Good morning. It is good to be in the house of the Lord with you. Good to be worshiping God's triune together with you, and what a joy to open God's holy, infallible, and inerrant Word, of which we've just been singing, and now we turn to read together, and then to hear the preaching of the same. Let's turn in our scriptures this morning to Psalm 29, the same psalm by which we were called into the public worship of God. Psalm 29, and we'll read the whole psalm together. Let's give our attention to God's holy word. Psalm 29, a psalm of David. Give unto the Lord, O you mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of glory thundereth. The Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars. Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like a calf. Lebanon and Syria, like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests, and in his temple doth everyone speak of his glory. The Lord sitteth upon the flood. Yea, the Lord sitteth king forever. The Lord will give strength unto his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God abides forever. Let's pray together and ask for the help of God's Holy Spirit in the hearing and the preaching of His Holy Word. Our gracious God and everlasting Heavenly Father, we confess with Peter long ago that to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life. We look to you, Lord Jesus, and to your holy word. We confess that in ourselves we are unable to rightly worship you. We confess to you our sinfulness. We confess to you particularly the dullness of our hearts. the coldness and the hardness of our hearts so often, even having been quickened by Your Spirit made alive in Christ so often, we revert to the idolatries of the world, the flesh, and the devil. How we need Your help. Lord, we ask that it would indeed be Your voice that we hear today. Your voice, Lord Jesus, from Your Word. We ask that in all things you would be preeminent, that your cross and your glory, your resurrection would be lifted up, that as we behold your glory in nature and your glory in the face of your Son, our Savior Christ, that we would be built up, that we would leave the world and the flesh and the devil behind, and that we would press on in greater godliness, greater conformity to Christ. Do the work that you would do by your word and spirit. Lord, apart from you, we can do nothing. Forgive our sins. Remember us for good. And in all things glorify your glorious triune name. And we ask all this for Jesus' sake. Amen. We're turning, as I said a few moments ago, to Psalm 29, this psalm that is so full of the glory of the Lord and the voice of the Lord as we hear the preaching of God's Word. And we want to begin, since there are so many children among us, we want to begin by asking you children what you think about thunderstorms. What do you think about thunderstorms? What happens inside of you during a thunderstorm? Maybe for some of you, you're afraid during the storm. You hear the loud, booming thunder. Maybe just a couple of nights ago, you heard that loud, booming thunder and the lightning streaking through the air. You saw that maybe in your bedroom window, some of that lightning flashing. You heard that the rain just pelting against the windows. And maybe inside of you, there's something of fear. Maybe you run to your parents' room in the middle of the night, as sometimes Anna's and my children do, wanting refuge and reassurance in the storm. Maybe there's a sense of awe that here is the majesty of God's work in nature. And maybe for even a few more of you, there's something more like delight, that as you see the storm and you hear its raw power, you want to get as close to it as you possibly can, maybe inching ever closer to the edge of the porch or the edge of the patio to see the rain, to hear the thunder, to almost enter into the glory of God's work and nature. And it's the God of the storm, not just the bare storm or the forces of nature, but it's the God of nature, the God of the storm, to whom David draws our attention in Psalm 29. He would instruct us, using nature, using the particularly in verses 3 through 9, the voice of the Lord in creation, the voice of the Lord in the storm. He uses nature to instruct us, to teach us many important things about the God of nature. the glory of the God of nature, and how you and I are to respond. As we meditate upon the glory of God in the storm today, I want to press this upon your conscience, that you and I are not just spectators. We're not just sitting back and watching something happen today, but we're called in. We're called to respond to the God of nature, the God of the storm, the God of all glory, and even as we'll see at the end of the psalm, the God of all grace. and the God of peace in the midst of the storm. There's really three things that this psalm calls you to meditate on, three ways in which you are to respond to the God of the storm. You're first to worship Him. You're secondly to hear His voice. And then you're lastly to receive His peace. First, to worship the God of the storm, the God of all glory. We see this in the first verses of the psalm. And then to hear his voice, particularly in nature, verses 3 through 9, and then in verses 10 and 11, it's as if the storm clears. There's the calm after the storm, and we receive peace from the God of the storm. First, we need to learn how we are to worship the God of the storm, the God of all glory, the God who directs all the forces of nature for His glory and for the good of His