If you've got your Bibles, I invite you to turn to the 96th Psalm. As you're turning to Psalm 96, it's a psalm that we probably went over, I think, back in October or November when we were going over missions. And the reason is, is because this is a call to missions as far as this psalm. You remember what we said about Psalm 93 through Psalm 100. It is all talking about the sovereignty of God and how the Lord reigns. These are what you would call theocratic psalms. It shows how God is over all things. And God's people, we as God's people, even as this psalm is We're going to read it again tonight. We are called to go into all the world and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and the sovereignty of God. How God reigns over all things. We have missions. If you remember this statement, it was a quote from John Piper. And it was from his book, Let the Nations Rejoice. I think it was written back in 1993. And it said simply this, missions exist because worship does not. So the reason we send out missionaries is because there are certain people in certain areas of the world have not heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we witness, we share Christ so people can worship him. There's coming a day when there will be no need for missions. Missions will be no more. In verses one through three, Psalm 96, what we have is an introduction, and it is basically a call to worship. There are three threes here. There is sing, sing, sing, and then there is give, give, give, and let, let, let. So all three of these are right in the context of this passage here. And as we look at the first one, what we see is calling all of the earth to sing unto the Lord, singing unto him, sing, sing, sing. If you were to go throughout the word of God and find out how many times there are references to singing, there's roughly about 500 references to singing. There are about a hundred commands to sing. So I want you to notice in verse one through three, what are we to sing? The word of God says, oh, sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. We are to sing. It's calling the whole earth to sing unto the Lord. But what we're to sing, as far as in this passage of scripture is instructing us, we're to sing a new song. Now that doesn't mean we're not to sing old songs. Old songs, there are some good old songs, and we still incorporate that. There are new songs, we incorporate that. Here what the emphasis is, I believe, is the Word of God is being written as the psalmist wrote this passage of scripture. He's talking about the whole earth to sing a new song. Therefore, as people are called out of paganism and out of their unbelief, they are called to leave the old stuff behind and sing a new song unto the Lord. And even so, we're to be singing a new song. We're to remember his past deeds. There are great things he hath done and we need to remember that. But the word of God also tells us that his mercies are new every morning. It is because of his mercies we're not consumed. Therefore, we need to be singing some up-to-date songs as far as how God has shown his mercy toward us, how God has shown his kindness and his goodness toward us, how God has blessed us in our current state. I am thankful for those who are hymn writers of our day and time, thankful for those as far as the Getty music, those Sovereign Grace music. There are good songwriters in our day and time. And we need to be thankful for it and even implement those that are scripturally sound as far as doctrinally when it comes to hymns. And we need to sing, but who are we to sing unto? I think that's a pretty obvious answer. If you continue in verse one, it says, sing unto the Lord. A new song, sing unto the Lord all the earth. Verse two, sing unto the Lord. That's the third time. Bless his name, show forth his salvation from day to day. When we gather together, just kind of curious, I want to kind of see. On Sunday morning when we sing as a congregation, how many of y'all are aware of how you might sound to somebody beside you? Do you ever think that? Does anybody ever think that? I'm just kind of curious. Okay. I'm going to give you a little bit of word of advice. Your congregation is one when you sing in worship. It is not unto others that we're singing, it's unto the Lord that we're singing. Here it just said it three times. Why does it sound repeated like that? Singing to the Lord, singing to the Lord, singing to the Lord, because we're hard-headed. And we need to know we're singing unto Him. and therefore when we're singing unto him, he is our audience. Now think about this. That means he listens. If God is commanding us to sing, God desires for us to sing, and he tells us over and over a hundred different times their commandments to sing, that means God desires to hear you sing. You might say I can't carry a tune in a bucket. It don't matter if your tune can't be carried in a bucket. make a joyful noise unto the Lord. We're to sing unto the Lord. He delights in us singing unto him because ultimately that brings him praise. I was reading behind someone earlier this morning and he was talking about how God is such a creator that he's literally got billions of stars that nobody's seen but him. Now think about that. There are stars that are in this universe God's made, and it's kind of like God's got them in a closet. But here the word of God tells us that he wants us to sing. Therefore, if he wants us to sing, here he's highlighting praise unto him. He desires for us to sing unto him. Notice what the Word of God says. We are to bless His name. How do we bless His name? By singing unto Him. When you sing unto Him, you're blessing His name. You're glorifying Him. Notice here, it also says, as it invites us to worship, it tells us what we are to sing and to whom we are singing. But notice it also, it is a proclamation that is something that is day to day in verse two. We're to show forth his salvation from day to day. The word show forth means literally to proclaim, proclaim his salvation. What is salvation? That means