Praise the King of Heaven Psalm 96 Intro Christians love to sing Not just a nice thing to do - Commanded and our privilege - after all the book of Psalms is a book of songs for us to sing - 151 chapters - God commands us to sing and gives us songs to sing Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16) Happy God delighting in the voices of his people The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:17) No finer singer - The song of the gospel and then of his delight - our singing is a response to the song of his grace and power and love Hardwired to be shaped by the songs we sing - music is powerful - why we are careful about what songs we pick - why we encourage and enjoy robust congregational singing at this church - you do so well Bridge Course - get them singing - part of being a Christian Reason to sing in Psalm 96 - reason for worship and rejoicing by gazing upon God in his glory - God is worthy of all praise and this Psalm directs us towards the essence of Christian praise of our worthy God. We explore how we rightly praise the King of Heaven. Three points - praise the King of Heaven - commands in our text - Sing and Speak, Worship and Tremble, Rejoice and Anticipate I. Sing and Speak (verses 1-6) A. Verses 1-2 - sing to the Lord three times 1. The LORD - capitalized - Yahweh - the one true God - it is to this God we are commanded to sing 2. A new song - endless source material - each generation of Christians writes new songs - his mercies are new every morning inviting us into new songs about his ever-fresh, ever-life giving mercy and grace 3. all the earth - no one excluded 4. bless his name with our songs - to declare him most blessed and worthy of blessing a) If you are the sort who doesn t sing then these verses are addressing you personally! Not just a nice idea - a song would be pleasant here command B. Vertical singing - horizontal speaking in verses 2-3 1
1. Tell of his salvation from day to day - NLT - each day proclaim the good news that he saves a) For the nation of Israel this salvation was most clearly seen in the Exodus - now we know what angels and prophets longed to see into but did not - that God has rescued helpless sinners out of slavery to sin and death - in and through the cross of the risen Christ - his willing death in our place - bearing the wrath of God we earned for our sin - the righteous for the unrighteous to bring us to God! (1) Each day our mouths are filled with the truth of the Gospel 2. Declare his glory among the nations a) Worldwide in scope 3. Declare his marvelous works among all peoples a) Out of our singing we turn to Tell, declare - speak - do not stay silent about who God is and what he does and has done in and through the cross C. Verse 4 For - here s the reason for this singing and telling and declaring - GREAT IS THE LORD! D. Because of his greatness he is GREATLY to be praised - no room for apathetic or frivolous praise in light of the immensity of his greatness! 1. Because of his greatness He is to be feared - held in reverence and awe above all other would-be gods. All other gods are worthless idols verse 5 - Hebrew word used here - no-thing = nothing - exclusively God - Triune God Illustration: Flipping through channels at 3 in the morning - QVC - cubic zirconia - huge ring - 4 easy payments of 9.99 - flash and sparkle - ultimately worthless - all other would be gods - idols in our day - flashy, attractive - worthless - God is the real deal - the only one - more precious than diamonds and gold 2. This great God created the heavens with a word - idols what have you done? 3. This great God dwell in splendor and majesty and strength and beauty E. Application a) We long for transcendence - all in him b) In light of who he is - we sing and we speak of who he is and what he has done 1. We ve got a reason to sing and shout and declare this morning - this great God is our rescuer - this great God is all-glorious - this great God loves us - sing and shout for joy 2. Sets the tone for our homes - DADS LEAD - harder cases - more reserved - example and influence a) We sing, we tell, we declare to our children - dad, why do we sing - o son LET ME TELL YOU b) Read the Gospel - sing the Gospel - remind in discipline - for the glory of God 3. Bringing glory to God involves telling others - changes our perspective on evangelism 2
a) Evangelism not as a duty - as a primary way to glorify the one we love and who loves us - as an expression of adoration and gratitude - let me tell who about this ONE b) Can we stay quiet? Those around us heading to their deaths in their sins and facing God s righteous wrath in judgment? Can we stay quiet when we serve so good a God? Can we stay quiet when our declaring of God s saving grace brings glory to the one we love? c) Worldwide proclamation of the gospel to those who haven t heard (1) Young woman visiting from CCC last week - Chad and Sudan (2) Paul and Donna in Nepal (3) You? Don t settle (a) Senders and those who go (b) God laying hand on you? 12 year old - feel God lay his hand upon you with a burden to go to the nations - to go and proclaim Christ and even die for the name. i) Come talk to me How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns. (Isaiah 52:7) Praise the King of Heaven - Sing and Speak, Worship and Tremble II. Worship and Tremble (7-9) A. Verses 7-8 all people of the earth - Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength due his name - Ascribe 3 times (like sing) = declare that the Lord IS the one who possess glory and strength and that he all glory is his due B. Amazing verse 8 - we are invited - WE ARE INVITED INTO HIS PRESENCE 1. Bring an offering King of endless worth No one could express How much you deserve Though I'm weak and poor All I have is yours Every single breath (Matt Redman, The Heart of Worship) 2. Come into his courts a) Pause - grounds for endless wonder and praise (1) He has made us fit in through Christ - clothing us in the splendor of holiness of Christ C. Verse 9 - we are invited to come - not nonchalantly or flippantly - falling down before him in worship - trembling with awe and joy before the great King of heaven - tremble for it is God himself to whom we come Spurgeon - we come boldly but we come before the King 3
