This evening we're going to take
a look at Psalm 96. Psalm 96, these 13 verses. I'm entitling the message from
the words found in verse 2. Show forth His salvation from
day to day. Show forth His salvation. We declare that salvation is
of the Lord, don't we? And we declare the salvations
of the Lord every day. Every day, God's people declare
and believe in their heart from day to day, this is the day the
Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it, that salvation
is of the Lord. Oh, give thanks. Give thanks
unto the Lord and show forth his salvation. To show forth
means to proclaim it. It means to declare it. It means
to hold nothing back. And that's what led me to read
Acts chapter 20. He said, I kept back nothing
that was profitable unto you, but I have declared unto you
all the counsel of God. All the counsel of God concerning
his salvation is in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all
of God's salvation, is he not? That's why Paul said, I've declared
unto you God's counsel from day to day, salvations of the Lord.
That is the church's desire and certainly the desire of every
servant sent of God. Those who are called and put
into the ministry, they're sent to preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I can assure you I did not put
myself in the ministry. I did not seek to be in the ministry. Had no idea I'd be in the ministry. for the last 40 years, but the
Lord called me and put me in the ministry. And therefore,
not only did he put me in the ministry, but he gave me his
message. He taught me his message. It's salvation of the Lord. That's
why Paul said, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you at Rome, for
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of
God and salvation to everyone, everyone that believes. That's
our aim and our goal in this ministry is to preach Christ,
is to preach the Lord Jesus Christ. A dear preacher friend of mine,
when he was getting up in years, and someone attended his ministry
for a good while, and got a little bit tired of hearing what the
preacher brother was saying. And the person made a comment
to my old preacher friend, all you preach is Christ. All you
preach is Christ. He said, will you put that on
my tombstone? Put that on my tombstone. All he preached was
Christ. That's our message, is it not? That's our message. Paul said, we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord, and
ourselves your servants for Christ's sake. That's why Paul said, I'm
determined not to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ and
him crucified. risen from the dead, before he
ascended back to glory, he said, go and preach the gospel to every
creature. The Lord has given us such great
means to do that. When Paul traveled and preached
the gospel in his day, it was difficult travel. But he did. He traveled by foot. He traveled
by probably horses or mules or different animals. but he went
preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, through the
electronic means that we have, what I preach right here, loaded
up on the World Wide Web, it goes into Africa, goes into China,
goes all over this world, California, New Jersey, Canada, Mexico, 60
foreign countries every month, different foreign countries.
The Lord has given us such good means You remember the scripture
where it says, the gospel shall be preached in all the world,
and then cometh the end? I think the end is near, because
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is going into all the
world through the means that he's given us. Radio, our radio
program not only heard here locally, but they stream that on the internet.
It goes worldwide. We have a worldwide ministry.
You didn't know that, did you? We have a worldwide ministry.
Radio, internet, the bulletins I put up, the pulpit ministry
goes all over this world. That's what God told us to do.
That's what Paul, when he was in jail, waiting to be executed,
waiting to have his head cut off, Wrote back to Timothy and
said, I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, preach
the word. Preach the word. Preach it every
day from day to day. Declare his salvation. Day to
day, preach the word. Preach Christ. Preach Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ is all our message. It's all our message. The gospel alone declares the
good news of Christ's atonement for our sin. That is the only
way we can come to worship God is through the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is too holy for us to approach God apart from a suitable great
high priest, which is Christ, apart from a suitable mediator,
which is the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from an advocate. That
is the Lord Jesus Christ. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men. That is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let's go back to verse one, Psalm 96. Oh, sing, oh, sing. You remember Psalm 95 we had
last week? Verse one, oh, come, let us sing
unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful, joyful
noise to the rock. The rock, he's the rock of our
salvation. And here again, he says, sing,
sing unto the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song.
Sing unto the Lord all the earth. should sing unto the Lord. He's
the God of all the earth, isn't He? Sure He is. Sing unto the
Lord. Again He says in verse 2, and
bless His name. Bless His name. Honor His name. Worship His name. And then show
forth. Show forth His salvation every
day, all the time. Now three times in these two
verses we're told to sing praises Sing unto the Lord this new song,
this new song. Turn one page, look over here
to Psalm 98 verse 1. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new
song. For he hath done marvelous things.
