Go ahead. OK. Psalm 98, Psalm 98, and we'll
be looking at verse one, mainly this evening. Psalm 98, the title
of the message is The Old Gospel is the New Song. The Old Gospel
is the New Song. The Scripture says, O sing unto
the Lord a new song, a new song. Now, in the Scriptures, as I've
studied this passage, there are many references to singing, or
singing especially a new song. There are many references to
this. And that's because they are based
on new revelations that were given, especially in the Old
Testament, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. An illustration
of this was Moses and the Israelites. After they had come out of Egypt,
they got to the Red Sea and they were surrounded by the mountains
and they were surrounded by the Egyptians. They were pressed
out and God said, Go forward. And they went in through the
Red Sea. God had parted the sea for them
and delivered them by a miraculous way, a way that nobody had ever
been delivered before. And a way that no one else has
been delivered since, like this, this huge miracle had taken place. And they got to the other side
and the Lord said, close up. And the waters closed on Pharaoh
and destroyed that massive army. Destroyed that mighty man and
his army in one swoop. Not one was left. just so that
they knew not one was left. He washed their bodies up on
the shore so they can see that they were dead. And then the
Scripture says that Moses sang a song. Moses sang a new song. Go back over there with me to
Exodus. Exodus. I didn't write it down, so hold
on. Exodus chapter 15, after they
had got over, it said, Then sang Moses and the children of Israel
this song unto the Lord. And Spake saying, I will sing
unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and the
rider he hath thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength
and my song, and He has become all my salvation. He is my God,
and I will prepare Him in habitation, my Father's God, and I will exalt
Him. The Lord is a man of war. The
Lord is His name." And this song goes on and on. But you see,
he had come up with a new song because God had given them fresh
deliverance from the Egyptians. You see, it wouldn't have done
them any good to sing those songs of bondage, those songs of Egypt,
those songs of lamentation. I imagine that they did sing
songs in Egypt of victories past, sing songs of Abraham, their
father, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph. I imagine they remembered
those patriarchs, But you think, how stale it had become after
400 years of being in captivity, those old songs. But now the
Lord had done a new thing in the earth. God delivered Israel
in a miraculous way. And He assembles His people on
the side of the sea. And they began to sing a new
song. And what was that song? The Lord.
The song was, Unto the Lord, and Spake saying, I will sing
unto the Lord. For he had triumphed gloriously.
Now who triumphed? The Lord triumphed gloriously. How glorious was his victory
over the man who said, Who is God that I should be mindful
of him or obey him? And yet there he was. He found
out who God was. He found out quickly. Another
example of the use of song was when Israel had crossed over
into Canaan, and the Lord commanded Moses. He said, you write this
song. And this is the author of the
song was the Lord. The Lord wrote a song and gave
it to Moses. And He said, you rehearse this
in the ears of the children. And that's in Deuteronomy chapter
32. Look at that. Deuteronomy chapter 32. This
is a song of the Lord. It goes from 1 to 43. But it
speaks of His majesty, of His graciousness. Give ear, O ye
heavens, and I'll speak, O ye earth. In the words of my mouth
my doctrine shall drop. as the rain in my speech shall
distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, as
the showers upon the grass. Because I will publish the name
of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God." He is the rock. His work is perfect, for all
His ways are judgment. A God of truth and without iniquity,
just and right as He. They have corrupted themselves. Their spot is not the spot of
his children. They are a perverse and crooked
generation. Do ye thus requite the Lord,
O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father that brought
thee? Hath he not made thee and established
thee? Remember the days of old, consider
the years of many generations. Ask thy father, and he will show
thee thy elders, and they will tell thee. When the Most High
divided the nations, their inheritance, when he separated the sons of
Adam, and he set the bounds of the people according to the number
of the children of Israel, for the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. This is God's song. And He said,
My speech, My song will come down as the rain comes down. And it will distill as the dew. What wonderful words. The song
of the Lord was written Because it is the gospel song that is
like the rain that comes from above. Is Christ not the one
intended here that comes from above? Has the rain descended
from above? Even so, Christ said, the Son
of Man hath descended. He descended. He said, I am the
bread that came down from heaven. He is the bread that comes down.
