[0:00] But tonight we're going to look briefly at Psalm 98. The reason being that Psalm 98 is the psalm in which that we get joy to the world from. And a song that we're going to sing together here in a moment.
[0:12] But I want to help you make sure that you not just know the words, the joy to the world, but you really enjoy them and know them and rejoice in them. Just like the man in the video, his mom said that these eight notes with random pauses represented the greatest truth in the world.
[0:27] I would like to make sure you know why these represent the greatest truths in the world. Isaac Watts was a teenager and he was bored with the music at his church.
[0:40] And his dad said, well, if you think these are so heartless and that they're not any good, he said, then young man, why don't you give us something better to sing? And he gave us a lot of great songs.
[0:50] One of my favorite, When I Surveied the Wondrous Cross. He also gave us joy to the world, which first when it was written, wasn't a Christmas song. But I don't think he minds. But now it's a Christmas song and you probably have sung it your entire life.
[1:05] So even though he didn't intend for it to be a Christmas song, he was thinking of a time that Jesus will return to earth, but not the first Christmas story. And we'll see in this psalm that songs point to the greatest hope in all the world, past, present, and future.
[1:19] Titus 2.13 says, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God, our Savior, Jesus Christ. That's where the joy to the world comes in, is that our God has visited and that he will visit again.
[1:34] If you will join me in Psalm chapter number 8. I'm going to read to you all nine verses and then say a brief prayer. Psalm chapter number 8, verse number 1. O sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvelous things.
[1:47] His right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory. The song they just sung before he came up here spoke about him doing marvelous and wonderful things. It's a common theme in all the music that we would sing.
[2:01] Verse 2. 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 towards the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
[2:14] Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp and the voice of a psalm. With the trumpets and the sound of a cornet, make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.
[2:29] 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.
[2:46] Heavenly Father, I ask that you would be with us now at this time, Lord, as we look at your word. Lord, we look at this psalm that would motivate a young Isaac Watts to say a joy to the world.
[2:58] The Lord is come. Lord, I pray that you would help me in a short amount of time be a mouthpiece for the text, Lord, that would help all those in attendance understand the great wonder.
[3:09] And while this truth is the greatest of all truths, in Jesus' name I pray, amen. So we say all the earth is called to sing a joyful noise.
[3:20] I'm going to ask you in a moment to sing, but this psalm doesn't just ask us to sing a song, but it tells us to do so in a joyful manner. And so why would the whole world sing a song celebrating this?
[3:33] Not only the whole world is called to sing, but we're told that we can sing with great joy. I firmly believe that the vast majority of people aren't only in search for truth, but they're in search for joy.
[3:46] And thankfully both of them can be found in Jesus Christ. Whatever you're looking for on the deepest of levels, you will not find it in any place in the world except Christ.
[3:58] No matter if it's truth, joy, purpose, or comfort, you'll only find it in Jesus. And recognizing that is going to create a great joy in your life.
[4:08] It will create a great reason for singing. So I want to help you understand a few terms in this song that we're going to sing together. The one is, the Lord has come, let the earth receive her king.
[4:19] That's what it starts off with. Then it says, the Savior reigns. And then it speaks about truth and grace and wonders of his love. And so I want to make sure you understand all four of those.
[4:30] The Lord has come, let earth receive her king. How many of you remember as a kid waiting for something on Christmas Day? You already knew it was underneath the tree. Maybe you cheated and you looked underneath the wrapping paper.
[4:42] Or you looked under the bed where your parents would hide them. But you were anxious and waiting for Christmas morning because there's a certain gift that you wanted. Who in here? Anybody remember what the gift was?
[4:54] For me, it was this starter jacket of the Knicks. It was orange and blue because that was my high school colors. I just wanted this Knicks big puffy jacket. All right? And I couldn't wait for that Christmas so I could start wearing it.
[5:06] Anybody in here? Little Reddit writer BB guns for Jeff Bush over here. Shoot his eye out. I got one. You got one. Hamilton got a BB gun. Anybody else in here have something that you've waited for?
[5:16] Hope my wife doesn't mention anything that I don't have underneath the tree. But that waiting for, that hope that you would have is wonderful. That's why many of you start listening to Christmas music all the way back before Thanksgiving.
[5:31] You just love everything about the anticipation around Christmas. Let's just go back there for a little bit. You have a mother. You have Mary. Luke chapter 1 verse 32. And he shall be great and he shall be called the son of the highest.
[5:45] And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end. There's a popular song that says, Mary, did you know?
[5:58] And we know that she knew some things. She knew that her son was going to be great. But because of Jesus being fully human, she carried him for over nine months.
[6:08] And there she waited for that day where her baby was born. Some of you mothers know what that is like. We have one lady in here, Mika. She waited almost a week and a half after that baby was due.
