Psalm 98

Psalm 98. Again, looking prophetically toward the reign of Jesus, the time when He returns to the earth, the conclusion of the Great Tribulation, establishing His throne on the earth. This Psalm is just full of praise because that's what it's going to be like during that time. We're going to be praising the Lord during that time because the Lord is going to overturn the sinful rule of man, as we've said. And so this Psalm emphasizes the rejoicing that's going to be part of that. It says,

What are we supposed to do? Verse 4, again,

Do you guys understand that this is going to be the rule of the day during the Millennial Kingdom? The rejoicing, and the praising, and the making of music, and praise, and so forth. But do you guys get why it is so important that we do it today? We do it before all of our services. We start with a musical time of worship and praise. And we do it today because we're doing it by faith. Because today there isn't sometimes a whole lot to praise about, is there? I mean, we can certainly praise the Lord. He's always worthy of our praise, always worthy. But when we're thinking about the things that are going on in our lives, and what's going on around us, and tragedies, and difficulties, and heartaches. You don't always walk into church with a buoyant heart that's just ready to praise the Lord. Do you? None of us do. Some of us get here and we're like, okay, I'm just... Lord, get me through the song service here, because I really don't... I'm not into this tonight, or in the morning, or whatever. I bet some of you have even thought of, seriously, about maybe staying home until after the worship time was over. And then, I'll just make my appearance in church and nod at the message. And then I'll get out of there. Who knows, maybe they'll have cookies and I'll feel better. But we praise the Lord. We come together to praise the Lord, by faith. Because we know, according to the prophetic Scripture, what's coming. And we're praising Him, not just for what's going on in our lives, or the lack thereof, we're praising Him by faith, knowing that this is the way it's going to be at that time. But we get to do it now by choice. The Bible says, there's coming a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father. Every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess. (Romans 14:11) But we get to do it now by choice. And that's why we do it now by faith. It's a real privilege. It's a real privilege to praise the Lord. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth, again, in verse 4. Break forth into joyous songs, sing praises. Instruments again, talks about in verse 5. Trumpets there in verse 6, "...sound of the horn (he says,) make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD."

And then verse 7,

Again, creation here personified; rejoicing in the Lord, in the reign of Jesus over the earth. Verse 9,

We're reminded here in that final verse, that God's judgment is coming along with His global rule on the earth. I was asked, just this last week by a very troubled teenager, why God doesn't do something about all the evils in the world. And he wasn't particularly asking me for the answer that I would give. But, it's a sentiment that I think a lot of people wonder about. Why doesn't God do something? When we read the news, when we hear what's happening, when we read about tragedies, why isn't God doing something about that? Well, here's the deal. He's going to do something. And it's going to make your ears tingle when you hear about it. God has a plan. God has a plan and He's going to carry it out. And it is going to be amazing. And when He comes, He's going to establish His rule in perfection. I was raised in the 1960s, and in the 1970s. The sixties, I was pretty young. I mean, I was like three years old when 1960 rolled around. I was in my young years. I probably remember more of the 70s, although the 60s are pretty clear, actually, too. And I remember, because I have older siblings. I'm the youngest in my family. And I... Usually the youngest kids are a little more aware of what's going on in the world just because their siblings are going through that. And I was aware even as a grade school kid, about the rebellion that was happening in our culture. And how the young people were expressing their dissatisfaction, with how the grownups had done things. And the world that they were about to inherit.

And frankly, the kids back in the 60s had good reason to be disenchanted because things were a mess. We were in a very unpopular war. And the world was full of pollution. And politics was full of corruption. And there was violence everywhere and all the things that make life miserable. And the hippies, which is of course, what we called the kids back in the 1960s, thought the answer was to make love, not war. And that's what they would say, peace, man, make love, not war. In fact, in 1966, Timothy Leary, popularized the phrase, turn on, tune in, dropout. Which, really became the mantra of the counterculture of the 1960s. Some of you guys were around, some of you weren't. But I repeat, that the kids of the 60s, really had a pretty good excuse, I suppose, for being troubled when they looked at their world. Because it was pretty troubling. Here was the problem though. Their solutions were just as troubling. They dreamed of utopia through turning on, tuning in and dropping out, and whatever else was going on at the time. And drug abuse, and eastern religion, and make love not war... But the problem is their solutions didn't help anything. And the reason they didn't help is because their starting point to try to change the world, was the same starting point that their parents had. And that was the sinful nature of mankind. And they couldn't get around it. They couldn't get away from it. They wanted something better. The kids in the sixties, wanted desperately, wanted something better. But they couldn't achieve it. They tried, but they couldn't do it. And they grew up with the same violence and the same corruption and the same war that, their parents grew up with, and they found that they couldn't really truly change it. But you know what? When the Lord reigns upon the earth, everything that the kids of the 1960s wanted, it's going to happen. There is going to be peace because, you see, the Prince of Peace is going to be on the throne. There is going to be love, because the One who is love, is going to be on the throne. The One who is perfect in love. There is going to be knowledge and wisdom because He, who is knowledge and wisdom, will be on the throne ruling and reigning at that time. And we will see at that time, all of the things that our sinful natures wouldn't allow us to make a reality even though we may want it. We're still trying. Governments are still... They're trying to do good. I mean, I know there's a lot of corruption in government structures, but there's also people who want to do really good. There really are. And there's people who want peace in the Middle

East and they keep trying. But there's not going to be peace in the Middle East until the Prince of Peace rules in the Middle East. That's when peace is going to come to the Middle East. It's not going to come because we gave away land, or we signed a peace agreement, or a peace accord, or somebody decided to dismantle their bombs. That's not going to do it. It's going to take something much more drastic. It's going to take He who is coming in the clouds, to come and set foot upon this corrupt earth. And to bring wholesale changes to the way we do life. And we're going to see it. We're going to see it.