I invite you to turn this morning to Psalm 98. Psalm 98. And we'll be referring to Luke chapter 2, but our reading this morning will be Psalm 98. It's found on page 635 in your pew Bible if you're looking for that. This is the word of the Lord, Psalm 98. A psalm, it says, O 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's revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. He's 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 may the lord bless this morning the hearing of his word well many of you know that one of the most popular christmas hymns songs is joy to the world maybe the most popular isaac watts great song joy to the world and this song will be sung everywhere today around the world celebrating the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her king. What exactly are we celebrating in this day that we call Christmas? See, it's rather a confusing question for many. Christians around the world today are having a time of celebration, but if we're looking at things really from an earthly perspective, from how we look at the state of the world and where things are and how it's going, it doesn't seem like there really is much to celebrate today. Much of the world is wracked with poverty. Nations are certainly rising up against nation the threat of war is always looming we're waiting for the next big world war persecution is at an all-time high do we really want to say as we just sung out that the coming of the lord jesus christ is a time of peace is that is that really what we want to uh to convey peace on earth and goodwill toward men there really is is kind of an american flavor to the celebration culturally of what we call Christmas, isn't there? It has to do with family, it has to do with presents, it has to do with eggnog and all that, doesn't it? All those kind of things. It really isn't so much about the incarnation, we call it, too big of a word for most Christians even to say today. I suppose that's why many Christians in our land would rather cancel worship on the Sabbath. Isn't it interesting, it lands this year on the Sabbath, it's going to happen every so often, exposing that in the canceling of it, there's no real understanding of what is being celebrated. What are we doing? Why are we canceling the worship of God? It really isn't about worship if you're canceling it, is it? It can't be. It can't really be about worship. It has to be more about the cultural traditional celebration of the day to make us want to cancel the worship of the newborn king. I suppose that's why I always struggle at this time of year. I never really know how to deliver. It feels somewhat like performance time. You don't really know this pressure, but every pastor does. It feels a little bit like performance time. I always have to go to Luke 2 then and then explain the census and the governor and something kind of find interesting and wise in the midst of what is a very obscure, uneventful event, looking at it from a worldly perspective. What do I come up with? What do I do? I've met all kinds of sentimental expectations of people. When I know we could have worship, we could say, well, we're the church having worship and still not know what we're doing and celebrating. Another real problem. I always have to kind of pull myself out of Pastor Scrooge mode at this time of year. You know, my wife always tells me that. And think afresh about the meaning of all of this and the way that the biblical writers provide it and give us the story. And every time I look at this, I am always amazed with how much joy, how much exuberance, how much excitement there is that comes out of the hearts and the mouths of those who understand this. You can't get away from it. It's a really powerful thing when you look at the scriptures and just the joy that radiates in the hearts of these people who got it. It's really powerful beginning with the announcement from the angels to the wise men to the shepherds, all of this, think of the language that we get in the scriptures, that suddenly a great company of heavenly hosts appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace towards those upon whom his favor rests. Glory. Pull back all the tinsel and you have god incarnate coming among us the purpose had so moved the shepherds that they returned glorifying god and singing his praises for all the wonderful things that they had had heard and they had seen what did they hear and what did they see you would have to get there to get this kind of response. Giving God with all of their abilities, vocal abilities, the greatest amount of praise for such a thing that He had done for them. For them, all that was before them was a baby in a manger. That's not much to look upon. Really, if you think about it, babies are born in all kinds of challenging and difficult circumstances. The angels of course said there would be a sign and the sign would be very important. They would actually see something. What exactly did they see when they gazed their eyes on a baby? Not what we think about at the time of Christmas. They saw the whole story. The sign was the whole story. His body was wrapped in linen cloths and he was laid in a tomb-like existence right from the beginning, a stone box. That's what they saw. And when they walked away, they marveled because of what had been