Psalm 98, and we'll read from
verse one. O sing unto the Lord a new song,
for he hath done marvellous things. His right hand and his holy arm
hath gotten him the victory. The Lord hath made known his
salvation, his righteousness hath he openly showed in the
sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy
and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the
earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise
unto the Lord all the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice
and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the voice of a psalm, with trumpets and sound
of cornet, make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King. Let the sea roar and the fullness
thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Let the floods
clap their hands, let the hills be joyful together before the
Lord, for he cometh to judge the earth with righteousness
shall he judge the world and the people with equity. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. Lord Jesus Christ is the subject
of this wonderful gospel psalm. And I hope that as we've read
it together, you've been able to discern something of the way
in which the psalmist has drawn our attention once again to our
Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Truly, truly, verily,
verily, the Lord our God has done great things. The Psalmist says, he hath done
marvellous things. And that's what we want to pause
and think about this morning. Our Saviour Jesus Christ has
done marvellous things. Let us ever rejoice at the wonder
of the way of salvation. Let us ever rejoice Remember
Naaman who came with his leprosy to dip in the river. They said,
that's all you've got to do is dip in the river. If he'd asked
you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? Dip in
the river. We don't even need to dip in
the river. He has done everything necessary to cleanse his people
from their leprous sin. Our Saviour has done marvellous
works. He has had of his people, the
church. He has called us his own. He has loved us with an everlasting
love and he has drawn us to him. He has been planning, devising
for all eternity, bringing his people to himself and embracing
them in the love of a bridegroom. He is the foundation stone He
is the head of His church and He is the foundation stone upon
which we stand and upon which all our salvation is built. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is the top and the bottom.
He is our comprehensive Saviour and He has done everything that
is needful for our eternal well-being. He is the great Redeemer, whose
blood has washed away our sins. Micah chapter 7 and verse 15,
there's a lovely little verse that speaks of the marvellous
works of Christ. Here's what it says. The prophet
writes and he says, according to the days of thy coming out
of the land of Egypt, will I show unto him marvellous things. The history of the Old Testament
is designed to point the church to the works, the marvellous
works of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we read about the dealings
of God with nations and with families and with tribes and
with individuals, it is our responsibility, it is our privilege to look for
Christ in these things. And this is what the prophet
says. According to the days of thy
coming out of the land of Egypt, will I show unto him marvellous
things. What happened to the children
of Israel? What happened to the people of
God in Egypt? What marvellous works were shown
there? Ten plagues were dispensed by
a holy God upon a wicked and hard-hearted people. A God who
was jealous for His own. A God who was jealous in His
love and His protection, in His covering for the well-being of
His people. In order that He might be faithful
to all His covenant promises, He was jealous for the well-being
of His people. And He struck down that land
that bound His people and captivated them. In the history of the exodus
from Egypt, we see beloved sons redeemed by the blood of a spotless
lamb. It's a beautiful picture of what
marvellous works the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished for the
salvation of his own. And we see a captive people liberated,
set free, And we testify that gospel liberty has made us free
indeed. According to the days of thy
coming out of the land of Egypt, will I show unto him marvellous
things. These are the marvellous things.
They're in picture form. They're in type. Now in reality,
the people of God, the church of Jesus Christ, look back and
say, how great thou art. How good and merciful that thou
should bestow upon us all these great blessings of love and mercy. Hebrews 11, 29 says, By faith
they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians
a saying to do were drowned. By faith they passed through
and entered into the promised land. And so it is for the people
of God, our enemies will be destroyed, this world will be judged, but
by faith the people of God will pass through all the trials,
all the difficulties, all the problems, and we will enter into
those promises that our covenant God has made to us. Blessed people,
blessed people you are who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
this morning. Accordingly, we have to say,
do we not? We have to say, Our blessed Saviour
who hath done these marvellous works is the right and proper
object of our praise and worship this morning. He is the theme
of our song of redemption and grace. Our new song, we have
been given a new song to sing, O sing unto the Lord a new song,
for he hath done marvellous things. The people of God gather out
to worship and we sing a new song, a song of redemption. These songs that we sing, these
songs thrill our hearts. They tune our voices. They give us a sense of the wonder
of God as we reflect upon His mighty deeds and His marvellous
works. These things that we consider
as we turn to the Scriptures and read about the Lord Jesus
Christ, they tell us how our praise has to be inspired, and
directed to His glory. We praise, we laud our King as
we come together to worship Him. Have you ever wondered why we
sing hymns when we come together to worship? Why don't we just
go straight into the sermon? Why do we, why do we stand? to the accompaniment or not,
and sing. It really is a rather unusual
thing, although it's not entirely unheard of. Some of us had the
privilege and opportunity of singing in the baseball arena
the other night, and everybody stands up there to sing. But,
you know, I guess most people don't sing very often. Why do
we sing? Why do we come in here two, three
times a week sometimes and sing together? Why do we open every
service with him singing? It's not for the benefit of the
late comers. It's not. We should be here ready
to participate in worship in good time to be part of everything
that we do. We sing thoughtfully. We sing purposefully. We come together to honor the
Lord with our voices, with our praises. And we ought to ask
ourselves about every single thing that we do. when we come
together to worship. From the moment that we come
in that door, everything that we say, think, do, should be
conditioned by the activity upon which we are embarked. Let our
conversations be different. when we come to worship the Lord.
