I invite you this afternoon to turn to two places with me as we think about the birth of Christ at this time of year. I'd like to start at Psalm 98 tonight and then turn over to Mary's song in Luke chapter 1. So Psalm 98 will be the first reading tonight and then Luke chapter 1 beginning 46 through 55. This is the word of the Lord. the Lord with the lyre and with the lyre and the sound of the 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. And now turning over to Mary's song, Luke 1, beginning at verse 46. And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he's looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He's filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring. forever let's pray together gracious heavenly father thank you for your word that guides us in light and that teaches us lord to have joyful hearts at the coming of the savior and that everything throughout history that had been promised is fulfilled thank you oh lord for your word may we be able to sing the same way the psalmist and mary did when they sang out to you magnifying the Lord in our hearts for you have considered the humble estate of your servants. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Isn't it something that all throughout at least the time I've lived and this has gone on for quite a while that the greatest challenge for Christians has to do in the arena of music and the life of the church and singing. I mean, if you want to really make anyone mad, just talk about that. I'm good at that. I can make people really agitated when you talk about song because everyone gets so emotionally involved in that discussion about music and what is good music and what should good music sound like and what is music that is pleasing to the Lord. And it's remarkable that tonight as we look at this, these two songs, we have that really answered for us. That's why this is so helpful. It's really, it's a little bit of an experiment tonight, But I wanted to put these two songs together to see if you see what I see. I see fulfillment here of Psalm 98. I think Psalm 98 was in Mary's mind. I think she had it open when she was singing her song. And I hope to show you that tonight. I realized that Mary's song really was not so new, if you think about it. This is what I love about Scripture. And to think about how the New Testament authors looked at the Old Testament, how they used the Old Testament now to show how the fulfillments happen. This is what they were doing in Acts all the time. They were doing it as they were preaching that in their preaching, they were taking Old Testament passages and they were expositing them to show how Jesus fulfilled them. That was apostolic preaching. But I've got news for you. That was also apostolic singing. That was also apostolic singing. And I don't know that we have thought a lot about that in these kind of ways. It wasn't just the preaching that was done that way. Mary gives us something that's very helpful about our music and our singing. Helps us to understand how the New Testament authors communicated in song the truth of what they believed that they were able to express. You know what singing does. And you know this experience too. When I have picked a psalm, let's say. If we sing it before the sermon, it may not have the same effect. But if I've exposited that psalm, and then you understand that psalm, and then you sing that psalm, there's something that happens in the singing in your own hearts that is fundamentally different with understanding than when we did it before the sermon. Something beautiful happens. And that's essentially, I think, what's happened here is Mary is doing that, and I'm going to make the case to some degree. Of course, she takes the whole swath of the Old Testament and applies these things. But I think Psalm 98 is really on her mind. It's a remarkable comparison. So I want you to compare these two songs to the lens of everything you know about the birth of Jesus. And you will see how it opens our hearts in song in a way that changes fundamentally. The foolish debates go away. That changes fundamentally what true singing is. What true music is designed to accomplish. song and i think mary uh shows us this in what is known as the magnificat but first in psalm 98 known as the cantata domino uh this was a song that was labeled all throughout history titled sing to the lord sing to the lord it's a pure a festive joyful song of celebration you could never say that old testament worship was boring you could never say that old testament worship was not full of energy you could never say that old testament worship was not full of joy this song counters that in every way doesn't it i mean this song is really powerful in this altar that they would sing in psalm 98 mary's song is called the magnificat you know that my soul magnifies uh that's the latin word magnifico from where the song has been titled the magnificat which is really declaring the great celebration that highly esteems the lord the lord there's some dimensions here to mary's song that i think help us with what is really the heart of what i'm trying to do tonight and answering this basic question that has been confusing for many when the old testament psalm 98 called us to sing a new song what did that mean what is that about what is the new song that psalm 98 is calling us to sing sing a new song to the lord and i think when you put these two songs side by side when you think a little bit about how these two songs are arranged i think we have the answer just so i i'm not way off here i want to prove this to you just for a minute listen to the to david and then mary together oh sing to the lord a new song for he has done wonderful things my soul exalts the lord for the mighty one has done great things for me okay david his right hand and his holy arm have gained the victory for him mary he has done mighty deeds with his arm he has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart david 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 david 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 he