Thanks, Marlene. If you'll turn, please, to Psalm 29. And I'm going to actually read all 11 verses. Psalm 29. Our verse, the title of the lesson tonight is called The Glory Due His Name, and it's from verse two, as you'll see when I read it. But I'll also share with you, if you wanna have a little more extensive, I don't know, lesson on this, you can look at Spurgeon's August 16th morning devotion, and that's where this came from, and it was good that it fit right in, I thought, so I thought we'd take some time to look at it tonight. Psalm 29 and verse one. Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones. Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord is 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. Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also skip like a calf. Lebanon and Siron, like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare. And in his temple, everyone says, glory. The Lord sat enthroned at the flood, and the Lord sits as king forever. The Lord will give strength to his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. And so now just a few observations from this psalm, and I have tried to start being better myself at marking certain psalms that I want to go back and look at and read a little more often. And I mean, certainly you should read all of the psalms. But the Psalms are very much, and again, Spurgeon, I think it was just this morning, was talking about the fact that David was a unique man in the Old Testament, as far as all that happened in his life, all the things that he went through, the trials, the good times, the different things that had happened to him. and that he very much personified the life of Christ in that Christ came and experienced all things. And that's why he can say to us, there's no temptation that's befallen us that he himself didn't understand and wasn't able to relate to. And so this is one of these psalms that as I looked, I noticed I'd highlighted a number of things in it over the years, And I think it's just one of those psalms that we should come back to at times and meditate on it. So I wanted to look at it a little bit tonight, maybe give you some thoughts on it, and then give you the encouragement to go and to study these things and to meditate on them yourselves. It is interesting to me, and this is just, it's not trivia per se, but it was something that struck me, because it made reference to the Lord sat enthroned at the flood. And I looked, and roughly the timeline from the time of the flood to the time of David was about 2,000 years. And from the time of David to our day, it was about 2000 years. And it's interesting to think about that as we read a psalm like this, that we measure things like that in thousands of years. And, you know, that seems like a long, long time. But We're as far away from David as David was from the flood, and yet he talks here about the Lord sitting enthroned at the flood. So these things are timeless in the sense of, as Christians especially, we look at the world, we look at history in a way that is different, I think, from most people who think of, you know, ancient history as like 10 or 20 years ago. And a lot of people have been joking about lately, you know, about how far the 70s was ago. I remember the 70s, some of you do, some of you weren't even born, but the point is that's nothing, that's just a blink in the things of history, but especially in the things of God. And so we come to this thought tonight that God is in fact, a glorious God. And His glory, and this is a quote from Spurgeon, when I kind of tease this out a little bit, Exodus 15 and verse 11 says, Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness? God's gloriousness is here applied to the gospel. The good news of salvation It is glorious. Why? Because it is God working. It is God overcoming the sin that man has committed. It is God providing a way for sinful man to be reconciled to that holy God. So is it not indeed a glorious gospel? And should we not just marvel at it sometimes? I mean, there are times I think as Christians, we should sit and read the Word of God and think about it in application to ourselves and say, isn't this glorious? Isn't this unbelievable what God has done in sending Jesus Christ to die for me? And so the gospel itself is glorious, and it is because it is of the blessed God, which committed it to Paul, in this case, to teach and to preach. And then it goes on from there in Titus chapter 2 and verse 13, it goes on from there to talk about looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. So not only is God glorious in holiness, not only is He glorious in the gospel, but there is also a gloriousness of His second coming, of His appearing once to gather us together and to judge all men and to separate those who are in Christ from those who are not in Christ. And so God is a glorious God, one that we would just spend, I hope, a good amount of time on as we look at these things and as we study them. But God is also jealous of that glory. And I think this is important to look at this as we talk about the glory that is due his name. God is jealous of that glory. He guards it. And so again, Spurgeon says, the actions which flow from his character are also glorious. But while he intends that they should manifest to his creatures his goodness and mercy and justice, he is equally concerned that the glory associated with them should be given only to himself. We are never to try to take some of the glory of God. God's gloriousness is His and His alone. Deuteronomy 5.9, and there was a lot of choices here back in Deuteronomy and the early books of the Old Testament, but Deuteronomy 5.9 summed this up well, wherein it says, you shall not bow down to them nor serve them, other gods, foreign gods, idols. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me." Think about that for a moment. Think about the fact that God declares Himself to be a jealous God. When we're jealous, it's a bad thing. It's usually a sinful thing. But when God declares Himself to be jealous for His glory, it is a good thing. It is a holy thing. And it's interesting here that he addresses this idea that the iniquity of the fathers can descend on the children to the third and fourth generations. Now, that's not to say that if you sin and you're wicked, your children are gonna be wicked, and your grandchildren are gonna be wicked, and your great-grandchildren are gonna be wicked. I think that's four. Because we know that many people have a testimony of they grew up in a wicked home, they grew up in a wicked situation and God saved them. So we know that's possible. But I think what he is partially pointing out here is you have an impact on your children. And if you think that you can just sin and live for yourself and it doesn't impact your children and their children, you're foolish. And I was watching a clip just this week, Jordan Peterson, who I get a kick out of. He's got issues, I know that. But he was talking about not raising your children and not correcting your children and how then you're exhausted with your children and you can't stand your children because you didn't straighten them out an hour ago and now you're mad at them. And he goes through this, and he makes some really good points. And then he says, and if you do that, you're stupid. And that's why some people have issues with him, but he was not wrong. He's right. You're making it harder on yourself. And that's just from a worldly perspective, let alone from a scriptural, biblical perspective. You're making it harder on yourself. And those children are going to grow up and they're going to be a handful. And you're going to have the terrible twos and the, I don't know, the teenage years and the rebellious this and the rebellious that. Why? Because you didn't deal with those children. Well, here God says, if you live a sinful, wicked life, that can impact your children and your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren. And one thing I've noticed in the world is that as we get older, we start thinking about our legacy, if you will. And while I didn't accomplish much, but hopefully my children are gonna do more. Or my grandchildren, I'm really proud of them. And there's nothing wrong with that. But the point is, we recognize that and God says, take heed. to what you do impacts your children and your children's children and your children's children's children. And so that's true also from a positive standpoint. As we live as Christians, we should seek to influence those that God has blessed us with and those that come forth after us in the time to come. And then one more reference here to God being jealous of that glory, Romans 1, And verse 23 follows along the same lines of not bowing down and serving the idols that man carves himself. I think it's a proverb, might be in the Psalms, but a man cuts down a tree and he cuts half of it up for firewood to heat himself and to cook over, and the other half he takes and makes an idol out of. And we all shake our heads and go, well, that's just kind of dumb. But that's man and his idols. And Romans 1.23 follows on this idea. And it says, and change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. You look at most religions today that are not Christianity, and they have idols. And if you look at most of the idols, a lot of the Far Eastern countries and religions especially, you look at them, and they're either disgusting and gross, or they're very, you know, lascivious and, you know, you know, immoral, but they make these things to worship them, and God says, you've changed the incorruptible God into an image made like yourselves. And what is it you've done? You've changed the glory of the incorruptible God. So that's why we should resist idolatry is because it takes the glory of God and it turns it into something that it's not. And remember, God is jealous of that glory. And then finally, in the third place tonight, there is, I'm sorry, it's not finally, and it's not, yeah, there's four, sorry. Had another page. There is nothing in us to glory in, save God alone. This is the third thought. There is nothing in us to glory in, save God alone. Jeremiah nine and verse 23 says, thus says the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches. But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord." And so Jeremiah is saying, he's saying, don't look on the things that the world glories in. you know, men that are wise. We often, you know, we bow to the experts, which maybe we're not doing that quite as much right now. But those who are wiser than us, well, we should listen to them. Those who are mighty, sometimes you have to, because they're bigger than you, and they can force you to. But we look at, you know, if you look, I remember back in the old back of the comic books, you know, I think it was Charles Atlas. You know, there was a skinny little guy, got sand kicked in his face, and then there was the big muscle guy. And I always wanted to be the big muscle guy, but it turned out I didn't want to put the work in to get there. And so it is what it is. But why? Because you don't walk down the street and say, oh, look at that skinny little weak dude. Oh, I want to be like him. No, you don't. You look at the big guy who works out and he's got some muscle to him. You say, oh, look at him, man. He's a tough guy. And so we glory in the might of ourselves, in men. We glory in riches. You know, these people that are billionaires and billionaires upon billionaires, we look at them and we are fascinated by them. We tend to click on the story about so-and-so has done such and such, like, oh, what did they do? Why? Who cares? Well, because they're very rich, and so they're very important. But don't let the rich man glory in his riches, but glory in this, that you understand and know God. That's what we should glory in. That's what we should focus on. He is the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight. And again, you meditate on those things. God says, I exercise loving kindness. And what's the next thing he says, because everybody, oh, God is love. Don't judge. Don't judge. There's a verse here that says don't judge. What does God exercise as soon as he says exercising loving kindness, exercising judgment? Why? And righteousness. That's why. Because love with no boundaries isn't love. And so judgment and righteousness are exercised by God in the earth because he delights in them. That's the glory of God. And there is nothing for us to glory and save God alone. First Peter 1. 