WEBVTT 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:16.640 We study through books of the Bible here at the village chapel most regularly, most Sundays of the year, on the four Sundays before Christmas. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:18.719 They call it the Advent season. 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:22.800 We break from our book studies and do some Advent themes. 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:24.559 If you'd like a copy, raise your hand. 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:26.879 We'll be uh looking at Psalm 98 today. 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:27.760 Just raise your hand up. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:30.879 They'll be glad to drop one off at your row, your aisle. 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:36.320 So we have uh looked at already hope and peace, and today joy. 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:37.840 Next week, love. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:46.560 So if you need a little bit more of any of those, and I think all of us need a lot more of all of those, uh, you want to make sure to be here and uh bring some friends along as well. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:52.399 Bob um uh Bob Goff writes a book uh called Catching Whimsy. 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:56.320 And I'm not gonna put the quote up on the screen, but I love the this quote from the introduction. 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:05.680 He says, Whimsy isn't something we just stumble into, happen upon, or that sticks to us unnoticed like a drier sheet. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:16.000 It is something we need to chase after every day with intention, resolve, and tenacity, not unlike a child trying to catch a bubble as it floats through the air. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:23.040 It's not easy to do, but you can spot someone who is caught up to Whimsy a mile away. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:32.480 It shows up as joy and hope and generosity and selflessness and endless amounts of curiosity. 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:38.640 Love it, quote from the introduction of Catching Whimsy by Bob Goff. 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:52.239 So, what if all the songs that we sing at Christmas time, that we sing so many times, some of us the older we get, the more we've sung these songs, the less they sink in because we've just gotten used to them and our familiarity breeds a bit of indifference. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:55.840 What if we could kind of wake up, reawaken to all of that again? 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:57.920 And how do we do that if we wanted to do that? 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:14.479 Psalm 98 invites us, I think, to the possibilities that there might be a joy that's unshakable that might last and endure past those times of trial, past the shadows that cover our lives sometimes. 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:16.560 So I want to take a look at that today. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:20.319 I'll put the notes and quotes, make those available to you up there on the screen. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:29.360 If you have your camera on your phone, you want to shoot the uh QR code, you'll be able to jump and grab those before uh we get into the study. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:37.680 And I also want to thank the folks who joined us last week online from Imus Cavit, I think that's how you say it, or Cavite, uh Philippines, is where they're from. 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:39.919 Perth, Australia, Sydney, Australia. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:44.159 Evidently, Australia is uh going all TVC last week. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:45.680 So there's there's yeah, two different. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:46.800 Yeah, that's amazing, yeah. 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:49.280 And Liberty, Missouri as well. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:55.680 So we've this is just a beautiful thing about the you know the reach of the online ministry, and so grateful to the Lord for it. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:59.039 Today we'll be talking about, as I said, unshakable joy. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:06.240 I want you to know I I'm one of the preachers that you will know of that loves Christmas time, loves the advent season. 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:10.319 I love the songs, I love the lights, I love all the cultural traditions. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:12.080 Uh I love Christmas movies. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:14.960 How many of you have already watched one again this year? 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:15.840 Okay, cool. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:19.280 My faves are, if you're taking notes, White Christmas. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:21.840 And uh and I also like Joya Noel. 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:23.680 Anybody has anybody seen Joya Noel? 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:24.719 Oh, nice. 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:27.039 If you haven't seen that, it's really, really good. 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:28.639 I want to recommend that one to you. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:29.759 Uh, I like the presents. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:32.719 I like getting together with a bunch of dysfunctional family members. 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:35.199 This is just so much fun, isn't it? 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:41.439 And and but watching some of the hope, joy, peace, and love uh even invade those kinds of things. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:46.639 Occasional uh times where the family gets together and wears an ugly Christmas sweater together. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:47.759 I really like this one. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:50.080 I keep, I have to show this every year. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:52.000 Those of you who've been here for a few years. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:56.240 The parents seem to really, especially the father, really seems to be enjoying this. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:58.639 The teenagers, not so much. 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:05.759 Um, to them it's a living dad joke and uh an awful one at that, as you can kind of tell. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:13.199 Um, but we might sing Joy to the World, which someday, by the way, inspired Isaac Watts to write that carol. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:20.480 And that carol, um, as you, some of you may know, that carol was actually not written about Christmas, the first advent of Jesus. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:26.879 It was his intention to actually be looking forward to the second coming of Christ when he wrote Joy to the World. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:40.879 Uh, nonetheless, um, the hope, the, the, the peace, the joy, and the love of this season, um, there are people who aren't even Christians, aren't even believers around the world, that are leaning into a humanistic version of all of that. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:41.519 And that's fine. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:45.920 I mean, it if it softens people up a little bit and and that sort of thing, that's great. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:47.040 I'm happy for that. 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:50.079 But I want them to get to the unshakable joy part too. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:55.120 I'm really anxious for them to be able to experience that and experience that in Christ. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:05:01.680 There's a fellow that some of you will know of, uh, maybe you've read some of his books or follow him on um on the internet in some way. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:03.040 His name is Arthur Brooks. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:07.439 Um, he is a professing Christian as well, and he says there's a difference between happiness and joy. 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:10.959 Happiness is the feeling you have when things are going well. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:17.680 Joy is something deeper, an elevated state that can persist even when things are not going well. 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:19.600 And you've heard people say this before. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:23.439 Happiness tends to depend on happenings. 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:27.279 Joy actually is a little bit deeper, as Brooks has said. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:44.800 And we here at the village chapel, believing what we believe about Jesus, about God, about what the Bible teaches us, we think that in the dawn of redeeming grace, God is offering us at least these four things: unquenchable hope, unwavering peace, unshakable joy, and unconditional love. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:46.879 All of that found in Christ. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:50.399 Now, today, as I said, we're going to look at Psalm 98. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:56.079 Um, today is also in some church traditions called Gaudite Sunday. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:58.720 Um, it's just from a Latin word that means rejoice. 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:01.680 Okay, so um it's the joy Sunday. 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:08.639 We're sort of halfway through the Advent season, we're leaning toward Christmas, but we don't want to be completely there yet. 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:19.199 So we're gonna look at this old song from the Old Testament and just trace the way the God of the Bible wants his people to be joyful. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:36.480 And I know that some of you uh maybe throughout your life, when you went to church, it was sort of like, let's go be with those grumpy people on Sunday morning or those stoic people that check their emotions at the door, they come in and sit down and fold their hands, and they're the frozen chosen. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:39.360 Um, and we don't want to be the frozen chosen, okay? 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:48.480 It is cold, yes, everything freezes out there around this time of year, like it is uh perhaps uh at your house, all the plants, all that sort of thing. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:53.839 But the Lord wants us to be filled with joy, and I'm so excited about that and I want to talk about that. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:55.040 We're gonna study a psalm. 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:58.480 I'll remind you that the Psalms serve lots of purposes. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:06:59.759 Here are five of them. 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:04.000 They stir the emotions, and I just use this acronym SIDSI when I'm talking about the Psalms. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:12.240 They stir the emotions, they inform the mind, they direct the will, and whose will doesn't need a little directing. 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:15.120 Yours does, so does mine, they all do, right? 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.959 SIDSI, and so C is stimulate the imagination. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:28.399 In other words, I start to see things in the Psalms that I might not have imagined when I was thinking about God, when I was thinking about my faith life, that category of my life. 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:42.079 I start to see things in the Psalms a little bit differently because the great old poets, the old songwriters from the past have written so beautifully in ways that we can see things with images that inspire worship lastly. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:52.319 So before I read the text, or before we read the text, which I would like your help with that this morning, allow me, if you will, a prayer for illumination, asking the Lord to help us. 00:07:53.920 --> 00:08:15.279 God our Father, while we live in a dark and broken world where there are things like violence and shootings and wars and animosity, you have bestowed on us, your sons and daughters, beauty for ashes and the oil of gladness to heal our mournful souls. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:24.480 Jesus, remind us today that it is in the nearness of your presence that we find sustaining grace and matchless mercy. 