set those right side by side and see what mary's working from she has psalm 98 out she's working from that psalm all those themes are right there in the magnificat from psalm 98 so so when you come to the first verse of psalm 98 and you read this statement sing a new song to the lord for he's done wonderful things we're getting an understanding of what the new song sounds like in fulfillment she sees now everything psalm 98 was talking about she sees in fulfillment everything that psalm 98 was talking about and that was important for her. In fact, I think it's important to say, this is Mary's, the first song in the New Testament is Mary's song. So if the Old Testament was calling us to sing a new song, you might want to look at the very first song that was recorded in the New Testament. And I think you have a really good indication of exactly what that means. So that's how we're going to look at this here. Notice Mary, for the mighty one has done wonderful things, great things for me. There's a redemptive historical fulfillment here that he that she is she's celebrating this of course you know was the promise that was made all the way from the beginning way back in Genesis chapter three that there had been a promise that that through the woman the seed would come and that from that woman that son would come and he would crush the head of the serpents and boys and girls that was a little confusing right at the beginning we didn't quite know what that looked like and so all throughout history, it began to open up for us to see that that promise in Genesis 3 was a promise of the coming of Jesus. And every woman in Israel wondered, would she be the one? Would she be the one to bear the Messiah? Would she be the one? In fact, I think that's what you get right after with Cain. I've got him, said Eve. And that was not the case, was it? But all of them were hoping for this. The struggle of birth throughout history. Think of all the birth narratives and all the difficulties in the womb and all the times the Lord had to overturn it. And think of people like Hannah and think of Sarah and think of Abraham, Isaac, and Rebecca. Think of all the struggles that they had showing us throughout history anticipating the son to come. And Mary recognizes now, that's what makes this so beautiful. She's the one that says in fulfillment, I've got him. I've got him. There is probably no higher honor that could have been given to be the mother of the human nature. Think about this. This is the eternal son of God. We've been studying this in the Heidelberg Catechism. Think about this great truth. How do you even communicate? To ponder that as a mother. You are bearing the Messiah. We don't ever really stop and think. We've been nervous because the Roman Catholics have given so much veneration to Mary. We're nervous about doing this. But I think you have to stop and really feel how blessed Mary is. This is really exciting. This is the greatest moment in history for Mary. She is bearing the one that all of history looked for. All the promises that were made throughout the Old Testament. So that in Luke 1, then the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. You've got him. He will be great. He will be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God will give him, here he is, the throne. All that was promised to David is his. Here he is. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom there will be no end. If the fall began with a woman, redemption begins with a woman. In other words, this woman would bring forth the Messiah. Isn't that something? That's powerful stuff. For behold, think of the first song in the New Testament, you know, when you have this great truth. Think of what precedes this song. For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. It's all fulfillment. Now, I think this helps us to see that she becomes, for us, representative in some ways of every type of humble soul that Christ has come to save. That's why Mary is unique in this way. She comes to represent what the new song sounds like in the people of the Messiah. what particularly overwhelmed her was that he had regarded notice this language the lowly state of mary it's interesting that this was the truth she raised she was lowly she was nothing god um god chose somebody who was an absolute nobody in history to bear and bring forth the Messiah, conceived by the Holy Spirit. No social status, no greatness, betrothed to a little lowly village carpenter, poor in the ancient world, an absolute nobody. And in a moment, look at what the song is communicating. From an absolute nobody to this kind of ecstatic joy in her heart that she was the one, totally full and totally satisfied. So Mary celebrates this truth. He scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts he's brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate he's filled the hungry with good things and the rich he sent away empty this is the heart of those who receive the lord's salvation these are the people who receive his salvation that's why i've always said that when when mary is given uh the kind of exaltation she does and gets today in certain pockets of christendom when she gets that kind of treatment It was contrary to what Mary actually said. You remember in Luke later, as it happened, as he spoke these things there, a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts which nurse you. It's always been Mary idolatry, hasn't there? But he said more than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. She was a lowly sinner. She was in need of redemption. She needed help. And here she's celebrating in fulfillment that God had taken an absolute no one and chosen the Messiah to come through her. My soul magnifies the Lord. True praise begins this way. True praise begins this way. That's how the Lord says we are to respond this way. A magnification of the Lord in our hearts. A magnification of the Lord in our hearts for a great understanding of where he brought us from, what he did in saving us and bringing us out of the pit, choosing a people who were no