people. Verses 1 and 2, give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord. the glory due unto His name. We're called to give the Lord something or to ascribe, perhaps better, ascribe something to Him, to give Him the glory due to His name. What is this idea of glory? Well, the word really has to do with what is weighty, what means something, what is worth something. Give God the glory due to His name. In other words, give Him the weight that He so deserves. Acknowledge Him and worship Him and honor Him as the God of creation. as the God who holds the entire universe in the palm of His hand. Give to Him the glory that He and He alone is due." Why this language of giving to the Lord the glory due to His name, giving to the Lord this worship? You and I really, if we think about it, we have nothing to give the Lord apart from our sinfulness. We are weak. We are His creatures, and we are His sinful creatures. The idea here is not that we hand something over to God as if something is lacking in Him, but we reflect His glory back to Him. We recognize, we worship Him, we reflect the glory that He has displayed in nature, the glory that He has displayed even in creating us as His people, as His image bearers, and then as in a mirror to reflect that glory back to Him, to say among the nations that the Lord reigns. You know, this is why we're gathered on the Lord's Day in worship. We're gathered certainly to receive a blessing, certainly to be ministered to, but first of all, we're gathered to give God the glory that He deserves, to say among the nations, to say here in Trinity, and Morgan County, and Lawrence County, and across North Alabama, and then to the nations, that there is a God in heaven, that He is worthy of worship, that He's the creator, that He is the one living and true God, that all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord alone made the heavens. We give unto the Lord the glory due to His name. And there are abundant implications for your life and mine. How we are to worship. We're created to worship. We're created to give God the glory due to his name. Primarily here on the Lord's Day as his gathered assembly, but then throughout all the days of our lives. We are to recognize him alone as God, as our creator and as our redeemer. Our lives are to be increasingly transformed by His Word. Our lives ordered under His Word. This is what, to borrow a human principle, a principle from our human relationships, this is what all rational thinking people do. and in our relationships with one another. For example, you're driving down Old Highway 24 here, and you're speeding, perhaps speeding a little bit, and you see the sheriff's deputy or the Trinity policeman in your rearview mirror. What do you intrinsically do? Well, you check your speedometer. You tap the brakes. You recognize, you ascribe to that, as it were, to that policeman something of the honor due to him. and hopefully going without a ticket. You laugh at, hopefully, the not-profane jokes of comedians. There's a response that their work elicits from you. In our human relationships, in our marriages, where to love and respect our spouses, we care for our children. How much more in our relationship with the one living and true God? the one who is worthy of our hearts of our worship. We give unto him the glory due to his name. Is your life marked by such worship? Do you give him the weight that he deserves? You, of course, cannot do this apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man who leads us in triumphal procession, who teaches us how to worship. But we're confronted with the glory of God and we're called to worship him in the beauty of holiness and the splendor that God deserves. The psalm continues. David builds on his argument here. He multiplies reasons for us to gather in worship and to give God the glory due to his name. He calls us into worship. He commands us, instructs us regarding our task of worship. But now he connects this beautiful and glorious idea and command of giving God the glory due to his name to our responsibility of hearing, hearing God's voice. and our worship as the saints of God and the idea of hearing God's voice in that worship are so intricately connected here. Because where does the psalmist go next? As he calls us to give God the glory due to his name, where does he go? Verses three through nine, seven times over, the psalmist reflects on the voice of the Lord. The voice of the Lord, verses three through nine, seven times our attention is lifted to God's voice, that we would rightly hear His voice. You see, you can't really give God the glory due to His name. You cannot begin to worship Him in the beauty of holiness unless you hear His voice. Unless you stop, as it were, even plug your ears to the other voices, all around us that impinge upon us, that pour out their messages day after day, social media, and TV, and radio, and even what we hear from others, and we hear the voice of the Lord. It is the voice of the Lord that calls us to worship. It's the voice of the Lord that instructs us how we are to worship. And it is, we even think about nature here, it's the voice of the Lord that shakes us. Perhaps this is one of the, in God's providence, one of the glorious reasons for sending thunderstorms, for sending storms in the earth, to grip our attention, to call us away from the endless trivial pursuits and distractions of social media and the countless messages that the world puts before us and their own hearts grasp after. And we hear the voice of the Lord first in nature and then in his word. Think of the voice of the Lord in nature. That's where the psalmist goes here. The voice of the Lord seven times over. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders. Verse four, the voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. And so on. It is the voice of God first in nature. Certainly here as we're reading it, interestingly enough, in the word. But think of God's voice in nature and learn to cultivate the ability by grace to hear God's voice even in His works, His grand works of nature. Our God is the Creator. He made all things for His glory, and He instructs us even in the storm. Every tornado, every hurricane, every tsunami, every thunderstorm, it all comes from God. and it is His voice in time and history that we hear. And you could even say this, C.H. Spurgeon said it so well, that these verses chime with the loud peeling thunder, the church bell of the universe calling the sons of earth to their devotions, waking us from often our natural sleep, to teach us a spiritual lesson, that there is a God on the throne of heaven and earth, and he speaks to us in the storm. Verses 3 through 9 function as a sort of storm tracker, an inspired storm tracker. You think in verses 3 and 4, the voice of the Lord over the waters. with those air currents, warm and cold air mixing together. And then a storm that makes landfall. There's reference in these verses to the cedars of Lebanon on the north side of the nation of Israel, of Palestine. Those mountains as well of Lebanon and Syria and another name for Mount Hermon in the north of Israel. And then the storm sweeps south through the nation all the way, as we read in verse 8, down to Kadesh, where the voice of the Lord shakes that wilderness." A wilderness, interestingly enough, on the south end of the nation. And it's as if the psalmist is seeing a storm arise, perhaps over the Mediterranean Sea, making landfall, striking through the trees in the mountains of northern Israel, and then working its way all the way through the nation. And not only that nation, but also the entire universe. So that at the end of the day, The end of verse nine, everyone in God's temple speaks of his glory. A storm designed to bring us to Ardis, to bring us to worship the Lord. This is the glory of God seen in creations, seen even in the tornado. Spurgeon again says that these verses march to the tune of thunderbolts. And so we see God's work displayed in nature. You need to think about this. You need to cultivate eyes and ears for this. The glory of God at work in nature. The glory of God in the thunderstorm. the same voice that spoke at the first. Think of those opening verses in the book of Genesis. The voice of the Lord spoke and made all things. Day by day, those six days of creation week, it was the voice of the Lord that created all things. It was his spirit that hovered over the waters and that made all things. It's the same universe that he directs by the word of his power. You also should think and meditate upon the Exodus itself. There's interesting language in the Exodus. God's bringing out his people with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm out of Egypt. Similar language to Psalm 29. Exodus 15, verse 8. And with the blast of thy nostrils, the waters were gathered together. The floods stood upright as in heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them. Speaking of the enemies of God, the Egyptians in the Red Sea, they sank as lead in the mighty waters. It was the voice of the Lord that made all things at the first. The Lord spoke and the earth stood fast. He separated the waters above from the waters beneath. He made the air currents that produce tornadoes and thunderstorms and hurricanes and all the rest. He directed those storms in the flood, in Noah's flood. He directed those storms in the exodus, even as he destroyed the enemies of his holy people. And we turn to the end of the book in Revelation and what surrounds, what comes out of the throne of God in heaven. but voices and thunderings and lightnings, these natural phenomenon that display to us the glory of God in nature. So every time you hear the loud thunder, the rain pelting against the windshield, even the tornadoes that you hear about that come sweeping through, breaking powerful trees, you see the mighty hand of God in nature, His voice particularly coming through, grabbing hold of your attention. and showing you His might. It's the voice of the Lord that raises the storm up, the storm in verse 5 that makes landfall, breaking the cedars, even the cedars of Lebanon, these strong, seemingly timeless trees with deep roots, yet the voice of the Lord in the storm just sweeping through, reducing them to nothing. My family and I were on the way here driving through the town of Hennigar, Alabama on Friday afternoon. And as we drove through, I think, Highway 48 there, we started to see trees just uprooted on both sides of the road. And we wondered, it seems to have been a storm that came through here. And then we continued for over a mile and just Many, so many trees uprooted and destroyed. Big trees that had just been snapped off, like twigs, and a few houses that had suffered destruction as well. And we read later that a tornado had gone through just a couple of weeks ago. It's the voice of the Lord. the voice of the Lord in the tornado that breaks even the cedars of Lebanon. It's the voice of the Lord also that makes the mountains