Psalm 100, p1 of 2

All right, Psalm 100. This is a Psalm that you can probably memorize, it's that short. depending upon how good your memory is. It's a psalm that I have heard sung, not word for word, but very close to that, so that helps to memorize things when you hear it sung. And I want to read through it with you, these five verses, and then we will go from there.

It says in verse one, make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful to him and bless his name. for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations.

Now, let me just say at the outset here, when the Bible, the King James Version capitalizes all the letters in Lord to indicate that is the name Jehovah. And we know that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one God, Jehovah. And yet Jehovah The Lord has given many names, many ways he identifies himself to his people in scripture, in the Old Testament scripture. Everything from Genesis to throughout scripture, you see the names of Jehovah appended with a descriptive part that helps us to understand our God and Savior. For example, in Genesis chapter 22, it says, the Lord's name is Jehovah Nisi, the one who will see to it and he will be seen in it.

He will provide and in his provision of the lamb, he will be seen. In Exodus chapter 15, verse 26, I think, it says, he's the Lord that healeth thee. And we know the Lord Jesus Christ has healed us by his stripes. In Exodus 31, 13 it says, the Lord is the sanctifier of his people. And we know that Jesus Christ is one with his people and he sanctifies them. He's the sanctifier of his people. And we could just go down the list.

In Jeremiah 23, 15 and six, or five and, let's see, 23, I think it's five and six. He says, the Lord, our righteousness, Jehovah tzidkinyu. Or Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. and many other places, but the name Jesus is the name by which we know God to be our salvation.

The Lord is salvation. His name is Jesus because he shall save and has saved his people from their sins. So these names make his name Lord very dear to us. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, Jehovah. And so we know the Lord in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, no one comes to the Father but by me. And in Acts chapter four, he says, there's only one name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, and that's the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He's the Lord, he's the Savior, he's the one God has spoken to us. And the Father spoke from heaven at the Mount of Transfiguration and said, this is my beloved son, hear ye him.

So all these things teach us that when we read the Psalms and it says, make a joyful noise unto the Lord, it's expressing our... the direction of our praise and worship, our gladness, our joy towards God in Christ, towards the Lord Jesus Christ. And praising Christ, we're praising God. I love that place in Mark chapter five where the demoniac was healed and Jesus told him, go and tell Tell what the Lord has done for you. And it says right after that, and he went and he broadcast, he told abroad what Jesus had done for him. And there's many cases like that in the New Testament. So suffice it to say that when we read the words Lord in the Psalms, it's referring to the Lord Jesus Christ in particular.

And we say that in particular because from Psalm 91 through Psalm 100, I see a sequence in these Psalms that extol the Lord Jesus Christ. And so many times it says how he's done great things, his name is holy, how he reigns. Psalm 93, for example, the Lord reigneth. And so we see this throughout these in Psalm 97, the Lord reigneth.

In Psalm 99, he's holy. His right arm has gotten him the victory. He has made known his salvation. That's Psalm 98. And in Psalm 99, the Lord reigneth and so on. So here we see in these Psalms a prediction It's a statement of present reality but future consummation that Jesus Christ reigns.

He always, he has always been God. In Revelation 1 it says, the Lord Jesus talking to the Apostle John says, I am he that is, that was, and is to come, the Almighty. That's Revelation 1, verse 8, 11, and 18. So Jesus Christ is the first and the last, the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. This is the Lord. This is the one whose name is I Am.

And this is the one, he says, make a joyful noise unto the Lord, unto the Lord Jesus Christ, all ye lands. Now this is a summary, this is a summary psalm, this is a conclusion, it's the apex, the climactic doxology of these 10 psalms, Psalm 91 through Psalm 100. And I think that the fulfillment of this is given to us in the book of Revelation, but also the New Testament.