D. Application 1. This changes the way we think about corporate worship on Sunday morning - changes prayer does it not? a) No rote religious practice - we are invited into the courts of the King - the one is all-wise, allpowerful, good - responsive to our prayers (1) Prayer upon waking, in awkward silences CG, Sunday morning b) We are invited to come - how tragic that we so often spurn the invitation (1) In prayer we declare that he is God and we are not - he is the Creator we are dependent creatures - prayer - freshly offer ourselves to him III. Rejoice and Anticipate (10-13) A. Verse 10 Declare to the whole world The LORD reigns - Yahweh reigns and rules over all things - this world is held in his immutable, almighty, unchanging hands - declare that he will judge - he s coming to judge the world he owns - he will do so with equity fairly 1. Tragic - So many do not consider his reigning, his rule, his coming judgements - great need to declare B. At this declaration of his reign and return to judge we are given a picture of all of the created order celebrating and rejoicing - let the heavens and earth and ocean and forests be glad - rejoice - SING for joy 1. An overflowing cacophony of joy and celebration - why is the created order rejoicing - 2. In Contrast as it stands now this world - BECAUSE OF THE FALL - is a broken place of suffering and sorrow - just look at South Asia - Harvey - Houston - GIVING FUND [18] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. [19] For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. [20] For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope [21] that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:18-21) 3. Oh yes, the all of creation and we ourselves wait for our God to come and set all things right a) Verse 13 - he comes! Rejoicing and Anticipation b) HE COMES to judge the earth (1) Often we think of judgement in terms of atonement and sin - this has more of an emphasis on him setting all things right - justice - when he judges in righteousness and faithfulness all will be set right Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again (C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) 4
C. Application 1. Joy for the Christian - rejoicing and anticipation - MY KING IS COMING! 2. Fearful for those opposed to God 3. Suffering a) Sickness, scraping by, you ve been hurt b) Caring for a loved one 4. OH friend - he comes - he comes - in just a little while your king comes to heal you, restore you, bless you 5. The promised joy we will experience then is intended to make a difference now. THIS PERSPECTIVE IS NEEDED IN OUR SUFFERING [1] The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; [2] it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. (Isaiah 35:1-2) a) Cause for rejoicing in anticipation! b) All because of the Gospel (1) CALL TO UNBELIEVERS Let us joyfully receive the gospel and its Author. Let none be reluctant or linger. Christ s work is a work of redemption from sin, from wrath, and from wretchedness. He is light, and life, and salvation. His reign is like a morning without clouds. Let joy seize the highest notes of exultation as it proclaims to the world the glorious mysteries revealed in the gospel. (William Plumer, Psalms, p. 881) Close Tim Challies - author and blogger - The Beauty of a Defiant Church a woman at his church named Beti who died unexpectedly while skydiving when her parachute failed to deploy. Struck at the heart of the church - in their grief they weren t sure what to do but they knew they needed to be together and so on the evening of Beti s death - about 100 people gathered to pray and to read Scripture to each other - and to sing Though there were tears in every eye, the church sang. They sang loudly, they sang skillfully, they sang defiantly. They had gathered just hours after learning of a terrible tragedy, hours after learning of the death of a dear friend, and they joined together to defy death, to deny death the victory. They proclaimed that death may have accomplished a minor setback, but that the war has already been won. They stood together in the face of death and raised the roof with the message of the one who has overcome death. Even as they mourned a loss, they celebrated a victory. Even as they wept tears of pain, they wept tears of hope. They were beautiful and powerful and resolute in their defiance. It was a sight to behold (Tim Challies) In the end, that is what Psalm 96 is intended to produce in us - an awareness of the glory and grace of our God that transcends all circumstances and produces in us a desire to Sing to the Lord and speak to the world of his greatness Worship the Lord and tremble before him 5
Rejoice in the Lord and anticipate his return DEFY DEATH ITSELF - GATES OF HELL CANNOT PREVAIL AGAINST US Then we will praise the King of Heaven! In doing so, we find our joy in him, we give him the praise that is his due. That's what Psalm 96 is about and that s what we are about for the glory of his name Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Living Hope Church. Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By Benjamin Kreps Website: http://livinghopechurchpa.com 6