Psalm 96, I want to read through this psalm with you, and then we're going to look at these. We went through the first part of this psalm, but we started with verse 7, and we focused on verses 7 through 9. So I want to focus on the rest of it tonight. He says in verse 1, O sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless His name. Show forth His salvation from day to day.

Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders among all people. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. 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. Give unto the Lord, O you kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name. Bring an offering and come into his courts. Oh, 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. Let the heavens rejoice and 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. All right, that's Psalm 96. Now, I've entitled tonight's study A New Song, and you'll see that in the first verse. He says, oh, sing unto the Lord a new song.

So this psalm, it turns out, this psalm was written by David, and it was written at a time when David was bringing back, with not just David, but all the people of Israel, were bringing back the Ark of the Covenant which had not been in Jerusalem for many months, actually for more than a year. This psalm was actually an excerpt from that place in 1 Chronicles where this event of bringing the ark back to Jerusalem by David and Israel, and David and all of Israel rejoicing greatly because of the return of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem." So I want to look at that section of Scripture in 1 Chronicles 16 with you, if you want to turn there. 1 Chronicles is after the kings. 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and then 1 Chronicles, and we're looking for chapter 16.

He says in verse 23, is where I want to pick up, 1 Chronicles 16 verse 23, it says, sing unto the Lord all the earth. Show forth from day to day his salvation. So that's, if you can hold your place here and just flip back to Psalm 96, what you'll see is this mirrors what is said in Psalm 96. He says in verse two, sing unto the Lord, bless his name, show forth his salvation from day to day. And here he says, singing to the Lord, all the earth, show forth from day to day his salvation. Then in 1 Chronicles 16, verse 24, he says, declare his glory among the heathen, just like in Psalm 96.

His marvelous works among all nations. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Glory and honor are in his presence. Strength and gladness are in his place.

Give unto the Lord, you kindreds of the people. Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name. Bring an offering. Come before him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him all the earth. The world also shall be stable, that it shall not be moved. Let the heavens be glad. Let the earth rejoice. And let men say among the nations, the Lord reigneth." So you can see this is the same psalm. What's happening in 1 Chronicles 16 is significant and it helps us to understand the significance of this psalm.

So what was happening here is that David and Israel were bringing back the Ark of the Covenant. It had been a long time away from Jerusalem. What is the Ark of the Covenant? Well, the Ark of the Covenant was that box, if you would. It was in the holiest of all. It was in the tabernacle through the sojourn of Israel in the wilderness.

And then when they came into Canaan, it was now in the enemy's hands. And David was bringing it back. And there's a long story you can read back before this chapter in First Chronicles to get the context here. But in short, the Ark of the Covenant typifies, it represents the Lord Jesus Christ. Inside the Ark, there were three items. There was a pot, a golden pot that had manna.

There was Aaron's rod that budded in the wilderness. Remember, there was this conflict between these men, Dathan, Abiram, and they were trying, Korah, Dathan, no, not Korah, but Dathan and Abiram and some others were trying to claim that Moses and Aaron were not the ones who alone were given the authority over the people. And so they wanted to challenge that, and Moses said, let's take a rod from every tribe, and the rod that buds will be the man the Lord has chosen. Aaron's rod budded. God told Moses, put that in the ark. So the rod that budded was in the ark. The golden pot that had manna was in the ark, and then also the tables of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Those two tables were also in the ark.

And then above those, when the lid was closed, was the mercy seat. And once a year, the high priest would come in to the holiest of all and sprinkle the blood for atonement on the mercy seat. And the cherubim above the ark would look down upon the mercy seat and signified that God was propitiated by that blood of that sacrifice. All of this was typical.

The Ark itself, even though in that time it had a high significance and there were instructions which when they were violated, men died when they tried to For example, when that man tried to stabilize the Ark, when it was first attempted to bring it back, he died because they didn't carry it properly. But the point is that the Ark, even though it was a holy representation of the Lord Jesus Christ, In itself, it had no real value. Its value was in what it represented. And the reason that it had such a strong punishment for misusing the way that God instructed is because the Ark represented Christ.