revealed to them, the celebration that God's salvation had finally come. It had arrived. And that led me this year, as I was thinking about all these things that I've preached for every year, going usually to Luke 2 and thinking, well, maybe this year we could do something a little bit different. And that led me to Psalm 98. What really are we singing when we sing, joy to the world, the Lord has come? Do you know Isaac Watts' great song, Joy to the World, was based on Psalm 98? He took it from Psalm 98. So I began to reflect on that Psalm, and I realize why Watts looked at that psalm as telling what we call the Christmas story. He saw it there. He understood something there. When we look at this psalm in light of the fulfillment of Christ's coming, it explains so powerfully what we're celebrating. It really does clear away wrong approaches to what we're doing and explains for us what the angels were saying. It helps us to understand that, what the shepherds saw, because we can now see it in fulfillment. Right? So I want to briefly this morning look at this psalm through the lens of everything we know now about what has happened and what this psalm is ultimately describing, going back and then looking forward. And speaking of and seeing the birth of Jesus, having it open up our hearts exactly the way as it did the shepherds so that we can really sing a new song to the Lord with real joy and with real understanding. As you open the psalm, Psalm 98, it's telling a powerful story and I believe the helpful way to break it down is by seeing that it's telling us what has happened, how we should respond, and why this response matters. There's many ways you could break this down, but that seemed to be the most helpful in looking at it. What has happened, how we should respond, and why it matters. It's known as the cantate domino. Sing to the Lord, Psalm 98. What's remarkable about Psalm 98 is it is pure joy. It is a psalm calling for pure joy and celebration in the ultimate expression of praise and song. It's broken into three sections, the past, the present, and the future, calling upon the entire creation that God has made to praise Him, to praise Him. One of the reasons that you're all created is to do that. To glorify Him, to praise Him, to enjoy Him. What's remarkable about the psalm is it's describing that God has done something that is absolutely marvelous. Notice the heart of the psalm here where it says right at the beginning, his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him the lord has made known his salvation the psalm is is addressing and speaking about some great thing that god has done in the earth what event is the psalm talking about because at this point when the psalm was written We know where we are in history, but what did they see? What event is on the psalmist's mind? Many think it might be before or after the Babylonian captivity, but nobody's really sure about Psalm 98, of such a glorious event that speaks so highly as the event of God in bringing salvation, but nobody really knows in its historical context exactly what the psalm is talking about. What is he writing about thousands of years ago? What is he describing thousands of years ago? He's speaking of it as if it's done. It's really a beautiful psalm of praise. And you'll notice there, it has something to do, obviously, with why we are called to sing a new song. A new song. All of you are saying, what does that mean? What do you mean, sing a new song? I'll come back to that. All these years, the psalm is sounding out that a great victory has been won. But what is it? The entire Old Testament, of course, announced it. Isaiah 52. You'll notice the same language. The Lord has barred His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. A great victory. A powerful victory. A real victory. He won for you. You say, really? Let's be honest. In terms of what I experience, I might say, I haven't seen much of that. I haven't seen much of victory. There is nothing about this life that looks victorious. Christians have tried to create it. They've talked about the victorious Christian life. But the reality is, we know the struggle with sin. I know there are many people sitting here today really struggling with guilt, are struggling with the things that they do. They hate it. Victory? Victory? What I have a real hard time with is processing the misery of our humanity. I have to be honest. as a pastor i've preached my whole life that we're sinners i've i've said it and you can say it in a in a whole bunch of different ways i could say you're rotten sinners right and everyone reacts against that you're sinners okay we've heard it you're sinners we've heard it you're sinners we've heard it. It's another thing to say it, but to really take that to heart, to really believe that, because we're constantly creating artificial constructs in our lives and things that we do to cover that reality. This was the story of a major news article yesterday while we sit with eggnog and tinsel and gifts and grandchildren running around everywhere. Christmas is here and it comes despite the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo. Anyone been following that? Can you stomach following that? It's a Christmas accompanied by the horrors of mass execution of women and children, airstrikes and