If you would turn with me in your copies of God's word to Psalm 29. Psalm 29. And we'll commence our reading in the superscription. Psalm of David. Give unto the Lord, O ye 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 Syrian 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. Word of our God. May he richly bless it to us this evening. Man's chief end is to glorify God. and to enjoy him forever. These are words I know that are familiar to all of us and words that are even quite familiar to anyone who's lived in a reformed land. But friend, what does that look like from the heart? Especially that our first chief end, of course, the chief end of every creature to glorify God, what does that look like? Friend, not in that which is visible to the eye, but what does that look like in the motions of the soul? In many ways, beloved, our psalm does instruct us in what it means and what it looks like for the heart to render glory to God. And it does so by opening up with a command to do just that. In fact, four times in just those first two verses, you have the command. That is to give unto the Lord that which is due to his name. And from the idea there is to ascribe to God the glory that he's due. And then as you move through the succeeding verses, you notice that not only are we given a command, but seven times we're told something about the voice of the Lord. And really those instances that the psalmist brings to our attention, each of them are supposed to be as so many object lessons, so many tools, if you like, to encourage us in this work of ascribing to God the glory due to his name. And then you'll notice toward the end of the psalm, the psalmist leaves all of those instances in the book of creature, in the book of providence to speak about what takes place in the temple. And in the corporate worship of God's people in the temple, he says, they speak of his glory. And friend, as you look at verses 10 and 11 at the end of this psalm, you and I are supposed to understand that that is what they say. as they worship God in the temple. The 10th and the 11th verses is that confession of glory to God, as well as the acknowledgement of all of his goodness to the church. This is what they speak in the temple. My friend, as you and I look at the 29th Psalm in its entirety this evening, I believe we are to take it as a primer on what is our duty namely to glorify God, as well as a primer on how you and I are supposed to use the means that God has given to us to that end. We have not only command, but we have instruction even in the way in which we are to ascribe glory to the Lord. What we learn from this psalm then, first of all, friend, and this is our theme, is that all are to acknowledge God's glory and dominion. all are to acknowledge God's glory and dominion. And we see that really in three ways. We see first of all, the obligation. Then secondly, we see the observation that you and I are to make. The various observations we are to make as we look at providence about us. And then finally, I want us to look at the object. What is it that the psalmist centers us upon this evening? So take first of all, the obligation. The obligation comes to us in the commands of the first two verses, where the psalmist says, again, give unto the Lord. And then he says, oh ye mighty, oh ye mighty, or you perhaps have a note there in your margins that the sense of that is ye sons of the mighty. If you're reading this in the Hebrew, the words are bain eil, that is son of God. Give unto the Lord, ye sons of God, give unto the Lord glory and strength. And the question that you and I are wrestling with immediately is, well, then who really is the addressee? Who is the principal focus of the first verse? To help us, friend, I think you have to look throughout the Psalter and really throughout the word of God. And for that, look at just here, if you would, what you find in Psalm 82. The psalmist there says, God standeth in the congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among the gods. And then he says, you've said, ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High, but he shall die like men and fall like one of the princes. Now that 82nd Psalm friend helps us in many ways, not least because it shows us there where the psalmist is very evidently speaking of a high king, a chief magistrate and calling him a son of the most high and saying that he are gods in a sense. He reminds us friend of the dignity and of the power of the magistrate. The scriptures acknowledge that the legitimate magistrate is is an incredible, incredible force on the earth. And here friend, the psalmist addresses the magistrate just as he does in Psalm 82. You who are the mighty ones on the earth. You who in a sense, in terms of your power and authority on the earth can be called sons of the most high or children of the most high. You, says the psalmist. You kings and rulers all, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give glory and strength that is due to his name. So friend, the first principle focus that we have is the duty of magistrates, chief rulers among men. But of course, not only to them, The argument is really from a greater to the lesser, isn't it? If those who are the great ones on the earth are supposed to give glory and strength to Jehovah, and friend, of course, then all of those who are beneath them and under their rule are obliged to the same. All then are to glorify God. And friend, I know none of us are civil magistrates, but it's important for us to know what is the obligation Magistrate, the scriptures are not shy to tell us that kings and all rulers are obliged to God and our psalm begins so. And so it's right for us to meditate upon it. Magistrates are to ascribe glory to God. Why? Well, the scriptures give us so many reasons and even so many directions on how they're to do it. Take just, for example, the precept given in the law. He that is the king shall read therein that is in the law all the days of his life. Why? That he may learn to fear the Lord his God. A friend that is a binding