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:34.799 Open our sin-sludged ears to hear the beckoning call of the Holy Spirit, inviting us to return home to you. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:40.879 Teach our wandering hearts that it is in you alone we may find unshakable joy. 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:54.320 Holy Spirit, help us look to and humbly bow before King Jesus, for he is our life, he is our light, he is our all in all. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:56.559 In Jesus' name. 00:08:56.799 --> 00:08:57.279 Amen. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:07.519 Psalm 98 is in Latin church services called Contate Domino, which really simply means to uh sing to the Lord. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:10.960 And so we're going to do that as we read Psalm 98. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:13.600 We'll be reading a lyric that is to be sung. 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:20.480 And it's, you know, this particular song, like or this particular psalm, rather, like I said, has inspired songs over the years. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:26.799 It's classified as some of the psalms are, they have different categories, theologians do when they when they categorize the psalms. 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:30.879 They might say, This psalm is a wisdom psalm, like Psalm 1 is a wisdom psalm. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:32.879 Lots of wisdom language. 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:37.120 But Psalm 98, on the other hand, is what we might call a royal psalm. 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:43.200 And it might also fit into the category of a psalm of praise or a hymn of praise. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:48.080 So as a royal psalm, it's going to highlight the kingship, the majesty of God. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:53.039 And as a hymn of praise, it's going to respond to God in great praise. 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:56.799 Now, I would love it very much if you would read the words aloud. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:00.320 There's just a few verses here, not that many, uh, nine of them. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:04.320 And I'm going to break it in little chunks, so if three three different parts. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:08.960 So if you'll read with as much gusto as you can, I would so greatly appreciate it. 00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:11.679 And we'll learn a little bit just from reading it together. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:12.399 Ready? 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:15.120 Oh, sing to the Lord a new song. 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:17.919 For he has done wonderful things. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:22.639 His right hand and his holy arm have gained the victory for him. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:26.240 The Lord has made known his salvation. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:30.559 He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:36.159 He has remembered his loving kindness and his faithfulness to the house of Israel. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:40.080 All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:42.639 So just a few comments as we get there. 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:46.320 And you may have your Bible in front of you open, as some of you do. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:48.799 You like to take notes in the margins and that sort of thing. 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:54.480 I'm just putting it up here on the screen so that we're all reading from the same translation, English translation, that is. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:11:02.240 But we see that verses one through three rehearses six things that God has done in the past. 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:07.519 So if you have your Bible and you want to look at those six things, let me just point them out to you. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:09.519 It's really simple, isn't it? 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:12.320 He has done wonderful things. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:16.960 Number one, number two, his right hand and his holy arm have gained the victory for him. 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:20.320 Not gained the victory for me, although he does do that. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:27.120 But it's important that we do understand that God has his own agenda in the history of humanity. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:30.000 And I think we sometimes forget that because we think of God. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:33.120 We've been trained to think of everything as about us. 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:48.080 And so we, as spiritual narcissists of our own sort of product of our own generation, and for some really bad preaching that's out there, we tend to think that God is, you know, his whole agenda is about making me happy when it's really about making me holy. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:54.720 And because he knows that holiness is actually for my greatest good and will bring him the greatest glory as well. 00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:55.840 But I don't think that way. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:58.799 I always tend to think here's my list of things to do today, God. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:01.840 Get this done and get it done as soon as possible, if you will. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:04.639 And sometimes in my prayers, I'll even tell him how to do it. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:06.559 How presumptuous of me. 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:16.159 Less than a tiny little ant in the universe, and yet I presume to be telling the creator of all things exactly what he should do for me. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.679 But his right hand and his holy arm have gained the victory for him. 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:22.399 Thirdly, the Lord has made known his salvation. 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:23.679 That's awesome, isn't it? 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:28.399 In other words, the Lord is not doing all of this in a corner somewhere. 