All right. So I say all this to show us that the Ark of the Covenant representing Christ, he's our mercy seat. He's our altar. He's the sacrifice. He's the high priest who offered the sacrifice and sprinkled that blood. He's the one in whom God's law is. In Psalm 40, thy law is within my heart. And so he's the one God chose as Aaron's rod that budded. He's the one who is the manna, the bread from heaven, the golden pot that had manna. And so he's all these things.

And so when David, who was the king of Israel and all of Israel with him, brought the Ark of the Covenant back into Jerusalem, They did it with great joy and so much rejoicing. David was dancing, and the people were singing, and there was tremendous joy and worship. They were worshiping God because of his greatness. And this showed how that the Lord Jesus Christ, represented by the Ark of the Covenant, when he offered himself to God, He would then rise again from the dead, after His death, He would rise again, He would ascend to glory, and He would take His place on the right hand of God, in heaven itself, not in the earthly Jerusalem, but in heaven itself.

And his entrance into heaven was because he was accepted. His offering was accepted. He himself, he offered himself, he was accepted. And he was given the place of the highest possible approval and delight because he was set down on the right hand of the throne of the majesty on high, as it says in Hebrews chapter one, verse three.

OK, so King David, with all the people, brought back the physical ark into the city of Jerusalem on earth. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the true The true Christ, the one David only typified, offered himself to God as the ark was used to offer up sacrifices to make atonement for the people. He is the high priest, also offered himself as the Lamb of God. And having offered himself, God exalted him and set him in his own right hand in heaven, the heavenly Jerusalem, not the Jerusalem on earth. So that Ark of the Covenant brought back into Jerusalem signifies the death and the justification of Christ in his resurrection and God's exaltation of him to his own right hand.

And this was the greatest cause for joy and worship by King David and the people of Israel because they looked forward by faith to see that God would accept them in Christ because of his sacrifice and because Christ was exalted as their advocate and intercessor at God's right hand. Therefore, God is accepting his people. And this is the cause for the rejoicing. This is why they sing. This is why they worship God and give him all the glory here. And so in First Chronicles 16, you can see this because that's the setting in which this psalm was written.

And this psalm, therefore, is speaking of Christ, of his work in our atonement, and of his glory that would follow. And this is consistent. Remember in 1 Peter 1, the apostle Peter said that the prophets of old spoke by the Spirit of God of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow. So this is a summary of all of the Old Testament, isn't it? It's the Gospel of Christ. So now when we look at this psalm in this light, it helps us to see then how that the psalm is speaking of Christ. Look at verse one, sing unto the Lord, meaning the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we confess with our mouth, the Lord Jesus, we're saying that the one who saves us from our sins is God. The Lord, our Lord God, and he deserves all of our praise. He deserves all of the honor, the majesty, the blessings, the authority, the power. Everything is given to him. because he's worthy in himself, and also because in himself he was given the will of God to do, which was to save his people from their sins and make known in that salvation God's own glory in himself, Christ in himself, by his saving work, made known God. and he made him known to his people.

So if we take that then as the historical context and using the New Testament to understand that historical context, apply it to this psalm, what we see is then it's calling on us. God is calling on his people by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David, King David here, who is a prophet, he says, sing unto the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth, so this is not restricted to that few people in Jerusalem, but all the earth, meaning God is going to save a people out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. All the earth, sing unto the Lord, bless his name, bless who he is, bless him. the Lord Jesus. His name is Jesus. He shall save his people from their sins.

He says, show forth his salvation from day to day. Now, there's so much in these verses here, these first two verses, that when we reflect on it, it all fits together, doesn't it? He says, show forth his salvation from day to day. So what this is showing us is that the subject of salvation, is the subject matter that we declare in order to show forth His name, in order to show forth His greatness. We sing about His salvation. We sing about Him who saved us from our sins.

