Psalm 96. Psalm 96 is our study
this evening. Now this This psalm is a blessing. It's a blessing, as all the psalms
are, but I think it's a special blessing to the folks who love
Christ and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm entitling
the message from what is said in verse two. Show forth his
salvation. You see that in verse two? Show
forth his salvation and do it every day. Do it. from day to day. Show forth his
salvation. Now, those two words there, show
forth, means to proclaim it. It means to declare it. It means
to hold nothing back. In Isaiah 58, it says, cry loud
and spare not. Bear not. Cry aloud. Make it
known. Make the gospel known. Declare it. I like what the Apostle
Paul said to those elders as he departed there in Ephesus.
I've shunned not to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Declare the gospel and then do
it as he says here from day to day. From day to day. This is our desire. This is the
church's desire. Because of his command, he said
to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And because it's his command,
it is our responsibility as members of his body and of his church. Because he commanded us to preach
the gospel, it is our responsibility to do so, but it's also our desire. We declare the gospel because
we desire to do so. I like what the Apostle Paul
said, for as much as in me is, I'm ready. I'm ready to preach
the gospel to you who are at Rome also. And I'm ready this
evening, as God is my helper, ready to preach the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ unto you this evening. That's our aim
and our goal as we come, and when we meet together, we greet
one another, and we have fellowship, and we ask about one another,
and we inquire about one another, how's your week been, and different
things, but our aim in coming together is to worship Him, but
the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ is centered around one
thing. It's centered around one thing. It's centered around the
preaching of the gospel, setting forth who he is and what he has
done. We are determined, as the Apostle
Paul was determined in his day, determined to preach the Lord
Jesus Christ and him crucified. For it's the gospel of Christ
that's the power of God unto salvation. Paul, when he writes
his last word to his beloved son in the gospel, Timothy, he
writes back reminding him that all scripture is God breathed,
all scripture is God given, and then he says this, he said, I
charge you, I charge you before God. and the Lord Jesus Christ
to preach the Word. Preach the Word. Preach Christ. Be instant, in season, out of
season. Doesn't matter how you feel.
Preach the Word. Preach Christ. Preach Him and
Christ crucified. That is our message. We preach not ourselves, do we?
We preach not ourselves, but we preach Christ. We preach Christ
and Him crucified. Now, the occasion of this psalm
is when David, the king of Israel, was blessed of God to bring the
ark of God back to the city of Jerusalem. And when he did so,
God gave him these inspired words to praise the Lord and to worship
Him, as we read there in 1 Chronicles 16. The Ark of God, if we studied
the Ark of God, what do we know about the Ark of God? Well, it
was God-designed, God-given. But that Ark of God is a good
type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel.
on that ark of God, over that ark, was the mercy seat in the
Holy of Holies. That is where the high priest,
once a year, took the blood of others, of that designated sacrifice,
and sprinkled that blood on the mercy seat, covering that law. And all that is type and picture
of Christ our Atonement, Christ our covering. That is where God
met with men and where men met with God. It says in Exodus 25,
I will meet with thee there and there I will commune with thee
around that blood-spattered mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant
and all of that pictures The Lord Jesus Christ being set forth
as our propitiation, as our mercy seat. The only way we can come
boldly to the throne of grace, boldly to the throne of God and
worship Him is only through Christ our mercy seat. Don't come any
other way. The Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father, but
by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, with that introduction,
let's take a look at Psalm 96. So sing. See verse 1? Oh, sing. Sing unto the Lord. And sing unto the Lord a special
psalm. It's a new psalm. Sing unto the
Lord. All the earth should sing unto
the Lord. Singing to the Lord. Three times
it mentions singing. Bless His name. Show forth His
salvation. His salvation is Christ. And
do it daily. Every day. Declare who He is. What He's done. Now three times
in these two verses we're told to sing this new psalm unto the
Lord. We know what this new song is
all about. Turn over here to Psalm 98, verse
1. Psalm 98, verse 1. Oh, singing
to the Lord a new song, for He hath done marvelous things. Sing
about it. He done marvelous things. His
right hand, His holy arm, have gotten him the victory. The Lord
hath made known his salvation, his righteousness hath he openly
showed in the sight of the heathen. He remembered his mercy and his
truth. Now sing a new song unto the Lord. Now if you'd like to
turn, you can. Revelation chapter 5. This new
