The Beauty of Holiness - Psalm 29
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 8 viewsNotes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
Good morning.
If you have your Bibles, please turn to Psalm 29 this morning.
This morning I want to talk about a phrase that is found in Psalm 29:2 - “The beauty of Holiness.”
Psalm 29:2 says …
Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
5. When we think about giving unto the Lord the glory that is due Him …
When we think about our WORSHIP to Him,
When we think about our LIVES that we live which Romans 12:1-2 describes as LIVING SACRIFICES,
When we think about our GIVING as it pertains to the offering plate …
GIVING TO THE LORD the glory due to His name … if we are truly doing so in SPIRIT (right attitude) and in TRUTH (the right way), then God is pleased with that, and Psalm 29:2 describes the BEAUTY of that holiness!
6. What I’d like to do today is to read through this Psalm, taking note of our Giving unto the Lord — not just financially (although that is very important), but giving our LIVES to the Lord!
7. And then I want to make some application at the end!
Psalm 29:
Psalm 29:
(Read through the entire Psalm once and emphatically, then go back through).
Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, Give unto the Lord glory and
strength.
I have a note in my Bible for “Give” that it could also mean “Ascribe.”
In other words, what this is saying is that we need to ascribe to God the greatness that He is!
This is a Psalm that shows the omnipotence of God!
The fact that He is all-powerful!
That’s why we are going to see in a moment the various statements about God powerful voice and what He does to the cedars, etc.
And we need to remember that an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good God is deserving of our respect, adoration, and worship!
Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
Worshiping God is not a chore.
Worshiping God is not a drudgery.
Worshiping God is not something we do to check an item off our checklist.
Are we commanded and obligated to worship God?
Of course!
Again, an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good, omnipresent and eternal God (Creator of the universe) is deserving of our respect, adoration, and worship!
But in addition to the fact that we are COMMANDED to worship God, and OBLIGATED to do so, we ought to be thinking about the fact that we have the PRIVILEGE to worship God — We GET to, and we WANT to!
And I guarantee you that if our mindset shifts away from only I HAVE to … … … to I GET to/I WANT to, then that is going to transform our hearts into giving the kind of worship that God wants - In SPIRIT and in truth! (John 4:24)
The BEAUTY of holiness!
A righteous life is a life well-lived!
A godly life is a BEAUTIFUL life!
A holy life is the BEST life!
The voice of the Lord is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The Lord is over many waters.
This reminds me of the state that existed at the very beginning of creation.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God SAID … ‘Let there be light; and there was light.”
There was POWER in God’s VOICE!
Tell me, is there power in YOUR voice?
Well, the Bible says that life and death are in the power of the tongue! (Prov. 18:21)
Sure, there’s some power in the words that we speak …
BUT NOT LIKE GOD’S POWER! NOT EVEN CLOSE!!
The voice of the Lord is powerful; The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
(That’s what we just talked about).
(And sometimes we sing about this — Majesty, worship His majesty! Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise! Majesty, Kingdom authority, Flow from His throne unto His own, His anthem raise!”)
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
Just a way of describing the power of God!
In the ancient world, the cedars of lebanon were renowned!
(Think about the Sequoias and the Redwoods in our country).
(Show picture of the cedars of lebanon).
He makes them also skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.
Finley, do calves skip?
Yes, they do have a certain “skip” to their run I would say!
So God’s power can take the huge cedars of Lebanon and skip them like a calf!
The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.
I’m reminded of Hebrews 12:29, which says, “For our God is a consuming fire.”
Again, a reference to His POWER!
A power that must be reverenced and feared!
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; The Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
If you have ever seen a picture of Petra, some scholars think that Kadesh was what we know now as Petra.
It would have been in Edomite territory, and it is really a barren wasteland, south of the Dead Sea.
(Show picture).
The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”
“Mine eyes have seen the GLORY of the coming of the Lord!”
(Battle Hymn of the Republic).
The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood, And the Lord sits as King forever.
Genesis chapters 6-8, of course, God destroyed the earth with a flood because of the full wickedness of all of mankind, save Noah and his family!
God was sovereign and IS sovereign, and His power at the flood proves it!
He continues to sit on His Kingly throne!
So again, He is worthy of our worship!
The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.
A ending note of this Psalm is that our Sovereign, powerful, good God takes care of His own!
As long as we are on the Lord’s side on Judgment Day, we will be just fine!
We will have peace and safety and will dwell with the Lord forever!
Not so for those who are against the Lord on that day!
Let’s get to our …
Application:
Application:
We’ve discussed the BEAUTY of holiness this morning!
We’ve discussed GIVING God His glory due in the way we LIVE, in the way we WORSHIP, and yes, in the way we GIVE of our time, our talents, our money, etc.
What we’re really talking about this morning is our MOTIVATION for serving God!
And so here is what I want to say about all of this — about the BEAUTY of holiness.
Young people especially listen up!
When the Bible says that Christians don’t do this, this, this, and that (sinful things that the Bible tells us not to do) …
And when the Bible says that Christians DO this, this, this, and that (things God commands that maybe we might not initially want to do but God wants us to do it so we do it) …
When the Bible guides our life in the various do’s and don’ts of life …
Don’t complain about that!
Don’t think like so many do, “Well, that’s not any fun.”
Brethren, the Christian life is a GREAT life!
The HOLY life is a BEAUTIFUL life!
Everything that God’s Word contains (including it’s rules and regulations) is written for our benefit!
The Bible wasn’t written to hinder your fun!
It was written to give you an ABUNDANT LIFE (John 10:10)!
No cap! (As our gen Z’ers would say).
(For the rest of us, that means I’m telling you the truth!)
Let me ask you this:
The Golden Rule — Is society and the world at large BETTER, or WORSE if more people follow the golden rule? (BETTER!)
Sexual purity as taught in Christianity — Is society better or worse if people followed the Bible’s teachings on that? (BETTER! Just think about all the broken homes that have been caused because of infidelity, and if everyone followed the Bible, that problem goes away!)
If everyone had a Christian outlook on life, would that be better or worse? (BETTER!) What’s better a Christian outlook of HOPE of Heaven, or an atheistic/agnostic outlook of NO HOPE and “I might as well live it up while I can because the reality is that I’m going to die one day and I think that’s it”?!)
So I think the point well stands — There truly IS beauty in holiness! Remember Psalm 29:2!
(Offer invitation).
