Psalm 98: A Christmas Psalm

[0:00] Would you turn with me this morning to the book of Psalms and Psalm 98. The book of Psalms, Psalm 98, that's page 600 if you're using the Pew Bible.

[0:18] Book of Psalms, Psalm 98, reading from the beginning.

[0:34] A psalm. O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous things. His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

[0:46] 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.

[0:57] 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 sound of the horn.

[1:15] 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.

[1:27] 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.

[1:39] And so on. Tis the season to be jolly.

[1:51] That's the common phrase that we hear at this time of year in the run-up to Christmas. Tis the season to be jolly. But why is it the season to be jolly?

[2:03] What's so joyful about this time of year? What is it at this time of year that makes people that little bit happier? And I guess that, well, there are a number of reasons.

[2:14] For a start, most people are getting two weeks holiday, which is a good thing. And at Christmas time, many people come together as families. And they exchange presents and they spend time with one another.

[2:26] And it's a time when children can be spoiled and have lots and lots of fun. But is that why it's the season to be jolly? Is that what Christmas is all about?

[2:38] And for others, Christmas is about, well, letting your hair down. It's a time when you can just let go and enjoy yourself. Enjoy the works night out and celebrate in true style.

[2:49] But is that why it's the season to be jolly? Because what are we actually celebrating? Are we celebrating being on holiday? Or are we celebrating Christmas?

[3:01] And, you know, it's such a shame that the original meaning of that well-known and often quoted Christmas song, Tis the season to be jolly, it wasn't a song which rejoiced at the birth of Christ.

[3:13] Because it was all about getting drunk while celebrating Christmas and bringing in the new year. But is that the reason to be jolly? Is that what Christmas is all about?

[3:27] Is it all about getting drunk in the name of Christ? My friend, why is it the season to be jolly? Why is it a time for rejoicing and celebration? What reason do we have to rejoice and celebrate at this time of year?

[3:43] What reason do we have to rejoice and celebrate every day of our lives? And of course, as a minister, you know that I'm going to say that the birth of Jesus Christ is the real reason to rejoice and celebrate at this time of year.

[3:57] Because the arrival of the Saviour into the world to deliver us from our sin and to deliver us from the power of death and to deliver us from the punishment of hell, that's a reason to rejoice and celebrate.

[4:14] That's a reason to be jolly. And that's what Psalm 98 is all about. It's a psalm of rejoicing and celebration at the arrival of a Saviour, of the Saviour.

[4:28] It's a Christmas psalm, you could say, and it gives to us the real reason why we should be rejoicing at this time of year. It gives to us the real reason why we should rejoice and celebrate.

[4:42] Because Psalm 98, it's a royal psalm and it celebrates the promised arrival of a king, King Jesus. And it's part of a trilogy of psalms which were traditionally sung at Christmas time.

[4:57] They are the psalms, Psalm 96, 97 and Psalm 98. They form this trilogy of psalms which anticipates the arrival of King Jesus.

[5:09] And we've been singing already from Psalm 96 and Psalm 97. And we've seen that they are psalms which are full of hope, full of joy, full of praise, as they expectantly await the arrival of King Jesus.

[5:23] And it's amazing that this trilogy of psalms, Psalm 96, 97, 98, they were written near the, at the history, the history of, at the end of the Old Testament.

[5:36] That's when they were written. They were written when the people of Israel, they returned from exile in Babylon to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. But as we know from the history of reading the Bible, when the temple was rebuilt, after it had been destroyed, after it was rebuilt to its former glory, the Israelites, they expected that the glory cloud, the glory cloud which had been with them since they had come out of Egypt, that glory cloud which had been with them as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night throughout the wilderness.

[6:11] The cloud that symbolized the presence of the Lord amongst his people. When the temple had been destroyed, the glory cloud had departed. And when the temple was rebuilt, the Israelites, they expected this glory cloud to fill the temple as it did before.

[6:31] Because the Lord had promised through his prophet, he said that the glory of the latter temple would be greater than the glory of the former temple. But when the latter temple was finally completed, the glory cloud never returned.

[6:46] The glory of God never appeared. No one ever saw that glory cloud again. And for the people of God in that day, everything looked so bleak. They had returned from exile in Babylon, they'd returned to their land to rebuild, to rebuild their lives, and yet the symbol of the Lord's presence wasn't with them.