God's deliverance. You know, I don't doubt even lost people If they were honest, they would say there have been times they were delivered. They might not attribute it to God, but only God can deliver them. From things in everyday life, we have so much more to give thanks for. We're to do this day by day. As God's people, we give him praise, and we proclaim, In the Septuagint, that is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It's what's called the LXX. And in that Septuagint, what we find, these words, they literally are saying evangelize. To show forth means to evangelize. Notice here, we are publishing it. We are publishing God's salvation from day to day. We're proclaiming God's salvation from day to day. What do we do when we evangelize? If we evangelize every day, we're proclaiming God's salvation every day. So here in the Old Testament, what we've got, we are praising God by proclaiming his salvation. Now here's something that we all really want to camp out on. We need to ponder. Do we daily proclaim His salvation? Do we daily evangelize? You know, we all miss some days. We all don't do it every day. How can we praise God? Ultimately, we praise Him by spreading the gospel. We praise him by singing unto him, being thankful for the gospel, thankful for salvation. So we speak to others, we give him praise, and we speak unto him and we give him praise. We praise him by singing to him and we praise him by telling others. So as we go through life, we are singing praise unto him as well as telling others about Him and about His salvation. Notice in verse 3 it says, "...declare His glory." Among the heathen, these are people that are lost, that don't know anything about the Lord. We are to declare the glory of the Lord among people who are lost, and also his wonders among the people. The word glory in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word, is kibbutz. The word kibbutz, when you think about glory, it's talking about the weightiness of something, or the worth, or the value. Here, the Word of God is telling us we need to declare the worth of God, the weightiness of God, the glory of God. It also says the wonders of God. That's talking about who God is and what God's done. When you think about spreading the wonders of God, that's talking about the marvelous works which He has done. There are miracles that He's done throughout the Word of God that He's got recorded. And you know what? There are ways that He's worked in our lives. We try to give a little bit of time right at the beginning of every service on Wednesday night to share how God has worked. You know what? God has worked in so many ways. If we really sat and pondered it, we couldn't number them all. We couldn't list them all because God is abundantly at work and God is wondrously working. The word of God tells us over in the book of Acts chapter four and down in verse 12 that there is no salvation in any other. For there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Now, when you think about that, here is a wonder of wonder of God that you and I have experienced in the salvation in Jesus Christ. And because we are saved, you know what? We need to share that wonder with others. How could God take a sinner like you, change that heart to where you desire to live for him, and give him praise the rest of your days. How could God do that? You know what? It takes a heart of change. Now you know what? Miracles are not that abundant in our day and time. When Christ came upon the earth, when he walked this earth, there was an explosion of miracles. There was an explosion of demonic activity. But here is one of the greatest miracles that we all need to think about and thank God for. And that is that God has changed your heart and life. And he's allowed you to hear the word of God and the gospel. and you received it, and he's changed your heart and life and made you a new creature. Therefore, because of his salvation, you need to declare his weight or his worth or his glory, and you need to declare his wondrous works in how he's worked in your heart and your life. There is no doubt there's been some drastic changes in some people's lives. Some people's lives were not so drastic but God has made a change in their heart and given them a heart to serve Him. That's still radical change. It's all a miracle because no man can do that, only God can. Only God has the saving power. The Word of God gives us in verses four through six in the next part of this scripture, He gives us the reason that we are to worship. And notice it all comes down to this one thing, it's because of His greatness. Notice it says in verse 4, for or because the Lord is great. Now why are we to sing unto him a new song? Why are we to sing unto the Lord? Why are we to sing unto the Lord? Why are we to bless his name? Why are we to show forth his salvation or proclaim and evangelize and declare his glory among the heathen and tell of his wonders among all the people? For. Here's the reason why, because the Lord is great. Here's the reason we worship him, because of his greatness. When you think about the greatness of God, the praise that you and I offer unto him should be in proportion to the greatness of who he is. Now you think about that, there's no way we can reach that standard, but that's something we should strive to attain. Your praise and my praise unto the Lord should elevate to the height of His greatness." Think about that. When we sing, when we praise God, it's because of His greatness. How great do you sing? Listen closely to me. I remember My mom and dad and a couple others took me with them up to North Carolina to some church. I don't even remember what church it was. That church had a baritone in it, basically, being the singing. He was with some kind of big group. And when that church got to singing, that church was a singing. I mean, they had a reputation. You know what, if all God's people When we gather together to worship, to praise God, if we all with all of our heart and all of our ability gave praise unto God, I dare