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:30.240 He's not hidden. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:32.080 He's not trying to hide from us. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:36.720 Some people say occasionally, if God would just show himself, then I'd believe. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:38.559 I don't believe you. 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:42.000 I don't think you are telling the truth. 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:47.360 God has revealed himself, there's not just a mountain of evidence for God, there's a universe full of evidence for God. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:50.399 As a matter of fact, it's as close as your nose. 00:12:51.120 --> 00:13:08.720 It's as close as the DNA in your body, which Bill Bryson's book, The Body, I think it's called, says that if you were to stretch human DNA, if you put it each strand of DNA from your body on end, it would go from here not just to the moon, but to Pluto. 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:14.080 You are literally a cosmic creature in your DNA. 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:16.879 Accident or design? 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:21.759 Seems to me you take a lot less faith to believe that it's design. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:27.200 Something that complicated, something amazing like that is really powerful, isn't it, when you think about it. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:32.080 The Lord is not hiding, he has revealed himself, and it's even as close as your nose. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:35.279 He's revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nation. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:36.320 I like that a lot too. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:36.720 Why? 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:42.399 Because a lot of in our world today, nobody believes the same thing about what's right or wrong. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:47.120 There's all kinds of claims to things that used to be wrong. 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:48.480 Now they're right. 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:53.120 You know, even bad is good, so said Michael Jackson. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:54.879 And I know what he was saying. 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:56.879 I understand some of that. 00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:06.559 But when we start to have the breakdown of words, when they start to mean nothing, that's one of the great things, that's one of the worst things that can happen in a society or in a culture. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:08.399 Remember the Tower of Babel? 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:23.360 Even God in the heavens looks down and sees all of the chaos as they try to build their own tower to the heavens and to sort of reach the heavens on their own instead of receiving God's revelation. 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:28.879 So God decides to strike them and so that they end up speaking different languages. 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:33.519 And it just knocks them, their pride back down, knocks them back down to size. 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:34.720 It actually works for them. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:40.399 The Lord is not hiding, the Lord has revealed himself in multitudinous ways. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:43.200 All we have to do is open our eyes. 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:46.639 He's revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:52.000 Number five, he's remembered his loving kindness and his faithfulness to the house of Israel. 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:53.279 That's up on the screen as well. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:57.600 And that reminds us what the motivation of God is in wanting you to be joyful. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:14:59.919 He loves you. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:04.639 He wants you not to be miserable. 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:08.480 And I, you know, you kind of want to go around the world, don't you? 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:16.639 Just stopping at several churches that have those signs out front, you know, that are just filled with those messages that are like, turn her brown, you know, or whatever. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:23.200 And the message is so harsh and caustic, and yet you want to say to them, don't you, where's the joy? 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:26.000 Where's the where's the love of God on display here? 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:28.399 Is that you're drawing me in by what? 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:34.320 By shaming and condemning, or are you drawing me in by showing me the love of God in the gospel? 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:43.600 And the love of a God who actually is righteous and holy, and he wants you to know his joy, to experience his joy. 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:46.799 He wants us to remember his loving kindness and his faithfulness. 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:49.840 And six, all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:57.440 In other words, there's nowhere that you could go where there isn't some testimony about this God who is there. 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:03.279 And this is echoing or actually foreshadowing what we're getting what we would read in Romans chapter 1, right? 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:11.279 That literally every, no one has an excuse for the idea that there's some kind of God somewhere that put this all together. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:19.759 Because if we're sentient creatures, we're actually self-aware, we actually look around, we can sense stuff or hear stuff, or if we can't hear stuff, we can feel stuff, whatever. 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:24.480 We know something made all of this, brought this into being like it is. 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:26.639 It's fantastic when you think about it. 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:33.200 The Lord hasn't left himself without a testimony, he has made himself really well known. 