SINGING A NEW SONG – EVERYDAY TIMES FOR WORSHIP

PSALM 96   Sing A New Song of Praise to God 

This Psalm is so uplifting. And when we follow through with things said for us to do it lifts our spirits and highly motivates us to look for opportunities to “Tell somebody about Jesus.” When you look at how you spend your downtime you'll find so many opportunities to express your heart to the Lord.

There are some quotes from Matthew Henry's commentary laced in this lesson. Anything in italics is from https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/psalms/96.html

Psalm 96:1   Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Matthew Henry said concerning this new song,

“Sing a new song, an excellent song, the product of new affections, clothed with new expressions… the newness of a song recommends it; for there we expect something surprising. A new song is a song for new favors, for those compassions which are new every morning… A new song is a song that shall be ever new, and shall never wax old nor vanish away; it is an everlasting song that shall never be antiquated or out of date.”

Lamentations 3:22    Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

Me with my old Martin 12 named Eva

 Good music is not mechanical, not intellectual, not just ones’ ability to play the right note at the right time. Rather it emanates from the heart, it flows with emotion. When was the last time you turned the radio off in the car and just talked with Jesus while going down the road? Do you break out into a song in the shower, or while walking? Do you let your thoughts drift to praising the Lord from your heart? If you’re a musician, do you forget about written music and just play from your heart and maybe make up some words to go with whatever your fingers are doing? Sometimes an old song wells up inside and you worship with it with a freshness like eating Grandma’s Apple Pie while still hot. Sometimes church worship leaders are moved way off script and a new song comes out, a Holy Spirit led, spontaneous new song. I’ve been in services where people with little to no vocal talent will sing a new song prophetically. 

Take a minute right now, to sing praises to the Lord. You can praise in tongues or your native language. You can be very quiet and private if you must, or as loud as you like, just let the Spirit flow through your lips in praise to the Father and Son. Don’t worry what it sounds like. If you're a musician it's such a blessing to let it flow from your heart through your instrument.

 Psalm 96:2   Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

Let all the earth sing this song, … all that are redeemed from the earth, learn and sing this new song. This is a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles; all the earth shall have this new song put into their mouths, shall have both cause and call to sing it.

The 2^nd phrase of this verse, "bless His name;" has particular meaning that we so often overlook. The Hebrew word used in this verse is barak, which is translated to kneel down, to praise, to salute, to thank. Kneeling is sign of submission to whoever you kneel before. It could be said that blessing God is to submit to or placing ourselves at His service. When we bless other people we are either giving them some gift or asking, “How can I be of service to you?”

The second part of the verse, "Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day," and the next verse, take these concepts to another context. We are admonished to speak the good news of salvation daily. May the Lord open up the doors of people’s hearts to receive this good news as we speak it.

3   Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.

Let the subject-matter of this song be his salvation, the great salvation which was to be wrought out by the Lord Jesus; that must be shown forth as the cause of this joy and praise.

Are we as excited about getting saved as we were when that 1^st happened? I was so excited that on the night I got saved (Dec. 17,1971) I walked up the hill, on middle of the main road full of nice homes, that went up to the college, in knee deep snow, jumping and shouting praise to God in the middle of the night. For the rest of my time in college, along with other students, we did all kinds of crazy stuff to tell people about Jesus. Think about what this verse says to do, and the next verses tell us why.

Psalm 96:4   For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.

The Lord is great, and therefore greatly to be praised  and to be feared, great and honorable to his attendants, great and terrible to his adversaries. Even the new song proclaims God great as well as good; for his goodness is his glory … He is great in his sovereignty over all that pretend to be deities; none dare vie with him: He is to be feared above all gods —all princes, who were the nations.

 Proverbs 1:7   The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

 Deut. 10:12   “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

13   and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?

Think of who we consider great in American society? Are they made into idols. Are Music stars, sports stars, some politicians, some preachers and those who do good things for society idolized? Do we use the word “great” too flippantly? Of course we should do whatever we do striving for excellence but who gets the glory for the good things we do?

We need to be careful not to take compliments too personally, all glory goes to God who enabled us to do whatever was worthy of the compliment.

Psalm 96:5   For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens.

https://www.heartlight.org/gallery/5018.html

The Lord made the heavens and all their hosts; they are the work of his fingers (Ps. 8:3 )… The gods of the nations were…the creatures of men’s fancies; but our God is the Creator of the sun, moon, and stars, those lights of heaven,. He is great in the manifestation of his glory… among his angels in heaven and his saints on earth

My wife read a fascinating book called “The Improbable Planet.” by High Ross. With deep scientific analysis, his conclusion is that all of the universe was created and set in motion in such a way as to make life possible on this Earth. Any anomalies to the way God created it and Earth could not sustain life. Just think of it, all of creation exists because God spoke it into existence with such perfection because He loves us and wants a loving relationship with mankind.