song is the same song that the redeemed of the Lord sing in
glory." Same words, same song, sung unto the Lord. Revelation
5 verse 9, and they sung a new song, a new song, saying, Thou
art worthy to take the book, to open the seals thereof, for
Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God. by thy blood out of
every kindred, tongue, people, and nation hath made us kings
and priests unto our God, and we shall reign, we shall reign,
we shall reign forever. Now, do you ever think about
this? Look back to the text again. Everything about the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ is new. Everything about the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ, even though it's as old as eternity, the
gospel of God is, yet it's new every day. It never gets old. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, therefore, is ever new. It's ever fresh. It's ever real. It's alive because it's new. Think about this. We've been
made new creatures in Christ Jesus. Old things are passed
away. Behold, all things have become
new. We've been made new creatures
in Christ Jesus. Several times in the Revelation,
it talks about believers being given a new name. And of course, we think about the
Lord Jesus Christ being the mediator and the surety of the New Covenant. And when the Lord instituted
observance of the Lord's table, he said, this is my blood in
the new of the New Covenant. The New Covenant. Everything
about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is ever new. It's fresh. It's real. It's alive. It's saving. It's powerful. We sing unto the Lord. this song,
new song of redemption. Now notice it says this three
times in verses 1 and 2, singing to the Lord all the earth, singing
to the Lord bless His name. Three times. A three-fold praise
of the new song of redemption unto the Lord our God, the Father
who chose us. Sing unto the Lord. Sing unto
our God who had chosen us in Christ Jesus before the foundation
of the world. sing praises to the Father, sing
praises to the Son who redeemed us with His own blood, and then
sing praises unto the Holy Spirit who called us and quickened us,
regenerated us and sealed us. God chose us, the Lord Jesus
Christ redeemed us, the Holy Spirit calls us out, makes us
new creatures, seals us, and it's all to one end. to the praise
of the glory of His grace." I don't think it's any mere accident
that there's three times we're told here to sing unto the Lord. For our God is manifested in
the Trinity of His sacred person as Father, Son, Holy Spirit,
and these three are one. They are one. So we do sing. this glorious song of redemption. Now look at verse 2 and 3. Not only do we sing, gladly sing
unto the Lord, and of Him, and about Him, His mercies, His love,
His grace, freely given unto us, for we're justified freely
by His grace, but we, look at verse 2, we bless His name. We
bless His name. His name. Now, there's a whole
lot in Scripture about His name. His name. Jehovah. Jehovah. You know, there's a seven-fold
name, at least a seven-fold name that describes our God. Jehovah, God our Savior. Jehovah-Jireh. the Lord will provide. Jehovah
Sidcanu, Jehovah Reah, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Nisa, all these
different names that describe our God, our Shepherd, our Righteousness,
the Lord our Banner, the Lord who is our Healer. Bless His
name. Ascribe all salvation unto Him. Turn over here to Psalm 103.
I like the way the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1 in verse 3, he
says, we bless God who had blessed us. We bless Him who had blessed
us with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 103, look at verse 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul. and
all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the
Lord, O my soul. Forget not all of his benefits,
who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases,
who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with love and
kindness and tender mercy. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless his name. Speak well of
him. Ascribe all glory and blessings
unto him. And that's our desire. God has
highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name, that at that name, at his name, every knee shall bow, every
tongue shall confess that he's Lord to the glory of God the
Father. So we bless his name. We rejoice in his name. His name
shall be called Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. And then we do show forth his
salvation. We declare His salvation. You
know salvation is totally His doing? His doing. He planned
it. Salvation of the Lord. He planned
it. He executed it. He applies it. He sustains it.
In all things, He gets the glory. Salvation is totally of the Lord.
He's the Alpha. He's the Omega of all of salvation. He purposed it. He finished it.
He accomplished it. And that's what we preach. Salvation
determined, dependent, and accomplished upon who? Upon you? Oh no, upon
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Matter of fact, he said on Calvary
3, and I believe what he said, it's finished, it's finished.
Now, I'm not trying to be clever here, but a lot of folks say,
well, I'm trusting the finished work of Christ. You heard that
saying? It's not a good saying. I'm trusting
Christ who finished the work. I think there's a difference.
