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Very nice to be with you this
evening. Please turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the
book of Revelation, the 15th chapter. And I'll just read a very few verses
from Revelation 15, verses 2, 3 and 4. Revelation 15, verses 2, 3 and
4, and I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and
those who had been victorious over the beast and his image
and the number of his name standing on the sea of glass holding harps
of God. And they sang the song of Moses,
the bondservant of God, and the song of the Lamb sang. Great
and marvelous are your works, O Lord God the Almighty. Righteous
and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not
fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy,
for all the nations will come and worship before you, for your
righteous acts have been revealed. Let's pray. Father, thank you
again for your Word. Thank you that you have been
pleased to give it to us for our instruction. Thank you that
we have the privilege of singing your Word. And we pray, Father,
that as we look at this text this evening, just for a short
period of time, that you'll be pleased to bless us with a better
understanding of what we are to do in our singing of your
Word. Bless us to this end in the good
name of Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen. A professor of a college in a
nearby community wrote a paper that has circulated at our seminary. The paper has to do with psalmody. The professor concludes the paper
with a statement something like this, Exclusive psalmody is not
only not necessary, but it is positively sinful. Well, that puts the likes of
us in a rather bad light, to say the very least. And our professor
friend suggests that we look at the songs in the book of Revelation
to get a better idea of how we ought to conduct ourselves in
the public worship of God and what we ought to sing. And so
my proposal this evening is for us to look at this one song in
the book of Revelation chapter 15 following our esteemed professor's
advice and to see what the outcome actually is when we look at this
particular song in Revelation chapter 15. So I'm going to ask
you to work with me as we look at this song and hopefully we'll
all come out at the same place. The song is a song sung by the
saints of God in heaven. And I won't go into it in detail,
but we see this in verse 2. And I saw something like a sea
of glass mixed with fire and those who had been victorious
over the beast and his image and the number of his name standing
on the sea of glass holding harps of God. These are the saints
of God, and they are singing. Verse 3 indicates that this is
the case very plainly. And they sang the song of Moses,
the bondservant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Now, we notice
right away that John puts together the song of Moses and the Song
of the Lamb. These are not two songs. They
are not two separate songs, but they are one song. And we would
gather this from the fact that what follows is one song, not
two songs. But how is it that the same song
can be both the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb? Well,
let's go back to Exodus chapter 15. and look briefly at a couple
of pieces of the song of Moses recorded for us there. Turn with
me, if you would, to Exodus chapter 15. This is a song sung by the
people of God as they came out of the land of Egypt and had
God's redemption. And they walked on dry land through
the Red Sea. Verse 1 says, then Moses and
the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord. And then if
you drop down to verse 13, it says, In your lovingkindness
you have led the people whom you have redeemed. This is the
Lord who had redeemed his people and led them out of Egypt and
out of bondage. And it was on the basis of his
lovingkindness, that is, his covenant love, the covenant which
he had made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Remembering
that covenant, he brought the people out of Egypt. And then
this verse goes on to say, in your strength you have guided
them to your holy habitation. Not only did God bring them out
of Egypt, But God had a plan and a purpose and a place for
them to reside. And the song here calls it the
holy habitation of God. And then look down to verse 17
in Exodus chapter 15. You will bring them, you will
bring them and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance.
