Go with me, if you would, again
to Psalm 96. Psalm 96. I would like for us
to look at this Psalm tonight because of verse four. All because of verse four, which
says, For the Lord is great and greatly
to be praised. He is to be feared above all
gods. I want us to do tonight. What
is worthy to be done? And that is praise and magnify
the Lord, our God, our King, our savior, Jesus Christ. He is so worthy to be praised. He is so worthy. Verse four says
for the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. The word great
and the word greatly are not the same word. Great means high,
lofty, mighty. And the word greatly means exceedingly,
with abundance. It actually means with muchness. I like that word. I don't know
if it's actually a word, but that's what it said, with muchness. It means forcefully, passionately,
intensely worthy to be praised. He is very exalted and very worthy
of it. You know, it says the Lord, our
God, God, the father highly exalted him. I've always had that in
my mind is he is above everything else. And he is, but he is highly
exalted. He is very high. We cannot attain unto it. He is very high and he's very
worthy of it. So worthy of it. Now let's look
at verse one together. It says, Oh, saying unto the
Lord, a new song saying unto the Lord, all the earth. Verse
two says, saying unto the Lord, saying unto the Lord, saying
unto the Lord, saying unto the Lord. I love how marching to
Zion says, let those refuse to sing who never knew our God.
Once you know this God, you will sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing a new song. There is a new
song that is worthy to be sung to our Lord. And all the earth
ought to sing this song to him. All of the world ought to sing
this song to him. But there's a reality concerning
this new song. I want us to see the reality
and I want us to see the song. Turn with me, if you would, to
Revelation 14. Revelation 14. Verse 1 says, And I looked, and lo, a Lamb
stood on the Mount Zion, and with Him an hundred forty and
four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads.
And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of a great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps and they sung as it were a new song
before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders. And no man could learn that song. but the hundred and 40 and 4,000,
which were redeemed from the earth. No man could learn that
song, but the hundred and 44,000, which were redeemed from the
earth. There is a new song that is worthy to be sung to our Lord,
but the only ones who can sing it are the ones who've had it
revealed to them. The 144,000 represent all of
God's people. That's the, That's the perfect, complete,
total number of God's people that no man can number. It just
represents the complete number of God's people. And only those
people have had this song revealed to them outside of God's Holy
spirit, teaching a center, this song, no man or woman on this
earth can sing it. No man or woman can sing it,
not from the heart, not in sincerity to God, outside of God's Holy
Spirit, putting this song in the heart and the mouth of a
sinner, no man can sing it. All right, this song is only
for God's particular people. And this is how it goes. Turn
with me to Revelation 5. Revelation five verse one says,
and I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a
book written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof. And no man in heaven, nor in
earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither
to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, Weep not, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root
of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven
seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst
of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent
forth into all the earth, And he came and took the book out
of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when
he had taken the book, the four beast and the four and 20 elders
fell down before the lamb, having every one of them harps and golden
vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And they
sung a new song saying, here it is. thou art worthy to take
the book and to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and
has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and
tongue and people and nation and has made us unto our God
kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth. You're worthy
of to open the book and to loose the seals thereof and to take
all of God's people to yourself. You're worthy because you redeemed
us to God by your blood out of every kindred and tongue all
over this world and you made us to be kings and priests to
our God. You redeemed us, cleansed us. reunited us with our God. That's
why God's chosen people are the only ones who can sing this.
It's because the song says, you did this for us. You redeemed us by your blood. You chose us. You chose us. Wrote our names down in a book. You washed us with your own precious
blood. You wiped our slate clean. You
made us acceptable to God. You did that for us. You did
that. How great thou art. How great
thou art. Great things you've done for
us. Great things. Until God teaches a sinner that
song, the only song that a sinner can sing is the old song. And
that song says, This is what I have done for you. That's the
old song. This is what I've done for myself.
This is what I've done for everybody else. That old song does not praise
God. It does not worship God. And
it will not be accepted by God. And that's why God's people throw
it away. They don't want to have anything to do with that song.
