_00: So when the Lord says he will never leave you nor forsake you, or as he tells his disciples to have peace, though trouble is coming, but he will be with them.
SPEAKER_00: You and I can cling to those promises and know that the promises of God towards his children will be kept.
SPEAKER_00: And that brings strength and endurance for us.
SPEAKER_00: The same that Moses tells to the sons of Asher in Deuteronomy chapter 33, verse 25 can be said for us as Moses says, As your days, so shall be your strength.
SPEAKER_00: The mercies of God knew every morning.
SPEAKER_00: As the days that you live, so will be your strength given to you by the Lord to continue to walk faithfully with him.
SPEAKER_00: What that does is gives you and I peace.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what he finishes saying in verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord give strength to his people, may the Lord bless.
SPEAKER_00: That's a that's a good word.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good word.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is still in the blessing business, and he blesses his children by giving them good things, and the good things that he gives them is more of himself.
SPEAKER_00: And he says that he blesses them with peace.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's a caveat here, and it's something I've already been using as a caveat.
SPEAKER_00: He blesses his people.
SPEAKER_00: If you are not his child, then no strength or peace will come to you in storms.
SPEAKER_00: And if you are in the middle of the storm right now with no peace and no strength, thinking that you can just kind of white-knuckle your way through this, let me tell you, the Lord only gives strength and peace to those who find their strength and peace in him.
SPEAKER_00: But he blesses with strength and peace.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus tells his disciples as he tells them he's about to be crucified and go on the cross and he's gonna leave them.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.
SPEAKER_00: Not as the world gives, do I give it to you.
SPEAKER_00: Let your um let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Peace comes from dependence.
SPEAKER_00: Dependence is what peace is built upon, and prayer is the communication of dependence and peace.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is the communication of a person who is dependent upon the Lord and finds their peace in him.
SPEAKER_00: How do you and I have peace in the storm?
SPEAKER_00: That is through dependence upon the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And our dependence upon the Lord should ultimately lead to a a prayer to the Lord for peace and strength to continue to bless us with what we need to persevere.
SPEAKER_00: As Paul would say in Philippians 4, verse 6 and 7 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.
SPEAKER_00: And remember what happens.
SPEAKER_00: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So that as storms come, as life gets difficult, death, sickness, loss of job, uh uh, hardship in marriage, uh, infertility, all whatever you want to put within that storm, the Bible says that God is not only sovereign over that storm, but he is with us within the storm, and that he will use that storm for our good to make us more like Christ, and he will give us strength and peace within that storm so that we can continue to persevere through that storm, continuing to do what?
SPEAKER_00: To worship him.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it leads us to.
SPEAKER_00: As we look at this morning, our greatest hope in the storms of life is that we have a savior who has endured the storm of God's wrath for us for your sin and my sin, so that we not only be forgiven of that sin, but it would purchase us a new life where I get to enjoy the benefits and blessings of God and being his child, to following after him and to worshiping him with my life.
SPEAKER_00: Through the greatest storm that this earth has ever seen, and the wrath of God poured out on a wooden cross, we have seen worship unimaginable coming from it as God has used it to call many to himself.
SPEAKER_00: As our ushers and deacons come up this morning, we're going to take communion to remember that.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest storm ever is how you and I have received forgiveness of sin and communion with God by his work on the cross, his enduring of the wrath of God to pay for the penalty of sin?
SPEAKER_00: This is what you and I are the beneficiaries of, as God has moved and worked in miraculous ways and might and splendor, he has redeemed and saved us.
SPEAKER_00: The question is this morning has that led you to a life that seeks to worship the Lord, or has that led you to a life that looks at the storms and says, I don't know how how God could use any of this.
SPEAKER_00: How could God redeem this?
SPEAKER_00: If God can redeem you from your your sin on the cross, he can redeem any situation that you find yourself in in life.
SPEAKER_00: And there is no storm that is too big for him to work through to bring about good for his people and to do and to bless his people with what they need to endure.