skip like calves. These seemingly immovable mountains, Lebanon and Syrian, reduces them to, as it were, young animals skipping across a pasture. Such power at work in nature. It's the voice of the Lord that, verse 7, divides the flames of fire. Perhaps hear a reference to lightning. as the lightning streaks it across the sky. Lightning that heats the air through which it passes up to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, five times hotter than the surface of the sun. Such power at work in nature. Learn to see, learn to wonder, learn to marvel at the works of God and his natural creation. And we're so proud and conceited, aren't we? in our own day, we think that we can begin to control the weather. There are those who hoped that climate can be controlled according to our own imaginations, that we can begin to affect weather patterns. But God continues to send the storm. He speaks to us in majesty, and nothing can stand in His way. He will send hurricanes. He will withhold the rain, and He will make the rain fall. He opens His hand. He satisfies the desire of every living thing. He speaks in storms. He sends dust storms and hail storms and snow. The scriptures are abundantly full of His revelation in nature. And who are we? Who are we but His creatures? We are to bow the knee every time we see the splendor of His works in nature. Not to be proud and to be conceited, not to think that we can somehow co-opt the forces of nature for ourselves, but to bow to the God of nature. Not to worship nature itself. Don't make that mistake either. but to use God's works in nature to give him glory, honor, and praise. John Calvin said this in commenting on the psalm, what a monstrous thing it is that while all the irrational part of creation, meaning the animals and the mountains and the trees, all the irrational part of creation trembles before God, men alone who are endued with sense and reason are not moved. How tragic it would be to spend your whole life witnessing thunderstorms and tornadoes and hearing about hurricanes and all the rest, and to go unmoved, unaffected, unamazed. How tragic it would be to do that diabolical thing that so-called scientists would try to do and chalk it all up to natural causes to say that this entire universe just happened and that these are just natural forces at work with no God on the throne of heaven. John Calvin, again, it is a diabolical science which fixes our contemplations on the works of nature and turns them away. from God. No. Use what you see of God's glory in nature to worship him, to bow the knee, and even in his temple to cry glory. There could be another way in which you could wrongly abuse these works of nature, these works of God in his creation. It's to wonder at them. It's to think about even and hear read to you and hear preached to you the voice of the Lord at work in history, in nature, but not to hear the greater voice, the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ in the word. As majestic as it is for mighty trees to be splintered in tornadoes, As wondrous as it is for entire nations to be swept by hail, by snow, by flooding, and all the rest, we argue from the lesser to the greater. How much more is the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ to be heard in history? In the Old Covenant, God shook the world in the flood. He shook the world into exodus as He drowned His enemies and brought His people out on dry land. But in these last days, He's spoken to us in His Son. He spoke to the fathers by the prophets. He's revealed His ways in nature. But as we read in the book of Hebrews, He's, in these last days, spoken to us in His Son. our Lord Jesus Christ. Think of our Savior and think of the voice of God in the life and ministry of our Savior. The one who was baptized beginning his earthly ministry and the voice of the Lord that spoke from heaven. This is my beloved Son. in whom I am well pleased." The same voice that breaks the cedars of Lebanon, that was over the waters at the first, that moves mountains in the grandeur of nature. It's the same voice, and even a mightier revelation of that voice, that speaks in Jesus Christ in time and history. how you and I need ears to hear His voice, the one in whom the Father is well pleased, that God has spoken once for all in His Son, the Word, the very Word of the Father, who took on our flesh, who came to bring us life and salvation. Have you heard His voice? In fact, even as His Word is opened this morning and preached to you, you're hearing His voice again by His Word and Spirit proclaimed to you. An opportunity not only to marvel at the works of God in nature, but to bow the knee to King Jesus, to call Him Lord, to repent of your sins, to repent of your rebellion and your pride, to cast all that down. and to bow the knee to Christ as King, and in His temple, in His assembly, to cry glory to Him. Have you heard His voice? I call upon you, if you are still chalking up the tornadoes and tsunamis and hurricanes of the world, if you're just chalking that up to nature, if you're suppressing and resisting the God who unquestionably sits on His throne, I call you to repent. To lay aside those ideas, to repent of your own sin, and to run to Jesus Christ, God offers you redemption, forgiveness, and life in Him today. I call on you to leave sin behind, to repent, and to flee to Him. But there's more here. We are to worship the Lord unquestionably, the God of all glory and grace who sits on his throne. We're to hear his voice in