Joy To The World

Intro.

I’ve titled this sermon ‘Joy To The World’ after that great hymn by Isaac Watts that was inspired by this Psalm. We’ll see that the marvelous salvation God has accomplished evokes praise and adoration from all of creation.

Occasion.

The occasion for the Psalm is probably Israel’s deliverance from Babylonian captivity. But as will be evident, this Psalm at once has more of a prophetic tone to it as its scope reaches much further than the current circumstance.

It falls in a group of Psalms at the beginning of Book IV of the Psalter that have their theme in the kingship of Yahweh. Yahweh remains King, even if it doesn’t seem as such. This truth brings comfort and a reestablished hope in the Messianic King to come.

I. The marvelous deeds of the Lord (vv1-3)

II. People of faith are a people of great praise (vv4-6)

III. Inanimate Creation joining the chorus (vv7-8)

IV. The coming of the righteous and just Judge of all the earth (v9)

“Sing to the Lord a new song”

What are we to understand by this phrase? We are to sing a new of God’s salvation. It is some new saving act that God has wrought that is the reason for singing the new song.

And here at the beginning of our Psalm that new act is called “marvelous deeds”. We’ll look at what those are in our first section.

For the Marvelous things He has done

1. He has achieved salvation by himself and for himself

2. He has made this salvations known to all nations

3. He has done it in remembrance of His covenant faithfulness.

“Marvelous deeds or wondrous things”

do something wonderful; be too difficult; be unusual; miraculous acts.

The Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2017).

It can have the idea of unbelievable, to hard to achieve, outrageous.

“That which would fill the people with wonder”

We might think of those incredible athletic feats recorded for us in history. Unbelievable military conquests against all odds.

Earnest Shackleton, captain of the Endurance voyage was set out to explore thge south atlantic when ship was trapped and crushed in the ice. He lead his crew for 5 months drifting on ice packs. They finally set to sea on the utility boats on a 1,000 mile voyage in the stormiest ocean on the planet. Upon reaching their destination they come to discover they’ve landed on the opposite end of the Island which sets them on a 10 mile trek through uncharted and forbidden glaciers and mountains. Around a year and a half since the Endurance was crushed in the ice. The responses tell it all. The head of the whaling operation starts weeping as soon as he learns who they were. Others wept as they told them what had happened. It is truly an unbelievable story of survival.

In a devastating sense, I was filled with wonder when I turned on the tv the morning of Sep 11, 2001. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Yet, helpful as these may be to capture the idea of wonder and marvel, all of these illustrations fall far short compared to the Marvel in our Psalm.

And it is to the Lord’s salvation or victory that the Psalmist looks as this wonder or marvel.

But there is a certain tension and a looming question that helps draw out this wonder:

How will He bring it about? Psalm 97. shows us that God is holy. Any deliverance must uphold His holy character. I believe our Psalm will answer to that.

How will God accomplish the deliverance of His people? Is there someone God call up to achieve His salvation and victory? Is there anything or anyone in creation that can bring this about? The answer is No. No one and nothing in creation. The earth and all its inhabitants lie under the curse brought about buy the fall.

So what will God do? Can God do it? Does he have the ability to bring salvation to such helpless people? And does he will to do it? Does He hear the cry’s of His people and the groaning of His creation?

Lets look at Is 59. This falls in the last section of Isaiah which is Chapters 40-66 which I believe is the background to our Psalm.

This very problem and these same questions are posed in this chapter of the gospel according to Isaiah.

Verse 1.

The people’s complaint is that either God can’t bring about their deliverance or that He won’t do it, that He is not concerned in the matter. Isaiah responds thus in:

Verses 2-8.

They are all together a depraved people, and God is to Holy to behold such things or to dwell with such a people.

An infinitely holy God and an unholy people don’t go together. This is the problem. We see this problem over and over again in Scripture.

What’s the solution? Isaiah show’s in the next section were the possibility of reconciliation starts, and where all true salvation begins. It starts with a confession of sin.

Verses 9-15a.

It begins with Spirit wrought repentance, it begins with a broken and contrite heart. They say the same thing God says about them. That’s what confession is! What you said about us is true Lord. Justice and righteousness are far from us. There is no health in us. Salvation is far off.

[I encourage you to compare the two sections when you get home and consider the parallel's and contrasts between these two.]

Now the Lord intervenes.