They cling to, and they sing at the top of their lungs, the
new song of glory to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. I cannot
wait to hear this new song is going to be sung throughout all
eternity. And I sincerely cannot wait to
hear it. I cannot wait to be in the. congregation of saints singing
glory to the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity. Go with me
back to Psalm 96. Verse 1 says, O sing unto the
Lord a new song Sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto
the Lord, bless His name. Bless means kneel before. Kneel before. You know, God's
people do that in heart. We truly do. We kneel before. Bless also means adore. It means give thanks to. Kneel
before, adore, give thanks to the Savior. Call his name, Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sin. Thank you, Lord,
for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for graciously,
kindly giving to me your great salvation, so rich and so free. We cannot enter in to what he
saved us from. We just can't. We cannot enter
into how bad we are. We cannot enter into how vile
we are. We cannot enter into how wicked
we are. We cannot enter into how unappreciative we are. We cannot
enter into how irreverent, how we neglect him, how we Is it not amazing? Honestly,
when we look at this flesh right here, is it not amazing to see
what He's done for us and the flesh's response to it? Oh, how
great you are. How great you are for your kindness
to such a ruined being such as me. A ruined being. Verse two says, sing unto the
Lord, bless his name, show forth his salvation from day to day. Every single day it is confirmed
to me. Salvation has to be of the Lord.
If it was of me, my sinful flesh wouldn't even
want it. It just wouldn't even want it. It has to be of the
Lord. Every day it has to be of the Lord. Verse 3 says, declare
His glory among the heathen. Who's that? That's me. That's you and me and our flesh.
He chose to have mercy on outcast heathens. Look with me at Psalm
chapter 2. This is God the Father speaking
to God the Son. He said in verse 8, Psalm chapter
2, verse 8, Ask of me, and I shall give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession. Aren't you so glad it says that?
That has to be talking about me. You know, the scripture says
we get him for our inheritance. He is our possession, that's
what we get. You know what he gets? Us. Thank God he wanted us. He said,
if you ask of me, I'll give you the heathen. Thank God he asked
for us. He wanted us. Thank God he wanted
us. That could be a title of a message.
Thank God he wanted us. He is ours, we are his. Ephesians
2 says, we were outcast heathens, but we've been made not of Him
by the blood of His cross. So go back to Psalm 96, verse
3 says, declare His glory. Declare His glory, declare His
honor, declare His value, declare His worth. We've heard so many
times that illustration of people talking about putting a diamond
in front of a black backdrop. All we have to do is just focus
on ourselves and see how unglorious we are, and we will declare His
glory, that He would have anything to do with us. Oh, what glory
it is. He said, declare His glory among
the heathen, His wonders, All of His wonderful accomplishments,
all of His marvelous works among all people. Preach Him to all
people. Preach Him to all people. May the Lord save mightily. May
He give us a heart to preach Christ to all people. Verse 4
says, For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is
to be feared above all gods. He is to be feared above all
gods because there is no God beside him. Nothing rivals him. Nothing challenges him. Nothing
stands in his way. Nothing. He is God alone. The only God that there is the
only God that there is. Verse five says for all the gods
of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. These
little idol gods that men are preaching everywhere. They're
the ones who have no hands, but your hands, they have no money,
but your money, men are always saying, you're going to have
to give your money to him. He didn't have any money, but your
money. They can't do anything. You know,
even they say, won't you let him, these little gods, even
if they let him, he still can't do anything. He's worthless and
dead. But our God, the Lord, our God,
he made the heavens. Just look up, just look around.
He made the heavens with his own hand. He made all the money.
It's all his. He does everything where men,
whether men try to stop him or not, he still does everything.
