God’s Sovereign Rule
November 10, 2024
By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist
This morning, we are continuing our series titled “Psalms for Your Life.” Every week, we have been looking at a different kind of Psalm. This week we are looking at psalms that proclaim God’s sovereign rule. We’re going to be looking at Psalm 98. But let me read you a few excerpts from the Psalms that surround it.
From Psalm 97
Psalm 97:1–7 (NLT)
1 The Lord is king!
Let the earth rejoice!
Let the farthest coastlands be glad.
2 Dark clouds surround him.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire spreads ahead of him
and burns up all his foes.
4 His lightning flashes out across the world.
The earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
every nation sees his glory.
7 Those who worship idols are disgraced—
all who brag about their worthless gods—
for every God must bow to him.
That is God the king. That is God, the Sovereign ruler. Hear Psalm 99.
Psalm 99:1–5 (NLT)
1 The Lord is king!
Let the nations tremble!
He sits on his throne between the cherubim.
Let the whole earth quake!
2 The Lord sits in majesty in Jerusalem,
exalted above all the nations.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Your name is holy!
4 Mighty King, lover of justice,
you have established fairness.
You have acted with justice
and righteousness throughout Israel.
5 Exalt the Lord our God!
Bow low before his feet, for he is holy!
You see the power of God the king. You can sense the response to seeing him as he is. “The nations tremble.” “The earth quakes.” You catch a glimpse of who God is because of how he is described. “He sits in majesty.” “He is exalted above all nations.” “His name is great and awesome.” “He is holy.” “He loves justice and righteousness.” This is who God the sovereign king is!
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It has been a rough few weeks. We heard news of a sad and horrific murder that happened in our town. We see what is happening in Israel. We see antisemitism arising around the world. You may have heard that there was an election south of the border. Some of you heard the results and were depressed.
Then there are the things that are closer to home. The cost of living And the financial pinch that that brings. Some of you are struggling with health issues. Others of you are struggling with relational issues. More than a few of you are struggling with what it means to grow older when your body doesn’t work the way it used to.
You see the challenges around the world, and you see the challenges in your own life. You need to know that God is the sovereign ruler and that he is the king above kings.
You need to know that while everything does not happen according to his will – that he is ultimately in control. You need to know that world politics, wars and rumours of wars, environmental disasters, and a 1000 injustices are seen by him. He knows the world you live in.
You need to know that the scarcity that you face, the hardship you wake up to, is seen and understood by him. Not only that, but he is the king. So how do we respond? That is where today’s Psalm comes in.
Psalm 98:1–9 (NLT)
1 Sing a new song to the Lord,
for he has done wonderful deeds.
His right hand has won a mighty victory;
his holy arm has shown his saving power!
2 The Lord has announced his victory
and has revealed his righteousness to every nation!
3 He has remembered his promise to love and be faithful to Israel.
The ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.
4 Shout to the Lord, all the earth;
break out in praise and sing for joy!
5 Sing your praise to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song,
6 with trumpets and the sound of the ram’s horn.
Make a joyful symphony before the Lord, the King!
7 Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
Let the earth and all living things join in.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands in glee!
Let the hills sing out their songs of joy
9 before the Lord,
for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice,
and the nations with fairness.
When you see the awesome majesty of God. When you see his power and his glory. When you become aware of his righteousness and justice – it is easy to become overwhelmed. Isaiah had a vision of God, and his response was
Isaiah 6:5 (NLT)
5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
That is not an usual response to seeing the glory of God. But in our Psalm today, the Psalmist gives us another way of responding to the rule of God.
Psalm 98:1 (NLT)
1 Sing a new song to the Lord,
for he has done wonderful deeds.
His right hand has won a mighty victory;
his holy arm has shown his saving power!
