noise before the lord the king let the sea roar and the fullness thereof the world and they that dwell therein let the floods clap their hands let the hills be joyful together before the lord for he cometh to judge the earth with righteousness shall he judge the world and the people with equity may the lord have his blessing to the reading of his most precious word. The second praise is number 274, based on the psalm we've just read, Psalm 89. Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her king. Hymn 274. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. He comes to make His blessings known For us when mercy's gone, For us when mercy's gone, For us when mercy's gone. That makes the nations proud. The glories of His righteousness. The wonders of His love. The wonders of His love. The wonders, the wonders of His love. Let's pray together. Most gracious and loving Heavenly Father, may we bless you for you are a God who is supreme, a God who is high and lifted up. You are the sovereign one, the maker of heaven and earth. And Lord, as we've just sung, we pray that the Lord will come. Joy to the world, the Lord is come. But Lord, we look to that day when he shall come again for the second time. And that's a glorious prospect for the children of God. We gladly acknowledge you to be our king, to be our sovereign ruler. We thank you, Lord, for the grace that you've shed abroad in our hearts. We thank you, Lord, for the eyes that you've opened to the truth of your word, that you are King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And this morning, we humbly bow before that throne of grace, that awesome throne upon which the judge of all the world sits, the throne on which the Savior himself resides, the throne, as we've been told in scripture, where we will sit, what a marvelous thing that is to comprehend. But how can we comprehend such truths that we will sit with our Savior upon his throne? We thank you, Lord, that you are the creator and sustainer of all things, that this world is yours, that you created it for your praise and for your glory. We thank you, Lord, that you sustain it and you uphold all things by your mighty right hand. And we thank you, Lord, for the promise that this world shall be established, it shall never be moved, for you are a God of all power and all might. And so, Lord, we take comfort this morning that you are our sovereign God. We thank you that you know us, and that you know our rising and our setting, you know our thoughts, you know our feelings, you know our fears and concerns. Above all, Lord, you know our needs. You know those needs which we have for temporal things, but above all, Lord, for the spiritual needs we have in a never-dying soul. So we thank you, Father, that you sent your beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be the remedy of our sin, And we thank you that he came from heaven's glory, from the worship of angels and archangels, from all those who prostrate before his throne, the four and 20 elders. And we thank you, Lord, that he left all that splendor, all that glory to come and to seek and to save that which is lost. And by your grace, we thank you that you found us, you found me. You found me, Lord, in my sin. and in my need to be reconciled to a holy and a righteous God. We thank you, Lord, that you have given us the gospel, that good news, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. We pray it all again this Lord's Day that as the gospel is sounded forth from many pulpits up and down our land, that the clear sound of the gospel may be heard that ears may be unstopped, that hearts of stone may be turned into hearts of flesh, and there may be a turning of many in our nation to the true and to the living God. So Father, we pray that you'd open our hearts to your word this morning. And some of these things are familiar to us. But Lord, we pray that we may be strangely warmed as we consider the grace and love and mercy of our God through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray again, Lord, for our world and particularly for our nation this time. We pray, Father, for much help in our government and for our Queen and for those who rule over us. We pray, Lord, that you raise up righteous men and women, men and women of integrity and of honor. And we pray, Lord, that upon our nation you would have mercy upon us. Again, Lord, as we pray so often in your wrath, remember mercy. Lord, we are under your judgment, we acknowledge that. But Lord, we pray that you would stay the hand of the evil one, and that Lord, you would raise up that banner as this mighty flood rushes upon our nation so that righteousness will prevail. We pray, Lord, for the children of our nation, those, Lord, who have been indoctrinated into the things which are contrary to your word, and even to nature itself, And we pray, Lord, that you'll watch over our loved ones, our children, our grandchildren. We pray, Lord, that they may be kept in the love of God and under the word of God. We pray for parents, Lord, and grandparents to teach their children the ways of righteousness, the just ways that we may set their feet firmly upon your commandments and upon your precepts. Lord, our God, have mercy upon our children. Have mercy upon our nation. We pray, Lord, for all Christian teachers, that they may be given great wisdom in this evil day, and for Christian parents, as they feel pressurized to conform to the image of this evil world. Lord, we are called to those who are to be sought in light in this nation, in this world, and we pray, Lord, that may be so for us gathered here this morning. We pray, conscious Lord, for those who are unwell, those who are suffering in body, mind, and spirit. We pray, Father, that you may draw close to them in their need. Lord, you would