And Heav'n and Nature Sing

He is known for writing such timeless hymns as “I Sing the Mighty Power of God”, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross", "Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed?", and "Am I a Soldier of the Cross?".

And these are just from our own hymnal that we use in this church!

However, Watts is best known for writing the hymn “Joy to the World”—a song we hear on repeat every year during Advent Season.

While Watts is much appreciated today, during his lifetime Watts was considered by many to be a disturbance of the status quo for the lyrics he wrote.

He was a revolutionary in terms of hymn writing.

He grew up in a world where the music in every worship service consisted only of psalms or sections of Scripture put to music.

Watts found the worship in his church to be monotonous.

To him, there was a lack of joy and emotion among the congregants as they sang.

As a teenager, he once said after a service, “The singing of God's praise is the part of worship nighest heaven, but its performance among us is the worst on the earth.”

One Sunday after church, 16 yr. old Isaac made a comment about the "ugly hymns" to his father on the way home.

Watts Senior issued a challenge to his boy. "If you do not like the hymns, young man, then give us something better."

This moment set Watts on a lifelong pursuit to write lyrics that exalted Christ and reminded Christians of their hope in his saving work on the cross.

And the rest is history, as they say.

This desire is evident in the way he wrote “Joy to the World.”

Watts was inspired to write the timeless tune while meditating on Psalm 98.

Verse 4 in the Psalm moved him: “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!”

And this is exactly what Watts set out to do.

Little did he know that this song would spark a joyful noise that would ring through the ages.

While “Joy to the World” is primarily sung at Christmas time, it’s not necessarily about the first Advent.

The song also tells the story of Christ’s return—his second Advent.

The hymn speaks of the whole earth receiving her King:

Joy to the world! The Lord is come;

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare him room,

And heaven and nature sing

But is that what happened when Christ came?

After all, Scripture tells us that he was not readily received by everyone.

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Is. 53:3)

The earth did not receive her King but like sheep, went astray.

Still, we know that there will be a day when this will not be so:

God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:9-10)

On that day, both heaven and nature will sing out and repeat the sounding joy for all eternity.

So why do we sing this song at Christmas?

It is clearly a song about Christ’s second coming—when the full expression of his glory will be revealed.

It doesn’t really have anything to do with the Christmas story.

Or does it?

After all, there is no second coming without a first coming.

This song is all about the fulfillment of what Christ came to do in the first place.

Christmas is not only a time to look back at the grace accomplished in the past.

Christmas is also a time to look forward to the grace that was accomplished for our future.

When we sing these words we are proclaiming the ultimate joy to be revealed.

This is why we can sing ”Joy to the World” at Christmas.

This time of the year directs our gaze backward to Christ's first Advent and prompts joyful celebration, but also this season directs our gaze forward to His second Advent and prompts hopeful anticipation.

Which brings me to the title of our Advent 2020 series:

"Let Earth Receive Her King"

The series title is, of course, taken from one of the stanzas of Joy to the World, as will all of the individual sermon titles, if you watch carefully each week!

The purpose of this Advent series will be:

PURPOSE OF SERIES: To direct our gaze to Christ's rule and reign as King; begun in eternity past, proclaimed in His first Advent, present in His heavenly ministry, and to be fully realized at His second Advent.

We will begin to flesh this out by looking at the passage that inspired Isaac Watts to pen Joy to the World so many years ago.

Psalm 98.

As we read through the psalm, I want these words from the hymn to play through your mind:

And Heav’n and Nature Sing

Psalm 98 (ESV)

1 Oh sing to the Lord a new song,

for he has done marvelous things!

His right hand and his holy arm

have worked salvation for him.

2 The Lord has made known his salvation;

he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness

to the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation of our God.

4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;

break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,

with the lyre and the sound of melody!

6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn

make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!

7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

the world and those who dwell in it!

8 Let the rivers clap their hands;

let the hills sing for joy together

9 before the Lord, for he comes

to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness,

and the peoples with equity.

Problem:

Maybe like the church Watts attended growing up, our worship has become routine to us.

The Christmas season is merely tradition, just something we "do".

We celebrate Jesus, yes, but we do so with distracted and divided hearts.

As our King, Jesus demands our full attention and adoration.

Need:

We need to worship Jesus with joyful, attentive, and undivided hearts.

So, as we look over Psalm 98, we will find that:

Theme: The advents of Jesus Christ are cause for joyful singing.

Both the first and the second coming of Jesus should make us rejoice in worship to Him.

And that is my goal this morning:

Purpose of Sermon:

To elevate our worship of Jesus Christ to that of extreme joy for what He has done, is doing, and will do for us.