When the Psalmist was writing this, he was proclaiming God’s victory over the enemies of Israel. But for those of us who have come to know the Lord as our saviour and seen the power of the cross, we have seen his saving power from sin. He has shown his victory over the evil one. We are trusting him that when it is all said and done, we have victory over death. So,
Psalm 98:1 (NLT)
1 Sing a new song to the Lord,
for he has done wonderful deeds.
His right hand has won a mighty victory;
his holy arm has shown his saving power!
The response to seeing the kingship of our Lord is to sing a new song. I love the fact that it says a new song. Each time you see the victory of God, it is time for a new song. God wants us to be creative in our worship. For in our worship, we remember what God has done. We remember that he has done wonderful deeds. We remember that he has won a mighty victory. We remember that he is shown his saving power. It is good to have a new song to remember whenever those things show up.
Here is something that has helped me over the years. Have a worship song for each leg of your spiritual journey. If you are in a spiritual battle, have a song that speaks directly opposite to what Satan wants in your life.
Over the years, this has really helped. When I was walking through some dark valleys, my theme song was “Faithful One.” Faithful one, so unchanging -ageless 1 you are my rock of peace/Lord of all I depend on you/I call it to you again and again.
Sometimes, when spiritual warfare was at its height, my theme song was, “The Battle Belongs to the Lord.” In heavenly armour will enter the land/the battle belongs to the Lord/no weapon formed against us will stand/ the battle belongs to the Lord.
When I was sitting beside still waters and resting in green pastures, the song “Goodness of God” was my companion. When I have caught a glimpse of God, sometimes my song has been that great hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
Play the song on your headphones or your stereo system or sing it loud while you are alone. But there is something good about singing a new song in a new season that allows you to walk well.
Psalm 98:2–3 (NLT)
2 The Lord has announced his victory
and has revealed his righteousness to every nation!
3 He has remembered his promise to love and be faithful to Israel.
The ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.
The Psalmist says that the victory that God won on behalf of Israel was an announcement from God. The Israelites took it as a confirmation of their faith. They know that God has remembered his promise to love and be faithful to them. But more than that, people outside of Israel and the countries that surround Israel have seen the victory of God.
Whenever you see God answer prayer, it is his announcement to you that he has remembered his promises and that he is faithful. Whenever you see him give peace where there should be anxiety, a sense of joy and well-being when you could be overwhelmed, a deep settled trust in his love Even when life is not good – that is God remembering his promises and reminding you that he is faithful.
What God does in our lives may not be shouted to the ends of the earth, but it will be a testimony to those around us.
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When you see the work of God, here is what we are to do,
Psalm 98:4–6 (NLT)
4 Shout to the Lord, all the earth;
break out in praise and sing for joy!
5 Sing your praise to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song,
6 with trumpets and the sound of the ram’s horn.
Make a joyful symphony before the Lord, the King!
Shout to the Lord, break out in praise, sing for joy, sing with the harp, sing a melodious song, and used trumpets and Ram’s horns in your worship. Make a joyful symphony before the Lord the King.
Notice that praise is often done in community. Not everybody has the gift of playing the harp or singing a melodious song, for that matter. We don’t all play trumpets or ram’s horns, but when we are worshiping in a gathering of the people of God, it is like we are joined together collectively in this symphony of praise.
When the worship team is playing their instruments, they are doing so on your behalf. As you enter into worship with those around you and musicians in front of you, you are creating a choir before the king of kings. God loves to hear his people worship him.
We with minimal musical talent, piggyback on those who have some musical talent, and God is worshiped.
If we could take a time machine back to when this song was enacted and hear the people shouting to the Lord and singing for joy. If you could have heard them playing the harp or, sounding the ram’s horn or blowing the trumpets – you would not have been impressed. The harp at that time was a crude instrument compared to the guitars of our time. Their trumpets were probably capable of playing four or five notes. If you’ve ever heard of Ram’s horn blown, it is like one loud note.
We are used to professional musicians who record in high-tech studios to produce amazing sounds. You can dial in the best musicians from around the world on your cell phone. The ability to make musical instruments with guitar strings that precisely measure tuning is something that has happened in the last 500 years.