His right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him to victory. Sing
unto the Lord this new song. Now, what is this new song? What
is this new song that's mentioned here? In Psalm 96 verse 1, well
it's a song of redemption, isn't it? It's a song of redemption.
You remember from our study in the Revelation, those who were
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, they sung that new song
saying, thou art worthy to take the book. 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, and has made us unto
our God kings and priests, and we shall reign. We shall reign
on the earth because he reigns. He reigns. You see, everything
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is ever new. It's ever
new, isn't it? It's never old and stale. It's
not like stale bread. He's the living bread. It's ever
new. Ever new. We studied Sunday about
the blood of the everlasting covenant that we have in the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's ever new. It's never old.
It's never stale. In the Lord Jesus Christ, in
the gospel, he's made us new creatures. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. We've been given a new name with
a white stone and a new name in the Lord Jesus Christ. What
is our new name? She shall be called the Lord
our righteousness. That's our name. We are married
to the Lord Jesus Christ and we take His name to ourselves. We have a new name. And the Lord
Jesus Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, isn't He?
Ever new. Ever new. ever knew in the Lord
Jesus. The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians
3, put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him that created him. We've been made new creatures
in Christ. New creatures. We sing the threefold praises
of a new song of redemption unto the Lord, unto the Father who
chose us, the Son who redeemed us, and the Holy Spirit who sealed
us. That's why it says there are
three times, Lord, Lord, Lord. Not four times, not five times,
not two times. Why three times? The Trinity,
isn't it? Father, Son, Holy Spirit. The
Father chose us in Christ, blessed us in Christ, the Son redeemed
us with His own blood, and the Holy Spirit seals us. So sing unto the Lord, verse
two, and then it says, bless His name. Bless His name. God has given Him a name above
every name, that at that name every knee should bow, Every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Know of the name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Bless
his name, the Lord Jesus Christ. I know a lot of the songs that
we sing just talk about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And the scriptures
do use that name, but I never refer to him in my preaching
or my conversation just as Jesus. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that saves because
he's Lord, because he's the Christ. Bless his name and then speak
well of him. That's what it means. Bless his
name. Ascribe all spiritual blessings unto him. We bless God who has
blessed us with all spiritual blessings as it says in Ephesians
1. Bless his name and then it says
show forth, declare his salvation, declare his doing. You see he
purposed salvation, didn't he? from all eternity. He's a lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. He purposed our salvation. He finished our salvation. He
accomplished our salvation. He said, and it's finished, isn't
it? He said, I came to finish the work the Father gave me to
do. Did he finish the work? Absolutely. Did he accomplish all God's purpose?
In saving his people, absolutely. Call his name Jesus, he shall
save his people from their sins. So bless his name, show forth
his salvation, and then declare his glory, verse three. Declare
his glory. Those who have seen him speak
of his glory. When Isaiah saw him, what did
Isaiah speak about? His glory. Declare His glory. If the gospel of Christ is preached,
we declare His excellency, not ours. We shut out all creature
merit, all creature righteousness, because the Lord Jesus Christ
gives all the glory in salvation, doesn't He? God forbid we should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we glory
in Him. And then not only that, We declare
his glory and we do that among the heathen. We do that among,
if we're in a congregation of men who are abject atheists and
rebels and unbelievers, what would we declare among them?
Well, God's trying to save you, but you won't let him. We don't,
what do we declare among the heathen? The Lord reigneth. That's
the message. That's the message. Declare His
glory among the unbelievers, among the heathen nations, and
then declare His wonders. You see that? Declare His doing. This is, what is that Psalm 118
which says, this is the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in
our eyes? Declare His doing. His doing. His wonders, his wonderful doing. Everything he does is wonderful
because that's his name. His name is wonderful. Everything
he does is wonderful. Listen to this scripture. Many,
O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and
thy thoughts which are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order. If I were to declare and speak of them, there more than
can be numbered. Psalm 40, verse 5. Declare His glory, and then declare
His wonders among all people. All people need to hear this
message. It's salvation of the Lord. That He will have mercy
on whom He will. Declare His glory. Moses asked
the Lord. You remember? Show me your glory.