And we learn that the thing displeases the Lord. This evil and ruined state of the people. Normally when we read that something displeases the Lord we think that He is about to act on His just anger or wrath. Look at Genesis 6. Now the same word is not there, but certainly the idea is. The Lord is displeased with mankind for there corruption. And the Lord justly and rightly acts upon that while showing mercy to only 8 people. We come back to our text and the Lord is displeased with the situation. It is a bad and evil situation just like Gen 6. The people are corrupted, and the Lord is going act upon His justice. But here is the wondrous new thing the Lord is going to do. While acting upon His justice, He will also act upon His faithfulness. Justice, mercy, faithfulness and covenant love all meet together here as God goes to act by the arm of His strength. ( And He did act in all these ways at the flood, but I believe all of those attributes are heightened here as it brings Him to remember His covenant faithfulness and abundant mercy. It is gospel to the people in a much clearer light.

Verses 15b-17.

So God calls up His own hand, His own arm. Now God doesn’t have a hand or an arm. These signify to us that God is all-powerful and that His salvation must be accomplished by His might alone.

God will call up His own arm to bring about this “marvelous act”.

Which brings us back to our text

“His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.”

This deliverance was by God’s hand alone. This salvation belongs to God, that’s the idea. Salvation belongs to the Lord. And He has accomplished it in power and holiness. And whenever He acts as such his people get the benefit of it, hence the following praise and adoration.

But whatever this salvation was, there is a marvel, a salvation, and a victory much greater than what God did here.

“Marvel”

And that is the marvel of what God has done in Christ. His salvation in Christ is truly full of marvel and wonder. Christ is the arm and power of God. God sent God to be born of the virgin Mary. Born in the likeness of sinful flesh. To become sin for us!

Man doesn’t come up with a salvation plan like this. What man could come up with such a marvelous plan? The best we could come up with is a great conquest by might and force. God does it without(at least in the physical sense). His conquest is through weakness, suffering, by one whom men don’t find impressive. And ultimately in death. He conquers death by death. And though it is a victory and conquest, it is a spiritual conquest. He defeats the devil and the forces of darkness. Rather than destroy His enemies, He save them. He sets them free from there unseen foes.

Moreover, God will answer to and magnify all of His attributes. God will satisfy his own holiness, magnify his own love, His own mercy, and His own covenant loyalty, His own grace, His own wisdom, all in Christ.

His holiness and justice are satisfied in a marvelous exchange whereby God’s justice and mercy are meet together and perfectly upheld in the justification of the sinner by grace alone through faith alone.

There is further wonder in the great reversals that take place. In his great condescension there will be greater ascension to power. In great humiliation, greater exaltation. In great suffering, greater glory to come! From His wounds, healing. From His death will flow rivers of life.

God’s wisdom in providently ordering all these together at the right time is wonderful.

As mentioned His wisdom is exalted and contrary to all worldly wisdom 1 Cor 1:21.

21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Co 1:21–25.

Man couldn’t come up with the gospel and natural man can’t discover it.

We could multiply the wonders of the first coming of Christ, but for the sake of time we need to move on to verse 2, but what a wonder it is the way so many of our triune God’s attributes are on display for us in a single verse.

The second reason for this wonder is that God’s salvation has gone out to all nations.

The life and ministry of Jesus Christ was not a hidden thing(especially His ministry). They are public events and have been faithfully recorded for us(some in great and accurate detail by a historian) all the way up to his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension . “He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations” Even the extra Biblical data about Jesus has been significant(IT’s been said). His righteous life, the salvation He accomplished was done in openly in the sight of all, and then published. And further proclaimed to all.

You know there are two great comings that the Old testament looks to. One is the coming of the Messiah. What’s the other one? The outpouring of the Holy Spirit. That is what is happening here. As a result of His life unto death obedience, Jesus has won the victory and is exalted to His current reign and rule, from which He has poured out His Spirit at pentecost to get His people from every tribe tongue and nation,( where the gospel, in just a few short years went all the way out to the then known world.) One of the ongoing themes of Acts is that by the Holy Spirit, the Word of God and the gospel are going out unhindered and being believed on amongst the gentiles. And here we are today. As gentile believers, the gospel has made it to us in America almost two thousand years later. Think about the wonder of gentiles coming into the people of God. It’s God’s jealousy that brought us in. Do you ever think about that? God brought the gentiles in as a result of Israel’s disobedience. That’s us!

Lastly, it is marvelous because it is in keeping with His covenant faithfulness. God had promised the gospel in Gen 3. He further clarified it in Gen 12, 17, 50. Through the rest of the Pentateuch we discover that Israel is going to bring about the seed of the woman the seed of Abraham. In 2 Samuel 7 we discover that the promised one will be a King and one of Davids descendants with an everlasting Kingdom. And here in our Psalm, this is what the people are waiting for. It’s been a while.

