Selected Psalms

The Past, Present and Future King!

“Praise the King who Saves, who Reigns and who Judges...” - Psalm 98

Introductory Thoughts:

·        I want to invite you this evening to open your Bibles with me to Psalm 98...

·        Lets start this evening by reading this wonderful Psalm together...

·        This Psalm is simply a call to praise the Lord and sing to the Lord...!

·        The ESV heading is very appropriate...

·        Christian people should be a singing people...!

·        I hope it is true for you that as you study God through His Word and as you discover more wonderful and rich truhts of who He is and what he has done, that it stirs your heart and causes you to want to sing and worship Him...!

·        The aim of Theology is worship... (cf. Rom 11:33-36), which includes then worship through music and song as well...

·        This Psalm starts in verse 1 with the call to sing as well as giving the cause why we should be singing...

·        “New song” – we should be constantly singing a new song unto the Lord... new in that we write and compose new songs to testify of God’s sustaining grace and mercy and faithfulness and work in our lives... new in that we sing those well know songs with renewed fervour and worship in our hearts...

·        “Marvellous Things” – this is the cause or reason or motivation behind our singing – that God has done marvelous things...!

·        In 1719 Isaac Watts took this call very literally and published the Christmas carol “Joy to the World” from the text of Psalm 98. His Christmas carol however speaks far more about Christ’s return as King than it does about His coming as A baby in Bethlehem which is in line with the theme of this Psalm.

·        Our theme for this Psalm will be:

The Past, Present and Future King!

·        This Psalm is ultimately a call to Praise the King who Saves, who Reigns and who Judges...”!

·        I thought that it would be good to listen to a slightly adapted version of this Christmas Carol and just enjoy worshipping the Lord in this way before we proceed with our study of this Psalm...

·        This Psalm naturally divides into three parts or stanzas with each of the stanzas giving as a reason of why we should praise the Lord... why we should praise the king...!

Teaching Points:

·        In this Psalm we find three reasons why we should praise the Lord:

1. Praise Him for... His past salvation! (v1-3)

·        Salvation belongs to the Lord – He works it with His right hand and holy arm... He accomplishes it and brings it about...!

·        Salvation is based upon who He is – He is righteous, steadfast in love and faithful... these are the motivations behind His salvation...

·        His salvation is to be known in all the earth so that all can know there is only one God who saves... one King who saves...!

·        If we think about the Exodus, we can see how this is true of how God saved His people from the slavery in Egypt...

·        When we think about the return from the Babylonian exile, we can see how this is true of how God was faithful and remained steadfast in His love for His people...

·        But nowhere is this more clearly seen that God saves than in the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ...!

·        Jesus is the King who saves and we should praise Him for His salvation...!

·        He came to achieve our salvation and there is salvation in no other name...!

·        Jesus lived the perfect life – righteous...

·        He came to reveal the love of God...

·        In Him God was faithful and has kept His promise of sending the Messiah for Jesus is the Messiah...!

2. Praise Him for... His present Kingship! (v4-6)

·        The whole second stanza carries the idea and feel of a coronation ceremony where the King is crowned...! (Trumpets and sound of Horn...)

·        Through Redemption History, we see that God’s people, Israel, had many kings – good ones and bad ones... but ultimately we see and know that all these kings was but a foreshadowing of the one and only true King – the Lord...! Jesus Christ...!

·        He is the One who ascended and received the eternal Kingship from the Father...

·        Eph 1:20-22; Matt 28:18

·        Psalm 2 has become one of my favourite Psalms...!

·        The fact the Jesus is the present King who reigns should cause us great joy...!

·        This joy should become visible in that we are praising Jesus as our present King in whatever circumstances we may find ourselves...!

·        What great comfort it is to know that our Saviour, the One who gave Himself to save us, is the one who reigns...!

·        This whole second stanza is calling us to be enthusiastic and passionate and excited in our singing for our King...!

·        This kind of worship will only flow from a deep love for the Lord...!

·        If you love for Jesus could be rated according to your enthusiasm in worship, how would you rate – cold... lukewarm... or hot...?

·        This is not a metaphorical call to praise the King with joyfulness... it is a literal call...!

3. Praise Him for... His future judgement! (v7-9)

·        What a great joy it is to know that the Lord Jesus, the King, will return... He will come and He will come to judge...!

·        It is a cause for great joy for the earth and for all who dwells in it, for He will come and in His judging, He will right every wrong... He will come to restore the perfect order of God...!

·        All of creation as well as all the saints are longing for that day when he comes and reveal His glory... Rom 8:18-25

·        His judgement will be with righteousness... it will be perfectly right and fair...!

·        It will be with equity – He will come and set things right...!

·        He will bring deliverance for the saints and destruction for the wicked...!

·        He will come to give relief for His children and repay those who have afflicted them...!

·        2 Thess 1:3-10

·        When Jesus comes to judge the world with righteousness and equity, then we will sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb as we read in Rev 15:3-4...!

Closing Thoughts:

·        The Christian faith is a singing faith. Christians ought to be singing people!

·        Sing about God's victories.

·        Sing about His salvation.

·        Sing about His steadfast love and faithfulness.

·        Sing about His coming.

·        Are you singing the praises of God in your life?

·        If you've lost your song, it may mean that you've lost something else – your vision of Jesus as King... as Lord... faith in His Word and promises... or perhaps sin has come into your life....

·        Repent, fix your eyes one Jesus, that He is the past, present and future King and praise Him for He is the King who saves... who reigns... and who judges...!

·        Know and understand that He is the only King... the only holy God...!