It’s a joy to be with you this morning. If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to Psalm 98. I had the joy of being with you last year on the first Lord’s Day of the year and we looked at the theme then of “New Year, New Storms, Same God.” The idea is, we didn’t know what was coming in 2022, maybe now looking back we’re glad we didn’t know what was coming in 2022, but that we could count on our unchanging God no matter what. That is, we looked at the doctrine of God’s immutability, His unchangeability. That is, the Lord doesn’t change. Our God is always the same. His character doesn’t change. His purpose doesn’t change. His love and His compassion doesn’t change. We sing about that, don’t we? “Great is Thy faithfulness” – that wonderful line, “Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.” And we often sing that here at funerals to remind ourselves of that. And so that’s a doctrine, the doctrine of the immutability, the unchangeability of God, that’s meant to help us, to encourage us.
By the way, every article of the Creed and every doctrine of the Bible is meant for our spiritual encouragement. None of it is there that is extraneous. We need every bit of it. That’s why this church has been about the Bible for its whole existence because we need the encouragement of the truth of God’s Word to live the Christian life. We sing – and we talked about this last year – we sing a lot of songs about the unchangeability of God. One of my favorites, because Brister Ware probably quoted it fifty times at least when he was assisting in services over my 17 years is, “Abide with Me.” And you remember the line in “Abide with Me: Fast Falls the Eventide” that says, “Change and decay in all around I see, O Thou who changest not abide with me.” So last year we thought about the fact that no matter what’s coming in the year, we’re always uncertain on January 1 what the year will hold, both in terms of joy and trial – How do you prepare for that? How do you go into the year with hope and encouragement and confidence and faith? Well, the immutability of God is a great encouragement. No matter how things change for us, we have an unchanging God who is faithful and He is compassionate and He loves us and His providence cares for us. That’s a great, great encouragement.
This year, I want to point you to Psalm 98, and our theme is “New Year, New Song.” Now this is a psalm that I preached on at least a couple of times. Your pastor preached on this psalm last year at First Presbyterian Church. It’s a wonderful psalm, and as you know, Isaac Watts has a rendering of this psalm that shows up in our hymnal. “Joy to the World” is based especially on the second half of Psalm 98. And Watts writes “Joy to the World” in a way that focuses this psalm on Jesus’ coming. And that’s very appropriate because this psalm is looking forward to the hope of the Lord’s coming. And “Joy to the World” basically says, “He came!” And by the way, that’s even though there’s a sense in which this psalm takes in both the first and second coming of Christ, Watts’ focusing on the coming of the Lord into the world in the incarnation naturally associates it with Christmas. So we often sing “Joy to the World” at Christmas time even though it really can encompass the whole of the matter of Christ’s coming, both His first and His second coming.
Now the psalmist here in Psalm 98 is exhorting us to sing about the salvation, the victory of God. And he uses language that points back to the Exodus. You remember the song of Moses and the song of Miriam at the Red Sea. When God had done this mighty thing in delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt with His mighty outstretched arm, the response of the people of God was to sing. They sang a song of praise to God for His deliverance, for His salvation, for His victory over His enemies and His preservation of His people. And this psalm is an exhortation for us to sing a new song. Now in just a few moments I will remind you how often that exhortation happens in the psalms and elsewhere in the Bible, and that description of God’s people singing a new song happens in the Bible. But the point here is, the psalmist is exhorting us to sing a new song about God’s salvation and victory.
And that prompts two thoughts. Not only do we sing for what the Lord has done, we sing for what the Lord is doing in our life and what He will do. And that is an important basis of our hope. Maybe you’ve lost the song in your heart. David prayed about people who come sad or distracted or discouraged to the Lord’s house to worship. That can happen to all of us. You know, long hurts and disappointments in life can rob and dim and dull joy and hope. And almost all of us have at least some long hurts and disappointments in our life. So how do you have a song in your heart? How do you find your song again? How do you have joy and hope in an uncertain new year? Well I want you to find your song again. And let’s go to God’s Word. Let’s pray and ask for His help and blessing before we read it.
Heavenly Father, Your Word is truth and it is for our hope and joy. Make our joy complete as we hear and believe Your Word. We ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.
This is the Word of God. Hear it, in Psalm 98:
“A psalm.
Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody! With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.”
Amen, and thus ends this reading of God’s holy, inspired and inerrant Word. May He write its eternal truth upon all our hearts.