And perhaps the peoples thought is that God has forgotten. And the Psalmist tells us that the Lord has remembered His lovingkindness. Now God doesn’t forget things. He can’t forget something if He can’t learn anything. God knows all things at one eternal glance. But for our sake He speaks as such. As if a long forgotten promise was called to mind and brought into action. And this Word “hesed” has the idea of covenant loyalty. It is very much one of the themes throughout the Psalter. God’s unfailing love for His people, His spouse. The term “faithfulness” has to do with His character. Truthful and unchanging.

Combine the two and you have “His unfailing love grounded in His unchangeable character.” What more could we need? He has set His love on His people, He has given them promises, and He will not turn back on His word or His people.

And He has done it for us. He has remembered. He sent forth Christ. Abrahams seed who is even now blessing the nations with by the applying His salvation to them by His Spirit. We are those who Christ would bless as Abraham’s seed.

Verses 4-6.

The question that rises as we move toward the end of the Psalm is; is there any praise that can match the wondrous things God has done. What type of praising, shouting, playing of instruments could equal what God has done? The answer is there isn’t any that can match it. But nonetheless, we are to to be a praising people. The people of faith respond to the Lord with praise and singing. The reason we don’t have instruments today would be twofold; 1) the instrumental aspect of Old Testament worship was tied to the ceremonial law which we believe has been done away with in Christ. Just as we wouldn’t bring all the other tools and ceremonial aspects into our worship, so we don’t bring in the same instruments. 2) we don’t see any mention of them in the New Testament(at least that I’m aware of).

We are to sing, however (Eph 5, Col 3) And I believe to sing out as would be the implied principal we would take from our Psalm. And our singing is not just for ourselves. It’s not just an expression. It is for one another. In fact, we are the new covenant instruments that sing in harmony together. And together we sing harmoniously of those seemingly impossible gospel truths! And to each other! We teach, admonish, with the Words of Christ. And we are singing to the Lord with grace in our hearts.

The inanimate creation joins the chorus (vv7-8)

Seas don’t roar. Rivers don’t clap their hands. Mountains don’t sing.

What is going on here? This wonderful poetic discription is expressing to us the exuberance that we are to have towards the Lord’s wonderful works and coming judgement. It’s such that as we’ve mentioned the praise due, cannot be achieved. It isn’t possible to render the praise and thanks due to God for this marvelous and sovereign act of saving power towards us in Christ. But sing we must. And with great joy. Luke 19:40 God’s decree is coming to pass right in front of the disciples eyes. The idea is just as its impossible for these stones to cry out, so its impossible for these to keep silent.

God’s people cannot keep silent, they must sing out at God’s amazing salvation.

He is coming again

He has come with great power and accomplished a marvelous work of salvation. And nearly 2000 years since the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven. We know he will come in the same way He ascended, but with power and glory to judge the living and the dead. We all must stand before the judgement seat of Christ. Even as Christians. But for Christians it will be a judgement of vindication. And our triune God will vindicate Himself and His own work in front of the world. He or she belongs to me, they are purchased by the blood of my Son, and my Spirit was with them bearing the fruit’s of repentance and good works throughout their lives. They have walked through the wilderness of this world by faith and I have kept them by my power and faithfulness.

Conclusion

To conclude, what a wonderful Psalm we have giving us such a clear picture of Jesus sufferings, and exaltation, His current kingly reign and His coming again.

Verse 1 showed us that He is the right arm and holiness of God that accomplishes salvation. (v1)

Verse 3, that He is the faithful covenant servant who comes to fulfill all of God’s covenant promises.(v3) How much more of God’s covenant faithfulness do we have than the Psalmist? The Christ event and the Spirit being poured out! An indestructible life fixed in heaven for us!

-Christ is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords that all the earth is to render adoration and worship and praise to. Even the inanimate creation is to sing out and clap their hands for the marvelous things God has done in Christ!!!(vv6-8)

-Christ is the one who will come a second time with power and glory to judge both the living and the dead. To vindicate. Even creation itself groans while it waits.

To establish justice. To make every wrong right. To bring in the new creation that glorified state where he will dwell with his people ( from all tribes, tongues and nations) for all eternity.(v9)

Further use for this Psalm

We know that as Christians, we experience God’s salvation in new and fresh way’s often throughout our lives. And I want to suggest to you that this is not only a fitting Christmas song, but is very fitting and appropriate to sing back to God in those times. Not just to read it, but to sing it! In fact, I can’t think of song more fitting or more appropriate for such an occasion. This is such because this is a song wrought and inspired by the Spirit of God himself. Written for us. For us to sing, together, alone, with our families. Yes for us also to read and meditate on, and to pray this Psalm as well. But first and foremost they are meant to be sung!!!

Let us heartily sing this song together as we close our time together and may the Lord bless the preaching and hearing of His Word.