I'm trusting the Lord Jesus Christ who accomplished our salvation. I'm not just trusting these things
that He did. I'm trusting Him who accomplished
our salvation. And then thirdly, it says in
verse 3, declare His glory. Declare His glory. Now, don't
you feel helpless there? I do. How do you declare the
glory of the awesome person of who God is? Declare His glory. I feel helpless. And yet I know
the only way it can be done is by preaching the gospel from
the Word of God, and in doing so, we declare His glory. We
declare His excellency, the excellency of His person. And if the gospel
is preached as it ought to be preached, we declare the excellency
of his redeeming person, the excellency of his redeeming work,
and we shut out all creature merit, all creature righteousness,
all creature doing, and give him, as Paul said, God forbid
we should glory save in the crop of the Lord Jesus Christ. We glory in Him because all glory
is due unto Him. And then, again, look at verse
3. Declare not only His glory, and
do it among those who like to glory in themselves. The heathen,
what do they like to glory in? Pat themselves on their back.
Oh, look what we've done. Look what we've built. Look what
we've given. Look what we've accomplished. Declare His glory
among those who would glory in themselves. Does that make sense?
Declare His glory among those who were self-righteous. Declare
His glory among those who would revel in their own self-righteousness. And then it says to declare His
wonders. His wonders. You know, His name
is wonderful. Everything He does is wonderful.
Turn back over here to Psalm 40. Psalm 40. Psalm 40. Declare His glory. Bless His name. Show forth His
salvation. Declare His wonders among all
people. The wonder Now you think about
this, the wonder of how God can be just and holy and the justifier
of the ungodly. You know that question is asked
in the book of Job several times. How can he be just? How can God
be just and justify the ungodly? How can he be clean as born of
a woman? Look at Psalm 40, talking about his wonderful works, verse
5. Many, O Lord my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order. unto thee, if I would declare and speak of them, they
are more than can be numbered." All His wonderful works. You know, everything about the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only is His name wonderful,
but everything about the gospel and everything He does is wonderful. Turn to Psalm 111. One other
reference here. Psalm 111. Verse three, his work, Psalm
111, is honorable and glorious. His righteousness endureth forever.
He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is
gracious, full of compassion. Wonderful, wonderful works. Now look at verse four and five
in our text. For the Lord is great, the Lord
Jehovah is great, and he's greatly to be praised.
He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the
nations, the nations of unbelievers, the nations where the gospel
is denied, the churches where the gospel
is denied, all the gods of the nations are idolaters. Where
the gospel is denied, They're idolaters. There's no worship
going on. The Lord made the heavens. The Lord is great, greatly to
be feared. He is to be praised among all.
I like this psalm over here, Psalm 115. When these who did
not worship a true and living God, Psalm 115, came unto David. Psalm 115. And said, David, where
is your God? Look at verse 1. Not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name do we give glory, for
thy mercy, for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? Now the heathen know where their
God is. Their God is where they put Him. Their God does what
they allow Him to do. David said, Our God's in the
heavens. He has done whatsoever He had
pleased. Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they don't
speak. They have eyes, but they don't
see. They have ears, but they don't
hear. Noses, but they don't smell. What's the problem? Dead. Dead. An idol's dead. They have
hand, but they don't handle feet, but they don't walk. They can't
speak. Now look at verse eight. They
that make them are like unto them. So is everyone that trusteth
in them. That's a powerful verse, isn't
it? Idolatry. Oh, let's be done with it. Let's
be done with idolatry. For the Lord our God is above
all gods. For all the gods of the nations
are nothing but idols. He is to be feared above all. He's the creator of all. Our
God's in the heavens. He is done whatsoever He is pleased. Now, can an idol do anything? And yet men have whittled them
out, idols of their own hand, haven't they? And pray unto a
God that cannot save. Now let me drive this point home
by telling this story. Now listen to me. Like one young
lad about Hunter's age, Brother Mahan was somewhere in a meeting
preaching, as he did a lot back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. And this one little boy came
up to him after the service and said, you know, I like the way
you preach. And Pastor Mahan said, what do you mean? He said,
you preach for a while, then you stop and then you tell me
something. I'm going to tell you something. I've been preaching
for a while. I'm going to stop and I'm going
to tell you something. And this makes a point. The gods of the
nations are idols. The true and living God, He does
all things as He pleases. Now there was a little boy, about
maybe a little bit older than you, 13, 14, 15 years old. Brother
Walter Groover, the missionary we support down in Mexico, tells
this story. It's a true story, and I believe
him. I believe him. But there was a little boy, a
little bit older than Hunter, And he had met a gospel preacher. And the Lord was pleased to teach
this young person the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
know down there in Mexico, there's nothing down there but darkness
and idolatry and bondage. And this little boy grew up in
a home that had idols placed everywhere. And after the Lord
taught him about the true gospel, and he went back home, and told
his dad, he said, dad, just throw away them idols. He had all these
different statues around and candles burning and different
things. Dad, just throw them idols away. Those idols are nothing.