bring healing to their bodies. Those, Lord, who are tormented in their minds, that you would bring relief also. Lord, we live in difficult days. We see so many people depressed and downcast, but we thank you that you are God who raises up the downcast. And so, Lord, we pray for opportunities to speak well of our Savior and of his healing hands. Lord, we thank you for this church. We thank you for all that you have blessed us over many years. And Lord, as we see the signs of decline, we look to you to build us up in your grace, love, and mercy. And so, Lord, we look to you to provide for us a pastor for this fellowship, a man of your choosing, a man after your own heart that will lead us in the ways of truth, peace, and righteousness. We look to you, Lord, to come amongst us and to bless us. We pray, Lord, that you would Establish that was already here. We pray, Lord, that we may stand fast against the onslaughts, particularly our own hearts and minds, as we fear for the future. May we know that we are in the hands of the sovereign God of heaven and earth, and what better place to be. And so, Lord, we look to you, not only for ourselves, but other like-minded fellowships in our county, in our nation. We pray, Lord, that you would keep the gospel flame burning bright in these causes of truth. And so, Lord, as we turn to your word presently, we pray you may speak to us through it. We may be instructed in the ways of righteousness, but we may be corrected if need be, and challenged to our standing before the living God. And so, Lord, we ask these things with the forgiveness of our every sin, in Jesus' name. Amen. Third hymn please is hymn number 97. The Lord Jehovah reigns, his throne is built on high. Based on Psalm 148. The Lord Jehovah reigns. The founders of this land, deep in our holy home, ♪ History unfolds and speaks to us today ♪ ♪ All his mighty work ♪ ♪ By raising wisdom's child ♪ ♪ Earth comes a house of power ♪ ♪ And brings forth all his art ♪ ♪ So this is a mansion of him ♪ And with this mighty gift of glory from this end, I'll clearly write his name, my father and my friend. I have his name. I must go pray to the Lord. I invite you to turn your Bibles into Psalm 89. Psalm 89. For those of you who meet with us on a Thursday evening, over here on Zoom, you'll be aware we've been studying this section here in the Book of Psalms. We're referring to the Lord God who is sovereign of heaven and earth. The Psalms begin in Psalm 93, and Psalm 99 is the end of that short section. References all through these Psalms to the Lord who reigns, the Lord who is king of heaven and earth, It's God who is a great king, Psalm 95, and it speaks of the sovereignty of God. And again, we are so glad to know that we have a God who is sovereign of heaven and earth, a God who knows us, who cares for us, a God to whom we can approach as our Lord and Master. What a privilege for the people of God. You can't turn up back on Buckingham Palace and knock on the door and say, I'd like to see the Queen, please. You know, be invited. You just can't do that. But we come to this God, who is our sovereign God. King of kings and Lord of lords. And He's not a God or a king that is for a period of time. He reigns forevermore. Psalm 96, verse 10. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth. That's present tense. He reigns, He reigns now and He reigns in the future. There's no beginning, there's no end to His kingship. He is Lord of all. And again, that theme's picked up in our psalm this morning, in verse six, with trumpet and sound of cornet, make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King. So we want to pick up some themes through this wonderful psalm this morning, which speaks of the sovereignty of our God. The start of this psalm is quite unique. It just says there, a psalm. I think it's the only one with that title in the Book of Psalms, or psalm. This is a psalm of praise and worship. There's no mention of the enemies of God here. It's purely a psalm of praise unto God. And it begins with familiar words, which we've already considered in Psalm 96, verse one. So in Psalm 98, verse 10, sing unto the Lord a new song. 96, and sing unto the Lord a new song. And this new song is to do with what God has revealed about himself. It's this new revelation of what God has done. And as that revelation was unfolded to the children of Israel, they were instructed to sing a new song. And this new song in Psalm 98 speaks of what God has done. Why should we sing a new song? So in verse three, this is the reason. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel. Secondly, all the ends of earth have seen the salvation of our God. Why do we sing a new song? Because God has remembered. He hath, present tense, He hath remembered His mercy and His truth towards the house of Israel. How was that manifested? Verse 1 again, I sing unto the Lord a new song, for He hath done marvellous things. His right hand and His holy arm have gotten him the victory." Now, that word victory, we can translate as salvation, because there's a sense that is true of that word salvation. And this is a theme which runs through the first section of this psalm. Verse 2, the Lord hath made known his salvation, and his righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the He remembered His mercy and His truth toward the house of Israel. The ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. So, three times in three verses. So, again, that's an important principle. When God repeats something, it's important. When He repeats it three times, we should take more notice of that truth. What is the salvation the psalmist is speaking of? What is this great victory that God the King has wrought for the children of Israel? He has done marvelous things. He's done it with his