Organizational Sentence:

You’ll notice that Psalm 98 is comprised of three equal stanzas.

There are three verses given to each stanza which pose and answer some questions for us as readers.

The first stanza, verses 1-3, answers the question, "Why sing to Jesus?"

The second stanza, verses 4-6, teaches, "How to sing to Jesus".

And the final stanza, verses 7-9, shows, "Who should sing to Jesus".

1. Sing, for Jesus the Savior has done marvelous things. (v.1–3)

Let’s examine the first stanza, which give us some reasons to sing to Jesus.

We are told in verse 1 to:

“sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things!”

The imperative is for us to Sing, for Jesus the Savior has done marvelous things.

This stanza emphasizes the Past and Present work of Jesus Christ as Savior for His people.

There are three marvelous things that Jesus the Savior has done, which I want to point out.

A. He has wrought salvation (v. 1)

Salvation is the theme of the first stanza.

It is mentioned three times, once in each verse.

The psalmist, allegedly David, was celebrating some grand deliverance that God accomplished.

As to what this salvation was or who it was from, the text does not say.

All we know is that it was an awesome display of God’s power resulting in victory.

In light of Jesus' victory on the cross, ratified through the resurrection, this salvation can legitimately be applied to salvation from sin and judgment that Christ wrought.

Jesus' birth narrative shows this to be legitimate interpretation.

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, fulfilling the prophecy of Micah 5:2 and an angel proclaimed to the shepherds in Luke 2:10-11,

Luke 2:10–11 (ESV)

behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

The angel's terminology seems to "repeat the sounding joy" of the first stanza in Psalm 98.

Also, Mary's magnificat in Luke chapter 1 has many interesting parallels with this stanza.

David Psalm 98:1 = “Sing to the Lord a new song”

Mary Luke 1:46 = “My soul magnifies the Lord”

David Psalm 98:1 = “for He has done marvelous things!”

Mary Luke 1:49 = “for He who is mighty has done great things for me,”

David Psalm 98:1 = “His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him.”

Mary Luke 1:51 = “He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts”

David Psalm 98:1 = “The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.”

Mary Luke 1:50 = “And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation”

David Psalm 98:1 = “He has remembered His steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel”

Mary Luke 1:54 = “He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy”

The psalmist instructs us to "sing a new song".

This refers to singing to the Lord when He does something new in our lives or when we have a fresh experience of His grace.

I can fathom no greater experience of grace than the new birth that brings salvation to the soul that was darkened and dead in sin.

It took the Lord's right hand and holy arm to bring about this salvation.

There are two implications here:

1. Salvation is not a matter of human effort, but of God's mighty power and holiness.

He doesn't need our puny efforts to help Him out.

Isaiah records that the Lord, looking upon the sad condition of His people,

Isaiah 59:16 (ESV)

16 He saw that there was no man,

and wondered that there was no one to intercede;

then his own arm brought him salvation,

and his righteousness upheld him.

In Eph. 1:19–21,

Paul prays that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know "what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe," this power is "according to the working of His great might, that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come."

This is the power it took to save us from the domain of darkness and transfer us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col. 1:13, 14).

Since salvation is a matter of God's mighty power, no one is beyond saving.

We might believe someone, maybe ourselves, are hopeless, lost causes.

But not so with God.

2. If God's mighty power has saved us, then He is fully able to preserve us and provide for us all that we need to live for Him.

John 6:39 (ESV)

39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

2 Peter 1:3 (ESV)

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,

Has He worked this wondrous miracle of salvation in your heart by His mighty power?

If not, stop trying to attain it by yourself and depend upon Christ alone.

If He has worked this miracle of salvation in your heart, then stop trying to preserve it by yourself and depend upon Christ alone!

Trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, Sustainer, and Shepherd, from the moment you first call upon His name to the moment you enter into glory.

Jesus has wrought salvation.

Second marvelous thing He has done:

B. His salvation has revealed His character to all people (v. 2, 3)

In Genesis 12:3, we read that God’s covenant promise to Abraham was that through Abraham’s descendents all the families of the earth would be blessed.

Paul, in his Epistle to the Galatians clarifies how God fulfilled this promise through His Son Jesus Christ:

Galatians 3:13–14 (ESV)

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

This is wonderful news for us Gentiles, isn’t it!?!

Jesus Christ became a curse so that we would be blessed!

Why did salvation require Jesus to become a curse for us?

To reveal God’s righteousness.

Psalm 98:2 says through salvation, “He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.”

God is absolutely righteous.

Making known His salvation reveals His righteous character.