[6:19] Her anticipation kept growing and growing. And so you know what that's like. So Mary, knowing that she will have a child and that he will be great. But what will make him great?
[6:30] Matthew 1 verse 21. It says, and he shall bring forth the son and that shall call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins. There's an excitement about any baby being born.
[6:42] But this is just not any baby. This is going to be the savior of the universe. This is going to provide the salvation for all men and women's sins.
[6:53] And so the shepherds, they're excited about it. They will hear about it. And we had a shepherd. If I could get that shepherd. Kakoa, if you wouldn't mind coming up here. We had a play on Sunday night. Our church just loves Christmas.
[7:04] We celebrate it a lot. All right? All throughout the year we even talk about the birth of Christ. But we had a Christmas play the other day and we had a little shepherd. And I heard him reading this portion of scripture.
[7:14] And I thought, he does this better than I do. So we should give him the opportunity tonight. Here, Dad, won't you hold that? And this shall be a sign until you.
[7:25] You shall find the babe wrapped in swatling clothes. We are in a manger. And so you shall rest with the angel. I want to do it over the heavenly host.
[7:36] Praising God. And thank God to God in the highest. And on earth peace. Good world toward men. All right.
[7:47] Thank you, sir. That was fantastic. I told you he would read it better than I could. And so the shepherd says, peace on earth, goodwill towards men. Who wouldn't be excited about that?
[7:59] How many of you would be excited about the idea of peace on earth right now? After the last couple years we have had. Knowing that that would be brought to us. So if Jesus did not bring peace and salvation as a king at the time.
[8:12] You would think if he's bringing peace on earth and it's the salvation of all men. You would expect for him to come and to set up his earthly kingdom. That he would be the kind of earth and the kind of president or the kind of leader that we're used to seeing.
[8:26] But in John chapter number 6 it says when Jesus perceived this after he fed 5,000 people. After he fed those people he had to part on a mountainside.
[8:36] Because everybody wanted to make him the earthly king. And he said I didn't come to earth to be the earthly king at this time. And so if he came he brought salvation and he brought peace.
[8:47] But he didn't come and he didn't become our earthly king. To sit on a throne as you would expect for him to do. How did he bring salvation to all men? And how did he bring peace to all men?
[8:58] If he did not set up an earthly kingdom? Philippians chapter number 2 verse 7 says. But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.
[9:11] Whereof and being found in the fashion as a man he humbled himself and he became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross. How did he fashion himself as a man and how did he humble himself and make himself able to be killed as a man?
[9:27] It all happens at the manger scene. It all happens at the birth of Christ. Wherefore God has highly exalted in him given him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth.
[9:42] And that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father. And so when we sing the Lord is come here in a moment joy to the world. We celebrate what has happened in the past because we know what that means for us in the future.
[9:59] Jesus has come and he will come again and he will be the king for all eternity. I have a couple pictures of places I'd like to show you.
[10:09] One of them is in Japan and the other one is in Bronx. In whatever order you'd like to show it's just a map. These are two pictures that I received this week. And the pictures show where two churches were started.
[10:23] And so the first one here is in Japan, Nagoya, Japan. And two weeks ago somebody from this church started a new church at another place. And so they could have Christmas services and tell everybody that the Lord has come.
[10:39] All right? And then just yesterday I got another picture. This is from Crosby Avenue in the Bronx. And they'll be having services soon there as well.
[10:50] And you may not know this if you're a guest with it today. But you're surrounded by many people in this room that are taking the gospel message around the world. Because it's that important.
[11:02] Joy to the world the Lord has come. But the joy needs to be spread. It needs to be shared. Typically on Thursday nights we have them come up here and give an update. But for the sake of time we didn't.
[11:14] But just so that you would know. Why don't we have those that are missionaries that are going to another country. Stand real quickly and just tell people where they're going. Go ahead. Going to Nepal.
[11:24] All right. Chile. Chile. South Africa. Chile. Peru. Peru. And they're leaving for Peru in just a few days. And so it's our way of sharing the joy that we have found in the Lord.
[11:38] With the entire world. So first of all. We want all the world to know that Jesus has come. The Lord has come. And let the earth rejoice. And then the next phrase we're going to sing in the song is that the Savior reigns.
[11:52] In Psalm 90.16 it says. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth. The world also shall be established that it shall not be moved. He shall judge the people righteously. So we said that Jesus does not rule in an earthly kingdom when he came the first time.
[12:06] But when he comes back again he will. So how does the Lord reign? And I want you to know that the King Jesus reigns in the heart of all of those that have placed their trust in him.
[12:19] That what he wants for my life is the highest authority of anything that you could ever imagine. That recognizing that I was a sinner and that he had died in my place.
[12:31] I now have given my life in joyful obedient service to him. He is the King of my life. And it says that one day.
