Psalm 98

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Hey, hey, good morning and welcome to Coffee and Devotions this Thursday morning.
Thanks so much for joining me. This is where every day we get together. We get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Well, this morning we were at Psalm 98. Beautiful Psalm about praising the Lord. Why don't we go ahead and we'll have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's word. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for What a wonderful God you are. Thank you that after the darkness, the sunshine comes in the morning. Thank you for your love and your care for us. Lord, we pray that as we read your word now, that you might lighten our souls. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, here we go. Let's turn over to Psalm 98 together. Psalm 98, a Psalm.
O sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things. His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory. The Lord has made known His salvation, His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth! Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. Sing to the Lord with a harp and with the sound of a psalm, with trumpets and with the sound of a horn. Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King. Let the seas roar in all its fullness, the world and all those who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth with righteousness. He shall judge the world and the peoples with equity.
What an amazing psalm, isn't it? We need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this? So what's this about? Right? This is a call to worship. This is a call to praise God. This is a call for everyone, everywhere, to praise God. Both people and all creation. Isn't that interesting? But why? Because salvation has come, and the king is going to come, and he's going to judge. Look at this with me. Why don't we go ahead and look here. So, the Lord has made known His salvation. His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. This is the beautiful thing of what this is talking about.
There's a historical reality, which every one of these psalms are written. There's a historical reality that there was a battle. Now, the psalm doesn't actually give us a title for which battle this was, right? Just a psalm. We're not given the historical reference, but we know that this is talking about a battle.
And somehow, the Lord has gained them the victory in that battle. You know, my mind goes to the episode where King Hezekiah is worried about the Assyrians who are camped outside the wall, and he prays to the Lord. And what does the Lord do? The Lord brings an angel and he slaughters over 100,000 Assyrian troops outside the camp. The battle belongs to the Lord.
Or maybe this is talking about Gideon going with the small army where God said, nope, you got too many people. Cut it down. And so he cuts it down from thousands to hundreds. And he says, nope, cut it down. And it's cut down to just a small group of men. And the small group of men God uses to destroy the enemies of God.
We don't know what the historical time period of this is, but the whole world has seen his salvation. Now when we think about this in the light of the New Testament, we know that the ultimate victory has been won. That Jesus Christ has conquered our greatest foe. that our Lord, our King, Jesus Christ has vanquished Satan, he has beaten death, he has conquered temptation, and he is victorious. And in light of that great victory, what are we told? And all the ends of the earth has seen his salvation. His righteousness has revealed in the sight of the nations.
So what should be done? Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth. All the earth, everyone, everywhere should shout to the Lord for joy. Break forth in song, rejoice and sing praises. God, the victor has won. The battle is over. He's defeated his enemy. Sing to the Lord with a harp and with the sound of a psalm, with trumpets and with a horn. Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King. You can imagine in the battlefield as they stood there with a ramphorn. You know, praising the Lord for this great battle in this historical time.
Our hearts should be lifted up to God. How much more so now should we say that God's victory has been seen throughout all the nations? This is why we take that good news to all peoples. This is why God says, blessed are the feet of those who carry the good news. This is why the book of Ephesians, or yeah, Ephesians chapter six tells us that our feet should be shod with the gospel. That we should be those who are going out and saying, praise God, good news has come. Let the seas roar and all their fullness, the world and all who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth. Our King is coming back. I don't know what you're gonna highlight in your Bible as the best verse to summarize that. Let me know down in the comments. What verse would you highlight in your Bible? I'm guessing in my Bible, I have it highlighted all over the place.
Do you look forward to that great day when our King will come again, when Jesus Christ will reign victorious, when He returns, as verse 9 says, for He is coming to judge the earth with righteousness, He shall judge the world and the peoples with equity. He's going to come with a righteous scepter, with balanced weights, with justice, and with equity.
So seek calling. What are you called to do? Rejoice. Praise God. Worship Him. Shout praises to Him. Be thankful to Him. Let your heart have joy that our King is victorious and He is coming back again. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. Lord, I pray that you might fill the hearts of your people with a new song of praise to you, that on this day they might worship you in spirit and in truth as they meditate on your finished work upon that cross, and as your finished work as you rose again from the dead, and as you ascended into heaven, and now you sit at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, and you judge the nations with equity. Lord, we look forward to your return. God, I pray that you might let our eyes be fixed upon you. In Jesus's name, amen. Well, may the peace of Christ wash over your hearts today, and may your heart be filled with joy as you wait for your King to return. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
And thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.