Psalm 8:3   When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

4   What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?

Splendor and majesty are before him, in his immediate presence above, where the angels cover their faces, as unable to bear the dazzling luster of his glory. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary, both that above and this below. In God there is everything that is awful and yet everything that is amiable. If we attend Him in His sanctuary, we shall behold His beauty, for God is love, and experience His strength, for He is our rock. Let us therefore go forth in His strength, enamored with His beauty.

Webster defines majesty as sovereign power, authority, or dignity. It’s great for us to be servants of “GOOD KING JESUS.” And to honor Him as our Lord. King David must have had an experiential understanding of the 2^nd part of this verse when he also wrote,

Psalm 27:4   One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple.

Psalm 96:7   Give to the Lord, O families of the nations, give to the Lord the honor and strength that He should have.

8   Give to the Lord the honor of His name. Bring a gift and come into His holy place.

9   Worship the Lord in holy clothing. May all the earth shake in fear before Him.

The Hebrew word for give is also translated ascribe which isn’t a word we use every day. Webster defines it as to refer to a supposed cause, source, or author : to say or think that (something) is caused by, comes from, or is associated with a particular person or thing. The instructions in these verses are pretty specific. Simply stated, we are all to recognize that all glory and strength comes from God. The response to that recognition is to come to into the courts of the King with an offering and with worship. He cloths us in His Holiness, remember the gold plaque on the Priests turban that said Holiness to the Lord.

Matthew 28:19   Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Philippians 2:11   And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The message we are entrusted to share with all the earth is so simple even a young child can grasp it and respond. Yet it’s so profound that it goes over the heads of even very brilliant adults. People need to understand that whether they accept the truth or not, the Lord is God, He is the absolute ruler of the universe, and that His judgment will reflect the loving heart of Jesus who came to seek and to save the lost. This truth is established as unchangeable as that we are on this planet, that what goes up will come down. Even the folks up there in the ISS are under the sovereignty of God. Because we believe in Jesus we have a firm anchor for our lives, we should realize this be stable, unshakeable, standing in faith through all circumstances. Now that’s a freedom to shout about. Matthew Henry put it this way,

The natural world shall be established. The standing of the world, and its stability, are owing to the mediation of Christ. Sin had given it a shock, and still threatens it; but Christ, as Redeemer, upholds all things, and preserves the course of nature… Let them be told that Christ’s government will be incontestably just and righteous: He shall judge the people righteously, judge the world with righteousness, and with his truth,

The pictures below are all that needs to be said about verses 11 & 12

Psalm 96:13   before the Lord. For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.

https://ichallengeyouproject.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/he-is-coming-2/

That he shall rule in the hearts and consciences of men by the commanding power of truth and the Spirit of righteousness and sanctification. When Pilate asked our Savior, Art thou a king? he answered, ‘For this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth’ (Jn. 18:37 ); for he rules by truth, commands men’s wills by informing their judgments aright. Let them be told that his coming draws nigh, that this King, this Judge, stands before the door; for HE comes, for HE comes.

The lyrics of this old song sum it all up, The Lord Reigns by Lindell Cooly . 

Listen to it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=H9PdovuZURg

The Lord reigns, The Lord reigns, The Lord reigns

Let the earth rejoice, Let the earth rejoice, Let the earth rejoice

Let the people be glad, That our God reigns

A fire goes before Him, And burns up all His enemies

The hills melt like wax, At the presence of the Lord, At the presence of the Lord

The heavens declare His righteousness

The people see His glory,

For You O Lord are exalted Over all the earth, Over all the earth

Our God reigns, Our God reigns

© 1980 Scripture In Song

Joy of Salvation Restoration

From the conviction of your sin to lovingly reaching out to others is a wonderful process.

Psalm 51:10    Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

11    Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

12    Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

13    Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

This morning during worship the Lord touched my heart in a wonderful way with a song about Jesus doing all He did at the cross He did all for love. There is a line that says, “The love that tore the veil within my heart.” Suddenly I was transported back in time to the day and evening when I got saved, Dec. 17, 1971. My girl friend and I stepped in the door of what had been a barn, now in transformation to become much more, and my personal walls were destroyed by a Presence I knew nothing about. You could say that the veil within my heart was shredded.

Earlier this morning, during prayer meeting before the service, the verses from Psalms came strongly to mind. We often sang that chorus back in the 1970’s. Thinking about that these two things that the Lord spoke to my heart I realized the connection. The four verses quoted above are a progression, indeed a process every Christian goes through. Before going into this marvelous process, please come with me back to Dec. of 1971 in a place called Freeville, NY where there was a Christian commune called Love Inn.