[7:06] There was no glory to be seen, no glory cloud amongst them. And it brought sadness to them. They were mourning because of it.

[7:18] They thought the Lord had left them. They thought the Lord had forgotten his covenant. They thought that the Lord wasn't faithful to his promises. And yet in Psalm 98, the psalmist praises God for the fact that all was not lost.

[7:32] And he rejoices and celebrates because the Lord is faithful to his promises. And he will remember his covenant. And as a result, the psalmist, he calls everyone everywhere to sing a new song to the Lord in anticipation of the arrival of a king.

[7:51] And so in this Christmas psalm of Psalm 98, I'd like us to see that there are three things going on. Because there is rejoicing, there is revealing, and there is remembering.

[8:05] There is rejoicing, revealing, and remembering. So if we look first of all at rejoicing, there is rejoicing. Look at verse one.

[8:15] He says, 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.

[8:28] And the psalmist, he begins this song of celebration by inviting everyone everywhere to sing to the Lord a new song.

[8:40] But the first question that comes to my mind is, what was wrong with the old song? Why do we need a new song to the Lord? What was wrong with the old song?

[8:51] Well, the old song, it focused upon all the types and shadows in the Old Testament. The old song was immersed in all the ceremonies and laws and sacrifices. The old song was all about the old covenant.

[9:05] But the amazing thing is that the old song, it always pointed to the day when the Lord's people would sing the new song. Because all the types and shadows of the prophets, the priests, and the kings, they were always pointing forward to the one prophet, priest, and king, Jesus Christ.

[9:25] All the ceremonies, all the laws, all the sacrifices, they all pointed forward to the one sacrifice, Jesus Christ. The old covenant, it always pointed forward to its fulfillment and affirmation in the new covenant instituted by Jesus Christ.

[9:43] The old song always pointed to the day when the new song would be sung. And with this call to sing to the Lord a new song, it marks a new day where a new day was dawning for the history of this world.

[9:59] They were on the threshold of a new beginning and a new era full of life and hope. And you know, it's no wonder that the psalmist was full of praise and he was inviting everyone around him to sing to the Lord because he has a reason to rejoice.

[10:16] He has a reason to celebrate. He has a reason to give thanks because the Lord has done marvelous things. The Lord has done wonderful things, things that are beyond our asking and beyond our thinking.

[10:30] And you know, it's no wonder that Psalm 96, a similar psalm, it begins in that in a similar manner. But when Psalm 96 begins, it begins with this great invitation to sing.

[10:45] Oh, sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name. Tell of his salvation from day to day.

[10:58] And that's the emphasis of this trilogy of Christmas psalms. The psalmist is urging us to sing with true rejoicing, to sing in celebration, to sing with thanksgiving, to sing with praise in our heart for his wondrous works.

[11:15] And that's what he says down in verse 4. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Break forth into joyous singing and sing praises.

[11:26] 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.

[11:39] And you know, my friend, we have good reason to rejoice and sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. Which is why everyone should make an effort to sing in church.

[11:56] Because what better place to sing than to sing the Lord's songs in the Lord's house. And what better thing to do than to sing out and to sing with passion and to sing with feeling and to sing with emotion and to truly worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

[12:16] What better place to sing than to sing the Lord's songs in the Lord's house. But you know, what's remarkable is that the psalmist, he extends this invitation to sing the new song.

[12:32] He extends it to the whole of creation. The whole of creation. Because he says in verse 7, let the sea roar and all that fills it, the world and all those who dwell in it.

[12:46] Let the rivers clap their hands, let the hills sing for joy together. And with this, the psalmist is calling all of God's creation, everything that he has created to sing praise, to sing in praise and adoration in anticipation of the arrival of the king.

[13:06] But why does he do that? Why does the psalmist call the whole of creation which the Lord spoke into being? Why does he call the seas and all their sea creatures the world and all its inhabitants the rivers, the hills and all the mountains?

[13:24] Why does he invite us all to sing to the Lord a new song? Because my friend, this creation which we are part of, it's under a curse.

[13:39] It's under a curse. Every aspect of this creation which God made at the beginning was cursed with the fall of Adam. And when Adam sinned, mankind and all of creation was placed under the curse of sin and death.

[13:58] And you know, we don't have to look far to be reminded of the curse that this creation is under. There's not one of us in here today that is not conscious of the fact that we live in a world full of sadness and sorrow.