say God's glory would be sounding out from New Life Baptist Church in a special way. And you know what that means? You can't focus upon yourself and you can't focus upon who's beside you, who's listening. How real is our worship? How real does our worship affect other people? Does your praise elevate up to the point of God's greatness? Are you striving to that greatness? Humanly speaking, there's no way we can attain that. But you know what, there's a goal and a target we need to aim for. For the Lord is great, therefore because he's great, the word of God says he is greatly to be praised. Is God greatly praised? In your life, we need to sing praise unto Him because God is in our presence. Now you think about that. God is in the midst of His people and God desires to hear us sing. Therefore, we need to sing like we are in His presence. Does that make an effect upon you and the way you sing? It should. If you're in God's presence and He desires for you to sing, you should sing to the utmost of your ability. I remember there was one time I went out to Oklahoma. And it was a large church out there, and we were in an amphitheater. They had an outdoor service in the amphitheater. I can't even say that word, amphitheater. And when they were out there, I mean, it's kind of like you could yell to the top of your lungs and not even sing, and you'd still blend in. It was just so elevating. And the song we sang was, I'll Fly Away. And boy, you talk about somebody, I thought I had wings. I thought I was elevating. It's because everybody joined in song. Can we do that? Yes, we can. If we sing with all of our heart and all of our being. If we really rejoice in the Lord. For the Lord is great, he's greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. Now think about this. All other gods is a little g. There is no God but God. So verse 5 explains that. Notice what it says in verse 5. For all the gods of the nations. That means Molech, Chemosh, all them false gods. It says for all the gods of the nations are idols. Here's a very interesting word. and lay some Hebrew on you here. And you might even want to write the word down because there's a play on words. He says literally all the Elohim is talking about the gods of the nations are, it says, idols. Now the word Elohim is E-L-O-H-I-M. All the gods of all these nations are, listen how he spells, idols. E-L-I-L-I-M. All the Elohim are like Elilem. Now what is that saying? All the Elohim are like the Elilem. That's literally, the word Elilem means nothing. All the Elohim, the false gods that all these people serve are nothing. It's a play on words there. I found that very interesting. Now think about it in our day and time. What kind of gods do people serve? They don't serve the Molech's and the Chemosh, although they do offer up sacrifices of babies by the abortion pill, by having abortions, But think of other things people have. Some people live for vehicles. They might be looking for the number one vehicle, and as soon as they get it, they drive off the parking lot and wreck. That's a nothing. They might have their dream home. They might have a perfect house just like they want it. Or they might have the perfect spouse, just like they want. Or they might have the dream job, something they enjoy doing and it pays them well. Or they might have a big fat bank account. They might have all the world has to offer and they worship this as God. But yet the word of God tells us that this world is passing away All of it's passing away with the desires thereof. That word desires is the word epithemia. The world passes away with its desires. All this is like nothing, elalim, compared to the one true Elohim. In verse six, I believe the psalmist, by the Spirit of God, he presents us with God. He says in verse six, well, right after verse five, the latter part of verse five, for all the gods, Elohim of the nations, are Elohim, are nothing, but the Lord made the heaven. He made the heavens, he's the creator. And here in the presence of the Creator, there is honor. That word honor can mean splendor. Can you imagine being in the presence of someone where it was just splendorous? We don't think that way of people. But if you were in God's presence, there would be splendor. What would splendor be like? What do you think of if you think of splendor and majesty are before the Lord? I think of lights and colors and lights shooting out. It's just wow. Here, this is in God's presence. It says honor and then majesty. Majesty, another word for majesty is excellency. In God's presence, these are before him. These are words that are personified, like unto a person, there is honor or splendor, and majesty or his excellency. And then notice the next two words. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Here, God is in a sanctuary. He is in a place that is set apart. He is the all-sufficient God. And here are strength and beauty. I find these two words very interesting. If you think about a man, a man would like to have strength. He'd like to be known for his strength. A woman would like to be known for her, what? Don't that sound kinda, look at how God is showing forth His glory. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. In other words, God is all-sufficient with splendor and excellency of majesty, with strength and with beauty. Therefore, given to the Lord, given to the Lord, Given to the Lord. Here it says, give, give, give. Notice it says, given to the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people. Given to the Lord, glory and strength. Given to the Lord, the glory due unto his name. Bring an offering and come into his courts. Here, the Word of God is guiding us in how we worship God. We need to confess that He alone is Lord. He alone is God and His glory He will not share with any other false gods or things of this world. It is God that possesses true glory and strength. So he calls upon all the families, the kindreds, these would be tribes of the earth, all the nations with all of its tribes given to the Lord glory and strength. God is God alone. exclusively. Not like the Hindus would say, we'll believe in Jesus and make him a god, one of our gods also, along with three or four million other gods. No, God is a jealous God. His glory He does not give to another. There is no mixture with Him. Here in verse 9, It says, oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him all the earth. The word of God is exhorting us to worship the holy God. God in all of his perfection is holy. In all of his ways, all of his attributes, he's holy. And here's the one thing the psalmist holds out. Worship Him in the beauty of His holiness. If you think about how holy God is, that He's of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. God is pure in all His judgments, in all His ways, in all His workings, in all His plans. All His judgments. Because God is holy, it says, fear before him all the earth. And there ought to be a holy fear toward him because of his holiness. God is high and holy. Verse 10, we read. On down through verse 13, the close of this, here is the effects of our worship. When we worship God as we ought to worship, what happens, we will witness. Here's where missions is coming in again. Notice it says, say among the heathen, the heathen is someone that knows not the Lord. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigns. God reigns. We are to tell others that the Lord reigns. Who are the others? That's all the nations, saying to all the nations, the heathen nations, the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved. He shall judge the people righteously. Therefore, because God's judgment is coming, we need to say the Lord reigns. In the United States, there's chaos in politics. In spite of the chaos in politics, the Lord reigns. We can look around and see in some of these bigger cities, there is chaos in bigger cities. You better be watching over your shoulder if you're in a bigger city or somebody will come up behind you and knock you down or knock you out. No matter how much evil is going on in this world, the Lord reigns. He reigns. It's what the Word of God is telling us. He reigns. And He's going to judge the people righteously. Therefore, the Word of God says, let, here's the let, let, let, let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, let the sea roar, and let the fullness thereof, let the field be joyful, and all that is therein, then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice. All nature is gonna rejoice. When is that? when God judges righteously. There is coming a day when all nature is going to rejoice. You remember what it says over in Romans chapter 8 in verse 18? The Apostle Paul said, For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature, and the word creature is creation, the earnest expectation of all creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. In other words, when Christ returns, God's children will be made manifest. For the creation was made subject to vanity. not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know, the Apostle Paul says, we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. Even right now as we're living, not only when Paul was living, even now, the whole creation groans and travails in pain together. And not only they, but we ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit. Even we ourselves, we groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body. Are there times in life that you're just ready to get rid of this old body? Are there times that you're just ready for the Lord to return? There are times we grow within ourselves. That day is coming. That day's coming when Christ returns. Back to Psalm 96. Notice what it says in verse 13, the last verse. It says, before the Lord, for he comes. All this creation's gonna rejoice before the Lord, for he comes. Because he's coming. Because or for. He comes to judge the earth. And he shall judge the earth. are the world with righteousness and the people with his truth. There is coming a day when Jesus Christ comes again and he's gonna judge the world with righteousness and truth. In other words, he is the righteous judge. He is holy, he is perfect, one day he's coming. And oh, what a day that will be. when he comes again, all creation will praise him. You remember how Isaiah, he said, and the trees of the field will clap their hands? Wow, you didn't know trees had hands, did you? Them branches are gonna be praising the Lord. And you know what? All God's children are gonna be praising the Lord. Therefore, when we sing, sing, sing, like it says, says, says in 96, it's just a warm-up for what we're about to do. We need to tune our hearts to sing His praise. So when we gather together as a body of believers and we sing unto the Lord, let us sing with all of our ability. And you know what? If you go home horse, you had fun doing it, singing unto the Lord. He desires to hear us praise him. We're gonna have a word of prayer, and then we're gonna sing, sing. Let's stand and go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word, and how you've exhorted us to sing unto you, for truly you are worthy of all praise. Lord, we long for the day when you will return We know that the things of this earth are passing, whether it be cars or whether it be homes or whether it will be money or jobs or whatever it might be, all these things of this earth are passing away. And Lord, we know that the kingdoms of this earth will become your kingdom and your power and your glory. And Lord, we long for you to come, right all the wrongs. But until that day comes, help us to show forth that you reign. Help us not to be ashamed, to tell people we know you're a sovereign. Even when they do not understand sin and the effects of sin, help us to understand where they are. Help us to talk to them. and let them know that you reign, that you are Lord. We ask that you give us a boldness to evangelize, to seek opportunities, and to seize those opportunities for your honor and for your glory, for Christ's sake. Amen. Now if you would take your hymnals and turn to page