Remember when Jesus came into Jerusalem, and he had sent his disciples to get the donkey, and they brought that to him, and he sat there on, and he rode into Jerusalem, and the people threw the palm branches in the way, and the children cried out, oh, Hosanna, Hosanna to the Son of David, which was from Psalm 118. And it means, oh, save, save us now. That's what that's what they were saying. And he was riding into Jerusalem.

And the way he would accomplish that as king was to perform the work necessary to save his people, which was to go to the cross. He told Pilate that he came into the world for this purpose, to bear witness to the truth. He's the king of truth. The King of Truth. He is the Truth. He's the King of Righteousness according to Hebrews chapter 7 verse 2. He's the King of Peace. Acts chapter 3. He's the Prince of Life. First Corinthians 2. He's the Lord of Glory. He's all these things. The Prince of Life. The Lord of Glory. The King of Peace. The King of Truth. The King of Righteousness. He's the king. He's the one who reigns.

Now it says, make a joyful noise unto the Lord, to the Lord Jesus Christ and to God by him. He says, all ye lands, meaning all lands, not just Jerusalem, not just Israel, but the Gentiles as well. So this is a prophecy. It's the truth being revealed, but it would be consummated in the New Testament, and especially at the end of the world, when Christ, with his people, is seated at the right hand of God. He's seated there now, and his people are with him, according to Colossians. If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is at the right hand of God. And you're there with Him. Your life is hid with Christ in God.

So all these things are teaching us the certainty. But prophetically in the Psalms, it's telling us the response of God's people as a result of Christ's reign. A result of what has been accomplished by Him, which we've been reading about in these ten Psalms.

And it's declared in Revelation chapter four, for example, where he's on the throne, and the angels cry, and the elders cry, and the four beasts, and all the redeemed. All the redeemed are crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And then they ascribe all this to the lamb, the lamb in Revelation chapter five. And there's a verse. I like this verse in Revelation 11. I'll read this to you because it expresses this victory and this triumph and the result of it in the hearts of God's people in Revelation 11 and verse 15.

It says, the seventh angel sounded. So this is the end of those seven trumpets. Those seven angels sounding their trumpets. And it says, he sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying, listen to these words. The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats fell upon their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art and was and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. as sovereignly, the nations were angry, thy wrath is come, the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward to thy servants, the prophets, to the saints, to them that fear thy name, small and great, and should destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple, what? The ark of the testament, Christ crucified. And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and earthquakes, and great hail, because the Lord now reigns in His perfections. So this is what Psalm 100 is speaking of. Psalm 91 through Psalm 100 is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, our sovereign Savior, our sovereign Savior. Such an important concept, reality, really. So we wanna talk about this.

Now, the words in, The King James Version, Make a Joyful Noise, is translated from a single word in the original. And that word, strangely enough, is spelled phonetically. It's spelled R-O-O-A-H, Rua. I don't know how to pronounce it properly. But I know the Marines have this enthusiastic expression they use called Ura. It's similar, but it's not the same word.

But this word, Rua, which was translated, make a joyful noise. What does this word mean? And this is hard to really capture the intensity of this word. And so as it's translated, make a joyful noise, I mean, what is that? Just clanging things together? What does it mean? Well, it means this, and I think this is the best way. I looked this up in the Strong's Concordance.

It means to split the ears with sound, shouting for joy, a cry of joyful noise, triumphant. A triumphant joyous cry. So this is the highest possible expression of joy possible. And that's what this is saying here. To the Lord Jesus Christ, express the highest, exceedingly great sounds of joy. And there's a reason for it. And that's what he's talking about here.

Given the reasons that have been spoken of in the last nine Psalms, he brings it to a climax here. And he says, make a joyful noise to Christ. All ye lands, all believers, all of God's elect, his sheep, his church, his bride, his brethren, his children, throughout all the nations of the world, his remnant, those are the ones he's calling on here because they are his sheep, as it says in verse three. We are the sheep of his pasture.

Now, You can see here that God is calling, the Lord is calling on his people to give an ear-splitting, triumphant song and cry of triumph to the Lord Jesus Christ, this exceeding joy, because God himself has given reason to them and he produces this joy in them.