And this is exactly what happens throughout scripture. Whenever the saints of God are gathered together and they're given the grace to understand and see from God's revelation of himself, the wisdom of God and the greatness of God, it's always in the context of his salvation of them.

And so this is very, very powerful here. He says in this verse, he says, show forth his salvation from day to day. So it's the same significant that what's important to God is Christ and his salvation. And this is also what's important to his people. You see what this psalm is doing?

It's telling us, it's giving us the subject matter and the words. the realization of how great our God is in his work of saving grace to us in Christ. And that resonates with everything else that God has said in Scripture. For example, in Revelation chapter 5. Remember Revelation 5?

The chapter opens up where God on his throne, there's a book written within and without, sealed with seven seals, and no one in heaven or on earth is found worthy to open the book and to loose the seals and open the book. And so finally the lamb, well actually the lion of the tribe of Judah steps forward and when John, the apostle John looks, he sees a lamb. And the lamb is worthy. The lamb takes the book from the hand of him who's on the throne and he unlooses the seals. He opens the book. And then a chorus breaks out, and all of the saints, the redeemed of the Lord, sing this.

And they sing it in Revelation 5.9.

It says, worthy is the lamb that was slain. He has redeemed us to God by his own blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. And everyone joins in. And there's great rejoicing. and worship of the Lamb. And in Revelation 5, it ends this way. It says in verse 12, he said with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. and every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.

And the four beasts said, Amen, and the four and 20 elders fell down and they worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. So this is this is the redeemed of the Lord. We know it's the redeemed, don't we? Because in verse nine, he says, They sung a new song, this is a new song, saying, 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, tongue, people, and nation. So you can see this is the redeemed, isn't it? And whether they're the elders, He says the elders that are joining in this, every creature. He says the four beasts, all of these are the redeemed. So they represent all of God's redeemed, redeemed by Christ, redeemed to God, redeemed to God by His blood. And this is the song. This is the new song.

Okay, that's what Psalm 96 is talking about. So if you take 1 Chronicles 16, with the ark coming into Jerusalem, representing Christ and Him crucified, successfully fulfilling the will of God, God therefore highly exalting Him, giving Him a name which is above every name. And everyone in Jerusalem joyfully worshiping God, finding in this the greatest cause for singing and rejoicing. There's never such rejoicing as is seen in 1 Chronicles 16 or in Revelation 5. And we apply this to Psalm 96, and we can see that this is very, very important, isn't it?

He tells us to sing. Singing expresses joyous worship. Sing to the Lord, not to men, not to be heard by men, but sing to the Lord, to the Lord Jesus Christ. Sing as God has given us the revelation of himself. Sing to the Lord all the earth. So God's people throughout all the earth, the gospel of Christ and him crucified and his victory over sin and death and the devil and His answer to God in fulfillment of His law and in removal of our sins in satisfaction to His justice and to the glory of God and seeing God's greatness in that He would offer His Son in sacrifice in order to remove our sins in answer to His own perfections. that God would do this in grace and that Christ would lay aside his glory in grace and out of this poverty, this willing, voluntary poverty that he offered himself to God for sinners would be our salvation, that we would be made rich. in this grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This draws forth, this is the subject matter, this is the cause of our rejoicing. We see beauty in this, don't we? As we studied this last, this chapter last time. Beauty in this holiness, that God would appear so beautiful to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's what he's saying. And this is day to day. Show forth his salvation from day to day. A continuous a continuous reflecting on it, turning it over in our minds, drawing from Christ, so that we go to the Lord Jesus Christ and say, let me take of you. Let me take of you.

Like the woman at the well, he said, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that says to you, give me to drink, you would have asked him. He would have given you living water. Or as he said in John 7, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. As the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow living waters. I'm the bread of life. Whoever eats of me shall never die. I have everlasting life. Eat my flesh, drink my blood.

