Genesis 4:23-24 - Listen to my voice, you wives of Lamech, give heed to my speech, for I have killed a man for wounding me; and a boy for striking me; if Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.
Psalm 40:1-3 - I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.
4 reasons Christians have to sing joyfully at Christmas time
I. Because of God’s Willingness to Hear Our Cries
Psalm 40:1 - …inclined to me and heard my cry.
Exodus 3:7-8 - The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…”
Judges 16:21 - Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison.
Judges 16:23 - Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands.”
Judges 16:22 - However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.
Judges 16:29-30 - Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life.
John 1:14 - And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
II. Because of God’s Ability to Pull Us Out of Any Pit We’re In
Psalm 40: 2 - He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay…
Romans 5:20 - …where sin increased, grace abounded all the more…
1 Corinthians 10:13 - No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
III. Because of the Stability Our Savior Provides for His Children
Psalm 40:2-3 - … He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God…
Psalm 18:2 - The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 62:1-2 - My soul waits in silence for God only; from Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4 - For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.
Psalm 40:2-3 - … He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God…
IV. Because of the Impact Our New Song can Have on Others
Psalm 40:1-3 - I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.
- one of the ways you can get to know a person, or a group of people, or even an entire culture is by listening to their music…
- and that’s not a recent phenomenon, it’s as old as mankind itself…
- Wee see it right from the beginning of the Bible, we read that God created the world and then made mankind in His image so we could be visible representatives of His truth and beauty…
- that included working and living and creating the kind of culture that would mirror and reflect God’s glory…even the music that would be written and sung and played and performed…
- regrettably we see that the plan did not last past chapter 2… by Genesis chapter 3, Adam and Eve had sinned and rebelled against their Creator…
- by chapter 4 their son Cain rose up and killed his own brother because of his rage and jealousy…that’s the opposite of reflecting God’s glory…
-but then it got worse…and it even infected the music of the day…
-You see, one of Cain’s descendants, a man named Lamech…commits a senseless murder, and then writes a celebratory poem, and perhaps even a song about it…
Listen to my voice, you wives of Lamech,
Give heed to my speech,
For I have killed a man for wounding me;
And a boy for striking me;
If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold” (Genesis 4:23-24).
- some Bible students that is the first recorded song in the Bible – glorifying senseless murder…and we’re not even out of the first four chapters of the book of Genesis…
- see, you can learn a lot about a person, or a culture by listening to their music…
- there are many songs in our contemporary cultures, whose words I would not even put on the screen this morning…yet you could turn on a radio or whatever device you use to stream your music and within seconds have such ideas blaring as loudly as you desired…
- and not just that…those songs can be stuck in your head for days – it just shows the power of music in our lives…
- that’s why we’re glad this morning that our Savior who was given to us at Christmastime can even transform our music…
- King David said it like this…Psalm 40:1–3 - I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.
- I am thankful for our choir and orchestra, and for the selection of Christmas music they are going to present to us today…
- please listen carefully to the truthful words, and enjoy the beauty of the music…I pray that the power of this music does not just get it stuck in our heads, but in our hearts such that we all leave here with a new song in our mouths.
PRAY
- [First Half of the Musical]…
- our choir and orchestra will be coming a bit later to present the second half of our musical this morning…but at this time I’d like to ask you to consider more fully the Psalm we quoted at the beginning…
- Psalm 40:1–3 - I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.
- let’s think about this passage for a few moments, looking for 4 reasons Christians have to sing joyfully at Christmastime.
I. Because of God’s Willingness to Hear Our Cries
- we don’t know for sure the situation that King David was in when he wrote this Psalm, but often that is a blessing because we can use the principles in a variety of settings in which we find ourselves…
- we know this – he was both relieved and amazed that God… Psalm 40:1 - …inclined to me and heard my cry.
- can you think of other times in the Bible when the Lord behaved similarly…
- one that came to my mind was when the children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt…
- do you remember God’s words to Moses at the burning bush?...
- Exodus 3:7–8 - The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…”
Can you see the reason to sing joyfully when we see how God responds to us when we call out to him?
In Psalm 40 it says that He inclined to me, He stretches out towards me so that He hears me clearly and in the Exodus Story, God tells Moses that I have come down, and don’t miss God’s purpose in coming, so that He can bring us up.
God is the one who is making the move – when He hears our cry, he doesn’t just sit upon His throne and tell us that we need to figure out how we area going to get there, how we can fix ourselves up and rent a car or buy a plane ticket to the celestial city to meet with God in His throne room.
Instead – God is the one who hears my cry, and he comes to me.
We can sing joyfully, because the truth that God willingly hears our cry shows us the very nature of the heart of our God.
Jesus proved this over and over again during his lifetime. In situations where we would run away – Christ, with his compassionate heart, moves towards.
When a Leper called out, and everyone moved away, Jesus inclined towards the leper, stretched out his hand to heal. Jesus revealed his desire to move towards him by healing him
When Jesus traveled town to town, the sick and even demon possessed came to him in numbers that would overwhelm, but Jesus did not run away,
Matt 9:36 He saw the crowds, [and] he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless.