law, not only for Israel's king, but for all kings who rule over the people of God. And why is he so to be studious in the word of God? That he may be trained in the fear of the Lord. Friend, the word fear there is supposed to be taken for all external and internal acts of reverence to Jehovah. But why the emphasis on the magistrate? Friend, the answer comes to us rather directly throughout the scriptures. He says, the apostle is not a terror to good works. He is a minister of God to thee, that is the people of God, for good. Beloved, if he is to be the minister of God to the good of the church, then he must be a man who can lead in reverence to God. A man himself who can be an example so as to lead others in the worship of Jehovah. Beloved, if he is to rule over the people of God, he is also to be an example in what it is to glorify God. as is in the words of our psalm, to give the glory and to ascribe strength to God that is due to his name. Friend, he is under obligation to do so. Just for an illustration, if you remember back in the prophecy of Jeremiah, the prophet there has quite a lot to say to the rulers of God's people. In one instance, he says thus, he says, I will get me, the Lord says, I will get me under the great men. and will speak unto them. And here's why. For they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God. In other words, the Lord says, I will turn to those whose office it is to be an example, a civil example to the people of God and what it is to glorify him. Who have been trained or at least have an obligation to have been trained in the ways of the Lord for his glory. The prophet concludes thus, he says, but these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds. What's striking is that that last line, you recognize they failed in their duty and they were culpable for it. These were great ones on the earth who failed to do precisely what they were commanded to in our Psalms. A friend, their obligation is to lead the people in this work. And that means then, as we've already said, that this obligation to ascribe glory and honor to Jehovah, it's something that is universal, it belongs to all, not just to magistrates. Magistrates are, as it were, to be leaders and encouragers in the work, but it's not only their obligation. A friend from this psalm, you and I are supposed to recognize that all of us, equally, are obliged to this work. It's striking, isn't it, friend in this text, that he turns to the most powerful ones on the earth. And he says, you ascribe strength to God. You on the earth who have the most temporal and most visible kinds of glory among men, you, ascribe glory to God. Beloved, what you and I learn here is that the Lord, he would have us take the greatest parts of our lives, whether it's our greatest giftings or greatest mercies. And he would say, you need to trace all of those things back to their perfection that is in God himself. Are you a powerful king? Will you ascribe all power to God? Are you a glorious ruler? Then you ascribe all glory to God. Only He is altogether glorious. You have wisdom and you ascribe all wisdom to Him. Beloved, that is your calling and mine. And we need to recognize as well that this is not only a confession of the lips, an acknowledgement, a vocal acknowledgement of the glory of God, of course, is required. but is insufficient of itself. Friend, if from the heart you and I do not acknowledge God so, if from the heart you and I do not trace all of our greatest gifts back to their source, if from the heart we do not do so, we do not approach this command in our text. We need to see in him, friend, the perfection. Again, if you have wisdom, Friend, even if you have great wisdom among men, you need to trace that to its fount. And from the heart, acknowledge him. Great power, great strength, all abilities and all gifts, from the heart, friend, you trace them back to God. But then friend, I also want you to notice that not only is this something that is internal, in the sense that it is a real acknowledgement from the heart of the glory of God. But it also requires us, well, it requires us to live as signposts, doesn't it? It requires us to be men and women who, if we possess gifts, to use them only to point others to Jehovah, the creator and sustainer. Friend, this is a calling not only to say that God is glorious, a calling not only, friend, to acknowledge that truth from the heart, but a calling for us to encourage others to see it as well. There is no other way, friend, really, to give glory and strength that is due to the name of God, unless we're engaged in such work. But secondly, I want us to come really to what is the body of the psalm, and that is to the observation that the psalmist makes. And there you find that the psalmist, again, he takes us, as it were, through a very brief display of great and dramatic works of divine providence. And he sets these things before us as a display of the glory of the voice of the Lord. A friend, we could stop there and our observations, I suppose, could be spent the rest of this evening just considering how these things show us the glory of God. But I want us to focus on something even further. He's not only giving us these instances, but he's also teaching us that we are duty bound to make like interpretations of providence. In other words, you and I are obliged to use, friend, these very works to draw forth our attention, to fix our focus and to train our hearts to glorify God. Friend, you and I are under obligation to read providence as the psalmist does in this text. We are morally responsible. Friend, we are morally responsible to exegete the book of providence and of creation, as we have it in the psalm. You see that in the scriptures. When the apostle speaks of this, he says thus, he says, the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. He's saying all of these things, friend, are clear around us. All of the conclusions that are drawn from these events in the psalm, all of these things clearly events the glory of God. But then the apostle goes a step