A New Song for a Broken World

1 Sing a new song to the Lord,
for he has performed wonders;
his right hand and holy arm
have won him victory.
2 The Lord has made his victory known;
he has revealed his righteousness
in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered his love
and faithfulness to the house of Israel;
all the ends of the earth
have seen our God’s victory.

4 Let the whole earth shout to the Lord;
be jubilant, shout for joy, and sing.
5 Sing to the Lord with the lyre,
with the lyre and melodious song.
6 With trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn
shout triumphantly
in the presence of the Lord, our King.

7 Let the sea and all that fills it,
the world and those who live in it, resound.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the mountains shout together for joy
9 before the Lord,
for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world righteously
and the peoples fairly.

Psalm 98

Introduction

Well friends, I greet you all in the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

It’s good to see you all. For those of you who are regular, just so that you know, we’re going to take a pause from our consecutive study through the book of Romans—we were in Romans chapter 4, you might remember—and we’re going to spend the next three weeks looking at a Christmas series. In actual fact, we’re going to be looking at one Psalm: Psalm number 98.

If you have your Bible available, now would be a time to rustle through the pages and find Psalm number 98. That’s roughly in the middle of your Bible—Psalm 98.

Even as I read it, if you’re visiting with us, it is our practice at Benoni Baptist Church to work consecutively through portions of God’s Word. We’re looking at Psalm 98 in the run-up to Christmas and a run-up to Christmas Day. So this week we’ll be preaching the first three verses of the psalm, next week the next three verses, and on Christmas Day—the 25th at half past eight (everyone say after me: half past eight—very attentive)—we’re going to be gathering together for Christmas Day and we will look at the last three verses of the psalm. And really that’s the way that this psalm divides itself up: three verses at a time, nine verses.

I’m going to pray and then I’m going to read through the psalm, and then I am going to preach through it.

Let’s bow our heads before the Lord and come to Him in a word of prayer.

*Father God, even as I think of praying to You this morning, I’m reminded that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Lord, to enjoy You, to sing of Your praises both in this life and then forever in the life to come. Even this morning as we read from Your Word, would You teach our hearts to praise You rightly, that our worship before our God might be well pleasing in His sight? Lord, would You indeed engage our minds, would You stir the affections of our hearts, and would You transform our lives even as we come to Your Word and see the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior? I ask this in His most wonderful name, in the power of the Spirit, and to the praise and glory of our Father who is in heaven. Amen.*

So at this time I’m going to ask as many as are able to please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word. Would you please stand?

Friends, I read to you the very Word of God taken from Psalm 98, beginning at the first verse:

*Sing a new song to the Lord, for He has performed wonders; His right hand and holy arm have won Him victory. The Lord has made His victory known; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His love and faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen our God’s victory. Let the whole earth shout to the Lord; be jubilant, shout for joy, and sing. Sing to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and melodious song; with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn, shout triumphantly in the presence of the Lord our King. Let the sea and all that fills it, the world and those who live in it, resound. Let the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains shout together for joy before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world righteously and the peoples fairly.*

May God bring praise to the reading of His Word. Amen. Please be seated.

Favorite Christmas Carols

Let me ask: what is your favorite Christmas carol? What’s your favorite Christmas carol? Maybe it’s “Silent Night.” Maybe it is “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” As a kid, I used to love singing “While Shepherds Washed Their Socks by Night”—that was my favorite carol. I went to an old boys’ school; by the time we got to December, the kids were in a jovial mood and that is what we sang. While not a carol, I also at that stage of my life used to enjoy singing “Jingle Bells, Batman Smells.” I wonder if kids still sing that today. Parents, beware.

What’s your favorite Christmas carol? Perhaps you love “Joy to the World” or the peaceful strains of “Silent Night.” For many, these songs capture the joy of this season. But why is the joy? Isaac Watts in the 1700s penned the hymn “Joy to the World”—the song that we will often end our services in this Christmas season on—and it’s based on Psalm number 98. It celebrates a joy which is far greater than food or gifts or traditions or those one‑liners that you get in Christmas crackers. It’s the joy of salvation: God’s mighty act of delivering His people.

Main Idea

Now Psalm 98 begins with a call to sing a new song to the Lord—not a song of tradition, but in response to His wonderful salvation. In verses 1 to 3, the psalmist recounts God’s power, God’s righteousness, God’s love, God’s faithfulness, and how these attributes of God were on saving display to man.

This morning we will see how these verses not only celebrate God’s past victories but they point us forward to the ultimate salvation which is found in Jesus Christ alone.