He's speaking of this. Now, in this life, we're afflicted with this old man, this flesh, this natural man. He's with us and he inhibits us from doing what we want to do. But if we could, if we could, there would be an unrestricted, unlimited expression of joy from our hearts because Christ reigns. And that's what he's saying here. He tells us to do this, and in the new man, now God has given us this, it says Jesus told his disciples in Gethsemane, he said, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And that's our problem, our flesh is weak, otherwise we would do this, and we will.

When we arrive in glory, when Christ appears, there's going to be an eruption. of all of the sons of God, the children of God, the heirs of God, the joint heirs with Christ are going to join Christ in this bridal procession where Christ himself is going to sing over them with joy. And they are going to sing and worship God in Christ. And they're going to, this is going to be such a loud expression of Unspeakable joy, that's what the fulfillment of this is really referring to.

But even now, by faith, we do this. It says in Romans chapter 15, verse 13, that in believing, we have peace and joy in believing, and this is all by the power of the Spirit of God. And joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit, so this is obviously God-produced, and the reason for it is Christ reigns. And so we want to consider this. I want to begin with us in our own experience for just a minute here, because as I think about this, what causes joy in the heart of a believer? I think one of the things that we have to start with is the joy that comes from knowing that our sins are forgiven us for Christ's sake. Isn't that the cause? Isn't that at least the beginning? and the predominant cause of our joy in the Lord? Our joy is because God has forgiven our sins for Christ's sake. Isn't that true? Remember the account of the man in Acts chapter 3. We had this in our sermon a couple weeks ago on Sunday. In Acts chapter 3, Peter and John come to the temple.

There's a lame man there, both of his feet completely lame from birth. He's over 40 years old, has never walked. And in a moment, in the name of Christ, by His power, by His holiness, in order for the preaching of His gospel at that time, then, because of that miracle, it would produce such an effect that over 5,000 people were saved. became believers in that one sermon. This healing of the layman leading up to this Christ name being Christ himself being declared in that sermon. But you remember the reaction of the man who was healed. Now, he had no strength. He was born this way. He had a birth defect, just like we have this birth defect. We are sinners by birth, sinners by nature. We were born into this world. completely under sin's tyrannical rule, and we couldn't escape it. And we were facing the inescapable consequences of our sin, which is eternal death.

And then we heard the gospel. As the lame man, we couldn't believe. We were unable to walk by faith in Christ. But suddenly, a sermon was preached to us, and we heard in that sermon that it was not our strength. We have no strength, but it was Christ, his name, his power, not our holiness, his holiness, not our work, his work. And we realized that God receives us not because of something he finds in us.

He doesn't even look for things in us. All that he can find in us is corruption. And we're like those who grew up on the dung hill. Dunghill is our name. We're senseless, ruined sinners, wounded and lost and helpless like those bitten by the serpent in the wilderness. There's no remedy for us and we're helpless to do anything about it. There's no man who can help us.

But at that time, here comes God's preachers. In Acts 3, it was Peter and Paul sent by Christ and speaking in his name. that people would recognize it was by His power, His holiness, for His purposes, because it pleased Him. He's on the throne. He's gonna send His gospel. He's going to convert those who put Him to death. Not all of them, but many of them, 5,000 souls are going to be saved. These people, 50 days prior to this, had crucified the Lord of Glory, the Prince of Life, the Messiah, the one that had been preached to them through all the prophets of old, and they rejected them. And now he comes and he's going to give them from his throne on high through the preaching of the gospel, he's going to convert them.

Like the lame man, he's going to give them strength in their feet and their ankle bones. And what did the lame man do at that point? It says he was leaping and praising God. You could see him as a man who had never walked, never learned the mechanics. His brain wasn't wired properly. His his bones were had no strength, his flesh, his muscles, no ability, no tendons, no ligaments in there. It's all just floppy, useless lameness.