Let's trust the true and living God, the creator of all things,
the savior of all things. And his dad said, oh no, no,
no. We can't throw away these idols. One day the dad went to town.
went to town, one of these little Pueblo villages. They lived out
in the country, a little hut. And dad went away to town and
while he was gone, the young man who knew something about
the gospel took a hammer. He got a hammer and he gathered
all those idols that his dad and his family had cherished
over the years and placed them all out on the table. He took
a hammer and started mashing them all, breaking them all up.
but one. He left one idol sitting in the
middle of the table, and he took the hammer and laid it down by
the idol, and waited for his dad to come home. And his dad
came home, and he took one look at that, and you can imagine
what he thought. Who smashed all these precious idols? These
gods that we've made! And the little boy wisely said
to his daddy, he said, that idol did it. You know, the one idol
that was left had the hammer laying there, and the little
boy said, well, the idol did it. And his father said, silly boy,
idols can't do anything. And the little boy said, that's
exactly what I've been trying to tell you. An idol can do nothing. Now, that's a good story. I believe,
and it drives the point home. Our God is in the heavens. and
he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." Let's destroy every
other idol, idol of our imagination that we've whittled out of God
who want to and can't. Let's be done with that. Our
God reigns supreme over all things. Verse 6. Honor and majesty are
before Him. Strength and beauty You know
the word of those redeemed there in Revelation
5, worthy as a lamb to receive all honor and glory, blessing
and power, both now and forever, all honor and majesty are before
him and with him and in him, strength and beauty. Now think
about this. Strength and beauty are in his
sanctuary. His sanctuary is where He dwells.
He dwells with His people. He dwells in the hearts of His
people. He is our strength. He is our beauty. You see that? Worship Him in the beauty of
holiness. The Lord Jesus Christ. He is our beauty before God.
You see, we are beautiful through Him. But you realize in ourselves
and of ourselves what we are before God? Ugly. We're ugly. in the Lord Jesus, we're not
only ugly, we're ugly and we stink. I was telling my wife
this morning. I said, do you realize how bad
we stink? I said, we use deodorant to cover
up body odor. We use mouthwash to try to keep
from having bad breath. We have to shower regular, clean
regular, shampoo regular, put aftershave on, shave off the
whiskers, do all this because one reason, we stink. Now if
we stink to one another, no wonder God said all of our
righteousnesses before him are as filthy rags. Stink. We're not only dead, But we stinkin'
dead. We're graveyard dead. We're dead
and smelly. We're dead and ugly. In the Lord
Jesus Christ, we have life and we have beauty. Not our beauty,
His. His beauty. He is our strength
and He is our beauty in His sanctuary. Now, give unto the Lord, O ye
kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Recognize, acknowledge that everything
we have before God, but of him are you in Christ Jesus, who
of God has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that would
glory, let him glory in the Lord. given to the Lord the glory due
His name. Verse 8, bring an offering. Look
at verse 8, bring an offering. Come into His courts, given to
the Lord. Acknowledge all glory is due
unto Him and bring an offering. Now, we don't bring an animal
sacrifice, a blood offering of an animal, do we? What offering
do we bring? I bet you've got a guess, don't
you? The Lord Jesus Christ is our offering before God. That's
how we come into his courts. That's how we come into his brethren. Don't come without that offering. Don't come without that blood
sacrifice, that atonement, for by the one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. By the one offering,
that one offering, our great high priest did not bring the
blood of bulls and goats, he brought himself, the blood of
himself, and thereby obtained for us eternal redemption. Oh,
worship the Lord, verse nine, in the beauty of holiness. Worship
the Lord in the beauty of his holiness. Now, how can we do
that? Only in Christ. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. His holiness, His righteousness.