Here’s my main idea this morning: **Praise the Lord Jesus who is the Savior.**

Six Reasons to Praise

And this morning I am very much not being Baptist—I have six points. Six short points:

1. Praise Him, He is a marvelous Savior.
2. Praise Him, He is a powerful Savior.
3. Praise Him, He is a victorious Savior.
4. Praise Him, He is a righteous Savior.
5. Praise Him, He is a covenant‑keeping Savior.
6. Praise Him, He is an awesome Savior indeed.

Amen.

Let’s take a look at the psalm. We’re going to begin in verse one; we’re going to be looking from verse one to verse three.

The psalmist starts the psalm with these words: *“Sing.”* It’s a command. It’s an imperative. *“Sing a new song to the Lord”*—to Yahweh, to Jehovah.

Friends, Psalm 93 to Psalm 100—so obviously Psalm 98 falls in that band—is a set of Psalms which are often referred to as kingship Psalms or enthronement Psalms. They are seven Psalms which focus on the reign of the Lord as King over all creation, and they share common themes of God’s universal sovereignty and His salvation and His judgment over all.

In the ancient Near East, a new song would sometimes be composed to mark a significant event such as a military victory or a king’s coronation or some kind of divine intervention which had been experienced by Israel. We’re not exactly sure for what occasion or after what event this particular song was written, but this psalmist alludes to various deliverances which God has afforded the nation of Israel, such as Exodus 15:1–21. In Exodus 15:1–21, Moses composed a new song after God’s deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea, celebrating God’s victory over Egypt.

Now this psalm is to be sung to the Lord, and you’ll notice in your English translations that’s *Lord*—capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That’s Yahweh, that’s Jehovah, that’s the Existing One, that’s the proper name for the one true God. It is the unpronounceable name; it is all capitalized in our English translations. It is Yahweh, it is Yahovah or Jehovah—the self‑existent One, the Eternal One, the Jewish national name for the covenant‑keeping God.

The psalmist starts off by saying, “Sing, sing a new song to this Lord.” And then he gives six reasons why God’s people are to sing the song—six reasons why, as a command, they are to praise and worship God.

A Marvelous Savior

And the first reason is this: **the Lord is a marvelous Savior.**

It says *“for”*—that little conjunction is the grounds; this is the reason given for why we must sing. *“For He has performed wonders.”* He has performed wonders.

What is a wonder? A wonder is an extraordinary, marvelous, surpassing, supernatural, miraculous saving act of God. Our God is a miracle‑working God. God at times pierces through His laws of time and space and matter to do whatever He wants to achieve His own good pleasure. He makes axheads float. He makes donkeys talk. He makes the sun to pause in its courses above. Yeah, the miraculous power of God is being alluded to. We are to praise God because He is a miraculous Savior.

A Powerful Savior

Number two: **we are to praise God because He is a powerful Savior.**

We read at the end of verse one: *“His right hand and holy arm have won Him victory.”*

In Psalm 98:1, God’s right hand and holy arm are anthropomorphic metaphors. An anthropomorphism—that’s a big word. You can turn to your neighbor, tap them on the shoulder, and say “anthropomorphism”—that’s your word for today, for discussion over lunch. It’s when we describe a human quality like a right hand to God who is Spirit. It’s giving God a descriptor that we are familiar with so that we can understand something about Him.

The right hand is the powerful hand of a warrior—the sword‑wielding hand of a warrior. The picture is God as a warrior defeats His enemies and secures salvation for His people. God is to be praised for the victories that He has secured for the nation of Israel.

Take a look at that word *victory* in your Bible. The Hebrew word is *yasha*, and that’s something that we’re going to come back to in a moment. *Yasha*—victory—it means to save, it means to deliver, it means to gain victory on behalf of salvation or deliverance. The omnipotent right hand of God—His power—is being alluded to.

You ought to sing. You ought to praise God because He is a marvelous Savior, and then secondly because He is a powerful Savior.

A Victorious Savior

Thirdly: **because He is a victorious Savior.**

You see that at the beginning of verse two. It says, *“The Lord has made His victory known.”* Interestingly enough, it’s a different word. The first word for victory was *yasha*; the second word for victory is *yeshuah*. The Lord God has made His victory known. His miraculous power, His omnipotent power, has been broadcast to all the world. He hasn’t hidden Himself from the world; He has shown them something of the terrifying power that a holy God exerts.