The psalm does not stop with the redemption of God, but goes
on to speak about the people being brought into the promised
land, and not only brought into the promised land, but being
brought up to the very mountain which God designated for His
very dwelling place. Verse 17 once again. and you
will bring them and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance,
the place, O Lord, which you have made for your dwelling,
the sanctuary, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have
established." This is a reference to the future sanctuary that
Solomon would build on Mount Zion. This is a song that looks
forward almost 500 years into the future with regard to that
which God would do for His people when He would bring them to that
mountain, Mount Zion, and Solomon would build that temple, and
God would come down in His glory and dwell in the midst of His
people. And of course, all of this, all
of this, friends, was a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God
with us. God was dwelling and he promised
to dwell among his people in that temple and in that sanctuary. But ultimately, God with us was
Jesus Christ. You may remember the little confrontation
that Jesus had with the Jewish leaders when he spoke about his
resurrection. And the Jewish leaders, confounded,
said, how is it that this man will destroy this temple and
build it again in three days? And John indicates to us in that
place that Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. And so we have a foreshadowing
in this song of Moses, a foreshadowing of the coming of Jesus Christ,
Emmanuel, dwelling among His people, God with us. And now as you go back then to
Revelation chapter 15, the two 15s here, when you go back to
Revelation 15, You see then that the song of Moses and the song
of the Lamb are one song because they speak about none other than
Jesus Christ, who is the Lord and the Savior of all. Now with this in mind, let's
look at the song itself. What does it have to say? Great
and marvelous are your works. O Lord God, the Almighty, righteous
and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not
fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy,
for all the nations will come and worship before you, for your
righteous acts have been revealed. Do you catch the accent on the
sovereignty of God and the Lordship of Christ? O Lord God, The Almighty. And then also in verse 3, righteous
and true are your ways. King of the nations. Surely this
is a song about Jesus Christ and His Lordship over all things. And I submit to you that this
is a gospel song. This is a song of the truth of
God, of the good news concerning Jesus Christ. To get this, I'd like you to
turn to another text, if you would, this time in Isaiah chapter
52. Isaiah chapter 52 and verse 7. This is quite a familiar text,
and it's a text that the Apostle Paul quotes in Romans chapter
10 with regard to the gospel and to the preaching of the gospel. Isaiah 52 and verse 7. How lovely on the mountains are
the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace, who
brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation and says
to Zion, your God reigns. Here is the messenger who comes,
perhaps from the battle line, perhaps from the battle line
where the combat has been fierce. And the message is, friends,
even in the depth of battle and of combat, your God reigns. God is supreme. God is the one
who sits on the throne, and He disposes all things in accordance
with His will. And this happens to be, I think,
the Old Testament counterpart to what Paul has to say in Romans
chapter 10, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you shall be saved. This is the Old Testament counterpart
of it. This is the good news. This is
the gospel. Your God reigns. And do you remember
what Peter had to say on the day of Pentecost with regard
to Jesus Christ? This One whom you crucify, God
has made both Lord and Christ. He ascended into heaven and sat
at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, and He is Lord
of all. And is it not also significant
that if you go back to Exodus chapter 15 and look at the very
last words of the song in Exodus 15, what do you find? It's Exodus
15 and verse 18. The song ends with these telling
words. The Lord shall reign forever
and ever. This is gospel news. This is good news, friends, that
we all need to take to heart. And this good news Peter in another
place in his epistle tells us is the answer to fear that might
come upon us. Do not fear, he says, and do
not pay attention to the intimidation of others, but sanctify Christ
as Lord in your heart, you see. The answer to all of our fears
is a proper understanding of the Lordship of Jesus Christ,
who is the King of all. Let's go back now to Revelation
chapter 15. Here is the central message. which I submit to you is a gospel
message. Therefore, the song in Revelation
chapter 15 is a gospel song. But let me point out a couple
of other things to you with regard to this song in Revelation chapter
15. Let me just read it to you once
again. And I have the New American Standard
version. Unfortunately, in the new international
version and some of the other versions, the layout of the song
is not quite as evident. But listen to it as I read it
to you. Great and marvelous are your
works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways,
King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and
glorify your name? For you alone are holy. For all the nations will come
and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. The form of the psalm is that
of a psalm. It is given to us in the form
of Hebrew poetry. It is given to us in the form
of a psalm. If any of you have studied Hebrew
poetry, there is actually an alternating parallelism in the
song. Listen to it again. Great and
marvelous are your works, line one. O Lord the Almighty, line
two. Righteous and true are your ways,
line three. King of the nations, There is this pattern of alternating
parallelism. It is a song, friends, that is
in the form of a psalm. And lo and behold, it points
us back to the Psalter in this regard. And not only so, but
in this song, there is also the quotation of a psalm. It comes to us in the fourth
verse. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glory and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. for all
the nations will come and worship before you." This is a quotation
from Psalm 86.9, and if you care to look with me just briefly
at Psalm 86, you'll notice that this psalm
is a song that David sings. Seeking the Lord. Verse 1. Incline your ear, O Lord, and
answer me. Verse 3. Be gracious to me, O
Lord. Verse 4. Make glad the soul of
your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Verse 6. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer."