He cannot brush away our sins.

The penalty for sin is death, which had to be paid, either by the sinner or by an acceptable substitute.

Because Christ took upon Himself the curse of our sin and put Himself under God’s punishment for our sin, God’s righteousness is satisfied.

God is righteous in dealing with sin at the cross, which resulted in Christ imputing His righteousness to us.

Salvation also reveals His mercy.

In the Old Testament, God's character is often repeated as righteous and merciful, sometimes in the same passage.

Consider God’s exposition of His character in Exodus 34:

Exodus 34:6–7 (ESV)

6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

He is righteous in punishing sin and merciful in forgiving sin of those who seek Him.

Have you tasted the righteousness and mercy of God revealed in the gospel?

If not, taste and see that the Lord is good!

And the third marvelous thing the Lord has done:

C. He has remembered His covenant with His people (v. 3a)

The birth of Jesus and His atoning sacrifice demonstrates that God remembers His covenant with His people.

Salvation reveals God to be righteous and merciful, but also faithful to His promises of love toward His people.

The Steadfast Love and Faithfulness of the Lord reveals His salvation to His own people, especially.

These two characteristics of God are used to describe the benefits of a covenant relationship with Him.

But, even these two characteristics that are reserved for His covenant people are also for the benefit of all people.

When Jesus is presented at the temple in Luke 2, Simeon blessed God and said,

Luke 2:29–32 (ESV)

29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,

according to your word;

30 for my eyes have seen your salvation

31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory to your people Israel.”

So, this first stanza shows us Jesus the Savior and the marvelous things He has done in salvation.

Everyone of us can sing because the righteous, mercy, love, and faithfulness of God has been revealed through His salvation, which comes in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ came in His first Advent to save and He is still in the business of saving today, revealing His glorious character as He does so.

2. Sing joyfully to Jesus your King (v. 4–6)

Moving on to stanza 2, verses 4 to 6 teach us how to sing to Jesus.

The psalmist instructs us each to sing joyfully to Jesus your King.

There are three ways we can do this according to this stanza.

First,

A. Sing exultantly to Jesus (v. 4)

The mood of this new song we are to sing according to this stanza is not boring, doleful, or mumbling.

This is not like the people singing psalms and hymns in Isaac Watts’ church!

Note that this music is full of "noise", "joy", "breaking forth", and various instruments.

Worshiping King Jesus should be active and exuberant.

Loud and proud.

Full of celebration and adoration for the marvelous things He has done.

Does this describe your worship privately and individually?

Does this describe our worship as a church publically and corporately?

Second, we are to:

B. Sing exclusively to Jesus (v. 4–6)

Three times this stanza emphasizes who we are to shout and sing joyfully to: "make a joyful noise to the Lord", "Sing praises to the Lord", "make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!".

This reminds us that:

Worship is not about us.

Worship is not about others around us.

Worship is not about the praise team up front.

Worship is not about the lights and the experience.

Worship is about and for the King alone.

He alone is worthy of our exultant worship.

He deserves it.

He actually demands it!

Worship is the whole reason we exist, if you want to get right down to it.

God created us to worship Him.

But we fell short of His glory and chose to worship other things because of sin. We,

Romans 1:25 (ESV)

25 exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

And so, Christ came and saved us to worship Him.

God’s highest desire is that every one of His saints should so love and adore Him that we are always worshiping in His presence in Spirit and Truth.

Through the new birth, through salvation, God in Christ intended to make worshipers out of rebels; to restore us to the place of worship Adam and Eve were designed to know in the Garden.

A.W. Tozer has written,

“True worship is to be so personally and hopelessly in love with God that the idea of a transfer of affection never even remotely exists.”

That is how exclusive our worship is to be.

It is Christ-centered.

Any other worship is rebellion and treasonous to God.

Now, third, we are also to:

C. Sing excellently to Jesus (v. 5, 6)

We are to remember that we are worshiping the King of kings.

Which means we need to keep in mind that:

We Must Worship His way.

The One who created worship and created us to worship has the only right to dictate how He is to be worshiped by us.

This demands us to become familiar with our Bibles, doesn’t it?

On every page, especially in the Psalms, God has decreed and written out clear directions for worshipping Him in an acceptable fashion.

The worshipper does not decide how they will worship.

If you don’t believe that to be true or you don’t think it matters how you worship God, I humbly point you to Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu who died before the the LORD because they offered unauthorized, strange fire before the LORD as worship in Numbers chapter 3.

God had spelled out the terms of worship so clearly and carefully, but these two men disregarded the terms and chose to do things their way.

The way we worship matters to God.