Dane Ortlund, the author of abook about the heart of Christ, said it this way
Time and again it is the morally disgusting, the socially reviled, the inexcusable and, underserving who do not simply receive Christ’s mercy, but to whom Christ most naturally gravitates. He is, by his enemies’ testimony, the “friend of sinners” (Luke 7:34). – Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly, p. 27
Christmas may actually by the most beautiful picture of this. In many Christmas songs we use the name Emmanuel – which means God with us – in other words, God has come down to us
- God inclined Himself to us in the most powerful and personal way possible…
- John 1:14 - And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- if you’re here this morning and wondering what God’s heart is toward you…
- would He be willing to listen to you if you wanted to repent and believe in Christ…
- or would He be willing to answer a particular prayer or meet a particular need…
- here’s the answer – in His love and grace…He’s ready to incline Himself to you…
- to compassionately come down to you just as you are…
- just like He did in a manger in Bethlehem…
- sing joyfully at Christmastime, because of God’s willingness to hear our cries…
- secondly, sing joyfully at Christmastime…
II. Because of God’s Ability to Pull Us Out of Any Pit We’re In
- David said – Psalm 40: 2 - He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
- Let me tell you a little Christmas story that I learned during my time in the Navy.
- It was 1967, Christmas Eve and the Submarine USS Guardfish was coming home to Pearl Harbor. They had surfaced the ship and they were headed home. Family and friends were all waiting on the pier. They were probably singing a new song
- Sadly, they had a few problems as they approached the harbor. It delayed the Captain getting up to the bridge, the team got confused and instead of lining up with the harbor, they were too far to the right and drove right up onto the reef and they were stuck. Nothing the Captain tried worked to get his submarine free from where they were stuck. Some of the Sailors later commented that they could see their wives and families on the shore – but no matter how much they wanted to go home, they were stuck and in need of a Savior
- that can be our story too…
- We can be running towards what we want, and even if it is a good thing like Christmas with our families, if we are running our own way and we are not on the path god would call us to follow, we will run aground, or in the terms of our Psalm, we will get stuck in a pit of destruction.
- stuck in a pattern of sin where there doesn’t seem to be a way out…
- or stuck in a problem where there doesn’t seem to be a solution…
- God sent his own Son to pull us out of those very kinds of pits…
- if you are here this morning and you have never trusted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord…you might feel like you are stuck and there is no way out…
- here’s a great Christmas verse -- Romans 5:20 - …where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
When we are stuck and there is no way out…We are all in need of a Savior
For the Guardfish, it meant tugboats that could pull them off the reef two days later – they missed Christmas
For you and I, we don’t need a tugboat, we need someone who can pay the debt that we owe for our sin
- we would invite you to pause, even right now, and simply pray and acknowledge your sin before a Holy God…and then to thank Him for inclining Himself to you by sending His Son at Christmastime, and choosing to trust Him as your Lord and Savior…
- Christian friend – we all know there are times when we too run towards dangerous waters, even as followers of Jesus Christ…that can muck things up pretty badly…
- you might say – I’ve dug a pretty deep pit for myself…Romans 5:20 applies to that as well…
- why not decide to take steps right away to move toward repentance and faith…and getting the help you need to with grace and enablement of God…you can start climbing out?...
- 1 Corinthians 10:13 - No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
- that’s a truth worth singing about…
- thirdly, we can sing joyfully at Christmastime…
III. Because of the Stability Our Savior Provides for His Children
- David went on to say…Psalm 40:2–3 - … He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
- biblical Christianity provides a comprehensive view of the world which gives stability in a very unstable world…
- that’s why we can say with the Psalmist…
- Psalm 18:2 - The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
- Psalm 62:1–2 - My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.
- the last couple of years have been especially turbulent…and who knows what the coming days might bring…
- but you don’t see faithful followers of Jesus Christ running around setting their hair on fire…why?...because our God has set our feet upon a rock and made our footsteps firm…
- of course what’s especially beautiful about this picture for NT believers is that the Rock ultimately isn’t a book or a set of principles…it’s ultimately a Person, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…
- Consider what Paul explained to the Corinthians…1 Corinthians 10:1–4 - For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.
- that’s why we have a new song in our mouths…a song of praise to our God…
- this is also why Christians aren’t constantly complaining about gas prices, or politics, or pandemic issues, etc, etc, etc…
- because our question is – well, do I still have Christ?...He’s all I need…
- that doesn’t mean those other issues don’t have some role in our hearts and lives…but they are not all consuming, because otherwise a person’s life and conversations are an endless series of verbal quicksand…the sky is falling here, the sky is falling there…help, I’m sinking…
- Psalm 40:2–3 - … He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
- there’s a calmness and confidence that comes because of what God accomplished for us at Christmastime…
- This is one of the main reasons I love being a part of our Bilblical counseling Ministry. When someone comes to us and feels like they have fallen in a pit that they cannot get out of…when the world around is swirling with chaos and instability – It is a joy to watch the gospel, to see God’s Word lift them out of the pit of destruction, the miry clay and bring stability by setting them on the firm ground of God’s truths…
- that puts a song in my heart…
- lastly, Christians can sing joyfully at Christmastime…
IV. Because of the Impact our New Song Can Have on Others
- Psalm 40:1–3 - I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.
- one of the great blessings of Christmas is the possibility that you could have a positive spiritual impact on someone else…
- After trusting in Christ – you have been rescued, and now you are able to point someone else to the rescuer…
- the end of verse 3 raises a series of interesting questions, doesn’t it?...
- when others watch you live…are they more likely to want to place their trust in the Lord?...
- when others hear you speak… are they more likely to want to place their trust in the Lord?...
- when others read your social media posts.. are they more likely to want to place their trust in the Lord?...
- [develop – thankfulness for the many who are serving in our Christmas outreaches this year…and for the Savior who makes all of that possible]
Through our music today – my prayer is that we will learn a lot about who Jesus Christ is and God’s heart to incline towards us to come down to us in the form of the Christ child, Emmanuel and as a result of a new song getting stuck in our hearts that the whole of Lafayette will come to learn why we are all singing joyfully at Christmastime.
I will turn it back over to our musicians again to lead us again in worshipping
Our god who heard our cry.
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