You see, taking of Christ, like the woman who had an issue of blood, laying hold of his garment. We come to him. We draw from him. Come to me, you who are labor, who labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. You see, coming to God this way, this is this is phenomenal.

This is so endearing to a sinner needing relief from the heat of God's wrath, from the burden of God's law and the burden of our sin and finding that the Lord Jesus Christ himself has fulfilled all righteousness for his people. that he stands at God's right hand now and he's accepted and we're accepted because he's accepted. Our surety has answered every claim with himself for his people. Our substitute stood before God with our sins and endured the outpouring of the wrath of God's justice on himself, in himself, in his body and soul for our sins. And this is the subject matter of our praise and our worship, our joyful response to God day by day.

In Revelation 5, where we were just at, in verse 6, it says, the Apostle John said, I beheld and lo, in the midst of the throne, 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, that's strength, seven eyes, that means the spirit of God, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth to all the earth.

He's omniscient. He knows everything. He knows the will of God. He knows his people. He knows what's required to save them. And he has done all of this. And this is amazing. The Lord Jesus Christ takes the singular place of admiration and trust in the eyes of his people.

Okay, so I want to talk just a little bit about this sixth verse in Revelation 5. It says, "...the Lamb having been slain." He says in Revelation 5, 6, he says, "...I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne of the four beasts, in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain." And if you look at that phrase, "...as it had been slain," it means that he was newly slain. In other words, He was slaughtered as a lamb is slaughtered. And that slaughter is as if it were just accomplished because it's ever effective, ever effective before God. And this is this is what God is saying now.

It's it's phenomenal to think about the fact that God would say when he finds the only one worthy, The only one worthy, it's the one who offered himself to God for a sinful people to save them from their sins according to the will of God. This is the one who's worthy.

He offered himself. He gave all that he had. He gave all that he was to God. And he did it on the behalf and for the benefit, for the salvation and the eternal blessings of a sinful people given to him to save by God himself. That's the work of the Lord Jesus. That's how great he is to us. We trust him. who thus gave Himself, when no one required it of Him except God, and it was in His heart to do it, no one could motivate Him, no one could extort it because it was already in Him. Nobody was seeking for it except the Lord Himself. And so you can see that this is all of God's doing.

But it means He was freshly slaughtered, newly slain. And it says that here in verse 6 of Revelation 5, he said, I beheld lo in the midst of the throne and the four beasts in the midst of the elders stood a lamb. He stood. This is significant too. It means that he was alive. He had been slain, but now he's alive and he's strong because he's standing. He's victorious. He has done all that's required, and he's standing there at God's right hand, utterly victorious, utterly full of authority and all power, standing, not ashamed, but triumphant.

And it says, as he had been slain, like I said, newly slain, his wounds are fresh. His wounds appear to God ever fresh for all eternity. For all eternity, the Lord Jesus Christ will appear in the eyes of God as one who was freshly slain, newly slain. And to his people, this is always a subject matter that sinners gather around, isn't it? When the Lord saves us, we find nothing more attractive than the Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. It means that his death is not merely something done in the past, although it was done in the past and it was accomplished in the past, but it means that it's eternally present before God. His sacrifice never fades. It remains perpetually effective. And it was towards God. And so it has all of the merits of something that was offered purely to God. We sinned against God only. Psalm 51, David says, against Thee, Thee only have I sinned. Christ offered himself to God only. He didn't offer himself to men. He didn't offer himself, if you'll accept me, it was offered to God.

And because God accepted Christ, sacrificed according to his will, therefore God accepts his people. You see, we got to get the order right. It's always God accepting us for Christ's sake, not us accepting Christ and making God accept us for our sake. This is the error of false religion. So it's God word.

Christ loved us, he gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for our sins, as he says in Ephesians chapter five, verse two. And because God accepted him, he therefore accepted him as our surety and he accepted him in our place. The guarantee to bring us to God was fulfilled when God accepted his son. He not only accepted him in our place, but he accepted us with him. We were crucified with Christ. We were buried with him. We were raised with him. We're now seated with him in heavenly places.