barrel bombing of civilians and mostly the world, world silence in response. Aleppo will join the ranks of those events in world history that define evil, that stain our consciences decades later. Halabja, Rwanda, mentions a few here, and now Aleppo. Are you incapable? Are you truly incapable of shame? Is there literally nothing that can shame you? is there no act of barbarism against civilians, no execution of a child that gets under your skin? How does, the article asks, one celebrate Christmas during genocide? It's a complete meltdown of humanity going on over there, they're saying. And then I read this. Several hundred Syrian Christians in Aleppo defiantly celebrate Christmas, only to have their celebration interrupted by a bomb blast. they're going to have their celebration. Not even bombs will stop it. They're going to be in worship. I guess you see how sad it is in America that churches are canceling worship. It exposes that much of what's happening here is with no understanding whatsoever of what we're celebrating. The misery and the suffering in the world that we see is almost at times unbearable for me. I can't hardly process it. a global community brings it to our living rooms and i could say why let these things happen lord i'm good with that question i say that question it's confusing for me it's confusing but you see that is just the misery our sin has brought. So when I say you're sinners, that might not get to you, but does this get to you? Often the goodness of God has so invaded my own life, my own experience, with a seemingly together life, with all this blessing. We'll run around saying, you've blessed us so much with all this blessing. These kind of stories, I only read about it in the newspaper. Who wants to come here today and hear about that on Christmas? You know you don't. In that way, when we do that, we can create and forget just how bad things really are. And I see every day the depths of wickedness to which the human heart has descended if I open my eyes and just look. I don't have to look very far past my own life. The most hateful in the world and in our hearts, destructive expressions of violence, destruction of life, becoming animals and killing one another. All of this sorrow we deserve to feel and experience. This is our fallen state. So desperately lost and empty, we would have no way out. We would utterly destroy ourselves if God let it go. We would utterly destroy ourselves. I don't know if I've captured any kind of emotion or any kind of sense of sorrow over what's happening so that we just stop and think about it for a minute. But the only way to open up amidst our denial, what this is all about, is to start there. It's into this misery that God came. It's into this sorrow. You understand this? He came here to face all of that. And you start saying, whoa, who did? that yeah that the marvel of christmas is that god became one of us and would face the kind of that kind of criminal assault unto death that's the marvel of christmas to make a remedy for such sorrow we dug a pit so large we dug a pit so big we fell in headlong and would never get out no power of our own could do it no deliverance we could make we buried ourselves in this misery and at time god peels back um all the artificiality and the veneer that we put up and he shows us and we can go like this or we can stop and think you see you can't hear psalm 98 and any other joyful song in the Bible until you accept this. But it's this that makes for the celebration of what we're doing today. That Jesus has come. And now you hear the psalm come alive. Think about now what the psalm is really saying to us. And now Luke 2 makes all the sense in the world. In the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and an angel of the lord appeared to them and the glory of the lord shone around them and they were filled with fear and the angel said to them fear not for behold i bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people for unto you is born this day in the city of david a savior who is christ the lord and this will be the sign for you you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising god and saying glory to god in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased a victory has been won for you the lord is has announced something glorious for you the lord has made known to you as salvation that's what this day this day is all about it's what every day as a christian is all about what so mesmerized the angels and what they wanted to look into is rejoice there is good tidings proclaimed to such miserable people and it's great joy for you psalm 98 describes that victory that's why i went there Psalm 98 describes this victory. He shows you in this psalm the whole story of the Bible, the center story of the Bible, how loving, how kind, how powerful He is to deliver and not leave us in this mess. He knew you could do nothing to deliver. He knew you could do nothing to fight this he knew you had absolutely no willpower he knows exactly what you are he knew every sin in your life that's a marvel to think about isn't it he knew every sin past present and future he saw how utterly lost and empty how broken your life is and he broke through that mess and came himself he didn't just say well i wish you well or i'll help you pick you up a