What did He say? I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. God's greatest glory is to show
mercy. God's greatest glory is this
sinner's greatest need. I need mercy. It's of the Lord's
mercies that were not consumed. Declare his glory among the heathen
and declare his wonders among all people. He is a wonderful,
great God. Everything about him is wonderful,
is it not? Look at verse four and five.
For, or because, that word there can be rendered, because the
Lord is great. Declare his glory because the
Lord is great. Declare his wonder because the
Lord is great. Bless his name because the Lord
is great. How big is God? He's big. He's a big God, is he not? You
remember, look straight up the page. Psalm 95 verse three. For the Lord is a great God,
a great king above all gods. He's great. There's none greater. There's none bigger. There's
none more powerful. But the Lord is great. And because
He's great, He's greatly to be praised. And He's to be feared,
reverence among all people. He is to be feared above all,
because above all gods, it says there's small g. He's talking
about idols. Idols. Because all other gods
are nothing but idols. They can create nothing, they
can do nothing, and they can save no one. An idol can't save,
an idol can't save. An idol is nothing, a piece of stone,
a piece of wood. An idol can do nothing. Did I
ever tell you the story about the little boy in Mexico who
heard the missionaries preach? And the Lord was pleased to save
him and reveal the gospel to him. And he had a grandfather
that he tried to witness to the gospel. about the gospel, about
the true and the living God. And his grandfather had all these
little idols around his house. And he tried to, the little boy
who was a believer, tried to tell his grandfather that God
is a living God. He's not a mere idol, a mere
statue, a wood carving or a piece of stone. And the father, grandfather
wouldn't have it, wouldn't hear it. So one day the grandfather
went to town and the little boy was home alone and he took his
grandfather's hammer and he started smashing all his grandfather's
gods. He smashed all of them but one.
Then he laid that hammer down next to that one idol. And the
grandfather came home and said, who smashed all my idols? And
that little boy pointed at that one idol that was left with that
hammer laying next to it and said, he did it. He said, silly
boy, that idol can't do anything. He said, that's what I've been
trying to tell you. That's what I've been trying
to tell you. An idol can't save. An idol can't
save, God's able, isn't He? What we study in Hebrews 7, He's
able to save to the uttermost all that comes to God by Him. You see, the idols are nothing.
The idols are nothing. You remember, turn a couple pages
to Psalm 115. Psalm 115. I didn't write that story down.
I was a little bit afraid to tell it because I didn't know
if I could get it out of my mind, but it came to my mind. I thought,
well, I'll try it. If I mess it up, it won't be
too bad. But it served, Brother Walter
Groover in Mexico told that as a true story, a true story. Look at Psalm 115. Not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy
and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? Our God is in the heavens, and
he hath done whatsoever he had pleased. Their idols are silver
and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths they can't speak,
eyes they can't see, ears they can't hear, noses they can't
smell, hands they can't use, feet that do not walk. They cannot
speak, and they that make them are like unto them, so is everyone
that trusteth them." Dead. Dead in sin. Dead in sin. So our God is in the heavens.