Christ ascended and His Word is applied to the sinner's heart
as mysterious as the dew. Now, I'll tell you what, you
can sit out all night long and you can watch, but you don't
know where in the world that dew comes from. It's mysterious. It's amazing. You wake up and
the ground is covered with it. The Lord's Word is just like
that. It comes down as the rain. Oh,
but it distills on the heart. It penetrates the heart and flows
down into the soul and gives life. That's what the Word of
God does. What a sweet song this is that
speaks of the tenderness of God's salvation to the sinner. How wonderful that Jesus Christ
is our rock and our sure refuge from the justice of God. The song declares that we have
sinned, we have been corrupted, we have corrupted ourselves,
but God in His free and sovereign grace made a division. He chose
Israel as His portion and His inheritance. And we know that
Israel is a picture of the church. You and me who are believers
in Christ, you know God has made a division among us, among the
nations. God has made choice among the
people of the sons of Adam. He has made choice. And this
is His song. He said, I have made a choice
among the nations. Israel is my inheritance. Israel
is my portion. And He is talking about the church.
Believers in Christ, you are God's inheritance. Is that not
something? I know this is great that Jesus
Christ is my inheritance. But I'm his. What he says, it's amazing. It was God who found us in the
wilderness of sin, and he led us by his grace. Not only hear
the gospel, but to believe it. I'll tell you what, there are
many who hear the gospel and go away having never heard
the voice of Christ. God has given us grace to believe. I was reading this today and
I thought it was good. There's no such thing as simple faith.
Because faith is not simple. Faith is impossible. Faith is impossible. Making a
decision is simple. Faith is impossible. Faith is
a gift of God. And if you have it, treasure
it. It is a gift. It is a gift of
the Holy God. And the Lord in this song here
in Deuteronomy tells us of false religion, the religion of this
world, and how that their vine is not our vine. Their rock is
not our rock. Isn't that right? Their Christ
is not our Christ, and their God is not our God. They may
have the same name, vine and vine, rock and rock, but they're
not the same. They have the same name, Jesus
Christ, but they're not the same. This is the message of God's
gospel, is it not? We should, by grace, see that
our Christ is not their Christ. Their rock and vine are just
mere imitations of the truth. Their vine is bitter, being mixed
with their own works. and their refuge is a shelter
of lies. The message of false freewill
works religion is not just an academic or a growth problem. It is blasphemy. Blasphemy. It is blasphemous that they would
say Christ died for the sins of all men and condemn them to
hell because they had unbelief. Unbelief is a sin just like every
other sin. There Christ died for every sin
but that. This is not our rock. That's
not our vine. When someone speaks of a Christ
like that, I have no idea who they're talking about. They might
as well be talking about Zeus, or Buddha, or someone else. Because
I have no idea who that is. This is not our rock, because
our rock is sure. Our rock is steadfast. Christ,
the Son of God, He said He is a sure foundation stone. And everyone outside of this
stone will be cut off. Our rock is perfect. The scripture
says he shall not fail nor be discouraged. And our Christ has
not failed. Nor was he discouraged. And friends, he is still not
failing. He is still not discouraged by
anything that happens in this world. He's not discouraged.
He's not discouraged. Our Lord is sovereign. Our Lord
has accomplished salvation. And we are assured of this. We are assured that there will
be many more. So long as we live in this world,
there will be many more troubles and trials and difficulties.
But we know this, that our God, our Rock, is sure. Now, in this
text, our text, it says, we are commended to sing a new song. And that new song is unto the
Lord. Now, as the years of the Old
Testament progressed, so did the revelation of Jesus Christ
progress. You've had the first revelation when God said, the
seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent. And
then He'd offer that sacrifice as a picture. The very first
sacrifice God offered, the very first gospel message. God Himself
preached. But as we go along, there are
many more victories, many more victories and struggles. After Moses and Joshua, there
was David, the great victory of David over Goliath, the great
victory over the Philistines. And these victories, every time
that they won, they were new. They were new. They were fresh.
God had given fresh deliverance from the enemy. Fresh deliverance
and victory. Believer in Christ, we are exhorted
to let the Word of God dwell in us richly. How? By psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs. singing and making melody in
your heart unto the Lord. Since we have been believed on
Christ, how many battles have we been engaged in? How many
struggles can you count? I can't even count. I can't even
number them. I just to make it through today was a struggle
enough. I'm sure there are some if I sit and recount and remember
some of the great struggles of my life. But there have been
many struggles we've fought and many troubles and griefs and
trials and heartaches. And I know that there have been
many with you. And as we grow in the grace and
knowledge of Jesus Christ, we can know this, there'll be many
more. The ones we have now, we think are great. We think these
are the greatest struggles a man could possibly face. And then
we grow. And then we see something really
great. And we say, oh, that stuff, that was child's play. Now then,
this one's the greatest. Now then, this one's the greatest.