little he broke into it he got on his knees and came into it and the victory is born to you this day in obscurity when they all wanted to kill him born to you this day in the city of david is a savior good tidings that that psalm 98 and look how good your god is verse 3 in psalm 8 he's remembered his mercy and faithfulness to the house of israel all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our god here he is here's the escape here's the answer here's god's provision i would imagine that um that somebody walked in here today from family or friends and maybe some who attend this church who feel really a lot of what we do is silly and the cultural celebration of Christmas is silly and I want to say I'm sorry for the terrible witness that Christians are at this time of year I want to apologize I wish I could apologize for everyone but this is what it's all about God told us in history that He would give us a gift. A gift like no other. That He would make it known to the ends of the earth and that He would save us so that we would never be lost. It's that that helps me get through everything. Every time I have thought in the course of life, why is God not acting? Ever felt that? Every time in the course of life, I've wondered, what is He doing? Every time in the course of life, I feel alone. I feel that he's done nothing to deliver. My circumstances show none of it. Every time that I've had those thoughts, and then I look at Aleppo and face mass confusion over these kind of things, I turn right here to the Bible, the middle of it, and I can do it today. And see, in the middle of his Bible and in Luke 2, he answered us. He answered. he was telling us all throughout history that he would send his son he promised it over and over throughout history that he would do it he told abraham from the beginning i will send a deliverer all the old testament saints it was announced to he patiently forbear for all those years you have an entire old testament that tells us wait wait wait he's coming he's coming he's coming I promise, I promise, I promise. What are you celebrating today? You don't make this stuff up. It happened. It happened. Even the Christians in Aleppo are celebrating it today. And that's what the shepherds saw. In this day, in the city of David, a Savior, and they went away doing what? Praising and proclaiming the wonderful works of the Lord. And that's what we're called to do today. You have an entire stanza now telling us how to respond. Look at verse 4. It's so beautiful when you think about what he's saying here. 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. Sing a new song to the Lord. The call to sing a new song is how this great thing begins, doesn't it? Oh, sing to the Lord a new song. I've always pondered that and thought a lot about that, but now it all makes sense to me. The call to sing a new song is a call to sing with seeing hearts the central story of the Bible. That's what Psalm 98 is telling us. It's a call to sing with great joy and great understanding that He had always planned to do this, that He was going to do this, and now your blessing is you get to see that He has opened it up for you in fulfillment in the Scriptures, and you see it is done. It's happened. And now your singing transforms because of that. You sing in an entirely different way. I now can sing Psalm 98. I now can sing Psalm 98 and get it. I now can sing Psalm 98 and see what he's talking about. I know what it's saying. This was captured in Revelation 5. Listen to this. And they sang a new song. It's from Psalm 98. Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe, tongue, language, and people and nation. sing the new song. He did it. Sing it. You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. This is the kind of music that pleases God. When his truth of his redemption, sung from the heart, as given in the scriptures, is sung and believed, and you know who it's talking about. You know what this is about. This is why the Jews to this day, they're not celebrating this. When they read the Scriptures, their whole veil lies over their heart. They can't see Jesus. So what's the gift given to you? Sing with them. The harp and the sound of a psalm. A trumpet and the sound of horn. A psalm is sung with such great joy because of everything you know and enjoy. Think about it. It's fascinating that when Mary wrote her new song, you know, you could put these two songs side by side. Listen to this for a minute, and you can compare it later if you like. Psalm 98. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song, Mary. My soul exalts the Lord. Psalm 98. For he has done wonderful things, Mary. For the mighty one has done great things for me. Psalm 98. His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory for Him. Mary, He's done mighty deeds with His arm. He's scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. Psalm 98, the Lord has made known His salvation. He's revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. Mary, His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him. Psalm 98, He's remembered His loving kindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel. Mary, he's given help to Israel, his servant, in remembrance of his mercy. She's singing the new song, which is Psalm 98, with understanding. She gets