Whatsoever He's pleased to do, that's what He does. Heaven,
earth, sea, and all deep places. Psalm 135 verse 6. Now look in
our text. The Lord made the heavens. All
the gods of the nations are idols. The Lord made the heavens. He's the creator of all things,
is he not? In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. He spoke everything into existence. Now, verse six, who can be compared
unto the Lord? Honor and majesty. Honor and
majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his
sanctuary. I've got a reference here. Turn
back a few pages. Psalm 89 verse 6. Psalm 89 verse 6. Honor and majesty
are before him. Strength and beauty are in his
sanctuary. Psalm 89 verse six, for who in
the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons
of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly
to be feared in the assembly of the saints, to be had in reverence
of all them that are about him. O Lord God of hosts, who is a
strong Lord like unto thee, or to thy faithfulness round about? Our God is God, and He reigns
in heaven, earth, and sea, and all deep places. Now, in verse
six, he mentions four attributes of God. Honor, majesty, honor,
majesty, strength, and beauty. All those words describe the
Lord Jesus Christ. He has all honor. He has all
honor and glory. God has given him all honor and
glory. Honor and majesty are about his
throne. Honor. And then he says majesty are
about his throne. Honor and majesty are before
him. Strength and beauty are in his
sanctuary. So honor and majesty belong unto
who? The Lord Jesus Christ. All honor
is due unto him. He is the majestic God on the
throne. And then he mentioned strength. God has given him power over
all flesh that he should give eternal life, whose many as the
father had given to him. All power belonged to God. And
then beauty. The Lord Jesus Christ is beautiful.
He's altogether lovely. To you who believe, He's precious.
He's precious to you. Honor belongs to Him. Majesty
belongs to Him. Strength belongs to Him. Beauty
belongs to Him. And He has this in His sanctuary
where He dwells. Now, that being so, His people in the Lord Jesus
Christ, they have honor and majesty in Him. They have strength and
beauty in Him because we dwell in His sanctuary. We dwell in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's His dwelling place. And
we are one with the Lord Jesus Christ. What's true of Him is
true of His church. You remember I always used that
saying, what's true of the head is true of the body. Because
He's beautiful, He's made us beautiful. Because He's righteous,
He's made us righteous. Now, that being so, verse 7,
8, Give unto the Lord, O ye kindred of the people, give unto the
Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord glory and
strength. We're to sing unto the Lord.
We're to bless His name. We're to show forth His salvation.
We're to declare His glory. We're to praise Him. And now
he says, give him all honor and glory. Give him all honor and
glory. Now, we can't per se give anything
to the Lord. We cannot add anything to the
Lord. But I tell you what we can do
by God-given faith and by him making us willing in the day
of his power, we can acknowledge that the Lord is almighty God. And in that way we give glory
to the Lord and we acknowledge that He is God and beside Him
there is no other. Verse eight, given to the Lord
glory that's due His name. All glory is due His name. We don't get any glory in salvation. The Lord gets all the honor and
glory. Now bring an offering, bring
an offering. and come into His presence, come
into His courts. What is the offering that we
bring unto the Lord? We don't bring any kind of blood
offering, a peace offering, a wave offering as they did under the
law. What offering do we bring unto the Lord? What sacrifice
do we bring unto the Lord? Christ and Him crucified. That's
our offering, isn't it? We do offer the praise of thanksgiving
unto the Lord, but the offering we bring, I wouldn't bring anything
to the Lord, but that which he has provided. He said the Lord
will provide. He provided us a lamb, and that's
what we bring. Behold the lamb of God that takes
away our sin. We bring Christ as our offering.
Verse nine, oh, worship the Lord. Worship the Lord. Worship Him. Worship Him in the beauty of
holiness. His holiness is beautiful. Such
a high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sin. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of His holiness. And fear before Him all the earth. Worship the Lord. Father, seek it such that you
worship Him in spirit and in truth. One day, when we drop
this robe of flesh, and we're forever with the Lord, we'll
worship Him as we ought to. and like we really want to without
the hindrance of this flesh. You think about worshiping the
Lord as we ought to worship Him with no distractions, with no
dragging down of this sinful body and this sinful flesh to
worship Him truly in spirit and in truth. That's what we desire. And one day, we'll really worship
Him as we ought to. And it'll be forever. It'll be
one eternal day. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. That's Christ. That's Christ
again. He is the beauty of holiness.
And He is our righteousness before God. And fear, fear before Him
all the earth, all the earth. You remember when Paul describes
the unbeliever in our wretched nature, there's none righteous,
no not one, there's none to understand, there's none to seek after the
Lord. And he talks about there's no
fear of God before their eyes. That's the natural man, had no
fear of God. But when the Lord saves us by
His grace... Turn over here to Psalm 111,
and look at this. Psalm 111. Psalm 111, verse 9. He sent redemption unto His people.