And then this one. It goes on and on and on. So
long as we live in this world, this old man, Causes our hearts
much sorrow and this world makes us weary. The enemy never sleeps
and desires only the destruction of our souls. But even in these times of great
darkness, the Scripture says that God gives us a song in the
night. A song in the night. Are you going through night?
Is it dark? God gives a song. God gives a
song even in the darkness. David said, I will call and remember
my song in the night and commune with my heart on my bed. What does he commune about? Has
God cast me off? Have you asked that? How many
times have we communed with our own heart and searched diligently
for this? Did God cast me off this time?
Surely there's no way He would keep me anymore. I don't want to keep me. Why
would He want to keep me? Has He forgotten to be gracious
to me? I remember that song that Newton
wrote, Will thou pursue thy worm to death. And yet weeping only endureth
for the night, for joy cometh in the morning. There's always
a morning. There's always a morning. There's
always a day of joy. Believer in Christ. It is high
time now we wake out of sleep for the day is dawn and our salvation
is nearer today than it was yesterday. Our salvation is nearer today
than it was yesterday. Today, now is the time for a
new song. Now is the time for fresh praise.
Now is the time for fresh thanksgiving, a fresh faith in Christ. Now,
believe in Christ now, trust in Christ now and sing unto the
Lord a new song now. Joy will fill your heart. He's worthy of such things, is
he not? Sing praise for His mercy endureth
forever. Is that not worthy of our praise?
If His mercy endureth forever, should not our praise endure
forever? It should. Praise Him forever. Our salvation
began in eternity when the Father was accomplished by the righteousness
and the blood of His precious Holy Son. The Spirit of God in
great power came and quickened us. And have we not a cause to
sing? Yes, we have a cause to sing. We have a great cause. Let me ask you who believe on
Christ, has this song ever lost its newness to our hearts? Has
the gospel song lost its freshness? as Christ lost His luster in
the eyes of His people. This gospel is just as fresh
now as it was when I believed, yes, even before I believed.
It's fresh. Sing unto the Lord, for He hath
done marvelous things. Marvelous things. This new song
is the same old story that was from eternity. Look at your text here. Singing
to the Lord a new song, for He hath done marvelous things. His
right hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory. Sing of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, because He has by His own hand obtained righteousness." Obtained righteousness. Obtained
all the righteousness of His elect people. Look at verse 2,
"...the Lord hath made known His salvation, His righteousness
hath He openly shown in the sight of the heathen." we could have never won such
a victory as righteousness. But Jesus Christ came down from
heaven having no sin, and by nature could do no sin and establish
and honor the law of God He obtained righteousness by His own thoughts,
by His own imagination, by His own heart, by His own will, by
His own desire. The Lord Jesus Christ obtained
full and complete righteousness, not for Himself. He was righteous
Himself. He needed no righteousness. He
obtained that righteousness. God said, this is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. God was well pleased. Not one of us who were born dead
in sin, condemned at birth under the curse of the law, not one
of us could ever lift a finger to be righteous. Not one of us
could have ever been righteous. Our song by nature is a song
of sorrow and bondage. But this man, Jesus, has come
down from heaven and made a perfect offering for sin. I've been thinking about this
this week. It presses on my heart to know,
and yet I'll never know. outside of glory what it fully
means that Christ was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And I thought
about the person and deity of Christ and how He was made sin,
and yet He Himself was still the spotless Son of God. He Himself,
when that blood poured from His veins, it was called precious
blood because it was holy. The words He spoke while on the
cross being made sin for us were nothing but holy words of righteousness. And yet, He bore our guilt in
His own body on the tree of outstanding amazement. He was lifted up, the just for
the unjust, and He bore our sins before God, and God poured out
all of his justice on him. Jesus suffered as the spotless
lamb bearing the guilt of God's people and the just vengeance
of God for our sins. And he was punished for our iniquities. Believer in Christ, we should
sing and shout Because the Lord hath won the victory. He by himself
hath won the victory. Our Father victoriously chose
us in eternity. Were there any to oppose Him?