That's what he was. That's what we are. But when the gospel came to him, by the name of Jesus, when he was healed from that impotence, what happened? He was leaping and praising God. And he stood before the judges of Israel with John and Peter right there in their presence, happy, expressing this joy, unlimited joy. Why? Because he was healed. Because the Lord saved him.

And this is what God is saying here. When the gospel first comes to us, we realize that for Christ's sake, for his name's sake, God has forgiven us of our sins. He's released us from the bondage of our sins and the death that that bondage would eventuate, we would end in eternal death. And so the Lord Jesus Christ did this for us. make a joyful noise, stand up. Peter takes him by the hand, he stands up and immediately he stood up on his feet. He was walking and leaping and praising God.

So the believer first, when this first, when this light first shines to sinners from God's throne, it's the light of the Lord Jesus Christ shining from God and it makes us never so happy. And so that's what he's talking about here. Now, I want to show you some verses that talk about this joy.

In Isaiah, chapter nine, it says this is a prophecy and it's quoted in Matthew, chapter nine. I think it's Matthew four, it's quoted, but in Isaiah nine, it says this in Galilee, verse one of Isaiah nine, in Galilee of the nations, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined. And Matthew, it says the people which sat in darkness saw great light and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.

Now, if you read Matthew's account, it's on the occasion of Christ coming and preaching the gospel, the Lord himself, the Lord himself coming, bearing the glad tidings from heaven. on the authority of his own name, telling about what his work would accomplish, the release, the redemption, the remission, the forgiveness, the sanctification of sinners who were subject to eternal death. Now they're going to be released from that by the gospel. He's preaching this. And so we see that this is the initial effect of the gospel. We think of the thing that gives us the greatest joy is our release from darkness, from lameness, from blindness, from death itself.

There's no release except in Christ. There's no remedy for the sin bitten. I mean the curse Cursed Israelites bitten by the serpents except on the cross God said you look to the one Moses lifted up on that brass that brass serpent on the pole in the wilderness you look to Christ crucified and you see there the remedy is for your sin against God and the curse due to you that fell upon him. He was cursed that he might redeem us from the curse of the law. And so that's the light. That's the light. And we're blind in both of our eyes from birth, like the man in John 9, or like Paul, the apostle. He was blind. He couldn't see. He was ignorant of Christ. He was hostile against him. And bam, the Lord Jesus Christ appears to him. The light shined. The glorious gospel of Christ shined.

Now, the same thing is spoken of in Isaiah 52. In Isaiah 52, in verse 6, it says this. 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, this is Christ, speaking as the Lord. And in verse 7 of Isaiah 52, it prophesies of Him speaking.

It says, how beautiful upon the mountains are 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, you see, salvation. And because of salvation accomplished, Christ ascended. Christ took his place at the right hand of God and all the majesty of his person and the outshining of that glory is the glorious light of the gospel to sinners. God is propitiated. God has taken away his wrath. God's holiness has been magnified in the death of his son, all of his perfections. God is pleased with this.

You see, the first the first reason for our joy is the gospel message. That's the first. And the gospel really is the whole reason of it, because the gospel tells us about Christ. But the first reason is that God Our Savior, who reigns, is the God of our salvation. I've said this before. But what did the Lord Jesus Christ do?

He's sovereign. He's uninfluenced, uninfluenceable. He's independent. He depends on no one. Everyone depends on him. And what did he do when he was so independent of all the influence of men and angels? What did he do when no one advised or counseled him? What did he do when he needed nothing but his own perfections? Well, he made himself of no reputation.

He took upon him the nature of his people and in that nature as the form and place of a servant to give an account to God. For the accounting they must give but could not give. And in his obedience unto death he made a full accounting and he made satisfaction to God.

He fulfilled all righteousness. He gave Himself for us. He loved us and gave Himself for us. That's what He did in His holiness. In His holiness, righteousness, justice, and judgment on His throne, He stooped to fulfill it all in His own person. He self-emptied. He emptied Himself of all this and gave Himself for us.