one, nobody, choosing a people who were lowly and giving them this gift. See how she's representative here. Our music, I should say, should never be a dreadful experience, should it? It really shouldn't. I'm not saying it's the tunes that all do it. It's the truth that guides the heart to sing out this way. The heart and what we receive has to be informed by the truth, and it never produces a dead, gloomy experience. Certainly, certainly there are psalms that we sing that are laments in difficult times and hard times. But the heart of our singing is this song. The heart of our voice and song is this kind of magnification of the Lord. For even in the deepest afflictions, he's still done wonderful things for you. He's given you his son. This is the kind of music that overflows from the heart, that understands the unexpressible gift that God's given to us. In some ways, I think God might even hear our music better now that we have masks on. Do you know that? We've all been concerned about singing with masks. Who's been concerned about singing with the heart? God's very interested in that, isn't he? This is what you're seeing from Mary. Deep understanding of the gift. Deep understanding of who she is. Deep understanding of God's relentless love. Deep understanding of a gift. It's so wonderful. How can you even comprehend the depths of it? That's what Paul says when he speaks of the love of God this way. Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord with great joy. Why? For he's done wonderful things. What's the psalm talking about? What Mary's talking about in fulfillment. In other words, it was a great victory that's been won. It's a gift that's been given. It's salvation. Singing is not just singing empty repetitions over and over and over and over. Singing is singing from the heart and expressing with great joy what God has done for you. That's song. That's song. That's redeemed singing. That's New Testament singing. It's singing with understanding the songs. This is where our praise is challenged, isn't it? It really is. Praise only goes like this. Praise is only true praise when it comes out of a heart overflowing with gratitude to know who has been given to you. When you know what the Lord has done for you. Did you catch that with Mary? I'll come back to that. After saying this, Mary breaks into explaining the reason for the praise even more. David, now compare David. David, his right hand and his holy arm have gained him the victory for him. mary he has done mighty deeds with his arm he scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their hearts he has done great things for me it's an interesting twist isn't it when we hear arm i'll tell the old testament that had such significance david says arm mary says arm she grabs it arm arm of the lord and every time israel heard the arm of the lord they knew exactly what the arm of the Lord was talking about it was embedded in the very law of God he redeemed you with an outstretched arm it's his strength and his power of his deliverance of his people throughout history so that in Isaiah 52 you might say the Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of the nations and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Psalm 98 is celebrating, particularly David is celebrating, the Exodus event. Every time the arm of the Lord was mentioned, it was that single great event of God coming out with a strong arm and plundering Egypt and delivering his people and showing his strength and pulling them out. What didn't he do for them? So he plagued the Egyptians for them. And he brought them out and he brought him to the sea and they're panicked and they're scared and Moses said stop stand still see the arm of the Lord see his salvation and the sea splits and they walk through safe sit Pharaoh and his and his army is drowned in the midst of the sea and then they sing Exodus 15 which Mary also has in mind they sing a song and then he brings him to the desert the point is is that single great event all the psalms and history celebrate but there was something more that that story told and i think mary is looking at jesus coming and mary is looking at him coming to this earth and mary is thinking of the cross event mary mary knows history under the inspiration of the spirit this is all going to transpire before her eyes simeon would say you're going to you're going to be pierced through watching this but she sees in this the fulfillment of what the old testament talked about the fulfillment of the exodus event is the fulfillment here now when jesus went to the cross and delivered you out of bondage to your sin and is taking you home all that story is the fulfillment mary is saying when i study and i look at the scriptures and i know these great stories and I sing these great stories, now I see what they are all about. That's singing. That's song. That kind of understanding can't keep a heart quiet. It's beautiful, isn't it? Notice here, both talk about the blessing of generation after generation knowing this, the loving kindness, the love Mary sees fulfilled now on the gift of the Son of God. And God has been faithful. Notice again. 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. David, 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. See it? She's grabbing it. She's grabbing Psalm 90. She's saying, this is the new song. God never failed his promise. God never gave up. God did what he said he's going to do. All that Old Testament you studied. He never broke his gracious covenant that he said. And here it is. Here the time of fulfillment has come. He's never failed us. He's never failed us. See that theme embedded in both David and Mary? And how now in understanding, it all becomes so clear. Now, all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Is that not true? You know, has God not been faithful to do that? I think of how the Lord has to this day taken this salvation to every nation in this earth. You know that? We're at the very end. We're at the very end. If you would have stood there back when Mary sang that song, where had the gospel gone? In