Sermon: Sing to the Lord, Psalm 98

Don Ruhl

10 years ago

Listen to the sermon: https://grantspasschurchofchrist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/09142014psalm98donruhl.mp3?_=1

Download the Notes: 09142014Psalm98DonRuhl

Sing to the Lord

If you look carefully, you will find endless reasons for singing to the Lord

Psalm 98

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • September 14, In the year of our Lord, 2014

Song Leader and Song Suggestions: Larry Amberg – For the invitation: “There’s a Great Day Coming” (674); “All Creatures of Our God and King” (16); “Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah” (200); “Count Your Blessings” (118)

Prelude:

Do you have any reason for singing to the Lord?
1. Open your heart,
2. open your eyes,
3. open your ears, and
  1. the reasons for singing to the Lord shall flood your soul.
  2. They shall overwhelm you and
    1. you may wonder how or why
    2. you could not know those things before.
If you need some help,
1. Psalm 98 was written for you.
2. Sit back, open your Bible, and experience the wonders of Psalm 98.

Persuasion:

Psalm 98.0 – A Psalm about Psalms

0 A Psalm.
1. What is a “psalm”?
  1. It is not a typical song or hymn, nor
  2. does it follow the rules of verses of the same length and of a chorus.
  3. It is a poem, but
    1. not in the sense that we have in English.
    2. It is a song, but
      1. we have to make adjustments in the text
      2. to be able to sing them today.
2. The Lord gave us the beauty of sound and hearing, because
  1. He loves the beauty of sound and hearing, and
  2. one of the things He loves to hear
    1. are the musical instruments He created,
    2. that of our voices.
      1. He knows your musical abilities or lack of them, but
      2. He still wants to hear you,
        
        even as He knew the speaking ability of Moses,
        
        which Moses argued was not very good, but
        
        the Lord insisted that Moses speak, and
        
        when he finally did, he changed the world.
  3. Sing and
    1. you may not change the world as Moses did, but
    2. you will touch the heart of God,
      1. even as your children or grandchildren singing to you
      2. touches your heart, even if they are not the best singers.
  4. What do you think will happen,
    1. if you touch the heart of God?
    2. I predict that your life will change.
3. Singing a psalm
  1. expresses truth,
  2. expresses feelings,
  3. connects with the spirit.
Psalm 98.1a – Sing a New Song to the Lord

1a Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!
1. Can you sense the excitement of the unknown psalmist?
2. Right away he told us to sing to the Lord who
  1. made our souls, and
  2. our ability to sing.
3. Sing the old songs, yes, but
  1. learn new ones too;
  2. you will be glad that you did.
4. You will want to sing new songs
  1. when you ponder the things that the Lord has done,
  2. whether in your life or in the world.
Psalm 98.1bc–3 – Sing of the Lord’s Marvelous Works

1bc For He has done marvelous things;
His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
2 The Lord has made known His salvation;
His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
1. Look at the marvelous things He has done:
  1. He has gained Him the victory;
  2. He has made known His salvation;
  3. He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations;
  4. He has remembered His mercy and faithfulness to Israel; and
  5. all people have seen His salvation.
    1. How could the psalmist say this
      1. before the Gospel had been preached to the whole world?
      2. Salvation is not always salvation from sin and hell.
    2. He saved the Earth from man’s wickedness in the days of Noah.
      1. Has the Lord not worked in your life?
      2. Also, during the days of the psalmist,
        
        the Lord was revealing His plan to save man.
        
        Sing praise to Him for thinking of us from the beginning!
2. What can you add to this list?
  1. Sit down with a piece of paper.
  2. Draw a line down the middle.
    1. Label the left side: For the body.
    2. Label the right side: For the spirit.
      1. Then start writing whatever comes to your mind.
      2. You will experience what Johnson Oatman, Jr., wrote about,
        Count your blessings, name them one by one,
        Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
        Count your blessings, name them one by one,
        And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
3. If you cannot think what to add,
  1. expand on the list.
  2. For example, verse 1 just says that He gained the victory.
    1. Name ways He gained the victory in Israel.
    2. Name ways He gained the victory in the history of the world.
    3. Name ways He gained the victory in church history.
    4. Name ways He gained the victory in your life.
4. You can expand on the list, because
  1. it was for the house of Israel and
  2. for all the ends of the Earth.
Psalm 98.4–6 – Sing Joyfully

4 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
5 Sing to the Lord with the harp,
With the harp and the sound of a psalm [singing, melody],
6 With trumpets and the sound of a horn;
Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King.
1. Shout—put some volume into it.
2. Sing joyfully,
  1. thinking on the words.
  2. Shout joyfully in song, because
    1. He remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to Israel,
    2. which means salvation for all the Earth,
      1. as shown in verse 3.
      2. Remember the promise to Abraham,
        
        3 “I will bless those who bless you,
        And I will curse him who curses you;
        And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
        (Gen 12.3)
        
        Blessing those who bless Abraham and
        
        cursing those who curse Abraham
        
        did not mean for the man Abraham only, but
        
        his for people, and
        
        remember what Paul told us.
        
        Now get this and hide in your heart,
        
        29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal 3.29).
  3. Do we belong to Christ?
    1. Yes, we do, if we are Christians.
    2. That means we are Abraham’s seed.
      1. We inherit what the Lord promised Abraham in Genesis 12.3.
      2. Therefore,
        
        the Lord will bless those who bless us,
        
        the Lord will curse those who curse us, and
        
        we shall receive the special promised blessing.
3. Therefore, sing to the Lord
  1. with your heart as Israel did with the harp.
  2. Let your voice be the God-created trumpet.
4. Understand that you sing before the Lord,
  1. who is the King.
  2. Honor the King with what He wants to hear,
    1. which is your voice.
Psalm 98.7–8 – Sing with the Earth

7 Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell in it;
8 Let the rivers clap their hands;
Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord,
1. The sea, and everything in it,
  1. the world and all people on it,
  2. the rivers, and
  3. the hills
    1. they roar,
    2. they clap their hands,
      1. showing joy together
      2. before the Lord.
2. Should we not more so?
3. What do we read in Psalm 148?
  1. The sun, the moon, the stars, and the waters praise Him.
  2. Great sea creatures, fire, hail, snow, clouds, storms, mountains, hills, trees, beasts, insects, birds all praise the Lord.
  3. Let us do the same in song!
Psalm 98.9 – Sing of Judgment

9 For He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He shall judge the world,
And the peoples with equity.
1. He judged those who fought Israel,
  1. just as Genesis 12.3 promised, and
  2. He has judged all nations that have fought the church.
2. Acts 17 shows the ultimate judgment that awaits us all,
  
  30 “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17.30–31).
3. Sing because you are glad that He will judge with equity.
  
  5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God (Rom 2.5–11).

Exhortation:

Sing to the Lord, because
1. one of the marvelous things He has done for you
2. is to make salvation available.
  1. Salvation from what?
  2. Please do not head into eternity without the Lord!
    1. The Bible shows that one of two destinies await humanity:
    2. Heaven and hell.
      1. You know that salvation is not being saved from heaven, but
      2. the Lord wants to save you from eternity in hell.
Now is the day of salvation.
1. Now is the time to turn to Him.
2. Now is the time to repent and obey.

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