Sermon(Ps 29): The power and grace of the voice of the Lord

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025255820

 

>> 1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; worship the Lord in holy array. 3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, upon many waters. 4 The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. 5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. .... 7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. ... 9 The voice of the Lord makes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forests bare; and in his temple all cry, “Glory!” 10 ... the Lord sits enthroned as king for ever. 11 May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace! (Ps 29) <<

 

The God is the King of all kings. David was the king of Israel, and God was worshipped by David. David knelt before God and worshipped him, with his head on the ground. We know that God is worthy to be worshipped by all kings in the world, from the fact that such a king as David, who was so competent and majestic and was respected by many people, worshipped God so. David says that all people should ascribe all glory and power to God.

 

There are many truly powerful, or capable people in the world. There are many who have excellent physical strength, intelligence, and a lot of wealth. However if they say such things are inherent to them or that they have obtained them by their own ability, they do not ascribe them to God. You ascribe the power and ability to God when you say that you are carrying out well the task of the job with the power God has given you. The power of nature is so great. What a roaring sound when it thunders! Sometimes wild beasts were consternated at the sound, and aborted. Big trees were struck by the lightning, and had their big strong branches cut off. If a fire breaks out in the forest, all the grand trees turn to ashes. However beautiful your house may be, the house, if a fire breaks out, will become useless and look hideous. You ascribe the power to God if you acknowledge that the power of God is greater than that great power of the nature. We must admit that God is the One who created the whole world and who determines the birth and death and the fortune and misfortune of all creatures. He who confesses all his ability came from God is a man who ascribes the power to God. God gives big power to him who ascribes the power to him. When a man who lacks ability prays to God for the ability, God will grant him the ability, seeing his faith in God's power. Are you incapable of obtaining food? Ask God for the ability. Are you feeble? Pray to God for the power of health. Are you unable to love brothers? Pray to God for the capability of love. He who lacks the capability of wisdom, perseverance, sociability and holiness must pray to God. God will be greatly delighted in him and surely hear him. On the contrary, be careful, if you overestimate your ability and are proud before God and man! Never forget the warning that the God who can destroy a beautiful hill into an ashy desert in a moment, and consternate beasts into abortion can also make your great works into ashes and bring your good plans to nought. You'll never have to groan under failures thanks to incapability all your life, if you thank God for the ability God has already given you, and pray to God for powers needed today and tomorrow, and obtain them from God. If we humbly wait for God's time in prayer, our incompetence will never stand in our way. My inability today is a vessel to be filled with the power of God. But he who thinks he can something fills his vessel of inability with falseness and delusion, so that the vessel can't accept new powers from God.

 

The position of king is very honorable. God is in the everlasting glory because he is the everlasting King. Glory requires goodness, power and honor. God is a good One who hates sins and wickedness. He is a potent One who gives the righteous the eternal life, the wicked the eternal judgement. He is a glorious One as the God who created the world and is alone omnipotent. Who is the one that ascribes glory to God? He who thinks God to be his king is the one who ascribes glory to God. He who accepts God as his king never betrays him, but acclaims his lofty character and grace, works hard for him, resists God's antagonists, and absolutely obeys his word. The beauty of the country is the glory of the king, the wealth of the country is the glory of the king, and the splendid culture of the country is the glory of the king. He who gives glory to God lives a beautiful, powerful and holy life. We should ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name and worship the Lord in holy array (v. 2). We must acknowledge him as the highest God. The glory proper for him is to worship him with all that I have, including myself. In particular, we should worship him in holy robes. He does not accept our worship if we worship him in sins and wickedness, for it is not a proper worship for him. If we worship God as holy offerings, we become a holy sacrifice to him, so the holiest being in the world. All things offered to God are God's, so they become the holiest. If we worship God as clean offerings, he will be glorified by us and sanctify us.

 

A cruel king in the world uses ruthless violence to his subjects when he has some power. He mercilessly exploits his people, suppresses them and even commits genocide. People having such a king feel exhausted and suffer continuous anxiety. But Jehovah sitting on the eternal throne is a king who is good and powerful. "May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace! (v. 11)" A good king regards his people's pain as his pain, and his people's joy as his joy. My brethren, the Lord is your King, and you are his people. He is a good king to you. He does not want you to suffer, or to shed tears in pain, or to lament over your life. He hopes that you can laugh, be satisfied with happiness and live in peace. Therefore he gives you strength and the blessing of peace.