And fear Him. Now this fear here, it's not
a slavish fear. It's a reverential awe and fear. And then do this. Verse 10, say,
say among the heathen, say among the heathen, smile, God loves
you. Did I misread that? Say among
the heathen, The Lord reigns. The Lord reigns. This, I like
what it says over here in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 13, this is a
God with whom we have to do. You heard the story about the
young man who heard Rob Barnard preach the gospel of God's sovereign
lordship, majesty and glory. And he came to Brother Barnard
and said, that God you preach is a monster. You know what the
old man said? Get ready to meet a monster.
This is a God with whom we have to do. Have to do with this God. Say among the heathen, the Lord. He reigns. He reigneth. He reigneth. He reigns supreme.
He reigns in creation. He reigns in providence. And
He reigns in salvation. Is that right? Say among the
heathen. The Lord reigns, and he may have
mercy. He may have mercy on you, and
he may not. He doesn't owe you mercy. The
wages of sin is death. But you bow to his lordship. The Lord reigneth in salvation.
God had given the Lord Jesus Christ power over all salvation
that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father had
given to him. Psalm 97, verse 1, the Lord reigneth. This is not some secluded, isolated
passage about God's sovereignty. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. What does that say? God reigneth. The Lord reigneth. Look at verse
1 of Psalm 99. The Lord reigneth. Let the people
tremble. He sits between the cherubim.
Let the earth be moved. I've got a scripture written
down here somewhere. I think it's Isaiah 57. Isaiah
57. Turn over there, I'll see if
I've got the right verse here. That's not the verse I'm looking
for. Isaiah 52, that's it. Isaiah
52, verse 7. Talks about the preachers of
the gospel. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the
name of the Lord. Isaiah 52.7, how beautiful upon
the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth peace, that
bringeth good tidings, that publish peace, that bring good tidings
and good things, that publish salvation, that saith unto Zion, What do we say? Thy God reigneth. Thy God reigneth. Now, I don't
know if I've told you this before. I probably have. Sometimes I
get confused whether I've told this here or told this other
places. But you know, all through the
Book of Acts, in the preaching of the Book of Acts, it does
not mention, it does not say, and no preacher through the Book
of Acts ever said, God loves you, God loves all men. Matter
of fact, the word L-O-V-E is not even in the Book of Acts.
Look it up. Not there. What did they preach? God reigns. And the love of God is in Christ
Jesus. They preached Christ. That's where the love of God
is revealed. In the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord reigneth. Say
among the heathen, the Lord reigneth. The world is established. Why?
Why is the world established? Because the Lord reigneth. He
shall judge the people righteously. Why? Does he have a right to?
The Lord reigneth. He's appointed a day in which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that man. The Lord reigneth.
Now, what do you say to these things?
What do you say to these things? Look at verse 11. Let the heavens
rejoice. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Huh? Let the heavens rejoice. Let
the earth be glad. Let the sea roar. You know, the
whole creation says, the Lord reigneth. Creation knows. All of creation knows. Remember,
our Lord said, the ox knows his master. Israel doesn't know me. His creatures know Him. Let the
heavens rejoice, the Lord reign. Let the sea roar. Next time you
go to the ocean and you hear those waves roar, you know what
I'm saying? The Lord reigneth. And the fullness, we have the
fullness of the atmosphere, the fullness of the river, the fullness
of the seas. How many fish have been caught
out of the sea, the oceans? Oh, millions and millions and
millions, and yet, it's still full. How much air have we consumed
and breathed? And yet, it's still full. How
does that happen? The Lord reigneth. He's sovereign
in creation. Let the fields be joyful and
all that therein. Then all the trees and the woods
shall rejoice. You know, believers are called
trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. Let us rejoice. Why? The Lord reigneth. Aren't
you glad that God is God? That he reigns? Let's rejoice
that the Lord reigns supreme in salvation. Verse 13, before
the Lord, for he cometh, he cometh to judge the earth, He shall
judge the world with righteousness and His people with truth. He came the first time to save. He will come the second time
to judge. The Lord shall judge righteously.
The standard of that judgment is not set by any creature. The
standard of that judgment is based on strict holiness and
all judgment is relative to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now last thought,
we're either judged in Him at Calvary and redeemed forever
or we'll be judged by Him and forever cast out. The word I
speak unto you, the Lord said, the same will judge you.