[14:16] There's not one of us here today who hasn't been confronted with the pain and the separation that death brings into our homes and into our families and into our community.

[14:27] There's not one of us here today who hasn't been affected by illness or worry or heartache in some way or another. And you know, it's always at this time of year that we're made more aware of those who are no longer with us.

[14:43] And we're reminded of the devastation and the destruction that sin has brought upon us. My friend, we don't have to look far to be reminded of the curse that this whole creation is under.

[14:56] But it's not only mankind who groans. It's not only mankind who feels pain because of this curse. The Bible reminds us that the whole of creation is groaning too.

[15:12] Paul says in Romans chapter 8 that the creation is longing to be delivered from its bondage of corruption. The creation is longing to be set free from this curse of sin and death.

[15:27] And Paul describes the pain that the earth experiences because of sin. He describes it like the labour pains of a woman. Which is significant because that was the curse that was given to Eve at the fall.

[15:42] That in pain all women would bring forth children. And it seems that Paul was saying that the beauty of the creation that surrounds us, the beauty that comes up out of the earth every year, it comes forth in pain.

[15:58] Just like the birth of a beautiful baby. It's brought forth in pain. And so it's no wonder that the psalmist invites all of God's creation to sing in praise and adoration in anticipation for the arrival of this king.

[16:15] Because as the psalmist says, he has done a marvellous thing. And the marvellous thing which he has done is that his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

[16:28] He has won the victory. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him the victory. The victory over the curse of sin and death. Because this king Jesus, he was born into the world for one purpose.

[16:45] And was it not the angel who appeared to Joseph in a dream and he said, Mary shall give birth to a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins.

[17:01] Call his name Jesus because he shall deliver them from the power of sin and death. Call his name Jesus because he shall win the victory over the curse that is upon them.

[17:14] Call his name Jesus because he shall save his people from their sins. And my friend, his right hand and his holy arm have gotten him the victory.

[17:27] And this reference to the right hand and the holy arm of the Lord, it's repeatedly mentioned throughout scripture in order to emphasize the power and the might and the strength and the authority that King Jesus has.

[17:41] Which means that King Jesus won the victory because he overcame the enemy. he defeated the enemy. Where our King Jesus, he stepped onto the arena of this world in order to meet our enemy face to face.

[18:00] But our King Jesus, he never went out to the battlefield with a strong army following behind him. He never meant to meet his enemy with a host of heaven by his side.

[18:13] No, our King, he went out to defeat and to destroy our last enemy and he did it alone. There was none to help him and none to comfort him on that lonely road to Calvary.

[18:26] There was no one to uphold him in his time of need. There was no one who answered in his hours of darkness. There was no one to hear his cry of dereliction. There was no one to take his place of condemnation and death.

[18:41] But my friend, this King wasn't there in weakness. He was there in power. He was at Calvary to enter into death and by laying down his own life, he entered into death and death was swallowed up in victory.

[18:58] And because of the salvation that our King has accomplished, death is no longer the enemy as it once was. Our King, he stands over death and the grave, stands over his enemy and says, oh death, where is your sting?

[19:17] Oh grave, where is your victory? But you know, sometimes that's easier to preach than it is to believe. It's easy for me to say to you that the sting has been taken out of death than it is for me to enter into your experience of heartache and loss.

[19:38] Because no matter who we are, death always leaves that painful sting and brings with it painful sorrows. But what the psalmist is saying to us here is that we have a reason to rejoice today.

[19:55] We have a reason to rejoice today because sin has been dealt with, death has been defeated, and the grave has been conquered. All because this King Jesus came to save his people from their sins.

[20:11] my friend, it's no wonder that the apostle Paul, that when he thought about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the wonder of the Lord's salvation, he rejoiced saying, thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[20:32] Thanks be to God. And so in this Christmas psalm of Psalm 98, we've seen that there is rejoicing. We're urged to rejoice and sing the new song of victory because of the Lord's marvelous work of salvation.

[20:48] But secondly, we see that there is revealing. There is revealing. Look at verse 2. It says, the Lord has made known his salvation.

[20:59] He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. And in this verse, we see the reason why the psalmist invites us and calls us to sing a new song to the Lord.