Verse 8, there is no one like you among the gods, O Lord. And verse 9, all the nations
whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord,
and they shall glorify your name. This is the text. which our song
in Revelation chapter 15 picks up in verse 4. Who will not fear, O Lord, and
glorify your name? For you alone are holy, for all
the nations will come and worship you. This song in Revelation
15 is not only in the form of a psalm, But it also quotes one
of the Psalms, and I would submit to you that it is a gospel song,
as we've already said, that carries the message of the Psalms. And this is a very profound and
significant message. I'd like you to look at your
Psalter just briefly in this regard, if you would. And turn
with me to, first of all, 10B. Look at 10B. Notice the message of the psalm. The third stanza and the third
line. The Lord is King through all
eternity. Here is the message of the psalm.
And then turn with me, if you would, to Psalm 29. Some of you will find this a
little bit more familiar. Psalm 29 and the very last stanza
of that psalm. Psalm 29 and the sixth stanza. The Lord on His throne sat above
the great deluge. The Lord on His throne sits as
King without cease. The Lord is King. And then Psalm 93, selection
A. How many times have you sung
this particular selection? Jehovah reigns. He's clothed
with majesty most bright. There it is again, that same
message. Psalm 96, which we sang at the
beginning of the service, gives us an exhortation with regard
to this same message. In beautiful and holy robes bring
worship to the Lord. All earth before Him stand in
awe. Proclaim the Lord is King. And so we have that message once
again. Psalm 97. Psalm 97 begins with
this same refrain. I'm looking at selection C. Jehovah
reigns. Let all the earth be joyful. And so we find it in the Psalter. And then finally, 99 C. 99 C. The Lord is king indeed. What therefore are these songs,
friends? They are gospel songs. They are
songs that relate to you and me, the lordship of Jesus Christ. And I submit to you As you look
back at Revelation 15 and this song in Revelation 15, this song
that is in the form of a psalm, this song that quotes from the
Psalter, this song that has embedded in it this message that the Lord
is King, a message that permeates the psalms, this song in Revelation
15 does what? It directs our attention back
to the Psalms of the Old Testament. This is what it does. And when
I hear, when I hear at least, the words of our professor friend
saying, exclusive psalmody is not only
not necessary, but positively sinful, I draw back, and when
he says, look at the songs in the book of Revelation for guidance,
and I do so, and I find in this song, in this particular song
in the book of Revelation, A song that is composed like a psalm,
a song that quotes from the psalms, a song that has the message of
the psalms. I find a song in the book of
Revelation that points back to the songs of the Old Testament,
to the Old Testament Psalter. And I say to you, friends, sing
the Psalms, because they are the gospel songs of the Bible. Do you hear that message? And
it comes. Lo and behold, it comes out of
the book of Revelation. Sing the Psalms of the Bible
because they are the gospel songs of God which have been given
to you and to me for this purpose. Let's do so, shall we? And what is the song? Was it
99C? The Lord is King indeed. Let peoples quail in fear. He sits above the cherubim. Let earth be moved. Let's sing the Psalms of the
Old Testament because they are the gospel songs of the Bible. Let's stand and sing.
Sing Gospel Songs, the Psalms
Series Our Public Worship
Sermon Point: Sing the Psalms; they are the Gospel songs of the Bible.
Dr. Prutow responds to (1) the statement: "Exclusive psalmody is not only not necessary but positively sinful" and (2) the suggestion that we examine the songs of Revelation for guidance regarding the content of our congregational singing.
| Sermon ID | 112408725477 |
| Duration | 27:17 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Revelation 15:2-4 |
| Language | English |
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