That's what God says. And God tells it like it is. So we're to look to the Lamb and we're to live as those who have been seated with Christ. We're to live by faith in what God has said is true, not what we feel. were to live day by day in all of the doubts and the fears and the troubles of this life as those who are already presently seated with Christ because of Christ, accepted by God, delightful to God because of the freshly slain lamb.

And so that's important, that because Christ offered himself to God, God accepts us for his sake alone. He did this for his people. He did this for his people. He's the object of our faith. He's the reason for our acceptance. Because he offered himself to God for his people, therefore his people cannot be rejected. They're accepted as God's children. He says in Romans 8, 32, if God did not spare his son but delivered him up for us all, then how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. And who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died. Yea, rather, who is risen again, who is also not only risen, but seated at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. His presence, his presence at God's right hand is as the lamb freshly, newly slain.

And so his presence, his presence there is the intercession for his people. They're accepted because of him. They're accepted with Him. They're accepted as Him. And this is a great thing, isn't it? He's our advocate. He's our intercessor. It's His plea of His blood that gains us a justification with God. Not our plea. Those who stand before Christ in judgment and plead will not be accepted. Christ has to plead himself for his people in order for them to be accepted by God, to be justified. And that's what he did at the cross.

And so this is an unceasing efficacy. He's always fresh. And the amazing thing here in Revelation 5 is that the one who is on the throne is the Lamb. And there's such a great significance in that, that it really surprises us when we see it, that the center of God's glory, if you will, or the brightness of God's glory, is the self-sacrifice of his Son. God would exalt his son because he gave himself for our sins to do the will of God. Amazing grace. That is a stoop of grace we'll never be able to fathom fully.

But we will always live in this realization of it, this reality of it, this living present reality that is marked by his sacrifice. He who died is fully alive. He who died in, when he says he bore the reproach of his people, he now reigns in all the glory of God. The one who was reproached has all the glory of God. The one who suffered as a servant reigns with all of heaven and earth at his disposal to bring about his will.

And this is an unchanging, solid ground for the faith of God's people. It's the cause of our adoring worship, joyous worship. in every trial until eternal ages, the Lord Jesus Christ on the throne. It's an amazing thing. The one on the throne is not a lion who tears us, but the Lamb who died for us, not just raw power, but redeeming love by blood. He's the one who, the Lamb is the one who is worthy to take the scroll. He's the creator of all, He's the governor of all, He's the heir of all, and He rose from the grave in order to administer that very testament that He died to put into force. And most especially, this text powerfully and movingly and joyfully presents to us our eternal God and Savior in His greatness.

That's what Revelation 5 and 1 Chronicles 16 is saying here about this psalm. Now, I want to talk about this new song. He says, sing unto the Lord a new song. First of all, I want to reemphasize the fact that this is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Realize that throughout Scripture, what is said of Jehovah God is fulfilled in the Son of God. In Psalm chapter two, he tells us to kiss the Son, to kiss the Son. And in Psalm 45, he tells us to worship him. He tells the bride, he says, worship him, worshiping Christ. Throughout scripture, we're exhorted to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Thomas, when he saw the nail prints in Jesus' hands and the place in his side where the spear pierced him, he says, my Lord and my God. That was an attitude, that was an expression of absolute worship of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Angels are commanded to worship him. In Hebrews chapter one, verse six or so, he says the angels, he commands the angels to worship him. And yet, Jesus told the lawyer that came to him, what's the great commandment? He says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt worship the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Worship Christ. And so when we sing, we sing to him, we sing to the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not detracting from the glory of God the Father when we do that. In fact, we're singing and we're worshiping God in Christ. If you see me, Jesus said, then you've seen my father. He who seeth me, seeth him that sent me. And he who believes on me, believes on him that sent me. Believing Christ is believing God. Knowing Christ is knowing God. Seeing Christ is seeing God.

