Go with me if you would back
to Psalm 98. Psalm 98. I know, I mention all the time,
I know from personal experience, that this is a very difficult,
trying, trouble filled life that we live here on this earth. But every now and then, God's
people find themselves in moments of feeling very happy and very
thankful. So happy and so thankful. This week I found myself in one
of those moments. And this psalm right here just
connected with my heart. Every word in this psalm, it
just spoke to me. I hope the Lord will make this
a blessing for all of us. The title of this message is
Him, Us, and Everything. There are nine verses in this
chapter. As we read them, let's notice that they're divided into
three sections, three verses each, three sections. The first
three verses tell us about Him, what He has done, who He has
done it for. The next three verses tell us
about us, our response to and our joy in Him for who He is
and what He's done for us. And the last three verses tell
us about everything. Praising and honoring and glorifying
and magnifying the Lord, the Creator, the King. Him, us, and
everything. Alright, verse one says, Oh,
sing unto the Lord a new song. Let the first fruits of that
new heart that He's given, and that new mind that He's given,
and that new tongue that He's given, let the brand new man,
you know when God goes to work on a sinner, He creates a brand
new man. Let that brand new man sing a
brand new song. Verse 1 says, For He hath done
marvelous things." Who has done marvelous things? The Lord has
and He has. He has done marvelous, marvelous
things. Creation is marvelous. The planets,
the stars, the galaxies. I am fascinated with pictures
of space. They have these telescopes, Hubble
telescope, and they take pictures of these galaxies, and they're
marvelous. They're marvelous. They're so
beautiful. They're marvelous. And as I look at them, I think,
my Lord did that. Massive, just massive. My Lord
did that. He created that. I hope He'll
take us on a tour of all that one day, but He did that. This
earth is marvelous. Life that God creates, plant
life, animal life, human life, it's marvelous. These bodies
are marvelous. David said, I am fearfully and
wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works and that
my soul knoweth right well. Everything that the Lord has
done is marvelous. Everything He has done is marvelous,
but this has to be the most marvelous of them all. Turn with me if
you would over to Psalm 31. Psalm 31 verse 21 says, Blessed be the Lord, for He hath
showed me His marvelous kindness in a strong city. A sinner like
me, an absolute wretched sinner like me. How marvelous it is
that God made it so that He could still be just and justify a sinner
like me. How marvelous that is. That he
could still be just and still be holy and still be right and
justify a sinner like me. Oh, how marvelous. Oh, how wonderful. And my new song shall ever be.
That'll be my song from here on out. Think about the fact
that God became a man. That's marvelous. He took not
on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of
Abraham. God became a man, the eternal, infinite God, the immortal,
invisible God, the invisible God. If there are two or three gathered
in his name right now, he's here. He's here. The invisible God.
confined himself to time, he confined himself to human limitations. The all-knowing learned. How can that be? How can that?
The fullness grew. It's marvelous. He lived a life and he was able
to give it away to somebody else. That's marvelous. In reality,
think of the reality of that. He lived a life and was actually
able to give it away to somebody else. He died a death that he
was able to take away from somebody else. That's marvelous. That's just
marvelous. The ever-living one, he died, he was buried, and he
rose again for the sin of his people. That's marvel us. Just marvel at that. Look back
at Psalm 98. Verse one says, Oh, sing unto
the Lord a new song for he hath done marvelous things. His right
hand, who is that? Jesus Christ. And His holy arm,
who is that? Jesus Christ. Isaiah said, the
Lord hath made bare His holy arm. I've always loved that verse
of Scripture. His strong and mighty, the Lord
has made bare His holy arm. That's Isaiah 52, and then in
Isaiah 53 it says, to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
Who has He revealed it to? Jesus Christ, He is the one who
has gotten Him the victory. That's what it says in verse
one. His right hand and His holy arm has gotten Him the victory. The victory over sin, the victory
over death, And that's a marvelous thing, marvelous. Verse 2 says, "...the Lord hath made known
His salvation." Salvation belongs to Him, it's His. It's His to
perform, it's His to give, it's His, it belongs to Him. "...the
Lord hath made known His salvation, His righteousness hath He openly
showed in the sight of the heathen." What a marvelous thing for a
heathen to see the righteousness of Christ.