 

My brethren, David says that the voice of God is like thunder, as is written in the text (v. 3). Some people can't hear even the sound of the thunder. They are the deaf. And an absentminded man can never hear you however big voice you may make. When does the word of God become like a thunder to you? The voice of God that rebukes me is like the sound of a thunder. The words of God that scold you severely when you read the Scripture or listen to the sermons, or that come from the deep conscience are bigger than a thunder to your ears as long as you're a normal Christian. You can't help but kneel down before the voice, and subject yourself to the voice. You feel threatened like you will be struck by lightning at once if you pretend not to hear the voice. May you hear the rebuking voice of God like a thunder! The sound of the words of God will never reach to you if your faith has faded away and died down. My brethren, be attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and be completely obedient to the voice whether you meet important things or trifling things.

 

David says that the word of God is powerful (v. 4). Human beings make a lot of worthless words, big words, deceitful words, and vain words. Such words are powerless even if they are loud, numerous and plausible. But God's words are powerful. He said, and the world was created from nothing. He says; and the sick are healed, the dead rise, water springs from a rock in the desert, the manna, or heavenly bread, comes down from heaven, and the miracle of 'two fish and five loaves of bread' takes place. God's word is truth, so it is powerful. God's word comes from the righteousness of God’s person, so it is powerful. God is all-powerful, so his word is powerful. All words of humans, in the presence of the words of God, are blown away like chaff. All human beings collapse before the word of God as before a fierce flame. No one can dare to resist it. The promise God has made will certainly be fulfilled. If he says 'Yes' to something, it will certainly come true; if 'No', it will never be possible. He who belittles such a powerful word of God will perish while he who acknowledges the power of the word of God and obeys it will prosper and occupy the land God created.

 

David says the word of God is majestic (v. 4). You will get a prize if you live a life of obeying the majestic word of God. However he who disobeys the majestic word will be punished. God says to the sinners, "Repent!" He says to us that we should have no gods except him (the God), keep the Sabbath solemnly, love our neighbors as ourselves. All his words are majestic, because he passes the final judgment on everyone of all humans. His word is the law. Not a letter of the law of God will be abolished until the end of the world.

 

See how the world goes today. Not only laymen but also priests do not listen to God's word like a thunder, but regard it as powerless word, and hardly acknowledge the majesty of his word. This happened because some pastors, being blinded by greed and losing the hearing ability of the conscience as well thereby, have become a wicked model of a religioner when they have paid little attention to the word of God, the exhortation of the other pastors, and the resentment of the saints, and have gone their way stubbornly. The church in Korea is solemnly celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Great Revival in Pyongyang these days. How can the Korean church revive? As the voice of God breaks the cedars (v. 5), the voice of God must break the haughty pride of some greedy pastors, and strike their kingdoms into dust. The voice of God must become fire to burn up the sins and the wickedness of the greedy pastors. The laity can repent if they have sinned. No lay believers are as good as the Korean laity. I think Korean laymen are not so wrong. You can hardly find good believers like them who, with such devotion, respect and serve the wicked pastors as the servants of God. The problem is some pastors. When such greedy and stubborn evil pastors are first healed by God's word, the Korean church will be healthy and skip like a young wild ox before God (v. 6).

 

Even a whispering voice of God was as big as a thunder to David. He acknowledged the power and majesty of God's word, and obeyed it thoroughly. So he received a power from God that no one had ever received, and became a king of a nation. He could enjoy the blessing of peace in God even in numerous adversities and external challenges. My brethren, do you want to have the blessing of peace, living like a king? Treat the word of God as David did. God is the King. He appoints as king him who willingly hearkens to his word and faithfully obeys it. David also gladly inclined his ear to the word of God and became a king. You should give ear to the word of God when it comes to you in various ways. Then you'll be a leader in the church or in the society. The unchanging and impartial God will make you another David.

 

May your spirit's ears be opened to the words of God, so that you can understand them and obey God; and may you be abundantly blessed with high esteem and peace as David was.

 

Chong Tack Kim

- Dongtoma Sunshine Church -