So how do you find your song in a new year filled with uncertainties? Some of those things will in and of themselves bring joy to the heart. Maybe you’ve been able to be with family and friends over the last few weeks and it’s been an encouragement to you. Or to enjoy this special season of worship and the music that comes along with it, and that’s been a joy to you. But maybe there have been some sorrows and some pains that are unrelenting, and in this world, unfixable. How do you find your song in this new year not knowing what’s coming? This psalm points us to two things, two things that nothing that happens in this next year can change, that give us joy and hope and put a song back in our hearts. And those two things are this. Number one, God and His salvation. God and His salvation. Don’t sleep on that truth as a source of your joy. Don’t ever take that for granted. God and His salvation are not to be taken for granted. And the psalm is going to very specifically walk you through some ways that you can think about those things as a source of joy and song. Secondly, the sure and certain hope of God’s coming again. Now we’ve already said it. The Creed says, “from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” That’s an article of faith and it’s meant for your encouragement. And this psalm points to that reality. He comes to judge the earth. “He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.” So I want to think about those two themes in this psalm – joy in God and in His salvation, and joy in the sure and certain hope of God’s coming so that you find your song again.
Joy in God and in His salvation
So let’s think about the exhortation that this psalm begins with – “Oh sing to the Lord a new song!” The psalms are wonderful in that they expect us to experience trials and tribulations in this life. They are utterly honest about that, and the psalms never say, “Well just don’t be sad. Don’t hurt about that. Don’t be wounded by that experience.” They never say that to us. They tell us how to go on in the midst of betrayals and trials and tribulations. They own those things honestly. But alongside of those things, they also say things like, “Sing to the Lord a new song!” Isn’t that wonderful? The Lord does not want us to go moping through life as if He were not alive. The Lord does not want us to go moping through this new year as if He was not going to come and put all things right. He wants us to remember those things. And its said constantly, Psalm 33:3, “Sing to Him a new song,” or Psalm 40 verse 3, which celebrates, “He put a new song in my mouth.” So isn’t it beautiful? The psalms will both exhort you to sing a new song and then they will say, “You know what, when I didn’t have a new song in my mouth, the Lord put one there. The Lord put one there for me.” Psalm 96 is a sister psalm to this psalm and it says, “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord all the earth.” Or Psalm 144 verse 9 has the psalmist declaring, “I will sing a new song to You, O Lord.” And Isaiah 42:10 says, “Sing to the Lord a new song.” And Revelation 5:9 tells us that in heaven, “they sang a new song.” And what was it? “Worthy are You to take the book and break its seals, for You were slain and purchased for God with Your blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” So, “Worthy is the Lamb” is the new song. Then Revelation 14:3 describes, “They sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders and no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth.” So this is a regular exhortation in the midst of the trials.
And look, even the joys of this life, the joys of this life, if they’re not partaken spiritually, can also rob you of the real deep joy of God. I was reading William Plummer last night and he said something like this; I can’t remember exactly the quote – “Carnal mirth can rob you of spiritual joy.” You know, if you’re just rejoicing in the carnal things that are going to pass away in this life, instead of the real deep things that will never pass away – “Solid joys and lasting treasures none but Zion’s children know.” So I want the joys not just to be the superficial joys but the solid joys and lasting treasures that you know.
Now the psalmist gives you six reasons why God and His salvation ought to put a song in your heart and joy and hope. Notice what he says. Verses 1 to 3 – “He has done marvelous things.” He has done marvelous things. He has done wonderful things, awesome, unexpected, supernatural, saving acts. Don’t ever, don’t ever stop marveling at salvation. It’s an amazing thing. A day doesn’t go past when I don’t read some new article disclosing the sin and wickedness of this world, and even sin and wickedness in the church. Well my friends, sin does not surprise me. Sin is the least surprising thing in this world. Salvation on the other hand? That’s amazing. Salvation is really amazing. Do you remember the words of John Newton who said, “When I gaze upon the glories of heaven, there will be three things about which I wonder. First, that so many that I didn’t think were going to be here, are here. Second, that many that I thought were going to be here, are not here. And third, the greatest wonder of all, that I am here.”
Have you lost the sense of wonder about salvation that the Lord would save the likes of us? And by the way, every time I read that I think, “Okay, John Newton, if you’re not going to be there, I have like no chance, no chance whatsoever!” Have you lost the wonder of that salvation? Don’t lose the wonder. It is a marvelous, wonderful, miraculous thing that any of us are saved. Sin does not surprise me; salvation takes my breath away. It’s an amazing thing when God saves people and brings them to Himself and takes them home.
Second, “His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory.” In other words, God is the one who saves. We don’t save ourselves. God is the one who does the saving. Have you lost the marvel of that? It’s an amazing thing that God does the saving, and it’s a good thing that He does the saving because if we did the saving, we wouldn’t be saved. One pastor said, “If I could lose my salvation, I would.” It’s a good thing that God does the saving. Do you marvel at that? Have you lost the wonder of that?
Third, “The Lord has made known His salvation.” The Lord has revealed something to you about Himself in the very salvation that He has accomplished. You get a taste of it in John 3, don’t you, when Jesus says, “God did not send His Son to condemn the world. He came to redeem sinners.” That’s remarkable, because God, the psalmist says, is coming to judge. And yet when the Son comes into the world, He does not come and condemn as He could have. He comes to save! Now that tells you something about the heart of God. It tells you something about what He’s like. He loves to save! He loves to show mercy! He loves to forgive! He loves to bring prodigals home! He loves to remit inexcusable sins when people trust in Christ and repent of them.