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:36.399 So, verses one through three, those six things God has done. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:43.360 Verses four redirects our response in the present, you know, from the sing that we're told there. 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:47.600 But it's gonna, in verses four through six, talk about us playing instruments, shouting. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:49.840 Can we really do that in church? 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:52.480 Well, in some churches you can't. 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:57.759 But in this one, you could, even though we don't do a whole lot of that. 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:00.320 Every now and then, though, we get a shouter. 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:04.000 And I, for one, I kind of like it once in a while. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:08.640 If we just would have some direction to our shouting, that would be awesome. 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:15.599 I mean, again, grow up, I grew up in the frozen chosen, you check your emotions at the door, and then you walk and fold your hands and fall asleep to the message. 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:18.160 That's and you know, that's essentially what we had. 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:21.039 But what about the instructions of the Lord? 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:26.319 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:36.720 And Jesus added, and with all your mind as well, when he was talking to a lawyer who needed to know that he should love God with all of who he is, including his mind. 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:39.759 But your soul is in there in that command, isn't it? 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:49.519 And yet we find ourselves kind of difficult every now and then in some churches anyway, to make any kind of you know, show or display of emotion. 00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:56.720 How many of you were raised in a real, don't raise your hand, but you were raised in a really quiet, stoic kind of church. 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:01.519 And then were you ever, did you ever go somewhere where they really swung from the rafters? 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:04.400 I mean, it was it was awesome for me the first time it happened. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:09.359 I think I may have told before that we were in a glow, what was called the glory barn once. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:14.880 And you literally were, you dance your offering forward, you know, and threw it in the thing. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:18.480 And then if there wasn't enough, they recounted and had another dance number. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:21.359 And and you know, and yeah, we evidently there wasn't enough. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:22.400 Some of you aren't, you know. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:28.319 So you start moonwalking your way in and you do everything you can to you get everything right and express it the right way. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:30.720 But let's not go that far. 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:34.880 Um, I I I mean, we, yes, it's the end of the year. 00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:39.519 Yes, we need to keep the lights on and keep the electricity going and all that sort of thing. 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:50.079 But let's remember this is all about gathering to worship the Lord, and part of the way he instructs us to worship him, a whole lot of people just ignore it. 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:53.279 Because it's to shout. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:19:04.400 What does the Lord know about you and me, the way he's designed us, that we need to sing, we need to shout a little bit. 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:11.119 So, with all of that in mind, I invite you to read the next part, which is this beautiful middle part. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:20.720 And if you would do me the favor, just on this one particular occasion, let's do what we say as we say it. 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:21.279 Ready? 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:23.119 One, two, three. 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:43.920 Shout joyfully all the earth break forth and sing praises, sing praises to the Lord with a lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody, with trumpets and the sound of the horn, shout joyfully before the king, the Lord. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:48.160 See, some of you are gonna go home and shout for an hour and a half at a football game. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:52.640 And uh, and some of us, it's like Kim was talking about laughing earlier. 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:57.039 I was thinking, yeah, we were laughing a whole lot during that sort of comedy thing the other night. 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:00.079 It's so funny to belly laugh at stuff, you know? 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:02.880 And how good that is for us as human beings. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:09.359 It's just, it's actually not just emotionally good for us, it's physiologically good for us. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:30.319 It's really good for our brains and our minds and everything, but not just to do it just for the sake of doing, but to direct it to the Lord the King, who in his great majesty he has even called us, not just invited us, but summoned us and commanded us to shout to him. 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:31.759 So I love that. 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:44.319 Having sung and shouted Psalm 98 a little bit, we increase our joy as all of creation joins us groaning for, longing for the great day of the Lord when he's promised to return and set all things right. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:50.319 Verses 7 through 9 remind us of that, and we'll read them in just a second. 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:54.799 Um, they're all about what God intends to do in the future. 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:59.440 The first section was about what God has done in the past. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:05.680 The second section was about how we respond to God in the present. 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:16.559 And this last section wraps up, verse 9 especially, wraps up with a promise about what God intends to do in the future, and it's really, really wonderful. 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:30.240 Through that, when I think about this psalm all week long, I kept thinking, joy is the offspring of past gratitude and future hope. 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:31.920 Let me say it again. 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:40.160 Joy, right now, present joy is the offspring of past gratitude and future hope. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:45.279 And I'm so glad that Advent gives us an opportunity to talk about those categories like that. 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:50.559 Now, with all of that in mind, let's read this last section of Psalm 98 together. 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:51.200 Ready? 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:54.480 Let the sea roar and all it let's do that again. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:56.640 I thought your roar could be better, I think. 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:57.119 All right? 00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.680 They at nine o'clock got it maybe a little bit there. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.839 Roar was a little more, you know. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:02.480 Let's do that. 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:03.039 Ready? 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:14.960 Let the seed and all it contains, let the world and those who dwell in it, let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy before the Lord. 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:17.599 For he is coming to judge the earth. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:22.559 He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:30.160 And some of you now are thinking to yourself, wait a minute, man, we were just talking joyfully about judgment. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:32.000 Yeah, we were. 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:32.880 That's right. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:42.160 And I've said here before at the village chapel, I am one that is very excited, happy, glad, what? 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:46.480 About the one who's actually the ultimate judge. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:54.160 And it's because of his nature and his character that I rejoice in his righteous judgment. 00:22:54.319 --> 00:22:57.759 Look at that, just explore that a little bit, that verse nine. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:03.839 Because in verse nine, you see, it it there is this promise of the return of the king, right? 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:06.480 Before the Lord, for he is coming. 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:07.680 I love that. 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:12.799 You know, you guys that love Tolkien and Lewis, the return of the king, man, that's good. 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:14.240 We're looking for that. 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:18.000 The one who's ultimately in charge is coming back. 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:19.359 That's good, right? 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:21.759 All right, so we have the return of the king. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:23.759 What's the promise that he's offering us? 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:26.640 Well, he's coming to judge. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:31.440 Ah, now maybe some people are going, I don't know, I'm not so excited about that. 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:38.160 And yet at the same time, the same people will say they really, really hate injustice in the world. 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:43.119 They really hate human trafficking, they really hate domestic violence. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:51.759 They can't, it just can't even begin to fathom why somebody would go into a school like Brown University and do what they did yesterday. 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:56.160 And see, the world is broken. 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:02.480 And the righteous judge needs to come and set things right. 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:18.480 And no amount of humans setting up little laws that people ignore or don't get enforced, no amount of that, no amount of throwing money at some, no amount of even the some of these things are good, they need to be done, but they're not the ultimate solution here. 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:26.960 We need the king to come back and to set things right because they are broken. 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:34.319 And I look in the mirror every day and see part of what's broken in the world, and so do you, whether or not you even know it. 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:42.720 So we see the promise of the return of the king, the promise of judgment, but that his judgment has a certain characteristic to it and a scope. 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:46.880 His scope is he's coming to judge the whole earth. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:54.319 Not just here, not just in one neighborhood in Nashville that some of you might not like. 00:24:55.519 --> 00:25:04.079 Not just in one state in the United States that some of you might not loathe, not just one group of people from one political persuasion that some of you loathe. 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:05.839 No, no, no. 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:09.279 He's coming to judge the whole earth. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:16.880 And the good news is he's the only one that could actually do that and do it righteously. 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:32.000 And so I am glad myself that he's coming to set right what is wrong in this world, including some of the stuff that needs to be set right in me and the stuff that needs to be set right in you. 00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:38.799 So what we see in Psalm 98, don't we, is that there's a wonderful Savior in the first three verses depicted there. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:50.880 And so we sing to him and we begin to shout to him because he's a mighty king, and the whole world should respond to him that way because he's the mighty king. 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:58.400 And he's the righteous judge, the judge we always wanted, because he's the judge we've always needed. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:02.000 And he's the only one that can actually set it all right. 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:17.839 So in Psalm 98, it's not just an emotion that's being described and the call for us to sing and shout and rejoice before the Lord, nor is it about mere sentimentality that we might have on display in our own culture in this seasonal moment that we're in right now. 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:19.920 A lot of times it's just about sentimentality. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:22.079 Again, I'm okay with sentimentality. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:27.440 I I'm I'm but it has its place and it needs to be held in that place. 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:32.160 And it does me no good at all to think about ugly Christmas sweaters. 00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:37.839 When I go to the hospital to visit somebody who just lost somebody or who's about to lose somebody. 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:43.599 I need something that's an unshakable kind of joy that I can point them to. 00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:47.839 And the king of that, of course, is the Lord Jesus Himself. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:54.799 It's the settled, this unshakable joy is the settled celebratory confidence of knowing that God has acted. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:59.119 Psalm 98 teaches us that with those six things, that God is acting. 00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:02.000 So he's receiving our praise, he's hearing from us. 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:07.440 He loves it that we're shouting and singing to him and that we're focused on him and worshiping him. 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:10.319 And he will act to redeem his people and restore the world. 00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:22.960 All of what's in verse 9, you see, is ultimately going to be fulfilled in the return of the king, the second coming of Jesus, the second advent, the one we still are looking forward to in King Jesus. 00:27:23.039 --> 00:27:30.559 He's the one that claimed in Luke 24, 44, that all of the Psalms point forward and find their fulfillment in him. 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:38.240 If I believe Jesus about what he said there, then I can see how Psalm 98 is really about him ultimately, isn't it? 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:42.400 Psalm 98 calls us to both experience and express joy. 00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:46.240 It's not just a noun joy, it's also the verb rejoice. 00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:47.119 Yeah. 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:48.400 Over and over again. 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:52.000 Not because God needs affirmation, but because we need formation. 00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:55.279 We need our minds renewed by the word of God. 00:27:55.440 --> 00:28:05.519 Uncheckable joy is not the result of just thinking positive thoughts, but of rehearsing, reflecting upon, and believing God's promises. 00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:06.480 You see the difference? 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:08.160 I'm not opposed to positive thinking. 00:28:08.319 --> 00:28:09.599 Positive thinking is a good thing. 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:11.119 That's great, that's wonderful. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:14.640 But at the end of the day, I can't hope in me. 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:20.720 I have to hope in a power that is much greater and higher than myself. 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:29.119 Um, and that is the Lord God who has revealed himself in Scripture and called us in Psalm 98 to actually respond to him. 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:35.279 Now, last week I used a word that I had no idea was gonna stir up the kind of response that it did. 00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:47.839 And uh, and it was because we had so many medical uh community people in this church, everybody kept coming up to me, going, neuroplasticity, dude, way to go! You know, it was like it was kind of funny, it was a little strange, you know. 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:51.039 Um, but I'm gonna do it again this week because that was so good, yeah. 00:28:51.279 --> 00:29:07.440 Um so what modern neuroscience, I just want to explain a little bit further this time, what modern neuroscience has recently called neuroplasticity, the church has for a long time called discipleship and Christian formation. 00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:14.960 See, neuroplasticity is that is that bit of us, the brain actually has this ability, and science just gave it a name. 00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:24.160 God created it a long and designed a long time ago, but science just gave it a name because we're just now discovering a whole lot of things that God's already done a long time ago. 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:39.119 But your brain, your mind actually builds new neural pathways when you think a thought or repeat or rehearse some kind of truth or something, and it becomes your response to something that's happening to you from the outside. 00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:49.440 And so we're just saying, since we are already doing that, why don't we choose our neural pathways? 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:06.960 Let me retrain my brain to think about the Lord, to focus on the Lord in response to all of the stuff around me that's going on. 00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:17.440 And instead of just having that jerk reaction where I just strike back at somebody, maybe for half a second because I've actually started to memorize scripture and studied it enough. 00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:34.000 The Holy Spirit speaking it to me, recalling it to me, might say to me, Jim, be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven you. 