We are the heathen. We're the outcasts that need
to be brought back into the favor of God. And we, the heathens
see in his word that in order to be brought back into his favor,
we have to have a righteousness. So we try to earn ourselves one. until God reveals to us what
we truly are, nothing but unrighteousness. And when God in His goodness
brings us down so low, and that's what He does, it is such kindness
to a child of His to bring us down so low, when He completely
removes all hope of salvation through any deed that this flesh
could do. Once that last hope and that
last deed is just stripped away, we're left holding nothing but
our damning unrighteousness. That moment, just before we fall
off into utter despair, God reveals who He is and God reveals what
we are and fear takes hold of us. And just before we fall into
absolute, utter despair, that's the moment He reveals the righteousness
of Christ to us. the righteousness of His Son,
the righteousness He earned, the deeds that He did. Aren't
you so thankful that Christ came and earned a righteousness for
us? Aren't you so glad? You look
within, just take a minute, anytime you want to, and look within.
If you really want to be depressed and you want to fall into despair,
just look within. And then once you get sick and
tired of that, look to Christ and you see what He did and enter
into the fact that when it comes to our salvation and what it
takes for God to accept us, the only person He looks at is His
Son, Jesus Christ. Just enter into that and that'll
give you a better day. the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That is the most glorious thing
that could happen to a sinner. I love that when a person, I'll
tell you this again, I've been thinking about it and I told
them that, I'll tell you again. I went out to a congregation
and they were coming out of bondage, coming out of bondage, coming
out of bondage and we were talking about this thing of progressive
sanctification and we were told you gotta progress in sanctification
and this and that and the statement was made, Christ is our sanctification. He is our purity. I don't find
my purity right here. He's my perfectness. He's my
holiness. And that guy said, isn't that
so relaxing? And yes, it is. That's so relaxing. The moment a sinner sees the
righteousness of Christ and sees the fact that he gave it away.
Everything he earned, everything he did and gave it away. As soon
as the truth stops crying, you have no righteousness. The gospel
cries, one has been given to you. Verse 2 says, The Lord hath
made known His salvation. His righteousness hath He openly
showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered His mercy. Our Lord remembers the fact. His memory is so faithful. He
never forgets. that He did not pour out on us
what we deserved because He poured out on Himself what we deserved. Mercy. He never forgets His mercy. Verse 3 says, He hath remembered
His mercy and His truth. He remembers His promise to His
people. He remembers the covenant He
made. toward the house of Israel. He
hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of
Israel. So his promise only goes to that
one little country on the earth, Israel? Oh no. He is not a Jew
which is one outwardly. He is a Jew if God chooses to
save him. If God has chose to save him,
he's a Jew. And because of the goodness and
the mercy and the love of God through Christ, his son, verse
three goes on to say, all the ends of the earth have seen the
salvation of our God. The whole earth, his goodness
and salvation and kindness has gone to the whole earth. You
know, I'd have to look at a map, but Israel's kind of on the other
side of the earth and it's gone all the way around to Kingsport,
Tennessee. Now, how does that make you feel? How does that news make your
heart feel? What does that do to your heart?
Verse four says, make a joyful noise unto the Lord. All the earth make a loud noise
and rejoice and sing praise. Well, I'm not a good singer.
Who cares? That's beside the point. That's completely irrelevant.
It has nothing to do with it. This joyful noise is coming from
the heart. It's coming from the heart. This
is a noise that only God can hear. Did you know that you can make
a loud, I mean a loud noise and never make a peep? Did you know
you can do that? Never make a peep. Our hearts
can sing at the top of our lungs in perfect pitch, in perfect
harmony, and never make a peep, never utter a sound. The problem
for us is we don't have the ability to keep it in. It leaks out on
us and we sing. God's people are some singing
people. We can't help it. We just can't help it. Our souls
sing praise to Him who reigns above in majesty supreme, who
gave His Son for man to die that He might man redeem. How can
you not sing to that? Sing praise to that. I love how
the song marching to Zion says, let those refuse to sing who
never knew our God. If we ever come to know this
God, we'll have to sing. Our Lord sang while He was on
this earth. Sometimes I do wonder, is it
important that we sing? Our Lord sang while He was on
this earth. There is going to be singing
for all eternity in glory. And it's going to be loud. It's
going to be loud, loud. I love loud congregational singing. It doesn't make a bit of difference
if it's good or bad, as long as there's heart for Christ in
it. That's all that matters. Heart for Christ. Praise for
Christ. Verse 4 says, Make a joyful noise
unto the Lord, all the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice
and sing praise, sing unto the Lord with the harp." We have
a harp sitting right here. An instrument of 230 strings. I googled it. 88 keys, but 230
strings. David said, use it. Use it. And if Rich Bird from
up there in Lexington comes through and he brings his trumpet with
Let him use it. Verse 6 says, with trumpets and
sound of cornet. If you know of a brother or sister
who plays the cornet, let them use it. Let them play. Brother Dan Culver plays the
saxophone. If he ever comes through here,
let him bring that saxophone. I would love, if you've never
heard it, Brother Todd usually starts his conference with Brother
Rich Bird playing the trumpet. And I just, I love hearing it.