right hand. His holy arm have gotten him the victory. Now many commentators speculate about many battles where the Lord intervened for his people. Some commentators think this psalm was written later so it could refer to the homecoming of the children of Israel from Babylon and to the setting up of the nation of Israel once again. But no one is conclusive with their evidence. So it's just as well, isn't it? It's just as well that we don't have a definite point of history and time where we can see that God has moved in a marvellous way. He's come in for his people. He's shown his holy arm and gotten him the victory. What lessons can we learn from this for ourselves in 2022 here in Gordon Road? I think there are some simple lessons and probably some you've already picked up on them. God has shown a great deliverance. He's shown a great victory. He's won a mighty victory. And He's won that in our lives, for you and I as Christians, the deliverance from sin. We have been delivered from sin. And that took a mighty act of God. You see, sin separates. Sin destroys. you can look back in your life, I'm sure that you've had good friendships, you had good relationships with friends, work colleagues and over a period of time something has been said or something was done either by you or by them. Sometimes you don't even know what you said or done and that sin, that word, that action separates. It breaks a friendship. it breaks a relationship. It breaks sometimes strong relationships and then you're cut off or you cut them off, there's no correspondence, there's no communication. The friendship is broken and that's what sin does. It breaks, it destroys, it separates. That's just in a human terms but in the spiritual aspect of these things, our sin separates us from a holy and a just God. He cannot bear to look upon sin. God hates sin. It's an abomination to Him. It separates. In the beginning, it was not so. When He created the heavens and the earth and Adam and Eve and He went to visit them in the cool of the day in the garden, what did we find? We find that Adam and Eve, they hide themselves And God cries out, where are you? Where are you? That bond had been broken. There's that separation. As we know from that, that sin of Adam and Eve there in the garden. Sin came into the world and that sweet communion with a holy and righteous God was broken. So a relationship with God is broken. If you're not a Christian here this morning, your relationship, your sin separates you from a holy and a righteous God. How can that be repaired? How can that relationship be restored with a righteous God? How can we restore broken relationships with friends and acquaintances? We can go to them, we can write letters, we can apologize, But our sin with God needs more than that. Who can save us? Who can save us from this separation, from this disfellowshipping from God and man? Can the world help us? The world can't help itself. You look at the world today. Devoes, which Yosef speaks about later on, he talks in the last section of 7 to 9 here about creation, worshipping God. We see in our present day and age that man is at war, enmity with man, there's destruction and disease. Wherever we look upon our news, we see desperate scenes there in Ukraine of families being separated, Families being murdered and killed. We see homes absolutely obliterated. The world has no answer, even to the problems of the Ukraine. The UN seems to be unable to make any inroads into bringing peace to our poor nation. The world cannot help us. What about ourselves? Every New Year you probably make a New Year's resolution. How long does it last for? Not very long. I'm not going to eat chocolate this year. Well, that's a big one for some of us. You see, we don't have the means, we don't have the power to save ourselves. The world cannot help us. We cannot even save ourselves. As the Apostle Paul put it there, in Romans. In Romans 7, 20, 21, he says, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God for the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin. which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" That's his problem. He longs to do good. He has a good heart. He has a good intention. But that indwelling sin has captivated him, holds him back. And he cries out, O wretched man! Do you feel that this morning? Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Because that's the ultimate end of sin, is death. Not just physical death, but eternal death, eternal separation from God Himself. Now that sounds a bit depressing for some of us, but there is an answer there in Romans 7 and verse 25. Verse 24 again, a wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law, but of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He's the remedy, friends. He is the only remedy. for our sin. The world cannot help us. We can't help ourselves. It's only God. Only God can save us. And just to underline what Romans 7.25 says, we can read into Romans 8.1.4 This is good news for you sinner, good news for you who have been separated from the love of God. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus have made me free from the law of sin and death. for what the law could not do. In fact, it was weak through the flesh. God sending his son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. But the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. That's good news. That is good news. What we cannot do ourselves, Christ came to do on our behalf. There is therefore, sinner, no condemnation. You are no longer under condemnation if you trust in the finished work of Christ, to them which are in Christ Jesus. That's the question we need to consider in our hearts and minds this morning. Am I in Christ Jesus? Am I walking in the spirit, or am I still walking in the flesh? You see, God is a righteous God. We read that in verse 9 of our psalm. Before the Lord, for he cometh to judge the earth with righteousness, shall the judge of the world and the people with equity. in Psalm 96, verse 13. Before the Lord, for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth, he shall judge the world of righteousness and the people with his truth. See, God is righteous and just. He can't wink at sin. He can't say, it doesn't matter. It does matter, sin matters to God. And we see there is no remedy in ourselves, in the world. The remedy is found in Christ Jesus. And because God is righteous, and because God is just, sin must be judged. And His righteousness and His judgment are met in Jesus Christ. God lays upon His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, our sin. Our sin is imputed, it's set to His account is imputed to Jesus Christ. And when Jesus bears the sin of the world upon the cross, He bears our sin. And God is satisfied because Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, bears that sin away. Justice is satisfied. So we may be free. we may be reconciled to a holy God. The psalm speaks of deliverance from sin. It speaks deliverance from death, that final enemy. Death has been conquered. Death has been overcome by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We also find that God has delivered us from Satan himself. We are delivered from the power and the influence of Satan, the father of lies. So this psalm speaks of that mighty victory. And because we as the children of God have been imputed with his righteousness, we are thus commanded to sing. Sing unto the Lord a new song. song of joy, exuberance, songs of victory. Ezra speaks fair, but when the children of Ezra set up a temple, the cry could be heard afar off as their voices were raised in praise. Those who were crying, those who were joyous at their new situation, their voice was heard afar off. Sad to say, our singing doesn't go very far. You have a new song to sing. And when you used to sing the old songs of your old nature, you sung them lustily. Why is it we don't sing lustily for our God and for our great salvation? For he hath done marvelous things. Do you not feel that? Do you not rejoice in what God has done for your soul? The Lord hath made known His salvation, His righteousness hath He openly showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered His mercy and His truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth hath seen the salvation of our God." And what he's saying there is that salvation has come to the house of Israel and as a consequence of that, that salvation has been made known to the ends of the earth. to incorporate you and me this morning. To every tribe and nation and people, every tongue has heard that Jesus Christ is Lord. So this first section of our psalm is that wonderful invitation to sing this new song of glorious victory, to remember that we've been delivered from sin, from Satan, and from death, and to rejoice in our great salvation. But the psalmist is concerned not just for the people of Israel. Verse four he says, make a joyful noise unto the Lord all the earth. Or we could translate that, make a joyful noise unto the Lord all the nations of the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praises. the whole Earth. Heaven and Earth, which God the Father created. Every tongue and tribe are commanded to bring a joyful noise unto the Lord. Make a joyful noise. Again, our singing is poor. My singing is rubbish. But do you know what? The angels in heaven rejoice when they hear a sinner singing the praise of God. When we harmonize together with the worship of our God, make a joyful noise. Not like the heathen, clashing and banging of cymbals and blowing of trumpets and flutes, but to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. All the earth, every nation, make a loud noise. and rejoice and sing praises. Sing praises. Sing unto the Lord with the harp and the voice of a psalm, with trumpets and sound of a cornet. Make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King. Remember those scenes just the other week? The Queen Elizabeth stands on the balcony and there's this roar of jubilation and celebration How much more for the Lord, the King? How much more should we make a noise, a joyful noise before the Lord, the King? Your King, my King. The psalm broadens again. It's like this steps in praise. It's an invitation to the nation of Israel to bring praise and worship to the Lord, their God. Invitation for the nations of the earth to bring their praise. And there's also an invitation for creation to bring their praises before God. Not that creation has feelings or is sensitive. It's a political principle laid out before us. Let the sea roar, verse seven, and the fullness thereof the world and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands. Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord for he cometh to judge the earth with righteousness. Shall he judge the world and the people with equity. The earth, all creation is called to worship the Lord God. the cosmos, the planets and the stars, the trees and the fields. Let the sea roar. It's nothing quite like roaring sea, is there? You've been on the beach, the wind is howling and the waves are crashing. The fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell in every creature to bring their praise and worship to their Creator. Let the floods clap their hands. Let the hills be joyful together. Let the floods clap their hands. Let the hills be joyful together. In a sense, what the Lord is instructing creation itself to do is what He was designed to do right there at the beginning. Creation is not as it's supposed to be at the present moment. We live in a falling world. We live in