history, his voice in nature, and his voice in the word, his voice in the Lord Jesus Christ. But we're also to receive his peace. As I said a few moments ago, children, and perhaps not just the children, but perhaps many of us, are troubled. Our hearts are troubled when the storms pass through. And we sometimes fear for our own safety. And storms can be terrifying. But this is not where the psalm ends. The psalm ends with the blessing of God's peace upon his people. Verse 10, the Lord sits upon the flood. Yea, the Lord sitteth king forever. The Lord will give strength unto his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. Think of that calm after the storm. Think of that time as the thunderstorm blows through. Perhaps there's been hail falling and the wind cutting so powerfully and rain pelting against the windows. And then it all passes by. And there's that beautiful calm after the storm. And then think of that moment long ago when Noah and his family, as the Lord sat enthroned at the flood, the entire world flooded, the wicked all destroyed. Think of that moment. Long ago, when Noah and his wife and their three boys and their wives came out of the ark, the calm after the storm, the Lord gave strength to his people then. The Lord blessed his people with peace. And for us, as we live in times of storm, storms, not just physical storms in nature, but political storms, cultural storms, theological storms, storms in the church, and storms in the world. And our hearts are prone to be troubled. We receive peace today from the very voice of God that has spoken in nature, that has spoken in Christ, and that continues to speak to us by his word. Remember the blessed words of our Savior? as he spoke to his disciples on the evening before his own passion, his own sufferings and crucifixion. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, and let it not be afraid. This is the peace that our Savior gives, a peace that passes all understanding, a peace that begins with peace with God, peace with conscience, the burden and the shame of our sins put away through the precious blood of the cross, the reality that our Lord Jesus Himself takes on the storm of storms, that as it were, beginning in His baptism and continuing through His crucifixion, He enters the flood as it were the same storm of judgment that drowned the unbelieving world in Noah's day. that destroyed Pharaoh and his hosts long ago. Our Savior takes on that storm of God's condemnation, just condemnation against sin. As He goes to the cross and the sheath, the sword of God's justice is unsheathed and plunged into His heart, He bears our storm so that now, by His Word and Spirit, He can promise you peace, peace that passes all understanding, peace from the God of the Covenant, peace of conscience, and peace that continues with the work of the Spirit in our hearts, assuring us that we belong to the God of the Covenant, that there's a place of safety, that there's always an arc for the people of God in the midst of the rain and in the midst of the terrifying storm. That the God of the covenant who terrifies his adversaries with the voice that splinters the trees and that makes mountains skip like animals. It's that same voice that gently and sweetly speaks peace to you and me. The blessed peace of the gospel, the spirit-wrought peace that only God can give. Do you have this peace today? Is your home characterized by this peace? How we so desire the church of the Lord Jesus Christ to know this peace, to walk in peace together. This is the peace purchased by the blood of the cross. This is the peace that the spirit and the spirit alone brings to us by the word. And it's a peace that's again found in the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone. This is comfort to you saint, you who are perhaps terrified not just by the works of God in nature, but also by your own sin, by the storms that sweep your own heart, your own family, your own world. but receive the peace of God that passes all understanding. Submit to the God of the covenant. Run to him. Recognize that even in this time, this age of uncertainty, weakness, and storms, that there's an eternal peace, an eternal rest that God promises his people. The Lord Jesus said, come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Hear his voice today. Fall on your knees and worship him. Give him the glory due to his name. Hear his voice and the word. Don't be stubborn. Don't be obstinate against that word. By the spirit and receive the sweet peace of the gospel now and forever. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, how thankful we are to you for your voice that has spoken in history. That you've not left us in the deafness of our sins, but you have spoken. You've given us your holy word. You have displayed your glory in nature. But more, you've sent us your Son, your only beloved Son. who took on our sin, who took on our storm, the storm that we deserved, and so that now we enjoy peace. Oh Lord, we ask for any here who are yet outside of Christ in unbelief and in sin, that they would turn to you. Lord, we ask for those who are troubled. Those who are so terrified by the storms of this life, that you would shelter them, O God, that you would shelter us all under the blood and the righteousness of King Jesus, and assure us of the life everlasting, of peace with you, peace with one another, all purchased by the blood of the Lamb. To you alone, O God, be honor, glory, and praise. And so we pray in Jesus' name, amen.