[21:13] Because the Lord has made known his salvation. Or literally, it means he has declared his salvation. He has heralded his salvation. He has proclaimed the arrival of salvation.

[21:28] But what we ought to be aware of is that the Lord's proclamation of salvation, it wasn't to be confined to the people of Israel.

[21:39] It was for all nations. And this is a remarkable statement because for generations, the Jews had confined the message of salvation to themselves.

[21:50] Israel had been called to be a light in the midst of a dark world. And they were to let their light so shine before all the other nations so that the other nations would be drawn to that light and seek the wonder and the glory of the Lord's salvation.

[22:08] But for centuries, the Israelites, they hid their light under the bushel, as it were, keeping the message of salvation to themselves. And the result was that they became a proud nation.

[22:20] They became a proud people because they thought that none of the other nations in the world deserved the Lord's salvation. They were all the heathen nations. Therefore, the Israelites thought that they weren't entitled to experience the blessing of the covenant.

[22:38] And you know, maybe sometimes as Christians, there is the danger of forgetting that salvation is all of grace. There's always the danger of thinking that others don't deserve salvation because of their lifestyle or their lack of interest in church.

[22:56] But you know, that should be what drives us and what causes us to let our light so shine before them that they may see and experience the wonder and beauty of salvation.

[23:09] That's what Israel failed to do. They failed to be a light in darkness. And that's why Jesus calls all his people to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

[23:23] That was always the great vision that one day all the nations of the earth would call upon the name of the Lord. That was always this, there was always this expectation that the gospel would go beyond the boundaries of Israel and many others the world over would sing the songs of Zion and praise the king of salvation.

[23:45] And that was the promise which was given to Abraham that through him, through your seed, all nations of the earth will be blessed. And that's what the psalmist, if you go to Psalm 100, that's how he begins his psalm.

[24:00] He sings about his longing to see God's promise to Abraham being fulfilled. He sings about God's great mission of salvation being accomplished that one day all people that on earth do dwell would sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.

[24:20] And that's what happened when King Jesus appeared on the stage of history. He called to himself twelve men. And he trained them and he prepared them to go into the world with the greatest message, the message of the Lord's salvation.

[24:37] And with that message they were to turn the world upside down. And prior to King Jesus ascending to heaven after finishing the work that he came to do, Jesus called his twelve disciples and he reissued to them the promise of Abraham.

[24:55] And he said to them, go. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

[25:10] And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. And with that, Jesus promised his disciples that when the Holy Spirit comes, they are to be his witnesses, they are to be his light in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

[25:36] And with such a commission from King Jesus, we know that the salvation of the Lord is for all the nations of the earth.

[25:47] It's for whosoever, whosoever, whosoever will, says Jesus, let him come to me.

[26:00] And this is why the psalmist is inviting everyone, everywhere, to come and sing to the Lord a new song. Because the Lord has made known his salvation. He has declared his salvation.

[26:11] He has heralded his salvation. And this is why we too should invite everyone, everywhere, to come and see the Lord's salvation. But you know, whether the psalmist knew it or not, he was saying something so beautiful in this statement.

[26:31] Because the revelation of the Lord's salvation, it's the theme of the psalm. And it's repeatedly mentioned in the opening three verses. The psalmist says, O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things.

[26:46] 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.

[27:01] All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. So revealing the salvation of the Lord to the world is what was of the utmost importance to the psalmist.

[27:14] And it's so beautiful because the word salvation as you have heard before, the word salvation can be translated as the word Jesus. And this is why the psalmist rejoices.

[27:27] And he calls all of us to rejoice and celebrate because the Lord has revealed Jesus. The Lord has declared the coming of Jesus. The Lord has heralded the arrival of Jesus.

[27:40] My friend, the glory of our gospel today is that the Lord has made known to us this Jesus. He has revealed to us this Jesus. And that's what the psalmist says.

[27:50] The Lord has made known his Jesus. He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. The Lord has revealed his righteousness in the person of Jesus Christ.

[28:04] all has been revealed so that the eyes of the nations can see the Lord's salvation. The veil has been lifted.

[28:16] A veil which hid and concealed the Lord's salvation under all the types and shadows of the Old Testament in which the people of Israel, they sang the old song under the old covenant.

[28:29] But now that the veil has been lifted, the Lord has made known his Jesus. And we are being urged to rejoice and be glad and sing this new song under the new covenant.

