"Joyful Noises"
¨ Text: Psalm 98:4
¨ Introduction:
¨ When we think of making a joyful noise unto the Lord, I believe singing or playing a musical instrument in a God honoring way would be the first thought to come to mind.
¨ After all in the Psalms we are instructed over and over again to make a joyful noise unto the Lord.
¨ In Ephesians 5:19, we are told to, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual sons, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;"
¨ However, I believe that as a Christian that there are other noises that we can make that are joyful unto the Lord besides singing and playing musical instruments.
¨ I would like us to look at some of them.
¨ GIVING CHEERFULLY
¨ How do we know that giving cheerfully is making a joyful noise unto the Lord, because the Bible tells us so in 2 Cor. 9:7 - "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver."
¨ So, we know that God loves a cheerful giver.
¨ We must remember that giving is a matter of the heart - " Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give;..."
¨ The more that we love the Lord the more we will give to the work of the Lord.
¨ Some people are nothing but old skin flints because they have a stingy heart.
¨ The principle of giving is to get you have to give.
¨ Luke 6:38 - "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."
¨ 2 Cor. 9:6 - "But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully."
¨ Well, you are probably saying to yourselves right about now, :"For the Lord to love me I have to give a lot of money."
¨ The Lord is not saying this because the Lord tells us we are to give according to our income.
¨ As the Bible tells us in Deut. 16:17, "Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee."
¨ Remember, money is not the only source of giving.
¨ We can give out time, our talents and other resources.
¨ Our giving may be just giving words of encouragement to another brother or sister in Christ who may be going through a similar trial that you once experienced.
¨ Dropping a card or note in the mail telling them that you are praying for them is a joyful noise unto the Lord.
¨ We can give thanks to God.
¨ The Bible instructs in 1 Thess. 5:18 to, "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
¨ So, we are to give God thanks for everything.
¨ How many of us really do this?
¨ Do we just give God thanks for the big stuff or when things seem to be going our ways.
¨ Do we give God thanks when we are going through a trial or a period of testing because we know it is His will.
¨ The main point to remember, no matter what type of giving you do in order for this giving to be a joyful noise unto the Lord it must be done cheerfully.
¨ You may be scratching your head and saying where is any noise or sound associated with giving.
¨ The Bible says in Matthew 15:18, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile man."
¨ So, when we are giving either cheerfully or grudgingly the heart will communicate this through the mouth.
¨ The noise in this case coming forth from the mouth will be either words of joy or ones of complaining.
¨ i.e., What kind of noise do you make when the pastor preaches on the importance of being a mission giving church.
¨ Do you jump up and shout "Preach it!"
¨ Or do you mumble under your breath, "Will you get off the mission giving kick."
¨ When approached to pray about helping out in one of the ministries like being an usher or being a nursery worker is your response-
¨ One of thanks that the Lord is directing me into an area where He can use me.
¨ Or is your response - "I love to but I am extremely busy."
¨ How about giving of your time to go soul winning or visitation?
¨ What is your response?
¨ "Sure, sounds great" or "I love to but I can’t because my son or daughter has baseball practice, soccer practice, cub scouts, etc., every Saturday"
¨ Or "Saturday is the day I cut the grass or have my hair done"
¨ Did it ever occur that just maybe you should put the Lord first.
¨ You see our society has become a society of takers.
¨ What is in it for me?
¨ Take Care of No. 1.
¨ We have become a society of excuse makers and complainers.
¨ Can you blame the Lord for getting Himself a set of ear plugs.
¨ LIPS SPEAKING FORGIVENESS
¨ The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4:31-32, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you."
¨ Further, the Bible tells us in Colossians 3:13, "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."
¨ You see God makes it very clear that he wants his people to get along and love one another.
¨ As an example - He gave us His only begotten, Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who forgives all our sins, if we choose freely to accept Him as our personal Saviour and His shed blood as the only way to heaven.
¨ Many Christians today go around professing that they love God or that they have the love of Christ inside them.
¨ While, they go around spreading gossip and evil reports about a brother or sister in Christ.
¨ This is one areas that Satan loves to use to destroy local Bible Believing churches.
¨ You see it is not the face to face communication which causes the problem but the behind the scene whispering and tale bearing which causes the problem.
¨ It takes the simplest little miscue to get something started.
¨ Maybe somebody had a bad day and forgot to shake your hand.
¨ Or maybe they take their eyes off the Lord and start to focus on your service and being critical of you.
¨ Regardless, of the action we are to forgive that individual if they come asking forgiveness.
¨ As the Lord Jesus Christ told the Apostle Peter, when Peter asked him, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times."
¨ "Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."