Let our thoughts be attuned to this great principle of approaching
Him in all His glory. Let that new song weigh upon
our hearts and find voice from our lips as we come into His
presence. We don't sing out of tradition. We don't sing because it's our
custom to do so. And certainly we don't sing thoughtlessly. Please don't sing thoughtlessly. Don't become so familiar with
these hymns that they just trip off our lips without engaging
our minds and our thoughts. Our worship of God is too important
for that. Why do we sing? What do we sing? Who is it that sings? How are
we to sing? Where are we to sing? To whom
are we to sing? These are all valid questions. We sing to honour the Lord. We sing praises to honour His
name. We sing to unite our hearts together,
so that the songs that we sing are the same words with the same
tunes, hopefully. and we sing together to bind
our thoughts together so that we are coming in from diverse
circumstances. And all of the thoughts and the
questions that have filled our minds since we got up this morning,
a hundred different thoughts going through our minds. But
as we gather here together, we no longer are individuals. We're no longer a disparate congregation. We come together and we are bound
together and we sing as a man, we sing as a woman, we sing together
as that group that have been brought together by the Lord
and we share in unison of song. This new song that binds us together
is typified in the hymns of praise that we sing together as we come
into the presence of our Lord. And what are we to sing? We sing
scripture truth. We sing scriptural truth. We sing gospel content. We strive to make our hymns,
to gather to ourselves hymns of praise that are God-honouring
and scriptural and doctrinally sound, that they might edify
our hearts as we sing them together. Who sings? The Lord's people
sing. It's the Lord's people that are
to sing. The Lord's redeemed people are
the people who have the song, the new song of redemption in
their hearts. Worship is a family privilege. Now, I'm not going to stop people
from singing if they can't give me a good profession of faith. But I tell you what, we should
be aware that when we sing together as a congregation, this is the
Lord's people. Those who sing these words without
any knowledge, sing them hypocritically. And it's just as serious as eating
and drinking the Lord's supper. If we imagine that we can go
before God without any understanding of the meaning of the words that
we sing or the words that we pray and that He is going to
receive them. It's an important thing to worship. Who is to worship? The Lord's
people worship Him. Yes, it is true that angels praise
God. but they can't sing our songs.
They don't sing this song of redemption. This is our song
and we sing it before the throne of God's grace. In Revelation
chapter 5 verse 9 we read these words, and they sung a new song. See, John had been reading the
psalmist as well. They sung 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 and tongue and people and nation. The angels
can't sing that song. It's our song. And it's right
and it's appropriate that we sing that song and we rehearse
that song and we bring that song to the throne of grace this side
of eternity as well as we will in that which is yet to come. How do we sing? We sing heartily. We sing enthusiastically. We
sing joyfully. We sing in faith. Zephaniah 3
verse 14 says, Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all
the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. That's you. That's me. That's what Zephaniah calls us
to do. Let our praise be thoughtful,
and let it be loud, let it be joyful, and let it be heartfelt. Let us be enthusiastic when we
come with our hymns of praise before our God and Savior. Psalm 138, verse one says, I
will praise thee with my whole heart before the gods, before
the gods, Probably that's a reference, it may mean a couple of different
things, but probably that's a reference to the angels. Before the gods
will I sing praise unto thee. The angels are watching us this
morning. The angels are watching us. Oh,
they've got an eye to God, of course they have, but they've
got an eye also to what's happening here in this town, in this building
this morning. We have an audience when we come
together to worship our God. and they think about the words
that we use and they think about the attitudes with which those
words are used. Let us be a people who are aware
that we stand in the presence of angels as we sing our new
song to the praise of our God. And perhaps it is that also there
is a reference in there not only to the angels but to the princes
of this world. by which we mean those that have
positions of authority, those that have the rule in the society
of which we are a part. The people of God sing before
the nations around about. It is the lack of understanding of
those who have no spiritual discernment that causes them to be careless
and thoughtless of what is going on here this morning. But they
will look back in a day to come when Christ comes as judge and
they say, we never had any opportunity, we never had any chance. When
did we hear you being preached? When did we hear you being taught? And the Lord will say, see when
that people gathered, down there past Longfellow School. See when