“He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.” In other words, not just to Israel, but to the Gentiles, His salvation is coming. Most of us in this room are Gentiles. We are trophies of the truth of Psalm 48, that God was not just going to save faithful Israel; He was going to save people, men and women and boys and girls from every tribe, tongue, people and nation. Here we are. We are trophies of His grace. Don’t lose the wonder of that. That’s an amazing thing. The Gospel going to the nations is the proof of the truth of God’s Word. It’s the proof of Psalm 98.
“He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel.” He’s kept His promises. He made a promise to Abraham; He kept it. He made a promise to Israel; He kept it. He’s a promise-making and a promise-keeping God. He made a promise to His people; He’ll keep His promises to you.
“All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” The Old Testament and Exodus alone cannot explain that statement. Only the work of Christ and the bringing of people from every tribe, tongue and nation into the family of God can account for that statement. All of those things are – what? They are designed to help stoke your wonder and who God is and what the salvation is that He has accomplished. And that puts a song in our heart when we realize those things. So where do we get that song in our heart? Where do we get that joy? In God and in His salvation.
Joy in the Sure and Certain Hope of God’s Coming
But also in the coming of the Lord. Look at verse 9. “For he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.” This theme, this idea of the coming of the Lord and the importance of the coming of the Lord is not just something that comes from the Apostles’ Creed, though it’s there in the Apostles’ Creed – “from thence He shall come.” It’s something that is found all over the place in Scripture. You go back to Psalm 96 verse 13, it says, “For He is coming, He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in faithfulness.” Then you find the same idea in verse 9 in this psalm.
Jesus will say, in Matthew 25 verse 31, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, He will sit on His glorious throne.” Paul will say in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 5, “Don’t go passing judgment in this time, but wait until the Lord comes who will bring both to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts.” He will judge. Paul will exhort Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 to preach the Word, but he gives him a charge in verse 1 where he says, “I solemnly charge you, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing” – so he’s speaking of the coming of Christ to judgment. James will say, “Don’t complain, brethren, against one another so that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing right at the door,” James 5:9. The judge is coming. He is right at the door. And the very last petitionary prayer in the Bible – you know it by heart – is, “Come, Lord Jesus.” There you go. You’ve memorized a Bible prayer. That’s a good Bible prayer to pray. “He who testifies to these things says,” Revelation 22:20, “Yes, I am coming quickly. Amen.” And the response to that is, “Come, Lord Jesus.” The coming of the Lord is a very, very important truth and it’s meant for our encouragement because when He comes He will settle all accounts and put all things right.
And one of the great things that robs our joy in this world is that things are not right and many of them cannot be made right. They just can’t be. So unless you have a hope that He is coming to put those things right, you have no way to sing a song with joy and hope in your heart. But the Christian does have that hope. The Christian does have that hope. That’s why the Christian prays, “Come, Lord Jesus.” That’s why we recite in the Creed, “from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” That is a source of hope. “He comes” is a tremendous source of joy and hope in the Christian life. But you have to work to believe it. The world’s not helping you believe it, and the trials of life will certainly steal it away from you. It’s something that has to be embraced by faith.
Have you ever wondered what Watts is doing when he translates “Joy to the World” in the way that he does? It sounds a little funny to us. We don’t speak like this, at least in American English today – “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” I think you will not find the “is come” in many modern American sentences. It’s a weird way of speaking. It means, “has come.” So he’s zeroing you in on the fulfillment of Psalm 98 in the coming of Jesus Christ, and that is very true and that is very important, but it is also true and also very important that He is coming. And you have to have hope in your heart, not only thanksgiving that He has come, but hope in your heart that He will come.
So I wonder if in this next year as you hear, “Joy to the World” sung, that beautiful rendition of Psalm 98, if you wouldn’t just quietly hum to yourself somewhere before, during or after you sing it, “Joy to the world, the Lord will come.” We need that song in our heart – that the Lord will come – if we are going to have joy and hope in an uncertain new year. So there you are, Psalm 98 gives you two sources of joy and hope so that you have a song in your heart, so that you will sing a new song to the Lord, and they come from God in His salvation and they come from the coming of the Lord. He will come.
Now we’re going to sing – it’s a wonderful hymn; I don’t know whether Bill Wymond picked number 700 or someone else, but it’s a perfect hymn to sing with this psalm because it talks about the reason why we have a song in our heart and the reason why we ought to sing and it circles around the themes of this psalm. So I’m going to pray in a minute and then we’re going to sing song 700, “Come We that Love the Lord.” Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, I do not know the burdens of my brothers and sisters who are here today. I don’t know the trials they are going to face in the year to come. But I do know that every single one of us who has trusted in Christ alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel has this sure and certain hope – Your marvelous salvation and Your sure coming. You are coming, Lord, and when You come, You will settle all affairs and put all things right. Give us that hope so that we can sing the new song. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, amen.