All right, so that's what it's saying. And then in Isaiah 52, in verse eight, continuing, it says, thy watchman shall lift up the voice, with the voice together they shall sing. Notice now, it's a rising volume, a rising song. He says, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Turn us again, Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved. Zion, the church.

Christ sits on the throne of glory in order to give repentance and the forgiveness of sins to his people. That's that's what he says in Acts chapter three, Acts chapter two, Acts chapter five, Acts chapter 13 and 15. All these things are showing us Christ reigns. And the proof of it is the gospel is preached. and the effectiveness of the gospel is because he reigns and has sent his spirit to make that gospel light in the souls of his people. and heal them from their spiritual lameness and blindness and deadness in order for them to see the glorious gospel of Christ, who accomplished their salvation, rose again in proof of that salvation accomplished, and now reigns in order to give to them all the blessings promised in that everlasting covenant that he put into effect by his blood.

All right. And so in verse nine of Isaiah 52, he says, break forth into joy, sing together. You waste places of Jerusalem for the Lord hath comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord made bear his holy arm in the eyes of all nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. You see, this is clear. This is clearly stated in scripture.

The reason for our joy is Christ saved us from our sins. He brought us to God. He died the just for the unjust to bring us to God. He who his own self bear our sins in his own body, that we being dead to sins should live into righteousness by whose stripes we were healed.

All right. So Christ has taken our sins. He stood before the judge and gave an account where we couldn't give an account without being utterly destroyed in everlasting ruin. And he gave that account so much so that it wasn't just an account that caused us to escape fire and wrath, but actually magnified God's holiness, exalted his justice, fulfilled his righteousness, performed all of his judgments against the sins of his people and justified them in Christ's blood and in his obedience and shedding his blood. All these things were accomplished by Christ at the cross.

This is the cause for our joy. The proof that our sins are put away is Christ rose from the dead. The proof that that the gospel is bringing or is is having the effect that he intends is that Christ sits in glory and has sent his spirit, that by his spirit, his people would would hear his gospel. It would be both preached and heard by the power of his spirit. from his throne on high, sending his spirit, the spirit of his father, his own spirit, by his almighty sovereign power. These things are meant for us to see them together. Christ's rule, the proof of that, the gospel is preached. Sinners are saved. His sheep are gathered. The proof of our justification, Christ was raised. He's ascended. He's taken his place. The glory in all this? Christ seated in glory, the majesty of God known in the cross, in the person of Christ. And so the first reason for joy is our own personal guilt. our condemnation being removed and in its place the perfect liberty of a sinless, blameless standing before God.

We have been brought from being children of wrath to being children of God's everlasting love. Now, since it was everlasting love, in God's covenant, we were never children of wrath. But in the sense that the only way that God could remove his wrath Against us for our sins, he had to appoint Christ and Christ had to agree as surety to bear that sin and under that law, bear that wrath in order to remove it. Therefore, make us the children of God.

But because these things were accomplished by Christ and we receive them by the gospel, we have this joy. All right, so that's the first thing, and we see it in this delight that is expressed in Isaiah 52, or by the lame man, or by all the others who were healed. In the New Testament, the blind men, these two blind men sitting by the roadside, And they were crying out.

And Jesus said, do you have faith to believe I can do this? Do you believe I can do this? Yes, yes, Lord, you can do this. He said, OK, be it unto you according to your faith. Immediately their eyes were open. And he says, now don't tell anyone. And they went out and told everyone. They just couldn't help it. They were so glad. That's what salvation does to us. It makes us glad. It makes us glad. I want to refer to another text of scripture, and this one I will just cover briefly. You can read about it, and I encourage you to.

In 2 Chronicles, in chapter 20, Jehoshaphat is the king, and there is this great company, Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, that are coming against the people of Judah and Jerusalem. And Jehoshaphat realizes we are so outnumbered. These people are so much stronger than we are. And he didn't they were cornered up. They didn't know what to do.