What victory is being alluded to? Well, because it’s not specific, we take it as every victory that has been broadcast to the world in the pages of Scripture up to the writing of this psalm. This would include:

– Creation itself—a victory over the watery chaos in Genesis 1.
– The flood in Genesis 6–9—that worldwide cataclysmic event where God demonstrated His judgment against sin.
– The Exodus—God’s people brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, destroying the armies of Pharaoh by the Red Sea and the Jordan River in Exodus chapter 15.
– And maybe it’s talking of the return from exile from Babylon and the rebuilding of the walls.
– And it’s certainly talking about the ultimate victory of God over evil, even spoken about in Genesis chapter 3 where we read, *“He will strike your head”*—speaking of the seed of the woman over Satan—*“and you will strike His heel.”*

Victory after victory after victory that God has won. Because God is a marvelous Savior, because God is a powerful Savior, because God is a victorious Savior, we His people are to sing a new song unto Him. Amen.

A Righteous Savior

Number four: **the Lord is a righteous Savior.**

The second part of verse two: *“He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.”*

This passage speaks about what God does. He sends worldwide floods. He creates. He rescues and redeems His people. But it also speaks of who God is. In creation, He creates because He is a Creator. He judges at the flood because He is powerful. He delivers through the Exodus because He hears the cries of His people. He restores at the exile because He remembers them. And He overcomes evil after the fall because He is good.

In the second part of verse two, He has revealed that He is righteous. What is the righteousness of God? It’s the concept that God is inseparable from justice, that God is altogether just in and of Himself, that He is incapable of deviating from His own holy and good standard which is intrinsic to His being.

How have the nations of the world seen God’s victory? How has His righteousness been revealed to them? Well, as God has delivered Israel over and over again, His righteous judgment has fallen upon the nations. His wrath has been revealed upon all the peoples of the earth. He has demonstrated who He is by His very actions.

The Lord is a marvelous Savior. The Lord is a powerful Savior. The Lord is a victorious Savior. The Lord is a righteous Savior. That’s four points down. You thought six points would keep you until one o’clock.

A Covenant‑Keeping Savior

Here’s the fifth point: **the Lord is a covenant‑keeping Savior.**

Verse three: *“He has remembered…”* What has this covenant‑keeping Savior remembered? *“His love and His faithfulness to the house of Israel.”*

The references to the Lord’s love and faithfulness reflect His covenant relationship with the house of Israel. To Abraham He made promises. To Moses He made promises. To David He made promises. This links God’s act of salvation to the promises that He has made to His people Israel.

And friends, the house of Israel needed a Savior. Deuteronomy 7:6–10 describes them not in attractive and pretty terms. It says that they were not more in number than the nations around them—they needed a Savior. It says that they were the fewest of all people—they needed a Savior. They were without hope in a hostile world.

But it wasn’t just their lack of might that gave Israel a problem; it was their heart too. Acts 7:51—Stephen describes them like this: they were a stiff‑necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, always resisting the Holy Spirit. Israel needed a Savior. Unable to keep the promises that they were made to God, they needed to rely on a covenant‑keeping God who had kept His promises toward them.

And God had made many promises to Israel over the Old Testament. In Genesis 12:3 to Abraham, He promised that all the peoples on the earth would be blessed through him. In Leviticus 26:12, He said, *“I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people.”* In Psalm 121:4, He says that He—the protector of Israel—does not slumber or sleep; He keeps them and He protects them and He helps them in their hour of need.

Israel needed a Savior, and the Savior they got was a marvelous Savior, was a powerful Savior, was a victorious Savior, was a righteous Savior, and was a covenant‑keeping Savior.

An Awesome Savior

Sixth point—last point: **the Lord is an awesome Savior.**

It’s the last part of verse three: *“And all the ends of the earth have seen our God’s victory.”*

There’s a sense that the invisible attributes of God are on clear display to all in the world at all times. You have only but to look up at the stars which twinkle at night and you get an idea of a God who is ordered. You look up at the stars and you get an idea of a God who is awesome in power and splendor and majesty. The sun comes up in the morning and it sets at night, and the moon is on its course around the earth, and you get an idea of a God who is God.

God is broadcasting the fact that He is awesome to all of humanity all of the time, so that in Romans chapter 1 we can read that man is made aware of the invisible attributes of God—His creative awesomeness and His divine power. But God has also demonstrated Himself in judgment over and over again to man, that He is righteous and altogether just. As we hear stories of Sodom and Gomorrah and the power of God reigning upon those two cities, we are reminded that all the ends of the earth have seen God’s victory.

It is that which Isaac Watts starts thinking about when he writes “Joy to the World”—this idea that God has broadcasted Himself to the world. He rules the world with truth and grace, and He makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love.