And this is eternal life. And so it's not like you're shortchanged in any way because he's the fullness of the Godhead in him bodily. And so God always directs us to the Lord Jesus Christ. His is the only name under heaven whereby we must be saved. Salvation is of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah who became our salvation. He also is my strength and my song. We sing of him. He's my strength.

And so we see this here in this. I want to just remind you of some of the things God says about this word new in scripture. You know, we have a New Testament. We have an Old Testament and a New Testament. In the book of Hebrews it says, in that he saith a new covenant, he has made the first old, and that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. So there was a covenant that depended on sinful men. Of course, it was an utter failure. because of the sinfulness of those it depended upon. There's a new covenant.

It depends on the Holy One of God, the Son of God. And it's an utter success. And those in that covenant are saved to the uttermost because the work is done by God himself. What a glorious thing this is. That's a new song, isn't it? It's about a fulfilled will, about an eternal will fulfilled in one whose life is eternal and who was appointed from eternity, even though in time this first covenant was given in order to prove our sinfulness and show us the utter helplessness or hopelessness of trying to come to God in any other except Christ. And that old covenant showed us that there was only one who could fulfill it, the one in whose heart that law was. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. So the old covenant was merely given to us or not merely maybe, but was given to us to point us to the one who's called the body. The body is of Christ. The old covenant was a shadow. It's dark. It just shows the outlines. Christ is the full express image. There's nothing missing here. Everything in about God is revealed in him because he is God and he has God has saved us from our sins.

This is phenomenal, isn't it? So the new covenant in the new covenant, he says, is a new song because it's a it's an eternal. It's an eternal will of God, an eternal covenant and everlasting from eternity to everlasting. And it's newly, it's not only, uh, of old, but it's newly fulfilled.

It was given to Christ to do and he fulfilled it. And because it's newly fulfilled, then the blessings in it are newly obtained. It says, when he gave himself to God through the eternal spirit, he obtained for us an eternal redemption. So we've obtained an eternal redemption in the sacrifice of Christ for our sins. It's not only newly fulfilled and the blessings of it newly obtained, our salvation, but it's newly revealed.

Let me take you to a couple of verses in the book of Timothy. Look at, look at second Timothy and chapter one to show how this is newly fulfilled and yet newly revealed. He says in second Timothy and chapter one, a familiar verse, verse nine, he says, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."

We weren't there. Christ was there. God gave to us in him. That's what it's saying. before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."

See, it's newly revealed. Of old, fulfilled, and newly revealed. Look at First Timothy chapter three and verse 16. He says this, He says, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. And what is this godliness? Well, it's right here. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles. This is the new stuff. Preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world. received up into glory. You see, Christ, he came in our nature.

He fulfilled the will of God. He was justified. He was raised from the dead. He was seen of angels after his resurrection. He was preached to the Gentiles. That's us. He was believed on. That's the power of his grace. His people were willing in the day of his power, and then he was received up into glory in order to proclaim his salvation day to day to the heathen, to the Gentiles. And this is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So it's a newly fulfilled, newly obtained, newly revealed and declared truth, isn't it? The darkness has passed, Scripture says, the light now shines, the true light now shines. You put off the old man, you've put on the new man, you've put on Christ. A new heart is given to us.

God has given us his own spirit to dwell in us. Christ dwells in you. The life I now live is not I, it's Christ living in me. It's his life. So we see all these things. It says in Hebrews 10, 20, now we have a new and living way through the veil, that is to say his flesh, to come into the presence of God. We have access to God. We are seated with Christ. It's not like we're striving to get somewhere. We're already in Him. Faith is the evidence. Faith in Christ as a sinner. Believing Christ is the evidence of God's power in that sinner to bring him to God in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're now in the presence of God because of Him. And we're to live this way. We're to live according to this. And that's what Psalm 96 is saying to us here. He says in Psalm 96, he says.