I love hearing it. I know the man who's playing
it and I know what his heart is toward Christ. Not just any
man, but If there is noise going on in
here, then let them play. Verse 6 says, With trumpets and
sound of cornet, make a joyful noise before the Lord the King. Alright, so that's Him and that's
us. All that's left now is everything.
Verse 7 says, Let the sea roar. and the fullness thereof." Do
you like to hear the sound of the waves crashing? That's the
ocean singing praise to its Creator. That's what it is. Verse 7 says, "...let the sea
roar and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell
therein, let the floods clap their hands. Sailors and fishermen,
they go way out into the ocean. And no matter how big the ship
is, you know, there are some big ships out there, but no matter
how big the ship is, it's still just a tiny speck compared to
the ocean. And sometimes the waves, they
get out in the middle, not just a wave crashing on the shore,
but they get out there and those waves are just roaring and throwing those ships all
over the place. And they say, the ocean is angry
today. Oh, that ocean's out there and
it's angry. No, it's not. It's clapping its
hands. That's what it's doing. Let the
floods clap their hands. Verse eight says, let the floods
clap their hands. Let the hills be joyful together. Let the floods clap their hands.
Let the hills do the same thing. Look with me at Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 verse eight. Our Lord
said, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways. My way sayeth the Lord for as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the
rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not
thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which
I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For you shall go out with joy,
and be led forth with peace, the mountains and the hills shall
break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field
shall clap their hands." I believe that's the moment that Christ
returns. I believe that is the moment that Christ returns. And
He comes and gathers all of His people and they all rise up to
meet Him in the air. At that moment, gravity is going
to turn us loose. As soon as He appears, gravity
will turn us loose and we will rise to meet Him in the air.
And I believe the mountains and the hills are going to break
forth into singing as they watch us go up. The mountains and hills
are going to break forth into singing, and all the trees of
the field are going to clap their hands. And then as soon as we
enter into Christ's presence, verse 13 is eternity with Him.
Instead of the thorn is going to come up the fir tree. Instead
of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree. And it shall be
to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not
be cut off. Just absolute perfect peace,
beauty. Let the floods clap their hands,
let the trees clap their hands, and let me and you clap our hands.
Go with me to Psalm 47. Psalm 47 verse 1 says, O clap your hands, all ye people,
shout unto God with the voice of triumph. We cannot become
a clapping congregation down here. And the reason is because
our sinful flesh can't handle the distraction. It would just
be a big distraction. Everything would be, we'd be
praising the flesh. We'd ruin it. We would ruin it.
But one of these days, when our worship truly is all about Him,
with no hindrance from the flesh, we are going to clap our hands.
We are going to clap our hands unto our King. We're going to
praise Him with everything that He gives us to praise Him with. Every piece of our being will
applaud Him and praise Him and give Him honor and glory. Go
back to Psalm 98. Verse 7 says, Let the sea roar
and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands. Let the hills be joyful together
before the Lord, for he cometh to judge the earth. With righteousness
shall he judge the world and the people with equity. He is coming to judge the world
by righteousness. He is coming to judge the world
in righteousness. David said in Psalm 51, whatever
your judgment is against me, you're right. You are just in
doing it. Whatever it is, I deserve it.
And He is coming to judge this earth by righteousness, in righteousness. But thank God, He is coming to
judge His people with righteousness. Meaning, He's going to bring
it to them. The righteousness that He gives to them. By His
payment for their debt, He created equity for them. He created equity
in them. If you pay your house off, You
have equity in it. That means it's yours. You have
something to stand on. You have something to hold. And when Christ paid off the
sin debt of His people, He created equity in them. And when He comes
back and His righteousness sees that equity, it will demand their
eternal redemption and their eternal security, their eternal
place. with Him. And with that eternal
redemption and that security, that's going to bring us full
circle right back to verse 1. We will cry, O sing unto the
Lord a new song, for He hath done marvelous things. His right
hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory. Unto Him that
loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Thou art
worthy for Thou was slain and redeemed us to God by Thy blood.
We're going to sing an eternal song of redemption. We're going
to sing and sing and sing of all these marvelous things. I
pray the Lord will give us this song. I pray the Lord will put
that song in our hearts. I pray the Lord will put that
song in the hearts of these children, every one of us. All right, let's
all stand together.