a short while, it would go into an upper room, and then it would go out to the ends of the earth, and then it would go to Europe and Africa, and then it would make it to the worst place ever, Escondido. It's not the worst place ever. I love Escondido. My point is that to the ends of the earth, what they would have sought were the pagans. What they would have thought were the ends of the earth where the greatest godless people live. God's done it. God's done it. He's been faithful. He's taken his salvation to the ends of the earth. What nation hasn't heard? What nation hasn't had it? Now, there's one remarkable difference here tonight. I struggle with this a little bit, And I thought, well, maybe I'm taking it too far. Pastors can do that. But Mary's word seems to stop with comparison at verse 55, doesn't it? The comparison stops at verse 55, but the psalm doesn't stop. Mary's comparison with David stops. If you look at Psalm 98 there, and you'll notice in verse 4, the first four verses are the comparison, but then this follows in the psalm. 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 come, he will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity. The end of this psalm calls all the lower creation to break out into praise. The inanimate creation, let the sea roar, let the fullness, notice here, let the rivers, what a beautiful imagery, let the rivers come up when they splash together and clap their hands. See, you can clap, Dr. Godfrey wasn't so right about that. before the call to worship, he said. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Beautiful, isn't it? Why didn't Mary continue that? I thought about that. Why didn't Mary continue the song? Here's what I propose. Maybe I'm not quite right, but I think it's a right assumption. It's a foregone conclusion. in other words now you can sing the psalm with understanding and I would say that's why psalm singing is good and right but isn't this just what happened after Mary's song in other words psalm 98 called for the whole earth to break out in the song when Jesus finally arrived isn't that what happened actually something far greater happened and 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 great fear and the angel said to them fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people now listen to this for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And here it is. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God. The whole heavens broke out into praise. The whole heavens broke out into praise. The angels broke out into praise. psalm 90 29 i think i started with that tonight is a call for the angels to break out into praise the angels broke out into praise saying here's their song glory to god in the highest and on earth peace towards those with whom he's pleased there are a lot of um terrible things happening right now in a broken world you are a people who in all this darkness have seen a great light you know that in other words the lord has shown down his light upon you he has brought salvation to you he has made known his righteousness to you he's blessed you with happiness and filled your hearts with every good thing but most of all he has and this is what the prophets all wanted to see they wanted to see a people and a time who could enjoy this in fulfillment isn't that what they say they all looked for this they all wanted to see they all were asking can we just see a picture of the future worshipers of god who actually sing all this in fulfillment it well psalm 98 gives us that great truth of a new song that should be sung you know what that new song is it's singing with your hearts the truth as it is revealed in jesus and singing with understanding with a heart that magnifies the lord for considering us and saving us miserable centers and pulling us up and giving us everything through the sun and fulfilling everything that was promised throughout all of history that we now enjoy he has come revelation 5 and they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransom people for god from every tribe language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom of priests to our god and they shall reign on the earth that's a new song it's a new song sung from the heart with understanding it's a new song sung with this kind of joy you can't mumble it because it's an expression of the heart this is the kind of singing that pleases God this is the kind of song that he loves Psalm 98 says he's coming again he's coming to judge the world with righteousness and I think Mary's already celebrating that as he has cast down the rulers and exalted the lowly how should we respond like Peter says with joy inexpressible and fullness of joy singing from the heart with understanding with knowledge of what God has done for you in giving you this gift because this is really what matters in life this is what matters he's the king of your life he loves you he crawled down off that throne and became one of us suffering the intense wrath to bear our sins to set us free to give us the kind of future that you were preached about this morning. Sing a new song to the Lord. That's what this is about. We're going to sing now, joy to the world, the Lord has come. But let's pray to the Lord first. Heavenly Father, thank you for your inexpressible gift. May you be magnified in our hearts. May you be praised in sincerity. May you be praised in true faith as we believe your word and receive this inexpressible gift that changes our whole lives. It gives us great joy from the heart that makes us in the midst of this darkness a happy people. For you are faithful. May we sing this new song with understanding, knowing that all we have in Jesus is yes and amen, and that we live in the most blessed day of fulfillment. These are indeed exciting times to live. For we have received the fullness of this salvation announced from the beginning, who has come to deliver us and set us free. Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Bless his name forever and ever. My soul magnifies the Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you.