So he expresses this in Second Chronicles, Chapter 20. And so he pours out his heart in prayer in verse 12 of Second Chronicles, Chapter 20. He says, oh, Our God, wilt thou not judge them, our enemies? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us.

Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon you. You're our only hope. We are powerless. We are we have no knowledge about what to do. This is a tremendous enemy coming against us. And our eyes are upon you. What are you going to do for us, your people?

And then later on, the Lord said, I'm this is what I want you to know. Don't be afraid. He says this in Second Chronicles 20, verse 15, Harkin. ye all Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat, thus saith the Lord, be not afraid, nor dismayed by reason of this great company, for the battle is not yours, it's God's. You shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord.

And so he goes on, he says, fear not, don't be dismayed, the Lord will be with you. And then Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat and the people bowed their heads and they fell to their faces to the ground. And all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the Lord because of what he said, the battle is not yours.

They were looking to him. They had no hope except in him. that he would be a God to them, that he had taken them for his people. So they're looking to him. He says, this is not your fight. It's my fight. You stand still. You're going to see the salvation of the Lord. So he bowed his head and they all worshiped. And then it says.

In verse 19 of Second Chronicles, 20, the Levites, the children of the Kohathites and the children of the Kohites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with loud voice on high. They rose up early in the morning, they went forth to the wilderness of Tekoa, and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established. Believe his prophets, so shall you prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers, to the Lord that they should praise the beauty of holiness.

And as they went out before the army to say, praise the Lord, listen, for his mercy endureth forever. Now, they hadn't their enemies were still there. Their enemies were still armed. They were still coming against them. But because God had spoken to them that that salvation was his doing for them, he was going to perform this in the battle against their enemies. And so they worshiped and they began to sing with loud voices and singing to the Lord, singing in triumph over their enemies. And that's exactly what happened. All of their enemies were defeated by the Lord. They didn't have to lift a finger against them.

It was just looking to Christ. And so we see all these things are teaching us the same thing. Joy and peace in believing Christ is all of our salvation. Now, The other thing I want you to see here is that this joy arises not only from realizing that God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven us our sins, that it's not by our works. We had no power in this, no holiness, no power. God doesn't consider our will at all. It's entirely His will. It's His good pleasure to save us. But he refers to these things throughout scripture.

But the other reason that we are happy, the other reason that we're glad, is because the one who saved me is so good. Okay, so what happens in the life of the believer, and I say this because this is what I have experienced this in the preaching of the gospel. First thing we realize is that our sins are forgiven us for Christ's sake. And then we realize how good the Lord Jesus Christ is by his saving work.

And this is something it says in Psalm 92, verse four. Listen to this. Psalm 92, verse four. Thou, Lord, has made me glad through thy work. I will triumph in the work works of thy hands. OK, so this is gladness and joy that comes about because of God's work for us. That's in Christ. But when we see the work of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, we see the glory of our savior. We see his grace.

And that's why, for example, when you read through the New Testament in Philippians 2, which we refer to all the time, Christ made himself of no reputation. He who was God made himself of no reputation. He emptied himself. and made himself of no reputation. He took our nature. He took the place of a servant. He fulfilled that service in giving himself in obedience under the law, in love for his people and sacrifice and fulfilling all righteousness. This was this is what he did.

We see him who is our salvation. And this is the second layer. The second reason for joy is we see the person who has accomplished our salvation. we see him like the demoniac. I mean, yeah, he was glad that he was delivered from those devils, but he immediately wanted to stay with Jesus. He wanted to hear him. He just wanted to be with him. And that's what the believer does. We have this great joy because of who Christ is.

In fact, knowing his salvation that he accomplished and then realizing that he's the savior, the one who accomplished our salvation, his goodness is seen in him being our savior so that we trust him to do everything, even those things he hasn't spoken of in particular. Like in the circumstances of our life, yet we trust him because he saved us from our sins. By giving himself, we know that because he now reigns and has brought the gospel to us on account of what he accomplished for us and told us what he did, that he will also bring us all the way to glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory.