In fact, had to give a summation, a summary of what verses one to three are telling us, I would say it’s this: **The house of Israel must sing a new song to the Lord who has revealed His victory in the sight of the nations.**

Connect to the gospel

Well, how do you go from this to “Joy to the World”? How do you get from this psalm to the person of Jesus Christ? How do you go from this sense of awe and splendor and power and might and judgment and end up with the babe in Bethlehem?

Well, I want to point you to a couple of details in this psalm. I’ve tried to point them out as we’ve gone through the psalm, but let me underline them for you now.

First is the repetition of the word *Lord*. Look in your Bibles. Look at verse one—you’ll see the word *Lord* there. Look at verse two—you’ll see the word *Lord* there. At verse 4, *Lord* again. At verse 5, *Lord* again. At verse 6, *Lord* again. And then in verse 9, *Lord* again. Can you see that this passage of Scripture is speaking about the Lord—that covenant name of God in Hebrew, *Yahovah*?

Now look at that second word that I told you about in Psalm 98:1—the word for victory; that word is *yasha*. Now compound those two words together: *Yahovah* on the one side and *yasha* on the other side, and bring them together, and you get *Yahovah yasha*. Now compress those two words and you get *Yeshua*.

It’s interesting that that word *Yeshua* appears twice in this passage. In English we have three translations or three occurrences of the word *victory*. The first use of the word *victory* is *yasha*, but the second two uses of the word for victory translated into *victory* is *Yeshua*.

Now the Greek translation of the Hebrew word *Yeshua* is *Iēsous*. The English translation of the Greek word *Iēsous* is *Jesus*. Jesus is the Lord. Jesus is the Savior.

In this text, Jesus is mighty to save. It is Jesus who is the marvelous Savior. It is Jesus who is the powerful Savior. It is Jesus who is the victorious Savior. Jesus who is the righteous Savior. Jesus who is the covenant‑keeping Savior of Israel. And Jesus ultimately who is the awesome Savior of this world.

In Acts 4:12 we read that *there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.*

And so this is how we connect to Jesus Christ. He is the Lord in this text. He is the Lord who saves. He is the Lord who is King. And He is the Lord who is Judge.

Application for believers

So friends, those of you who are believers—how ought we to apply this text? Well, the first application to you is: **praise the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Savior.** He is worthy of your worship. He saved Israel from their calamity, but friend, He has saved you from your sins. He died that you might be forgiven. He rose that you might live. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

And so sing, sing of His wonder and His love. Worship Jesus Christ. Sing “Joy to the World, the Lord has come; let earth receive her King; let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and angels sing.”

Application for unbelievers

Unbelievers—how ought you to respond to this verse? I don’t want to assume that everyone in a crowd this large this morning has placed their personal faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and their Savior, called upon the name of the Lord.

Are you stone‑hearted? Do you foolishly stand in rebellion to God’s command to repent for the forgiveness of sins? Do you not realize that God crushes His enemies in judgment, that God laughs at their vain attempts to thwart Him, that God will inevitably crush you? Friend, it is appointed for you to die once and thereafter stand in judgment. How then can you be saved?

Friend, Jesus—*Yeshua*—He died for your sins, the righteous for the unrighteous. But hell could not keep Him. Satan had no hold on Him. He rose from the grave in victory over sin. Heaven’s gates have been opened wide, and salvation is on offer to you today if you would only but hear His voice. Do not harden your heart. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved. Friend, do not delay. Do it at once. Do not allow salvation to pass you by.

*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.*

Conclusion

Millions in conclusion will sing Christmas carols this season, yet many remain under the wrath of God, unaware of the true joy of salvation. This psalm—even these first three verses—invites you to sing a new song in response to the Lord’s mighty acts of salvation. But these three verses also point to Jesus Christ, the Savior who has performed the greatest wonder of them all: defeating sin and death for all who believe.

Through His right hand and holy arm He has bought the victory—not just for Israel, but for the whole world. And His righteousness and His love and His faithfulness are on display on the cross and in the empty tomb.

This Christmas, let your heart be filled with true joy as you praise Jesus Christ, the marvelous Savior. Sing for joy because His salvation has been revealed to all the earth. If you have not yet responded to salvation, let today be the day that you cast yourself upon the Savior and live. For His love and His faithfulness are extended to you. Sing and worship and rejoice, for Jesus has come and will come again to complete His salvation work.

*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.*

We’ve studied six reasons to sing to Christ this festive season:

1. Jesus is a marvelous Savior.
2. Jesus is a powerful Savior.
3. Jesus is the victorious Savior.
4. Jesus is the righteous Savior.
5. Jesus is the covenant‑keeping Savior.
6. Jesus is the awesome Savior indeed.

Praise the Lord Jesus who is the Savior. Amen.