[28:43] The Lord has revealed his righteousness in the person of Jesus Christ. The Lord has declared his salvation through Jesus Christ, the righteous king.

[28:57] He is the true king of righteousness. He is the true Melchizedek. And as the true king of righteousness, Jesus acts in righteousness.

[29:10] Where he will right all wrongs. He came to vindicate the oppressed. And he came to bring justice. And he came to bring judgment.

[29:22] And that's what the psalmist says in verse 9. before the Lord. For he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.

[29:38] This world which is under the curse of the fall, it will be judged according to his righteousness. And you know, many people have a negative view of the day of judgment.

[29:50] judgment. Maybe you have a negative view of the day of judgment. If you have a negative view of the day of judgment, it's only because you know that without Jesus Christ as your righteousness and your saviour, you are guilty before a holy God.

[30:08] And you know that were you to be called to the bar of God's judgment today, you would stand guilty and condemned before the true king of righteousness.

[30:22] But the truth is, my friend, the day of judgment will be a great day. It will be a great day. Because it will be a day of vindication.

[30:34] It will be the day on which the whole of this creation is finally set free from the power of sin and death. It will be the day on which this creation which continually groans, and experiences pain and sorrow.

[30:53] It will be the day that it's freed from its curse and the Lord will make all things new. Because he promises that on that day, the former things will pass away.

[31:08] And the Lord says that he will wipe away all the tears from their eyes. There will be no more death. There shall be no more mourning, nor crying, nor pain, nor pain, anymore.

[31:23] It's a day of vindication. The day of judgment will be a great day. When the world is set free from the curse of sin and death. It will be a great day for the Christian.

[31:38] salvation. But my unconverted friend, the revelation of the Lord's salvation, it still promises to you today that you too can be made righteous.

[31:55] As righteous as the king of righteousness. righteousness. And you can experience that righteousness by trusting in him and committing your life to him.

[32:09] And that's all because at Calvary, Jesus came into the world to go to Calvary. And at Calvary, the Lord made our Jesus who knew no sin.

[32:20] He made him to be sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. that we might be made as righteous as the king of righteousness.

[32:34] He has remembered his steadfast love. The Lord has made known his salvation to us. He has made known his salvation. He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

[32:50] And so, in this Christmas Psalm of Psalm 98, we've seen that there is rejoicing. We're to rejoice in the new song of victory because of the Lord's marvelous salvation.

[33:02] There is revealing the Lord has made known his salvation to all nations through the true king of righteousness, Jesus Christ. But lastly, there is remembering.

[33:14] Remembering. 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.

[33:29] In this Christmas Psalm, all creation has been invited to sing to the Lord a new song because the Lord has worked his salvation and he has revealed his salvation.

[33:42] And then in this verse, in verse 3, we're invited to sing to the Lord because we have seen his salvation. But why? Why have we seen or how have we seen his salvation?

[33:57] My friend, we've seen the salvation of the Lord because the Lord has remembered his covenant. the covenant which he made with Abraham that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

[34:09] The covenant which was God's divine promise in which he promised to redeem lost sinners like us out of his love for us. And that's what the Lord's covenant was based upon.

[34:23] It was based upon his steadfast love and faithfulness. His covenant love and his covenant faithfulness. And so the psalmist affirms to us that we have seen the Lord's salvation all because he has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness.

[34:41] He has remembered his grace and truth. He has remembered his grace and truth. And this is what makes this Christmas psalm so wonderful. Because as we said earlier, this psalm was written after the exile when the people of Israel, they returned from Babylon to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.

[35:05] And when the temple was rebuilt, the people of Israel, they expected the glory cloud of the Lord to fill the temple as it did in the former temple. Because the glory cloud of the Lord's presence, it had departed when the temple was destroyed.

[35:20] And the Lord had promised that through his prophet, the glory of the latter temple would be greater than the glory of the former temple. But when the latter temple was completed, the glory cloud never returned.

[35:34] No one ever saw the glory cloud. And for the people of God in that day, everything looked so bleak. It seemed so dark because they questioned the Lord's covenant, they questioned the Lord's faithfulness, they questioned all his promises, they said, where is the Lord gone?

[35:52] But as we've seen, the psalmist calls us to rejoice and to sing to the Lord a new song because the Lord has revealed his salvation. He has remembered his covenant.