that people gathered at the corner of that road. See when they came
to worship me every morning. The praises of God were being
set forth in the presence of your audience. And you never
gave it a thought. We sing our new song before the
princes of this world, before the men and women of our age,
and the Lord reserves himself a witness in every generation. We are it. I'm pleased to hear you singing
gustily. I'm glad that you have a desire
to be heard when you sing. And I encourage you in that. I've been in congregations and
you couldn't hear them singing behind a newspaper. That's not
right. Now I'm not saying that we need
to be professional and I'm not saying that we ought to practice
to be so melodic that people want to come and listen to us
just because of the beauty of our voices. This is not a spectator
activity. But at the same time, we should
be serious and careful about this task that is given to us. and we should endeavour to do
it with enthusiasm and with energy as we praise our Lord. We sing in the congregation of
the righteous. We sing amongst the saints that
have gone before and those who will come after. We are part
of a long line and a long history and heritage of the blood-bought
people of God. And as they sang his praises
in days gone by and will sing his praises in days to come,
it is our lot and portion today to be the singers of a new song
in the presence of his church. To whom do we sing? The psalmist
says in Psalm 22, verse 22, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation
will I praise thee. Well, we praise God. Yes, we do. We praise the Father. We praise the Son. We praise
the Holy Spirit. Worship is to be directed to
none else. We worship the Lord, our God,
and he is a jealous God, and he will not allow us to hold
anyone else in esteem, for he takes to himself all glory and
worship and praise. Our worship is to be aimed towards
him. It is to be directed towards
our Saviour. It is to be dedicated to the
Lord Jesus Christ. But we must also remember that
there are other hearers. We've reflected upon that already.
The angels and the princes, the people of this world. and those that we meet with and
gather with, those that we share fellowship with and stand shoulder
to shoulder with. Did you ever realize that when
we come to sing our praises to the Lord, that we are singing
to one another? Not only to the Lord, We're not
praising and worshipping one another, but we are singing to
one another because we are rehearsing that new song in the audience
of each other. Ephesians 5, 12, the Apostle
Paul says, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. but
we're speaking to ourselves as well as we speak to the Lord. In Colossians 3, 16, he says,
let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. When we come together to worship,
when we sing our hymns of praise at the commencement of our service,
as we unite together in this fellowship activity, we are teaching
one another. We are admonishing one another. We are bringing the doctrine
of this gospel message that we have received and we are sharing
it with one another. In a very real sense that's one
of the privileges that we have as parents bringing our children
to church. We are teaching them through
the singing of hymns the doctrines that we have come to love. We
are admonishing one another to remind ourselves that as we join
together in fellowship, in the singing of these hymns, we are
honoring our God. It's bigger than me. It's bigger
than me. And it's bigger than you. Some
people go through life thinking that life is all about them. singing together teaches us that
it's not all about me and it's not all about you, it's all about
the Lord, for we come in order to praise Him and to worship
Him. So let me say this, we must not
take this portion of the hymn singing this portion of our service
lightly or casually. It is important. And as we gather
together to worship, let us do so thoughtfully. What is it we
sing but a new song? There is an old song. There is
an old song. It is the song of creation. In Job 38 verse 7 we read, When
the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted
for joy. That is a reference to the creative
power of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ created
the universe, when he spun the stars into space, when he called
by the word of his power and his voice brought into existence
all the spinning spheres, when he made all these things and
made the world upon which to place his church, Upon that ground
where the Lord Jesus Christ himself would subsequently stand as a
man, the angels sang his praise for the glory that he manifested
in that work of creation. I love reading about space exploration,
and what happens when people look with increased powerful
telescopes, or whatever it is, into the depths of space. And
it doesn't matter where you look in the sky, there's always something
bigger and better to see. I love that. I love the fact
that that happens, because that tells me that our God is not
yet finished showing us all the wonder of his creation. Everywhere
you look, there's something more marvellous of the works of our
Lord there in creation. So well might the psalmist say,
he hath done marvellous things. We're still learning about it.