it. That's the new song. The new song is sung with joy in her heart because she sees that everything that was anticipated in Psalm 98 has come and that it was, notice how personal it was, it's for me, it's for me, it's for you. And I want to say this morning, that's how the Lord, if we're going to celebrate this, when it's done culturally across the world, if you're going to do this in a way that pleases Him, here's how. This is how. Our music should not be a dreadful experience. It should not be gloomy, but one that overflows from the heart, that understands, as Peter says, the inexpressible a gift that God has given us in His Son. One pastor said, shame on us for all lackluster worship in half-hearted praise, mumbling through the songs as if you have no vocal cords. I added that, by the way. Sing to Him. Sing to Him with great joy. Do you know your God wants that from you? Maybe as Calvinists, we've been so used to the frown. We can't smile. You know the Lord's Supper's called a celebration? Did you know that? No expression. No. That's what Psalm 98's telling you to do. Well, maybe we should wear all black in worship. Who told you that? The psalm has one more stanza. Why does this response matter? Verses 7-9. You'll notice there. Let the sea roar and all that fills it. Let the world and those who dwell in it, let the rivers clap their hands. Let the hills sing for joy together before the Lord. Why? He's coming. He's coming again to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity. let everything that has breath praise the lord he's calling on the inanimate creation to do it romans tells us creation itself's waiting for the fullness of what god intended it to be it even is going to do this let the rivers clap their hands let everything that has breath do this he's coming he's going to come very soon and he's going to make all this right Isn't that the most comforting truth for the believer? There's a statement in the Belgic Confession that has always moved me. This is so beautiful. Listen to this. When He comes, the Son of God is going to profess their names before God His Father and the holy and elect angels. All tears will be wiped from their eyes. And their cause, what you're doing right now in the earth, at present condemned as heretical and evil by many judges and civil officers will be acknowledged as the cause of the Son of God. What you're doing is Jesus' cause. And as a gracious reward, He's got a reward for you all, the Lord will make them possess a glory such as the human heart could never imagine. So we look forward to that day with great longing in order to enjoy fully the promises of God in Christ Jesus. That is so beautiful, isn't it? Fully, I get it, soon. Fully. The Lord wants you to know that you can live in that kind of joy and confidence today because He gave His Son. That nothing can separate us from His love. He'll fulfill His good word and when you see all this suffering, you remember the story of the Bible. He answered it. For those who don't have Jesus, the Belgic says something else. Then the books, that is the consciences, your own consciences, everything you've done will be opened. And the dead will be judged according to the things they did in the world, whether good or evil. Indeed, all people will give an account of the idle words they've spoken, which the world regards as only playing games. And then the secrets and hypocrisies of all people will be publicly uncovered. In the sight of all, you don't want to be wrong about this, my friend, if you're not a believer. He won't be a baby in a manger when he comes. So I call today, on this day we call Christmas, enter into the joy of the Lord. That's what he's offering you. Peace, happiness, forgiveness of all your sins, all of them. He's compassionate. He's just. He's lowly having salvation. He'll never turn away those who come to Him. I hope that gives you some perspective this morning on what we're doing, Psalm 98. God gave you the gift of His Son. God answered all your sorrow. How should you respond? You should respond with joy inexpressible and fullness of joy. From the heart, sing a new song unto the Lord because He's redeemed you. He's the king of your life. And very soon he's coming again to make everything right. We are the ones, of all people, we are the ones who can say it's indeed a wonderful life. Nobody else can. Let's pray to you. Thank you for giving your people such a blessing, Lord. And thank you on this day where it is celebrated around the world the birth of the Son of God, That the kind of joy of understanding redemption and the new song of the triumph of the Lamb that was on Mary's heart inspired by the Spirit would now fill us because it's also for us. Forgive us, Lord, for often being lackluster and dull and closed off in worship. But we know it all comes with first understanding for when it finally gets into the heart and we're born again by the Spirit, born to give second birth then we will sing the new song unto the lord with a regenerated born again heart i pray that for all of your people today who've gathered and anyone here who's heard and around the world today may people sing your praises with understanding for full redemption given in jesus christ we pray these things today with great joy and thankful for your salvation in Jesus' name, amen.