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:41.759 Wow, I can operate out of the well of those truths, those realities that are a part of God's word. 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:48.640 I'm choosing actually the pathways that are going to be uh made in my own brain. 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:53.440 There's no joy like the joy of having been graced by somebody. 00:30:53.599 --> 00:30:55.279 Do you know that yourself? 00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:57.039 I think you probably do. 00:30:57.200 --> 00:31:03.039 Um, not given something that you know you don't deserve is what I'm talking about. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:23.680 And if if if you had to, I'm pretty sure each one of us could actually think back, just reflect for a moment, when you were graced by a friend, by a family member, maybe, and they've I I realize they've all failed us, but you have been graced by people before. 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:25.119 Do you know that? 00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:27.519 And do you even recognize that? 00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:31.039 All right, a gamillion times more than that. 00:31:31.359 --> 00:31:38.559 The God of the universe who created and designed you has graced you in Christ Jesus. 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:46.480 And he's paid the price on the cross for literally every single one of your sins, past, present, and future. 00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:48.079 The work is finished. 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:49.200 It's been accomplished. 00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:53.759 Your forgiveness has been finished and accomplished. 00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:54.880 Isn't that great news? 00:31:55.039 --> 00:32:00.480 Now, what does that do to you when you let that sink into your neural pathways? 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:04.880 Your neuroplasticity is going nuclear, man. 00:32:04.960 --> 00:32:06.559 I mean, it's it's awesome. 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:11.839 So we're going to go to that table, which we normally go to last week. 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:14.960 But you know, we just thought, yeah, it's December. 00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:16.000 Let's shake things up. 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:18.559 Maybe we can cause a church split or something, whatever. 00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:21.599 Let's just let's just see what happens, see if anybody gets up. 00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:24.799 No, we actually did this because we had all those kids up here last week. 00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:27.119 It just made more sense to do this this week, right? 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:37.359 And so we're gonna come up here and we're gonna remember and we're gonna reflect upon what God has already done in Christ Jesus to reconcile us to himself. 00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:50.880 And that it's not about me balancing out the moral scales, but it's not about it's not about me doing anything other than trusting Christ, who laid down his life on the cross for me and paid the price for all my sins, past, present, and future. 00:32:50.960 --> 00:33:02.000 And we have to remember our salvation and the joy of our salvation is that really starts to hit you when you know you've been graced by his salvation. 00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:07.599 No, you didn't earn it, you can't buy it, you can only receive it as a gift. 00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:12.720 That's being graced by the Lord, and that's really wonderful. 00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:17.599 Could you do that in your household, maybe for each other, as Jesus did for us? 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:20.400 Could we reflect his image a little bit more? 00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:21.920 Yes, we could. 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:29.839 But for a for this moment, and when we come to the table, I want you to dwell on the fact that you have been graced. 00:33:30.720 --> 00:33:34.319 It goes back, God's plan for doing this goes all the way back into our Old Testament. 00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:38.319 There's no difference between the Old Testament God and the New Testament God. 00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:47.200 He, all along, before the foundations of the world, he had a plan to save a wayward planet and wayward individuals like we are. 00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:57.519 We see that even the Psalm 16, I believe, is King David writing, he says, You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever. 00:33:57.680 --> 00:34:00.400 You see how it's all wrapped up in the it's a gift. 00:34:00.559 --> 00:34:01.599 He grants it to you. 00:34:01.759 --> 00:34:04.880 It's not like I don't pull myself up by my bootstraps to get joyful. 00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:06.480 No, I just get grateful. 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:09.840 And then he gives it to me as a gift. 00:34:10.400 --> 00:34:19.119 And it's all about his presence, not with a T, but his presence being with us, and we with him. 00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:20.800 Ah, it's so important. 00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:26.239 And then Jesus, echoing that same kind of line of thinking, I've told you this so that my joy may be in you. 00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:28.239 This is what Jesus wants for his disciples. 00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:36.000 If you're one of his disciples, if you're somebody who follows Jesus and you claim to be a Christian, this is what Jesus wants for you. 00:34:36.159 --> 00:34:46.559 Not silliness, not mere happiness that depends on happenings, but that celebratory confidence in Jesus. 00:34:46.880 --> 00:34:47.199 Okay? 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:49.679 Celebrate him. 00:34:50.320 --> 00:34:54.639 He wants his joy to be in you, and he wants your joy to be made complete. 00:34:54.800 --> 00:35:01.280 So, like Psalm 98, hymn of praise, and there's tons of other hymns of praise, by the way, in the Psalms. 00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:04.400