[12:42] And we've already read it in Philippians. That one day every knee will bow. And every tongue will confess. But he's already invited us today to do that. I've already knelt and I've already confessed with my tongue and with my heart that he is the King.
[12:58] And so we say that the Lord reigns. The Savior reigns. And when we sing that here in a moment I pray that that's true for you. That he reigns in your heart and in your life.
[13:10] Another expression that's in the song truth and grace. Because the Lord is come and because the Savior reigns we can sing at Christmas. He rules the world with truth and grace.
[13:23] Something like that. Alright. And that's one of the phrases that we will sing here in a moment. Looking again at the psalm. Psalm 98.9 it says. Before the Lord for he cometh to judge the earth.
[13:34] With righteousness shall he judge the world and people with equity. With righteousness he will judge this world. When we sing make the nations prove the glories of his righteousness.
[13:46] At Christmas we mean the glories of his truth and grace. We learn the truth. But the truth by itself would be unbearable. Because this is what the truth is.
[13:58] The truth was I was born a sinner. My mom and dad were sinners. They chose to rebel against God. And as I was born I chose to do the same things. And then as I got older I chose to do that.
[14:10] I'm not going to tell you what those things are. But you can imagine right. All of us make decisions of decisions. As a kid I lied. I stole. And even as an adult I make decisions that are not honoring to God.
[14:24] And that is I'm transgressing. I'm breaking the law of God. And the truth is I do not deserve to live in a kingdom that is rolled and reigned by a perfect king Jesus.
[14:36] I deserve to be an enemy of that kingdom. I deserve to be an outcast of that kingdom. But that's the truth. But the grace is he invited me to be part of that kingdom.
[14:48] He invited all of us to be part of that kingdom. And so the way Watts says it is the wonders of his love. There is no greater demonstration of love in this world.
[15:00] There is no conceivable greater demonstration that the creator of the universe would leave the wonder and majesty of heaven and come to earth and die in the place of his creation for their sins so that they could be eternally reunited.
[15:23] That's unbelievable. It's just incredible. I cannot conceive of a greater demonstration of love than a perfect holy creator dying in my place and in your place.
[15:35] Hebrews 9.28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. He offered his life. He was able to do that because he came to earth, was born, lived the perfect life.
[15:47] And after about 33 years of life, he died upon a cross. And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
[15:59] So tonight we can say joy to the Lord, joy to the world. The Lord has come. We can rejoice because he has come and he secured our salvation.
[16:10] He died in our place. But we can also say joy to the world. The Lord is coming. And that's where we live today. We live between his first coming and his second coming.
[16:21] And maybe that second coming isn't one that you've heard about. Most people, we celebrate it around Christmas time. And most people know the story of Christmas that he had come. But maybe you didn't know exactly why it is that he came.
[16:35] But do you know that he's coming again? And when he does, he will judge this world with righteousness. And he will come together those that have put their faith and trust in him.
[16:48] So now as we will sing here in a moment, joy to the world. I want to make sure you know, and they can put the title slide up for the night, that not only is there joy to the world, but there can be joy to your world.
[17:02] And so we're excited that justice will take this message to Nepal, and that others will take it to Chile, and the Peru, and Indonesia, and South Africa. But we are here because we want to bring you truth and joy to your life.
[17:19] When he died for the world, he died for the individuals that make up the world. And when he redeems a person and he buys them back like he's done me, he does it so that I get to share this joy with other people.
[17:33] I told you a lot of people are looking for truth, and I know that's true. But a whole lot of people are looking for joy. I'm going to tell you that you found it in the fact that Jesus Christ offers his life for your life.
[17:45] Your life of sin and guilt and shame, which is what the Bible tells us that all of us have. It tells us that in Romans 2, that all of us all around the world, if it's on the streets of the Bronx or in the streets of Japan or in the streets of Alpharetta, that all of us recognize that we are not complete, that we're broken, and that we're in need of restoration.
[18:06] And he loved us so much that he made us so that we would never be satisfied and complete without him. So that misery and the shame and the guilt that you may feel is a wonderful gift, because that's the truth that comes before grace comes.
[18:21] And so that's why we can say the Lord has come and let the whole earth rejoice. And so here in a moment, the musicians will come up here, we'll sing together, and then Greg Yeckley can come ahead, and then Greg will give us a few announcements.
[18:33] But this is the invitation that I'd like to give to you. As we stand and sing here in a moment, and as you're singing, if you know that truth, I want you to sing with all your heart. I want you to sing unto the Lord.
[18:45] Here we'll have a special time with family and friends and meet some new ones. But this song, it isn't about anything but us rejoicing and singing unto the Lord. He called us to do that.
[18:56] He says that he wants the whole world to rejoice. And so here in this little part of Alpharetta, this little group of people, we are going to rejoice in the fact that he has come.