So, if you and I could time travel back to when the Psalm was enacted, what you would hear would sound like a lot of noise. It would sound more like a Symphony tuning before a concert than it would sound like a concert. And yet this noise, given with a sincere heart, is something that the king of kings receives his worship. The people see what God has done, and they respond by doing the best they can to make some music, and God is pleased.
If we could send our worship team back in time to lead the worship of Israel, they would be the rock stars of the country. People would be absolutely amazed.
I worry when the church tries to substitute beautiful-sounding music for real worship. I worry when the emphasis is more on perfection than it is on our hearts.
We get church wrong when we think that the worship team are the performers and the congregation is the audience. We get church right when we join together with the worship team as a congregation and know that God is the audience.
Let’s take a moment and sing – remembering that God is the audience.
I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice
To worship you, Oh my soul rejoice.
Take joy, my king, in what you hear,
May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.
True felt, heart worship, with God as the audience pleases God.
But the Psalmist had a bigger vision of God than just the people of God worshiping.
Psalm 98:7–9 (NLT)
7 Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
Let the earth and all living things join in.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands in glee!
Let the hills sing out their songs of joy
9 before the Lord…
The Psalmist’s vision of worship is that all of creation would shout its praise to God. Let the sea, the whales, the fish – bring praise. Let the animals and birds join in. Let the sound of the rivers and the grandeur of the hills praise God in joy.
Listen, I get the creation is broken after the fall. But if you have ever seen beauty in a forest, or seen wonder sitting beside a lake, or had your soul stirred looking at the grandeur of a mountain, then you have seen creation call out in praise.
Some people tell me that they worship best in nature. There is something to that as long as they’re not using that as an excuse to skip church. But there is something about worshiping with God’s creation that is good and right and holy. Some have tried to warp this by sensing the grandeur of creation, and they have chosen to worship the creation rather than the creator. That is neither helpful nor good. But to stand in a forest knowing that the beauty you see in his creation worshipping its creator –and to join in with that is so good.
To be enthralled with birds as they sing their song and worship alongside them is good. To be in a meadow or beside a lake, and to notice the flowers stretching up to heaven as an act of praise and choosing to worship alongside them is a good thing.
Verse 9 tells us a little more about God the King.
Psalm 98:9 (NLT)
…for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice,
and the nations with fairness.
Throughout these Psalms of God as King, we are told that He is a God of justice. In fact, in the preceding Psalm, we are told that
Psalm 97:2b (NLT)
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
One of the reasons that God is worthy of our praise is that he is a God of justice. There are so many places in our world that are not just. Yet this Psalm echoes what the rest of scripture says. God is a just God, and he will bring justice to the earth. We may not see it in our lifetime. But at the end of time he will set all things right.
This is one of the reasons why I love Jesus so much. If I got what I justly deserved, there are many times when I would be up a creek without a paddle. But Jesus died so that he could So that the just penalty of sin fell upon his shoulders rather than ours.
That is why John writes,
1 John 1:9 (NLT)
9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
Notice that it is just of God to forgive our sins. The reason why it is just is that Jesus has paid for our sin.
The Psalmist declares that God.
Psalm 98:9 (NLT)
…is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice,
and the nations with fairness.
We look forward to a time when he will make all things right.
So, our world may be a mess, but there is still a king who sits on the throne. He is worthy of our praise because he has been faithful in the past. We have seen him conquer sin and, evil and death. We sing with all the Lord’s people and make a joyful noise four that pleases him. We worship with all of God’s creation and join in one great chorus because he is the king. We look forward to a day when he will make all wrongs right.
So, if you find yourself in the middle of the battle, know that there is a king. If you look around the world and are tempted to be discouraged, know that there is a day coming when he will put all things right. Do not lose hope. Do not give up. Continue to worship. For as you do, you will see the faithfulness of God.