And the reason is because he's great. He is great and he is
greatly to be praised above all gods. That little boy in Mexico,
um, You remember the story, his family
had all of those idols, they worshiped all those idols and
these had these little wooden idols or whatever they were made
out of. Seven little idols sitting up on their mantel. And their family bowed to and
prayed to these idols and that little boy, the Lord allowed
him to hear the truth through a missionary. of this true and
living God. And this young man or however
old he was, he believed what was told to him. And he tried
to tell his family and his dad didn't want to hear it. They
didn't want to hear it at all. So one day while his dad was gone,
he got a hammer and smashed six of the seven idols and laid the
hammer in front of the seventh that he didn't smash. And when
his dad came home, he saw that he's furious. He looked at that
boy and he said, who did this? And the little boy pointed at
that last idol and said, he did it. And he said, son, you know
he couldn't do this. And he said, dad, that's what
I've been trying to tell you. He can't do anything. Even if
you let him, he still can't do anything. Every God beside the
true and living God is no God at all. Nothing rivals him. Nothing challenges him. He is
the only God that there is. Verse five says for all the gods
of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens honor and majesty are before
him. Strength and beauty are in his
sanctuary. All honor and majesty belongs
to him. It all belongs to him. All of it, all power and all
beauty is in him. But the scripture says, as he
is, and this is so amazing to me that the Lord God would Share
this with his people that he would give this to his people
and include his people in this as he is in him. So are we in this world right
now, we have been made to be the very same thing that he is
in verse six says honor and majesty are before him. Strength and
beauty are in his sanctuary. That's the work of His very own
hands in and for His people. That's what He's made us to be
in Him. Verse 7 says, Give unto the Lord,
O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and
strength. That means ascribe to, acknowledge
what is rightfully His. Verse 8 says, Give unto the Lord,
the glory due unto His name. Bring an offering and come into
His courts. Give the glory that is due to
His name. Ascribe all the glory that is
owed to Him and bring an offering to Him." What offering should we bring? What other offering is there?
There's only one. There's only one. It's the offering
that he made to himself. What a glorious offering. It
was the only one he could not deny. He cannot deny himself. Every other offering had to have
been denied. but He could not deny Himself.
The only offering we have to bring to Him is the offering
of His own body and His own blood that He made to Himself for us.
You just think about that and enter into that. He made that
to Himself for us. He became a man so he could make
that to himself for us. He was the only one who could
make an offering that was acceptable. So on our behalf, Hebrews 7 says
he offered up himself. Abraham told his son, Isaac,
they were walking up to the top of Mount Moriah. And Isaac said,
I see the fire and I see the wood, but where is the lamb?
And he said, my son, God will provide himself. He will provide himself, and
he did. He was the only offering that could
be accepted on our behalf, so he did. Verse nine says, Oh,
worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Fear before Him
all the earth, the beauty of holiness." His holiness is so
beautiful. It is so beautiful, so spotless.
His righteousness that His people get to put on. The song says, this robe of flesh,
I'll drop and rise to seize the everlasting price, the perfection. the righteous purity, the robe
of Christ Himself. Verse 9 says, O worship the Lord
in the beauty of holiness. Fear before Him all the earth. Say among the heathen that the
Lord reigneth. The world also shall be established
that it shall not be moved. He shall judge the people righteously. The Lord reigns. The Lord reigns. That is the beautiful message
of the gospel. How beautiful are the feet of
them that bring the glad tidings of peace and say to Zion, thy
God reigns. Your God reigns and he will judge
his people in righteousness. That's how he judged all of his
people in Christ. That's how he's going to judge
all people by Christ. The judge of the earth will only
do what's right. And I want to be judged in Him.
I want to be judged in the Lord Jesus Christ, judged in the beauty
of His holiness. Outside of Christ, we have to
stand here in all of our filthy rags. But in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we literally get to stand before Him in the beauty of His holiness.
So verse 11 says, let the heavens rejoice and let
the earth be glad Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and
all that is therein. Then shall all the trees of the
wood rejoice before the Lord. For he cometh, for he cometh
to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with
righteousness, and the people with his truth. Christ our righteousness,
Christ our truth, let all the world glorify Him because He's
coming. He's coming. He came to redeem us. He's coming
back to get us. He's coming. Let all the ends
of the earth glorify and honor His name because He's great.
One day we're going to see His greatness. We don't know what we shall be,
but we know when He appears and we see His greatness and His
glory, we're gonna be just like Him. He is great. He is greatly to be praised.
He is to be feared above all gods. I pray that every soul
here will say so. I pray the Lord will cause every
soul here to say so. Lord, we bow to You. We magnify
You. We adore You because You're worthy
of it. everything you've done for us,
you're worthy of it. All praise to him who reigns
above in majesty supreme, who gave his son for man to die that
he might man redeem. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. Let's all sing that together.
Stand with me.