Sing, O Sing

 

[The following is a manuscript of my short devotional message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 30th of March, 2025, the fourth Sunday in Lent and the fifth Sunday of the month, when we usually do a sing-along service.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Please listen and follow along as a now unknown psalmist exhorts us to praise our God, who is coming someday to judge the world.  I’ll be reading Psalm 96 from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

1 Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!

Sing to the Lord, all the earth.

2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name;

Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

3 Declare His glory among the nations,

His wonders among all peoples.

4 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised;

He is to be feared above all gods.

5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,

But the Lord made the heavens.

6 Honor and majesty are before Him;

Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

7 Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples,

Give to the Lord glory and strength.

8 Give to the Lord the glory due His name;

Bring an offering, and come into His courts.

9 Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!

Tremble before Him, all the earth.

10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns;

The world also is firmly established,

It shall not be moved;

He shall judge the peoples righteously.”

11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;

Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;

12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it.

Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice

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.

--Psalm 96 (NKJV)

Family, today we’ll be celebrating the fifth Sunday of the month by singing to our Lord.  But the psalmist encourages us to sing a new song.  I’m not sure we know any new songs, or even any new to us songs.

I wonder if the psalmist meant for us to literally come up with a new song, or rather to sing to the Lord with a new song in our heart, with a new attitude, a renewed spirit.  We are to bless the Lord’s name, to declare His glory and wonders among all the people.  And most importantly, to proclaim the good news of His salvation, the Gospel, from day to day – not just for an hour Sunday mornings.

Sadly, though, I think that too many Christians have been silent for a long time now.  Too many don’t sing the Lord’s praises.  They don’t acknowledge His hand at work in their lives, not in an open, public way.  Are they ashamed of their faith and belief?  Are they afraid of what their friends might think, or of how the non-believers might react?

Our Lord is great, and greatly to be praised.  He created the heavens and the earth and all that dwells herein.  We need to honor Him in all we do, for all the world to see and hear.  And the main thing the world needs to hear is that our Lord is coming to this earth again some day.  The first time He came was to redeem us of our sin and offer us salvation.  The next time He will come to judge, judge us all with righteousness and truth, and all those who have refused Him will pay a horrible price.

So let’s sing to our Lord with a new song, a new heart, a new sense of mission, giving Him all praise and glory.  And right now, right here this morning, let’s start by making a joyful noise to our Lord!  For God is good… all the time.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for choosing us to follow Your Christ, Your Son Jesus.  Thank You for giving us faith that we can be made right in Your sight.  Father, because of our faith and Your promises, we look forward to the day when Jesus returns to set the world right.  We don’t relish the thought of being judged for the bad we have done in our lives, but we know we are saved from eternal damnation by our belief in Jesus as Your Son and our acceptance of Him as Lord.  By His blood, we are redeemed.  Please help us be more merciful and kind, more humble and gentle, more giving and forgiving in our daily walk, so that we might show the world Your love through our love.  May we always sing Your praises, glorifying You in all we do.  This we pray in the blessed name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.