[36:04] He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness. He has remembered his grace and truth. And the glory of the latter temple would be greater than the glory of the former temple.

[36:17] Because when the glory of the latter temple was finally revealed, it didn't appear in the form of a glory cloud like it did in the old covenant. It appeared in the person of Jesus Christ.

[36:32] Because he is the temple, the temple of the living God. He is God dwelling upon the earth amongst his people. And this is the wonder of what John was telling us in his gospel where he spoke of Jesus as the eternal word of God who was in the beginning with God and that all things were made through him and without him there was not anything made that was made.

[36:58] But that eternal word, he was made flesh. He says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. He tabernacled among us.

[37:11] He made his temple among us. And John says that we have seen his salvation. In him, salvation has been revealed because in the person of Jesus Christ, in the temple of God, he said, we beheld his glory.

[37:28] The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. My friend, the arrival of King Jesus into the world revealed the glory of God in human flesh.

[37:42] And it was revealed according to God's covenant promise of grace and truth. As John reminded us, he said, the law that came by Moses, the old covenant, the old song, that came by Moses, but grace and truth, the new covenant, the new song, that arrived in the person of Jesus Christ.

[38:13] Christ. My friend, this Christmas psalm, if you want to call it that, it gives to us the real reason we should be rejoicing at this time of year.

[38:24] Because the Lord has revealed his salvation to us in the person of Jesus Christ all because he has remembered his covenant, his covenant of steadfast love and faithfulness.

[38:40] He has remembered his grace and truth. And this Christmas psalm, it calls us and invites us to rejoice, to rejoice and celebrate at the arrival of the Saviour, King Jesus.

[38:59] the arrival of the Saviour, into the world, as we said, it marked our deliverance from sin.

[39:23] it marked deliverance from the power of death and it marked deliverance from the punishment of hell.

[39:35] And what better reason, what better reason do we have to rejoice and celebrate today than in a Saviour who delivers us from sin, death, and hell.

[39:48] the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

[40:03] And it was because of this Christmas psalm, Psalm 98, and its invitation to rejoice and sing to the Lord that new song.

[40:15] That's why Isaac Watts wrote that famous Christmas carol, Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her king.

[40:29] Let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing. Joy to the world, the Lord has come.

[40:43] My friend, I hope and I pray that you will respond to this invitation today to truly rejoice that Jesus, Jesus is not only a Lord and King, I hope and pray that you will rejoice that he is your Lord and King.

[41:09] May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray. O Lord, our gracious God, we have so many good reasons to rejoice and help us to rejoice and be glad in thee.

[41:24] For thou art a great God and a great King. Help us to see the wonder of salvation. Help us to fall on our knees and praise and thank thee for all that thou hast done for us.

[41:37] That it is beyond our asking and beyond our thinking that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. That he who knew no sin became sin for us.

[41:49] O Lord, we bless thee for what Jesus Christ has done. Help us to embrace it. Help us to rejoice in it. To do as Paul said long ago, to rejoice in the Lord always.

[42:04] Again I say rejoice. Bless us on this day, thine own day. Keep us, we pray thee, for we ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. We can sing again in conclusion in Psalm 98.

[42:28] Psalm 98, page 360. We're singing from the beginning down to the verse marked four. Psalm 98 from the beginning.

[42:43] O sing a new song to the Lord for wonders he hath done. His right hand and his holy arm him victory hath won. The Lord God his salvation hath cause to be known.

[42:55] His justice in the heathen sight he openly hath shown. He mindful of his grace and truth to Israel's house hath been. And the salvation of our God all ends of the earth have seen.

[43:06] Let all the earth unto the Lord send forth a joyful noise. Lift up your voice aloud to him. Sing praises and rejoice. These verses to God's praise.

[43:17] Amen. O sing a new song to the Lord for wonders he hath done.

[43:34] His might and that his holy arm and that he hath done.

[43:44] In victory he hath won. The Lord for his salvation hath caused it to be known.

[44:04] His justice in the heathen sight he openly hath shown.

[44:19] He mindful of his grace and truth to Israel's house hath been.

[44:36] and the salvation of our God all ends of the earth have seen.

[44:51] seen. Let all the earth unto the Lord send forth a joyful noise.

[45:08] lift up lift up your voice along to him sing praises and rejoice.

[45:23] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, both now and forevermore.

[45:34] Amen.