further. And he says, not only is it so, but you and I and every one of us is obliged to see it that way. He says in the very next line, so that they are without excuse. Beloved, the psalmist is giving us a primer on how you and I are to read Providence to see the glory of God. We're obliged to use the creatures this way. And friend, we are responsible before God. I don't know how many ways I can say it really, We are obliged before God to make the kinds of observations that we find in the psalm. And then in that ninth verse, you see where it culminates. After having seen all of these things, as it were in the book of creation and providence, he goes to the temple. This is, as it were, the apex, the climax of the psalmist's focus. This is the moment where you find all of those observations crystallizing into a single vignette, a single moment. He is in the temple where you find the clearest display of the glory of God in special revelation in the gospel. And that friend, under the ordinances of the gospel in corporate worship. The idea, friend, is this, is that you and I, we are to be studious all week long as you and I go about our various callings. We are to be as readers as the psalmist is of the books of creation and providence. And then as we come then to the Sabbath day, when we come to corporate worship, then our hearts should be duly prepared to come and exalt the God whom we've meditated upon and whom we've exalted the week through. Such that this then, friend, on the Sabbath day becomes the apex, the climax, truly of this work of giving glory to God. As it were, we've studied all week long to this point. And what is then, friend, that object that the psalmist draws us to? It's the confession of verses 10 and 11. I want you to notice, we've not left, we have not left the addressee of verse one. We've not left the great ones of the earth. But in this case, these great ones are in the temple. with the people of God, that's how we should understand it. And what is their confession? You have it in those last two verses. The Lord sitteth upon the flood. Yea, the Lord sitteth king forever. So he has fulfilled the obligation of verse one. Then this, the Lord will give strength unto his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. Friend, where do the people of God learn the truth of verse 11? It is under the promises of God, given in the word of God, and freshly promulgated in corporate worship every Sabbath day. Friend, what you and I see here in these 10th and 11th verses, again, is an acknowledgement of God's dominion, but it closes with the acknowledgement that God rules graciously and for the good of his people. He has observed as it were all of the mighty acts of God about him in providence. But he closes his meditation by seeing that God through the Lord Jesus Christ sits and works over all of these things for the good of his church. And there his meditation closes. Friend, all are then to acknowledge and to rejoice in Christ's dominion through whom only, verse 11, is a reality. So friend, you have Psalm 2, the obligation upon kings of the earth to submit. In Acts 17, you remember Jason had to intervene as both Paul and Silas were accused of preaching that there was another king than Caesar. And the nations hate to acknowledge Christ's rule over them. And they will not then fulfill the obligation of verse one. Till grace indeed subdues them. A beloved all are obliged. Just as they are obliged to see the works of creation as they lead us to glorify God, all are obliged to know and to submit to the scepter of Christ as he rules for the good of his church. As we close, we close really just with the illustration we received from Daniel's prophecy. Nebuchadnezzar, a man who was hardened in his pride, in the end subdued by divine grace to acknowledge the Lord's dominion. And as we see throughout that prophecy as well, that included necessarily the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ, who would conquer the nations as King of Kings and as Lord of Lords. So as we close, friend, for our points of examination, do you and I, do we see God's glory overall? and in all. Well, this Psalm should challenge us as it is a primer. You and I, we are obliged to read those providences about us as so many signposts to point out to us the glory of God. And we are responsible before God to do so. And friend, do we see how unreasonable also it is from the psalm not to give glory to God? Lord, why did he give us life? Why did he give you the gifts that he's given you? To you, these are wonderful expressions of his goodness. But friend, they are always, as we've already said, signposts to point out his perfections and majesty. So what room is there for pride in the creature? Friend, is it not the greatest act of fraud for men to boast in their own gifts that were given to them by God? To boast in those things that were only always supposed to point to his majesty. Friend, do we see how unreasonable pride is? If we look at this psalm. how dangerous it is not to be active in ascribing glory to his name. For our comfort, I also want you to notice, friend, that the Psalm closes with that promise that all of the strength and all of the power you and I read of in the preceding nine verses. In verse 11, he says, it is engaged for you. that wonderful display of omnipotence that you and I read of from the third to the ninth verse. He says, here is its end. The Lord will give strength unto his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. Beloved, if you and I were to meditate on the glory of God, the power that we see even in the book of Providence, and to say that the Lord God, he wields that for the good of his church, through the Lord Jesus Christ. Would we have any cause for fear? But friend, I also want you to notice that in this psalm, these things are again so many, so many signs that point us to a God of infinite power and also a God who is rich in grace, rich in the blessings that are described in verse 11. May the Lord then lead us to him and cause us to give glory to his name. Amen.