Therefore, we must also keep in mind that:

We Must Worship Him With Our Very Best.

True worship takes us into Christ’s presence in heaven to join in the singing of the angels, elders, and creatures surrounding His throne.

Think about that.

We worship in the presence of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Would your worship be any different if you kept this in mind?

And because we worship Christ as King:

We Must Worship Him in All Humility and Honor.

He is the King and we are His subjects.

We come to Him, He who has everything, is not in need of anything, yet calls us to worship Him.

Us.

We who are poor and needy are welcomed into His presence to return thanks, praise, and glory to Jesus Christ.

Since He is King, honor Him as such.

Since He is King of kings, worship Him in humility; which requires us to be honest about ourselves and honest about who He is.

Let us give our utmost for His highest!

Sing joyfully to Jesus your King by singing exultantly, exclusively, and excellently.

3. Sing all creation, for Jesus is the coming Judge (v. 7–9)

Now to the third and final stanza of this Psalm in verses 7 to 9, which shows us who should sing to Jesus.

Here, the command is to sing all creation, for Jesus is the coming Judge.

All creation is a pretty general, broad category.

So, from this stanza I’ll highlight two sub-categories that the psalmist mentions should rejoice at Christ’s second Advent.

First,

A. Creation should sing (v. 7, 8)

Creation should rejoice because Christ will restore it to original glory when He comes again.

When He comes He will revoke the curse.

In the Garden, when Adam and Eve sinned the result was that God cursed the earth.

The ground would no longer be fruitful without man's work, industry, and farming.

The curse caused death to enter entire world.

Death came to all creation, not only to mankind, but also to vegetation and plant life; to all creatures of the sea, land, and sky; everything now experiences death because of sin.

In Romans 8, Paul explains that creation has been subjected to futility and is under the bondage of corruption and is groaning in the pains of childbirth because of man’s sin (Rom. 8:19-21).

But, in that same passage, Paul says that creation waits with eager longing for the day of its redemption.

On that day, Christ the Judge shall come and restore its glory by reversing the curse and spread peace on the earth.

This is cause for much rejoicing!

The sea will roar and all its creatures will rejoice.

The rivers will clap and the mountains will sing for joy before Jesus because He comes to judge the earth.

But, note also that people will rejoice along with creation:

B. People should sing (v. 9)

“Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.”

The people of the earth will join in the song with the rest of creation.

But, note why people are singing in this particular stanza of the Psalm.

In the first stanza it was because Jesus is the Savior who came.

In the second stanza it is because Jesus is the King who now reigns.

Then, in the third stanza it is because Jesus is coming as Judge.

When He returns, wrongs will be made right;

evil will be punished;

good will be honored;

righteousness will reign;

wickedness will be crushed;

all things will be made new.

This speaks of who will actually rejoice when Christ comes again.

If all creation rejoices when Christ returns, how much more should we who know Him?!?

Great joy is only for those who have experienced His marvelous salvation and submit willingly to Him and His reign now.

This joy will be for all of us who believe.

In Revelation 21 there is a depiction of the joy that will come to the people of God as well as the eternal torment for those outside the Kingdom:

Revelation 21:3–8 (ESV)

3 “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

When He comes again as the righteous Judge, either you will rejoice greatly because you've experienced His marvelous salvation and have submitted to His Kingship

OR you will shrink back in horror, because you've rejected Him as Savior and King.

How and Who you worship now will determine where you will worship in eternity.

Either worship Him in the presence of His grace forever OR be forced to worship Him under His wrath forever.

At the end of the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ Himself explicitly states three times: “I am coming soon”.

For creation and for God’s people that will be a day to rejoice!

Our response to Jesus as the coming Judge should be the same response as the apostle John’s:

“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

Conclusion

As we enter into the Christmas Season, we need to recognize that we are a people caught in between the two Advents of Christ.

This year, allow this season to be a time when you look back in joyfully celebration of the grace of God that has appeared in the Lord Jesus Christ who brought salvation in His first Advent.

Allow this season to be a time when you look heavenward in worshipful adoration of Jesus Christ, the King of kings, ruling and reigning over the hearts of His people.

But also, allow this season to be a time when you look forward in hopeful anticipation of the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who will come to judge the earth in righteousness and make all things new.

Take time this season to join with all Heav’n and Nature to sing joyfully because the King has come and is coming.

Prayer

Amen.

Come Lord Jesus!

Come and reveal Your Kingdom for all to see.

Come and revoke the curse upon this earth.

Come and restore Your people to their rightful place.

Come and Judge with righteousness and equity.

Until then,

We worship and sing to You

for you have done marvelous things.

AMEN.

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