a world where there is sin and decay. The New Testament speaks of all creation stand on tiptoe in expectancy to see the sons of God coming into their own. But Psalmist here is crying unto the Lord, but all of his creation will bring him praise and worship. We live in a day and age, as you know, where creation is worshipped. We were in a garden the other day, and standing by a small pond, and to my surprise, I saw a newt, a great crested newt. Well, it's quite a rare little species, it is. I thought, how wonderful. A few weeks later, I was standing by another pond, and I saw another Great Crested Moose. Obviously, they're on the increase. That's good. But, you know, we live in a world where we want to protect these great, threatened species, but yet we're happy to abort children. There's something wrong in our society. Something's seriously wrong. We're happy to protect trees and the environment and friends. That is right and just to do that for God made it. It's His. We are custodians. It's entrusted to us and yet these things take a preeminence in our thinking of our politicians and oppressor groups. Again, we need to be reminded what we looked at the other week in Psalm 96 verse 10. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth, the world also shall be established, it shall not be moved. I think that's a really important lesson for us to grasp in this day and generation. And that's repeated again in a previous Psalm. The report came out this week from the United Nations. It's been suppressed. The temperature of the world has not increased for the last 10 years. Interesting. There's an agenda. There's this green agenda. So we don't come to creation and worship it as the heathen do. No, we need to say to the heathen, the Lord reigneth. We need to be careful of our environment. It's entrusted to us, but we don't worship it, we don't exploit it. That's what we see all around us. We see that even Ushnis tell us that creation's getting better, man is getting better, that we're progressing, but we're not, we're regressing. So this psalm reminds us that this world is not as it should be. There will be a change coming. And this psalm looks to that coming, that second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before the Lord, verse nine, for he cometh to judge the earth with righteousness, shall he judge the world and the people with equity. Now, we considered that before in Psalm 96. Before the Lord, for he cometh, he cometh to judge the earth He shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with His truth. Our God is a God of righteousness and a God of justice. So for the people of the Old Testament, to know that our God judges rightly and righteously was a big encouragement to them because the kings and those in government were corrupt. They were seeking their own power, their own Empires to be built strongly and they were set on unrighteous judgments. So when the poor and oppressed approached the judge, more often than not, they would not get justice. But for the believer, for us this morning, we see the injustice around the world. We can take heart and comfort, the judge of all the earth will come. and those robbers, and those pedophiles, and those who commit heinous sin will be judged. They won't get away with it. There's a judgment coming, and it's a righteous judgment. And then when He does return, we will sing that new song in heaven, which we read about there in Revelation, and they sang a new song unto the Lamb. And the heavens and the earth will rejoice. Again, going back to Psalm 96, this is what will happen. The heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad, let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that therein. Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord, for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth. he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth. What a glorious prospect for the children of God. And when he comes, he will create a new heavens and a new earth. Friend, will you be in that new heaven? In that new earth? Or will you be in that place of separation? Remember I said that sin separates? Sin separates us from God, and when he returns, he will separate the sheep and the goats. The sheep will be drawn into his home, and the goats into that place of everlasting torment, a place which the Bible describes as hell, which is separation from God. We'll all be in this new heaven and this new earth together, praising and worshiping our God. For he is the Lord, the King. Amen. We'll turn our hymn books, please, to hymn 282, Day of Judgment, Day of Wonders. Hark the trumpets, all for sound. Let's make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Thank you. ♪ Day of judgment, day of wonders ♪ ♪ Day of wonders, day of wonders ♪ ♪ Day of wonders, day of wonders ♪ ♪ Day of wonders, day of wonders ♪ ♪ Day of wonders, day of wonders ♪ ♪ Day of wonders, day of wonders ♪ ♪ Day of wonders, day of wonders ♪ ♪ Spirit of salvation bearing ♪ ♪ Thou the majesty divine ♪ ♪ Hear our prayers appearing ♪ ♪ Then shall silence fall asleep ♪ ♪ Are given only for pride ♪ ♪ Let us go after the rainbow ♪ ♪ Rise to life from our great sea ♪ ♪ Though the clouds have changed their shape ♪ ♪ The fire is not prepared to flee ♪ we know of none. But tonight's event, our blessing, thou canst say. ♪ Jesus, take from me all blessings ♪ ♪ See the kingdom I must earn ♪ ♪ Here forever, here forever ♪ ♪ Shall my love and glory be ♪ Heavenly Father, we thank you again for this opportunity to give you praise and worship, to glory in your righteousness and your glorious judgments. We pray, Lord, as we now continue with the breaking of bread that you would again praise yourself amongst us and make yourself known. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.