Verse 10, 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. This is talking about Christ. The world is established. Christ sits on the throne. His gospel will succeed. His people will be saved. The gospel will go forth in power. He will judge the people righteously. He's going to justify his people through his precious blood at the throne of God now and at the day of judgment. They won't come into condemnation. They've already passed from death to life.

Let the heavens rejoice. Let the earth be glad. Let the sea roar and the fullness thereof. And it seems to me that's a violent roaring because there's always when Christ is exalted, there's always the opposition that that is incensed against him. Let them roar. It's not going to change it.

Let the field be joyful. God separated the waters and the land in the beginning. It signified that there's always going to be this flood of opposition against Christ, which represents destruction and damnation. But then there's the land, which represents God's people. saved out of that. Let the field be joyful, all that is therein. Let all the trees of the wood rejoice, the trees of righteousness, God's people before the Lord. Rejoice before the Lord, for he cometh, he cometh to judge the earth.

He shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth. All of God's people throughout the world, he's going to judge them and they'll all be saved. That's an amazing thing. that God would be both the judge and the justifier, the just judge and the justifier of the ungodly because of the blood of Jesus. This is why in the typical bringing in of the ark into Jerusalem, there was such rejoicing because it signified the complete joy and worship of God's believers in the world because of Christ crucified who has entered into His glory and they have entered into the presence of God with Him.

And so he tells us all these things about rejoicing and so on. And he talks about giving the Lord these things. It's amazing, isn't it? The prophecies of old have been fulfilled. It's all newly accomplished. I wanna read a little bit to you from Isaiah chapter 52. Take a look at Isaiah 52. This is similar to this. This is a theme that's throughout scripture, but Isaiah 52 does, shows this. Look at Isaiah 52 verse 1.

Awake! Awake! Put on thy strength, O Zion! Put on thy beautiful garments. You see, this is new, isn't it? This is a new robe. O Jerusalem, the holy city, for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust, arise and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

For thus saith the Lord, you have sold yourselves for nothing and you shall be redeemed without money. Oh, God, he takes he takes pleasure in in in gaining the victory over the ruin we brought ourselves into. For thus saith the Lord God, my people went down a four time into Egypt to sojourn there and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Now, therefore, what have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away for not they have They that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord, and my name continually every day is blasphemed.

Therefore, my people shall know my name. Therefore, they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak. Behold, it is I. How beautiful. upon the mountains or the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace, that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation, that says to Zion, Thy God reigneth. Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has made bare his holy arm, that's his strength, in the eyes of the nations. All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Depart ye, depart ye. Go ye out from thence. Touch no unclean thing. Go ye out of the midst of her. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. For you shall go out with haste. You shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight. For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel shall be your rear reward. It means he's going to come behind you, save you from your enemies. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled to be very high as many as were astonished at thee. His visage was so marred more than any man in his form, more than the sons of men. So shall he sprinkle many nations. The king shall shut their mouths at him. For that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard shall they consider."

And then he goes right into Isaiah 53, which he calls the report, which is called in Romans 10, verse 16, the gospel. The gospel. This is the gospel. What an amazing thing it is that God would tell us to do these things. It's a new song, a new covenant, a new master, a new heart, a new message, a people newly redeemed. The Lamb, newly slaughtered, always effective, always there for us, appearing in the presence of God for us, having obtained our eternal salvation. What an amazing grace. He has obtained our eternal inheritance. This is good, isn't it? This is Psalm 96. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word.

It's so rich, and our Lord Jesus appears so great to us when we see him in it. We pray for your grace, Lord, to worship him, to be joyous, to live by faith and not by sight on the things we see, the things we feel, those things that would distract us. We pray, Lord, that our eyes would ever be held captive with the honor and the glory and the majesty and the strength and all that is true about the Lord Jesus Christ who saved us from our sins by his own blood. In his name we pray and for his sake. Amen.