So we're seated with him according to his word. He's accomplished our salvation. He has entered our inheritance and taken possession of it for us. We'll be with him. We're with him now and we'll soon be with him, both body and spirit and soul. But but now we see the goodness of our savior.

And so and say, for example, in Psalm 17, verse 15, it says, I will I will be satisfied when I awake in his likeness. When I see him as he is, I will awake in his likeness, then I will be satisfied. That's the ultimate joy, when we are with the Lord Jesus Christ. Saul, in Revelation 22, verse four, it says, and they shall see his face. they shall see his face.

So we long to see the one who is our savior. And that's the second reason for joy. We know that he reigns. And as I quoted Don Fortner on Sunday, he said, don't judge God by providence, but judge providence by God. Knowing who Christ is, we know that everything that happens has got to be good. Here's the thing.

When the Lord saved us, he did it using the evil of wicked men. And this was by design, by God's design. Christ's death was hell's defeat. And yet and yet God turned this evil, like Joseph told his brothers, God turned the evil you intended for your good. So this is how great He is. Not only does He save us when we're sinners, but He turns the evil that we intended for our good, for our salvation.

How good is that? And so I was thinking about these words in Psalm 100. It says, in Psalm 100, it says, make a joyful noise to the Lord all you lend. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. This same, the word gladness here is the same meaning, it's an exceeding great gladness. And serving the Lord is something that, the word serve has a negative connotation to us.

But I remember there was a mechanic I had a long time ago. And he said when he was young, his father was paying for him to go to college. He went from one thing to the next. He was basically just partying, not accomplishing anything. And his dad said, OK, I'm going to give you one more chance. I'm going to send you to this tech school on automotive tech, and I'm going to pay for your way. He got a degree in automotive tech and he loved his job so much he said he never worked another day in his life.

And what he meant was he loved that kind of work. So the work was no longer a labor. It was love. He loved to do it. And so here it says, serve the Lord with gladness. When you love something, it's not it's not work, is it? It's not it's no longer work. When you love the Lord Jesus Christ, serving him is a delight. And I want to point out one thing here in this score.

Remember how in the book of Romans it uses the words the obedience of faith. In Romans chapter one, verse five, it says the gospel, I'm sending the gospel, Christ gave me the gospel, Paul says, and I preach the gospel for the obedience of faith among all nations for his name, the obedience of faith.

Now, obedience is something that that brings with it the notion of service, doesn't it? Submission. Yielding. And so the obedience of faith, that seems like a heavy weight, doesn't it? And Romans chapter 16, the same thing is said that the gospel is given for the obedience of faith among all nations.

But when you as a sinner see Christ by the glorious light of the gospel, is it a labor? To lay hold on him, to flee to him for refuge, is that a labor? Well, you say, well, yeah, kind of, because I'm always having to labor against my own... Okay, that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is, is it a burden to you to trust Christ? Of course not.

It's like a thirsty man dying of thirst and given the water of life. Jesus told the woman at the well, give me a drink. But if you knew the gift of God, you would have asked, Him and He would have given you living waters. Was it a labor for her to hear that? Was it a labor for her to take that living water of Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of all her sins? Of course not.

It was the most delightful thing that could possibly have been done. And yet it's called the obedience of faith. So we see that the gospel turns what formerly was considered a bondage and labor into a delight. Now, trusting Christ is so wonderful. We love to think about drawing our life and finding our righteousness in him. We love to think about him revealing himself to us through the gospel, his humiliation and his humility, his stoop, condescension to save sinners, that he wanted to be with sinners, that he bore the reproach of being with sinners in order to bring them to God, to glory and to give them an inheritance with himself.