He commanded His covenant forever. Psalm 111, verse 9. Holy and reverent is His name.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding
have all they that do His commandments. His praise or His glory endureth
forever. So, that's the beginning of wisdom,
is the fear of the Lord. And it's not a slavish fear,
it's a reverential fear. It's a reverential fear, holy
and reverent. Holy and reverent is His name.
Now, I love verse 10. What should we say among the
heathen? What should we say among the
heathen? The Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. Did you know
the word sovereignty is not in the Bible? We all the time talk
about sovereign grace. I had a local preacher here that
I ran into in the store, and we got into a conversation about
the grace of God and the sovereign grace of God, and he said to
me, you know the word. He said, you can't find in the
Bible sovereign grace. I said, you're wrong. You're
wrong. Romans 5.20 says, grace reigns
through righteousness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace
reigns, what is that? What is the root word of sovereignty?
God reigns. God reigns through grace. That's sovereign grace, is it
not? That's sovereign grace. Say among the heathen, what do
we say among the heathen? God is God. God is sovereign
over all things in creation, Sovereign in providence, sovereign
in salvation. He will have mercy on whom he
will. Be careful what you say among the heathen, you might
offend them. I would much rather offend them by telling the truth
than to offend God by telling a lie. Say among the heathen, what would
the Lord have us say? The Lord reigns. That means he's
God. That means when he says in Isaiah,
I am God, beside me there is no other, the only just God and
Savior. Say, among the heathen the Lord
reigneth, the world also shall be established. It's established
because the Lord reigns. And it shall not be moved. Unless
God moves it. My son sent me a text, my son
that lived in Southern California. He said, Dad, we just had an
earthquake. I said, I rejoice, the Lord shook the earth. Got
your attention, didn't it? The Lord, the world is established. One day he'll shake his place
to pieces. The world also shall be established. It shall not
be moved unless God moves it. And he shall judge the people,
and his judgment is just. He's a just God. and he shall
judge the people or justify the people righteously. We are justified
righteously in Christ Jesus, are we not? So let the heavens
do what? Because the Lord reigneth, because
he's justified his people righteously, let the heavens rejoice. Verse
11, you see that? Let the heavens rejoice. There's
not a believer glorified that doesn't rejoice that God reigns. Let the heavens rejoice. Let
the earth be glad. Heaven and earth rejoice. The
Lord reigns. He controls the sea. That tide goes out. That tide
comes in. That tide goes out. That tide
comes in. And it's right on time all the
time. What does that say? The Lord
reigneth. The Lord reigneth. The sea does
roar, and the fullness thereof. The Lord keeps it full, doesn't
he? The earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof. So let
the field rejoice. and be joyful, and all that is
therein, then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the
Lord. Believers are called the trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord. And the trees of the wood, believers
do rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. We are the true Israel, which
worship God in the Spirit, that rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
we have no confidence in the flesh, We rejoice before the
Lord. I don't know why they broke that
verse right the way they did it. Verse 13 ought to be the
last part of verse 12. Rejoice before the Lord. We can
rejoice before the Lord because we're rejoicing in Christ. We
can come before the Lord with singing and rejoice in the Lord
for he cometh. For he came the first time He
came to save His people from their sin, didn't He? He came
to seek and to save the law. This is the faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. Paul said, I'm a chief one. For
the Lord, He cometh. He came once, but He's coming
again. For He cometh to judge the earth
this time. He's coming in judgment. In that day when He comes back
the second time, there'll be no mercy in that day. Just judgment. Judgment. God's appointed a day
in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man.
All those whose sins have not been judged in the Lord Jesus
Christ will be judged and condemned when He comes again. Those who
are not found in Christ. Oh, He cometh! He cometh to judge. He comes to judge the earth.
He shall judge the world with righteousness. The standard of
judgment is absolute righteousness. How good you have to be to stand
before God justified as righteous as Christ. And the only way that
can be is if you're found in Christ. He shall judge the world
with righteousness and the people with His truth. the truth of
the gospel. He set us free. He set us free
with the truth. He shall know the truth and the
truth shall set you free.