24 carries this theme into the New Testament. It says, All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. I don't know, you may notice that I do this a lot. I tend to have some references in the Old Testament, and I tend to have some references in the New Testament, because I want to emphasize over and over and over again, it's one book. Okay? None of this evil, bad God of the Old Testament, the loving, hubby-dubby, hippy God of the New Testament, no. This is one God, consistent throughout the Word of God. You might say, well, Peter's quoting from the Old Testament there, all flesh is as grass. Yes, he is. And you know what he's doing? He's saying that word in the Old Testament, Stamp, it's in the New Testament now. It's just as important and it carries through. And so, what is it that the glory of man is? It's the flower, it's as the flower of the grass. It withers and the flower falls away. I've been watching, my wife has flowers literally everywhere at our house. And I was complimenting her today. There were some that I hadn't even noticed down around the corner there. But as I was sitting there eating my lunch on the deck, there was a flower. It's a big pot with big yellow flowers. They're beautiful. I don't know what they are. They're yellow. And as I was eating, one of them just fell off. And I didn't touch it, I didn't really. I was sitting there three feet away from it. But I noted, I said to myself, I said, right, because it grew, it bloomed, and now it's dying, and it fell off. And you see the bottom of the stem was a little brown looking. Why? Because it was here yesterday and it's gone today. Well, that's man's glory. And so, Don't glory in yourself. You're like the grass of the field. But the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the gospel which was preached to you. That's what we glory in. We glory not in ourselves, but we glory in what God gives us. Now, fourthly, and this is the last thing this evening, we must therefore worship God in his glory. First Chronicles 16.29 says, Give to the Lord the glory due His name. Bring an offering and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. So what are we to do as we worship? We are to give the Lord the glory due His name. That's why we come together. And that's why we ought to be very careful about how we come together, and how we approach worship, and how we prepare our hearts and our minds to worship together. I know there are some days like, especially on a Wednesday, where many of us have come from work, or even if you're not coming from work, you've been doing other things, you've had a lot going on, and we come in and you sit down and you're like, And some days are like that, but we should also, as much as possible, prepare ourselves, even if it's in the car on the way here, to say, time to focus on the things of God and give the Lord the glory, do His name, bring an offering to Him, come before Him, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 29 and verse two, Our theme verse, if you will. Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. That's what this whole evening, I hope, is centered around. Giving the glory, giving the Lord the glory due to his name. to His name. He's due this. We owe this to God. Not for salvation. We could never earn our salvation giving anything to God. God has no need of anything. You want something to meditate and think about for a while. Think about the fact that God created man, put him in the Garden of Eden, and then came every afternoon in the cool of the day to walk and have fellowship with him. Why? God didn't need that fellowship. didn't last very long. Man quickly sinned and fell from that fellowship. But God did that and created man and put him in that situation. In that same context, and one or two of you might know where I got this from, he also created woman for the man. That even in the fellowship of the presence of God, man still had a need for a companion. And I believe that fellowship was the two of them together with God. But give those things some thought. Give that some some thought as to the glory due to the name of God and worshiping him in the beauty of his holiness. Luke 19 and verse 37. This is one of these places where there's an interesting lesson buried in here. If you just stop and look at it for a minute. Luke 19 and verse 37 says, Then as Jesus was drawing near, the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees called to him from the crowd, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. They were pious religious people, weren't they? But Jesus answered and said to them, I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out. Why? Because God is to be glorified. God is to be praised. And so there is nothing wrong with the people of God saying, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. And so we are to worship God in His glory. And then finally, and I love closing with verses like this from Revelation 16 and verse 9. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues. And they did not repent and give Him glory. That's the sinfulness of men. We need to be very careful that we are careful and quick to keep short accounts and to repent as we need to repent and give God the glory because we see here this glimpse in Revelation that even as God pours out His judgment on men, they blaspheme God and don't repent and therefore don't give Him glory. and we are to worship God in his glory. And so again, Spurgeon to close here. It is a lesson which God is ever teaching us, and teaching us sometimes by most painful discipline. Let a Christian begin to boast, I can do all things, without adding, through Christ, which strengtheneth me, and before long he will have to groan, I can do nothing, and bemoan himself in the dust. When we do anything for the Lord and he is pleased to accept of our doings, let us lay our crown at his feet and exclaim, not I, but the grace of God, which was with me. So are we seeking to glorify God and take none of that glory for ourselves? I think that's a question we should ask ourselves on a regular basis. And is our fellowship with Him built on His glory? Is our fellowship as a congregation built on the glory of God? There are reasons we worship in the way we do. There are reasons we don't do the things that are very popular in many churches throughout the land and draw great crowds in. Why? because they take the glory from God. And our desire here is to glorify God as we fellowship together. I hope that will be of some use to you as we go through life and as we stop and focus on things like that. I will again recommend, because I'm back to reading them again, I will highly recommend Spurgeon. Spurgeon has an ability to take the teachings of scripture and make them very real to us as you read them, and it doesn't ever get old.