Unbelievable goodness. And we love that. I have a granddaughter and I received a picture just today. She was laying her head on her daddy's shoulder, my son's shoulder. And she loves to be with her father. She just snuggles up to him on his shoulder. She always wants to be with him. Whatever they do, wants to be with dad. She's just a daddy's girl. And what I realize is that like that little girl, she's not even two, like that little child, we cannot get enough of the love of God for us, can we?

And the apostle Paul in Ephesians 3 says that you might know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. So the obedience of faith and serving the Lord doesn't bring with it a negative connotation. It brings with it this delight. It's not labor to trust Christ.

It's a delightful thing, a needy sinner taking water from the fountain of living water, a hungry beggar taking the bread of life. This is phenomenal, isn't it? The lame man leaping, walking, leaping, praising God. This is not a labor, is it? This is expressing that joy that comes to us through believing Christ. The joy and peace in believing. So we see that the first two layers are seeing our salvation in Christ and then seeing the goodness of our Savior. And then we see the gladness that comes from trusting him in the day to day things of life. We know he's on the throne. We know that because the gospel comes to us in power.

And that's the result of his spirit coming to us and preaching to us as sinners when we have no hope and we were looking in all the wrong places and we held to all the wrong things. as if they were true, and suddenly the light of the gospel chases the darkness.

And we think, I didn't know anything. I was lost. I was seeking recognition. I was seeking salvation by what I could do, by what I could be and thinking someday I'll be able to obtain, attain to it. No, no. Christ has already done it. It's in him. See your savior. Don't take up your arms in this battle. It's not your fight. And so keep your eyes on Him.

So all these things result in these layers of joy that just keep coming and coming as we grow in this grace. And then we see that God Himself, God our Father, is the one who designed this. When there was no angel to praise Him, He determined to save sinners by the death of His Son. That's goodness that's incomprehensible, goodness and kindness and grace and mercy that's incomprehensible.

I need this. I need this love. I need to lay my head on the shoulder of my savior and stay there, you see, with joy. My granddaughter delights in this. She delights in it. And so we're to delight in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm just going to turn to one more verse here before tonight's over Zephaniah chapter three. You probably know where I'm going when I say Zephaniah chapter three. But this is this is probably the clearest place in the Old Testament speaking about God's joy over his people. And I would say it in summary this way. The reason that we joy is because of God's joy. What makes God happy? makes Christ happy. What makes Christ happy makes me happy. It makes all of his people happy. I'm putting it in very simple language now. It flows from God himself, God himself.

Listen to these words in Zephaniah, the remnant, verse 13. The remnant of Israel shall not do, I'm sorry, the remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies. Neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. You see what God is saying here?

He sees them in his son. No iniquity, no lies, no deceit. They're trusting Christ. They're looking to him. His righteousness, not their own, is how they appear before God. God sees them in his son. God has so performed this that in the Lord Jesus Christ, their sins have been removed from God's memory, from the record of heaven. There's no sin there. There's only the righteousness of Christ. His obedience, perfect, complete, everlasting.

Therefore, he speaks this way. And they feed and lie down. They're not afraid. Verse 14, sing. O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel, be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away thy judgments. He has cast out thine enemy, the King of Israel. Even the Lord is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not see evil anymore. And that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, fear thou not. And to Zion, let not thy hands be slack. Don't droop. Don't let your knees be feeble.

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing. Where does our joy come from? It comes from God's joy. It comes from him sending this joy in the gospel to his people on earth by his Holy Spirit from his son on his throne because he accomplished our salvation to tell of his glories. Like he told his, Joseph told his brothers, you go back to my father and you tell him about my glory in Egypt.

And so they did. All right, let's pray. Lord, we pray that you would give us this grace to see and believe and rejoice in Christ our Savior, to see His joy because of His work over us, His love for us, and rest upon His love as He rests in His love, to joy in His joy. what he accomplished for our salvation, to receive it from the glad news of the gospel, this glorious light of Christ, who is our Savior, the wonderful Savior who accomplished this salvation of us when we were so lost. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Psalm 100, p1 of 2

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Psalm 100, p1 of 2

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