Science is still learning about it. But the marvellous things that
Christ have done have already been superseded and transcended
in the work of the cross. The old song had its merits,
but the new song will never be superseded. When we sing our new song, we're
not singing the song of the angels who sang at creation. We're singing the song of a new
creation, of Christ himself, united with his people, and that
great work of salvation. Nature does sing to the glory
of God, to his creative wisdom and power. But the song the psalmist
is directing us to think upon this morning is a new song, a
new song sung by a new creation. And this is the song that you
have to learn. It's a song that you have to
learn. No one knows this song by nature. No one knows this
song automatically. Indeed, there is only a certain
number know this song. It's a limited congregation. It is an elect people. Revelation 14 verse 3 says, no
man could learn that song, but the hundred and forty and four
thousand which were redeemed from the earth. Now that's not
a literal hundred and forty-four thousand. That is talking about
the people, the elect people of God. That is talking about
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. and they only could learn
the new song of redemption. It is not given to anyone else
to sing. So don't absent yourself from
the singing of the new song Because the Lord has chosen 144,000.
What does that mean? It means that He knows them that
are His. It means that He's named them,
He's numbered them, He's given them their place. It's not 143,999. Every one of His people will
sing this new song. And everyone will learn it. They will be gathered and they
will be brought and they will sing that song which He teaches
them. The redeemed of the Lord learn
this song when they discover their personal interest in the
marvellous works of Christ. Verse two in our psalm says,
the Lord hath made known his salvation. He's made it known. That's where we learn this new
song. When the Lord makes known his
salvation, his people, his church, learn the song that he places
in their hearts. That salvation includes all that
Christ has done. It includes all of his marvellous
works. The Lord hath made known all
of his marvellous works. Salvation is a generic term. Sometimes people get worked up
about all these different words that we use. Well, think about
it as The umbrella is salvation and it covers all the other big
doctrinal words. That's a good way to think about
it. And he has revealed, he has made known his salvation, the
whole work of God's love and mercy. Justification is part
of our salvation. Sanctification is part of our
salvation. redemption, conversion, forgiveness,
reconciliation, intercession. Christ has done everything needful
for the salvation of his people. The Lord hath made known his
salvation through the marvelous works of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all that God has made known
in Christ is his gift of grace to his people whom he loves. Mark 12 verse 11 says, this was
the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. In creation we see
the majesty of God, we see his power. Texas was hit by a storm, hurricane
over the past few days and you see the devastation that is caused
and that's just one little storm that comes in off the ocean.
The power that God has exhibited in the creation of this world
is beyond our comprehension. But now we see even more power
at work. We see that his righteousness
hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
righteousness of God revealed amongst men. Yes, this world
is powerful in its natural power. But our Lord Jesus Christ is
above and beyond everything that nature has in His majesty and
in His power. And He has revealed it before
the heathen. There's more than this, because
Christ revealed in the incarnation is God revealed in human flesh. Christ in the perfect obedience
of his life, Christ in his sacrificial death, Christ in his resurrection
and in his ascension is more glorious than anything that was
ever physically created in this world. Soon it will all pass
away, but the Lord Jesus Christ, he remains forever. He is ours. He is ours and we are His. We are made the righteousness
of God in Him. Paul says to the Corinthians
in 1 Corinthians 1, Jesus Christ is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Paul says that we are found in
him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith. God has made a people righteous
through the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is more astounding,
more magnificent, more amazing. and the power that created this
universe, this world and everything in it. Blessed Saviour, when
we sinned, when we rebelled, when we doubted, when we fell,
he hath remembered his mercy and his truth towards the house
of Israel. Look at verse three. All the
ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. That doesn't mean to say that
all the ends of the earth are saved, but the people of God
are drawn from all the ends of the earth. It is a work amongst
the Gentiles, not a work amongst the Jews. The gathering of the
church is from every tribe and every nation. That's what the
body of the church sings in heaven. God, our covenant God, remembers
His promises. He remembers His mercy. He loved
us, though we wandered away. He has been faithful despite
our unfaithfulness. He came, He satisfied all judgment,
all righteousness, everything that God required. The Lord Jesus
Christ satisfied and fulfilled. Nothing is left undone. And that's why we assign all
glory to Him. That's why we come into his presence,
and with an awareness of meekness, and with an approach of gentleness,
and with a sense of humility, we ascribe all glory to him. That's why our praise and our
worship has to be thoughtful as we come together to worship. He made the plan. He accomplished the requirements. He has secured and applied all
grace and mercy to his people. Everything from eternal election
to bestowing the gift of faith has been done to us, for us,
and there is nothing left for us to do. His people bask in
his goodness. They enjoy his blessings and
they give him thanks for all that he has done. And that's
what we're doing when we praise his holy name. Verse four says,
make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth. Make a loud
noise and rejoice and sing praise. All the earth is the same as
in the previous verse where it said, all the ends of the earth
have seen the salvation of our God. You know, if it was just the
Jews that were the chosen people, then we would not have our meetings
here today. We would have to go to Jerusalem.