Were there any to say, no, not that one? No. None stopped His
hand from choosing. And from the beginning all these
things moved according to the sovereign decree of God. And
there was not one battle against God that His enemies had won. There had not been one battle
that God had not faced and won the victory. God has not made one error. There has never been one oops. with God. Not one. Not one sound of retreat. Not one of His decrees or orders
were thwarted. Although we can't see that. Can
you look back at the history of the church and see and say
that everything looked like everything went well? No. It seems to us chaos. Seems to
us that the church is being so small in these days, in this
generation, the gospel being hated by so many. And yet we
think we're being defeated. No, God has won the victory. The victory is won. Although we can't see it, we
can see the hatred of men, the persecution of the church, the
growth, the growth of false religion, the cruelty of Satan against
it, but yet in all this our God was victorious. In all this. In all this. He has truly done all according
to His own sovereign will. In vain men have tried to overthrow
the purpose of God of bringing His Son into the world. And when
God brought His Son into the world, they tried their best
to kill Him. All the while, when they killed
Him, they were doing exactly what God had determined. Vain attempts of man to thwart
the decrees of our God. Vanity. Jesus Christ has, by His one
offering, perfected us forever who are sanctified And we are
set apart from eternity, set apart by the Holy Spirit through
belief in the truth. The gospel of God's grace has
never lost one inch of ground. And it has never lost one soldier. Is that not something? Have you
ever heard of anyone who has ever had a battle that has not
lost a soldier? What in 1990, I guess it's 1990,
they had Desert Storm and they ran across that country like
it was nothing. But I'll tell you this, there were so many
accidental deaths, so many friendly fire deaths. Wasn't even the
enemy that killed some of our people. It was our own. It's
tragic, but that's the way war is. War, there's casualties,
generals, No matter how well planned they are, they've always
had to give and take to win victories. You give ground. You take ground. You pick your battles. But friends,
God has chosen His battle and He is already victorious. It's already done. The battle
is over. And He's not lost one soldier. What do you say about the persecutions?
the Inquisition, the martyrs. You're telling us that they weren't
lost? Absolutely not. He has not lost one of them.
Though their bodies were burned and cast to the wind, the Holy
Spirit knows exactly where they are. Their spirits have ascended to
be with Him. He hasn't lost them. He said, this is my Father's
will that of all He had given me, I should lose Nothing. We should sing about that. We should sing about that. You
mean he won't lose me? Not a chance. It's already done. He won't lose one, not one. And
when it's all said and done, if our bodies in the ground or
in ashes scattered to the wind, The Scripture says that he will
raise this vile body into an incorruptible body. And our spirit and our body will
meet and join together in the air, and we shall be forever
with the Lord. Why? Well, that victory's already
won. That victory's already done. And at last, During that time,
we will see the fullness of this new
song, because I haven't seen the fullness of this new song
yet. I know this song. I love this song. I love the
gospel. I love the message of my Savior
and how victorious He is. But at times it's dark. At times
it's dim. It's like I'm looking through
a glass darkly, Paul said. But then, face to face, face to face with Christ my Savior. Don't you suppose that the most
unworthy would shout the loudest? I think that I should shout the
loudest. I think I should give Him the
most glory. But I know this, my voice won't
be above yours. And your voice won't be above
mine. Because whatever that body is, however loud that voice is
able to shout, I know this, that from the very depths of our soul,
we will shout and sing the new song. Worthy is the Lamb. that hath redeemed us by his
blood out of every nation and kindred and tongue and tribe
and people. Can you imagine ten thousand
times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of unworthy, unmeritorious
sinners who were saved by the sovereign grace of God and won
that he won the victory for? Can you imagine the sound of
that noise? The triumph? The victory shouts. One thing about this new song,
it'll be forever. That's amazing to me. I don't
know anything new that's forever, but this. Something's only new
to me once, and then it gets old. But this, this is new every
single day of my life. My faith is renewed. My strength
is renewed. And praise God, there'll be a
day where I won't even have to worry about renewing anything.
It'll be perfect. Everything will be well. But while we're praying, while
we're here, may God give us a heart to sing unto the Lord, for He hath done
marvelous things. And I did want to mention this.
Look, one more time. I got to say it. I got to because
this is important. Look at this. Notice this. His. Find the word his. Look at that. His. Right hand. His. Holy arm. Hath gotten. Who? The victory. Him. Where are you? What part did you have in this?
Where's your name? Because I don't see mine. I don't
see my name in there. I see Him. Him. His right hand. His holy arm.
His victory. All that God does is for His
own glory. That'll either make you mad or
make you glad. And I am ecstatically glad that
God has won the victory and my hand did not defile the sacrifice. Let's stand and we'll be dismissed
in prayer.