Sermon Tone Analysis

Reading

Ps 98

Intro

Using the most widely known Christmas carol as an entry point into asking: Why should we rejoice this Christmas season?

Christmas is all about joy but why?

how does this joy correspond to all the real failings we see in us and others and in this world?

how does the birth of Jesus cause us to have joy inspite and because of our situation?

Isaac Watts - notable scholar and author

said songs were hard to sing as a teen, challenged by his dad to do better, wrote new bridges (lol), wrote new hymn each week for two years, became popular

wrote this hymn based on psalm 98 in 1719

original tunes multiple

Handel - messiah 1741

125 mill people

Lowell Mason

found Watts poem

combined it with tunes from Messiah

became a Christmas carol

Psalm 98

Immediate context - trilogy of psalms of worship for Israel

Ps 98 looks back to God’s salvation of Israel and rejoices in his kingship in the present and trusts in his promises to judge righteously in the time to come

It the exemplary psalm (a psalm) because it reveals the exemplary character of God as Saviour, King and Judge

The expectation of God from his people

Mary’s echoes (Lk 1:46-55 )

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, allusion to Lk 2:7

The expectation of God as Saviour, king and judge is ultimately and exemplarily fulfilled in Jesus.

He saves his people from their sins, he is the king of the world, and he is coming back to judge the world and to reunite his people with him physically

Hence, we sing Joy To The World When The Lord is Come

When the coming of Christ to the earth was first announced, it was not with sad sonorous sounds of devil spirits driven from the nethermost hell, but with the choral symphonies of holy angels who joyfully sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men;” and as long as ever the gospel shall be preached in this world, its main message will be one of joy.

The gospel is a source of joy to those who proclaim it, for unto us, who are less than the least of all saints, is this grace given—that we should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.*

The gospel is also a source of joy to all who hear it aright, and accept it, for its very name means “glad tidings of good things.”

I feel that, if I am not able to preach to you as I would, yet am I thrice happy in being permitted to preach at all; and if the style and manner of my address may not be such as I desire them to be, nor such as you will commend, yet it will matter but little, for the simplest telling out of the gospel is of itself a most delightful thing; and if our hearts were in a right condition, we should not merely be glad to hear of Jesus over and over again, …

Three fold division

vs 1-3 Rejoice because God is Our Saviour, In the past

vs 4-6 Rejoice because God is Our King, in the present

vs 7-9 Rejoice because God is our Judge, in the future

Rejoice - God is Our Saviour

Ps 98 1-3

A new song - not new in terms of novelty but in the joy and strength of your expression - renewed joy (same Psalm sung)

We cannot plumb the depths of what God has done enough for our worship to become stale.

The intricacies of his glorious saving work is apt fodder for new understanding, and his ongoing work (his mercies are new every day)

In response to his work in the past; he has done marvellous things

Salvation is the marvellous work: the root is victory.

Which means to save/salvation for the friend, and defeat/conquest for the enemy.

It covers both parties but with different consequences

Marvelous - supernatural things.

Things which can only be accomplished outside the boundaries of human capabilities and expectations.

Things that would only be accomplished by God

When Israel stood facing the uncrossable Red Sea, and looked back to see the advancing Egyptians with their chariots and horses and archers, when they reached the limits of human endurance and ingenuity, and they cried out to the Lord, he stepped in to save his people with a marvelous work.

He parted the Red Sea, the waters collected to either side and stood still like two curtains drawn back, and the people of God crossed the sea on dry land, their clothes and sandals not getting wet, and reached the other side, and just as the sea stood still for them, it collapsed back onto the pursuing Israelites, then they realized and sang with joy, the right hand (strength) of the Lord and his holy arm (the beauty of his character) has defeated our greatest foe.

And so, two thousand years ago, God did a marvelous work in the town of Bethlehem

God came down in the flesh to be born as a poor baby boy.

God with Us

Mary looked into her newborn’s eyes, and remembering what the angel had told her, you shall call his name Jesus

God is salvation

He would be the saviour come to fight the battle that we could not win on our own, an insurmountable foe; sin and the barrier it erected between God and man

Mt 1:21

And this battle was marvelous, not just in its origin but in its conduct.

It would overthrow the expectations of the people waiting for their saviour.

He would take upon himself the sins of the people, carry them to the cross, and die to pray the price of all of our sins, past, present and future.

And then just as unexpectedly, he would rise again to show that sin and its handmaiden death had both been defeated and would no longer hold any power over the lives of the people it had made captive.

“Love’s redeeming work is done;

Fought the fight, the battle won.”

As Moses triumphantly sang of the enemies of the chosen people, “the depths have covered them,” so can you say of your sins, “There is not one of them left.”

They have gone down into the depths, and the Red Sea of Christ’s blood has drowned them, and so he hath gained a complete victory over all the guilt of sin

His right hand and his holy arm has worked salvation for those who put their trust in him

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!

Let men their songs employ;

Ps 98:2-3

What is also marvelous, supernatural is not just the means of this salvation but in the revelation of it.

It has been made known, it is proclaimed clearly in the gospel preached day in day out through the Word of God

It has been sent to the ends of the earth, the joyful news that sin has been defeated by Jesus Christ and that salvation is available to you, regardless of your race, background, class.

Jesus Christ died for all people and he is able and willing to receive all people

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found,

Far as, far as, the curse is found.

When our forefather Adam and Eve sinned against God and fell, their punishment, the curse extended to all people and all lands.

But to as far as the curse is found, to the very ends of this world, the Gospel will be proclaimed telling the people in the languages they understand, that they need not fear sin and death anymore.

Joy to the world, the Lord has come.

All the ends of the earth has seen the salvation of our God in Jesus Christ

Rejoice - God is Our King

Ps 98:4-6

Israel praised God for his salvation in the past, and they rejoiced in his kingship over them in the present.

They acknowledged his rule as they went into his temple with music and praises (psalms) set to the sound of the lyre and harp.

They acknowledged that he was king and Lord of all the earth, and all earth were meant to acknowledge his kingship int he present even thought in reality maybe only they did

That same word, joyful noise, is in the prophecy of Zech 9:9

It was the prophecy fulfilled when the saviour, Jesus Christ, rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and the people laid out their welcome as their King strode into town

But alas, that adoration was all too brief and not the pattern of his earthly life.

Jesus is king from all eternity.

His kingdom is established by right - he has the right to rule over all creation because he is God

But the battle against sin, for God to be with us, required that the king would be like one of us

Phil 2 6-8

we read about kings incognito

imitating a commoner, snipers probably watching every step

always the refuge of removing their disguise in trouble

But he did not come in disguise, he came truly in flesh and blood to become one of us

And though, at any time in his ministry, he could have commanded the myriads of angels in perfect obedience to their master to protect and watch over him, he choose to forego the advantages of his deity, his right, to truly become like the least of us, to experience life like we experience, to face the frustrations of a fallen world just like we do