we would have to go to Israel. We would have to go and long
to be part of that national people, but that's not how the Lord has
done it. He has sent his salvation to
the ends of the earth so we can gather here as his people. What a privilege. Have you heard
that song? Have you learned that song? Have
you had that gospel revelation? Have you had that understanding
bestowed? Do you have faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ? Do you trust Him for what He
has done? Happy people, blessed people
who know the Lord's salvation. Look at verse five and six. Larry,
this is for you. Sing unto the Lord with the heart,
with the heart and with the voice of a psalm. with trumpets and
sound of a cornet, make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King. There you are. We are to engage
with those things which the Lord gives us to hand. We are to employ
those things that the Lord has dispensed amongst us to his praise
and to his glory. And that's not just melodiously. That is, with all the gifts that
he has given us, we labour to serve him because it is our expression
of gratitude towards him. What are the instruments? What's
the harp? What's the trumpet? What's the cornet? Surely it
speaks of range, it speaks of an orchestrated praise. It speaks of all of these things
being brought together, mixed, yes, but united in that aim and
object of bringing our worship to the Lord. and either a gathered
congregation, or perhaps better, the broad spread of ways and
gifts in which the Lord's people show their gratitude and serve
their cause. Because we're all different and
your gifts are not my gifts and my gifts are not your gifts.
And you have your sphere of working and I have my responsibilities
too. And I can endeavour to do with
some integrity and honesty and commitment and dedication those
things that fall to my hand. And you are to do that also in
that sphere where the Lord has given you your harp to play or
your cornet to sound. Whatever it is that he's given
you as a gift, you give gratitude to him by exercising that gift
in the sphere in which he has placed you. Psalm 98 again in verse seven
and eight, Let the sea roar. Let the fullness and the fullness
thereof, the world and they that dwell therein, let the floods
clap their hands. Let the hills be joyful together. Even the very creation, all that
it can do, it does to the glory of God. Angels sang at creation,
but now creation is called upon to sing with the children of
Christ the King the song of redemption and honour these gospel truths. And I think that this demonstrates
order, an order of glory, because what we're seeing here in these
verses, seven and eight, is a testimony that creation bows to redemption. Just as Abraham honored Melchizedek
when he came and bowed before Melchizedek and offered him gifts,
so nature, creation, bows to the redemptive work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It speaks of order and it speaks
of levels and orders of glory. The highest, the greatest, the
most excellent thing in this world is the redemptive work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. and it is well worthy of the
praise of his people. For all the wonder of creation,
for all the majesty of God's handiwork that we look upon and
marvel and relish, the work of redemption is greater, and nature
itself is called to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, creator
of mankind, but redeemer of men. Foolish men who change the truth
of God into a lie. Foolish men who worship and serve
the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. And finally, here's a marvellous
theme to conclude this psalm with in verse 9. The Lord Jesus
Christ is coming back. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming
back. He whom we worship here with
our hymns of praise. He who is the object and theme
of this new song that we sing. He is coming back and he is coming
back to judge the world in equity and uprightness. In fairness
and in justice. Verse 9 says, the Lord For he
cometh to judge the earth. With righteousness shall he judge
the world and the people with equity. The Lord Jesus Christ
is coming. He came once to save his people,
and he is returning to judge this earth. And he shall do that
judging truly and righteously and the redeemed of the Lord
await his coming with enthusiasm. We are looking forward to the
Lord coming back. That in itself is a testimony.
Which convicted criminal longs for the judge to come to town? There is going to be judgment,
and it will be a judgment that is exercised and executed with
equity. The Lord will not let any wicked
work go unnoticed, nor any wicked deed, nor any sin or transgression
or iniquity that has been committed will go unseen and unjudged. not the works of our hands, or
the words of our lips, or the thoughts of our minds. He will judge with equity. And how can any sinful man or
woman eagerly anticipate Christ's return, except first they have
been washed and cleansed and justified, and then wait patiently
for the manifestation of His glory? The Lord is coming back
to judge the world. Are you ready for that day? He will judge uprightly and every
guilty sinner will be brought before his throne. But what is
this? A people found to be without
sin. a people found to be perfectly
holy, a people who have been justified, a people who are dressed
in the very righteousness of God himself, a people who are
in Christ. On that day, unbelievers will
call for the mountains to fall upon them and to cover them. And the children of God will
declare in turn. Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me to give
every man according to his work, as his work shall be. He which
testifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly. And the people reply, Amen. Even so, come. Lord Jesus. May we sing that new song in
our hearts day by day and may the Lord be pleased to bless
us as we share together in our own hymns of praise as we gather
to commune in fellowship. Amen.