My first visit to that Christian commune in Freeville, NY was the result of a complex series of events that the Lord used to bring many of us “hippies” of the 60’s era to Himself. I Googled Love Inn and found the following quote,

Begun in the late 1960's as a community of young people seeking Jesus, Love Inn occupied the farm of Peg Hardesty. The community eventually expanded to include a radio and tape ministry as well as coffeehouses, worship seminars, and various publications. The church was later incorporated and the name was officially changed to Covenant Love Community. http://covenantlove.squarespace.com/about

The Lord moved on Peggy’s heart to give the farm to those starting this commune. The way I remember it, the women lived in her house and the guys slept in a part of the barn that was transformed into a dormitory. Peg’s kitchen served all these “strays” until a kitchen was built in the barn. The Lord miraculously provided for everything they needed and that was one of the things that really caught the attention of this former “commun-ist” (misspelling intentional). The other draw was a very beautiful “hip chic” I recently met, she had a joy I didn’t understand, her inward and outward beauty was irresistible to me. Her invitation to go Love Inn with her was impossible to pass up.

Here it was, a “self-sufficient” (really God dependent) commune, something I dreamed of for several years. Great thanks to Peggy, who I only met very briefly, and to Scott Ross who was the founder and Pastor, for following God’s leading. Thanks to whomever provided all those groceries that were bagged on the floor with everyone was gathered around in Peggy’s living room, thanking the Lord in ways I never experienced. Then there was Susan, the girl who captivated my heart. Add to that a big bunch of people still in the uniform of the 60’s (types of clothing and length of men’s hair) who looked like I did. On top of all that was the most important factor of all, the Presence of God all over that farm. It was God’s time, God’s place and my heart had been prepared for the end of my search for something real in this life. All things in place, after dinner there were three of us around a table when the Holy Ghost showed up in great power. I got saved and Susan received the Baptism in the Holy Ghost. What a Divinely orchestrated day!! I got back to my apartment and needed to celebrate. I walked up Court St. hill to the college, in thigh  deep snow in the middle of the night shouting Hallelujah, experiencing that joy and peace that could not be kept inside.

Other verses in that song from this morning’s worship asked what would I have done, what would I have become, if it wasn’t for the Cross, if it wasn’t for that love that tore the veil in my heart. What if Susan hadn’t invited me to go there? What if Love Inn wasn’t there, less than ½ hr drive from Cortland State where we were students? No doubt I, and many hundreds of similar people, would have been dead or in jail.

Now let’s look at the process that starts at such a cross road.

Step 1: Psalm 51:10    Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Salvation requires repentance, the turning from the sinful life we lived before. In order for that to happen we need to understand, in our inner man, that our heart isn’t clean and we can’t clean it up ourselves. Thus comes the prayer for a clean heart. I didn’t understand this concept very well that night, in fact I smoked some hash to celebrate. The Lord’s grace was amazing in that the drugs had no effect on me; I was just so excited about have a new boss of my life, Jesus the King of the Universe.

Step 2: Verse 11    Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Having experienced His presence enjoins this prayer; it is far too wonderful to ever desire to away from. I learned this lesson the hard way. A few weeks after I got saved I took my guitar to and audition for a band at someone’s house in the country. The pipe was coming around as several us where jamming. I didn’t know better than to take what was freely offered. We smoked a lot of pot that night, the air was completely filled with the smoke. When we stopped playing I felt that separation from His Presence. The old paranoia hit me harder than I could remember. Repentance followed swiftly.

Step 3: Verse 12    Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation…

I think it gives the Lord Heart ache when His kids don’t remember, nor experience with ever increasing dimensions, this unspeakable joy. We are saved and can experience Him in ways within and beyond our senses constantly. We all try to do so much on our own, and usually fail or just don’t measure up to His expectations. If we would just stop striving and listen to His usually gentle leading life would get better. His joy will grow in our hearts and we’ll be more successful in every way. The RESTORATION of the JOY OF SALVATION can be a daily experience, even if it is just a depth breath and heartfelt utterance of,”Thank you Jesus.”

Step 4: This is perhaps the most important and most rewarding. With the previous steps taken we can declare our intent to follow the Great Commission,

Psalm 51:13    Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

Matthew 28:19    Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…

20:    Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen

Don’t you just get excited about the end of verse 20, the promise of His Presence with us always and everywhere? How can we do anything less than what He said to do? The love of God in our hearts should stir us with compassion and love for people who don’t personally know Him. To know Jesus is to love Him and consequently all those He died for – that doesn’t exclude anybody. The joy of salvation equates to the joy of the Lord, is exceeds the realm of “happiness,” it is the source of inner strength. This is my biggest motivation for writing these blogs.

In conclusion, look at the command to those who just went quickly through this process. The Law of the Lord had been ignored for a long time. The book was found and read to the people. They experienced deep conviction for their sin and tears of repentance flowed. Now with this new outlook on life, with their commitment to follow the Lord, their leader commands them,

Nehemiah 8:10    Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.