¨ You see what Jesus was saying that our forgiveness is to be unlimited.
¨ We should always have a heart attitude to want to initiate the action which will make amends between yourself and someone you have offended.
¨ Or maybe you have offended someone and you honestly did not realize it.
¨ What is your attitude when approached by the person?
¨ Do you tell the person to "buzz off" or "you are out of your mind".
¨ Or do you honestly ask the Lord to search your heart and convict you of your wrong doing.
¨ How can we claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ if we cannot forgive and love one another.
¨ In John 13:35, the Lord Jesus Christ said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
¨ Or you may say, "Well, that is great stuff about forgiving and loving one another but you just do not know how this person did a number on me and they just do not care what they did to me.
¨ They totally devastated me.
¨ Surely, the Lord does not mean for me to love that person."
¨ Well, the Word of God is quite clear on this subject,.
¨ The Bible says in Romans 12:17-21, "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
¨ -Remember, what the Bible says about charity, "that it never faileth."
¨ When we speak words of forgiveness, we know that we are making a joyful noise unto the Lord because when we keep his commandments we love Him.
¨ PARENTS TRAINING CHILDREN
¨ The Bible says in Proverbs 22:6 - "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
¨ Today, it seems in our society that we have substituted "parent" for "child".
¨ You see today the children are telling the parents what to do.
¨ We have parents living in fear of their children.
¨ How, you may ask has this happen?
¨ We have become such a covetous people that now mom has been taken out of the home and put in the workplace.
¨ As a result we have strangers (daycare workers) and institutions training our children.
¨ Further, the parents when they are with their children are not setting the example.
¨ i.e., - What does little Johnny or Mary hear or what kind of noises do they hear coming from the living room as they stay hidden listening behind the upstairs banister.
¨ Do they hear the opening of a six pack of beer while dad watches something provocative on cable TV.
¨ Or do they hear Mon and Dad praying to God and praising Him for His blessings.
¨ Are you teaching your children to reach for the gusto in life?
¨ No! not a glass of beer but for the fountain of living water, the Lord Jesus Christ.
¨ Do you gather as a family for a time of prayer and Bible devotion or to watch Bart Simpson.
¨ When Dad or Mom say "no" does it mean "no" or do you allow your child to play daddy and mommy off each other?
¨ Or do you allow your child to play lawyer by negotiating and plea bargaining the "no" to a "maybe" or a "yes".
¨ How about the term the world likes to give parents, so they won’t feel guilty about spending time with child.
¨ Everybody has heard of the expression "Quality Time".
¨ Quality Time is just a cop out which says it is alright to neglect the child if you spend a hour once a month and indulge and spoil the child.
¨ When the Word of God says train it means train in the things of the Lord and not of the world.
¨ The more time you spend training the child, the closer that child and you will grow to the Lord.
¨ Another joyful noise in the area of child rearing is discipline.
¨ Remember, we are never to discipline out of anger as the Bible says in Colossians 3:21, "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged."
¨ You see the Lord is against child abuse but not the world’s definition of child abuse which would have every parent put in jail for speaking cross or stern to a child.
¨ I can see someday Little Johnny calling 911 and having dad or mom picked up for not allowing him to watch 8 hours of garbage on the boob tube.
¨ Parents will be on America’s Most Wanted for correcting their children.
¨ The Bible says in Proverbs 13:24, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes."
¨ The Lord corrects us when we do wrong because He loves us.
¨ We should do the same if we love our children.
¨ Either, we start correcting and training our children but setting examples of godly lives to follow; to show them the way to go.
¨ Or Satan will show them the way to go and someday that way will land them right into the lake of fire where they will be tormented for all eternity.
¨ Then, I ask you "what kind of noise will they make?"
¨ I tell you it won’t be a joyful one!
¨ SOUL WINNING
¨ The Bible says in Psalm 126:6, "He that goeth forth and weepth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."
¨ The Bible tells us we will get great joy from soul winning.
¨ So, all the noises associated with soul winning is joyful unto the Lord.
¨ Let us look at some of these sounds.
¨ Knuckles knocking on a door to witness to someone about the Lord.
¨ Knees Knocking because sometimes witnessing isn’t easy.
¨ Passing out gospel tracts.
¨ The voice of a young child giving out a gospel tract.
¨ Folks praying between houses on door to door visitation.
¨ The gospel being declared on the steps of someone’s home.
¨ Praying for someone who has just refused a gospel tract or slammed a door in your face on visitation.
¨ Folks praising God and giving testimony after door to door visitation.
¨ A sound of a rattling old school bus going out as the Bible says in Luke 14:21, "quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and halt, and the blind."
¨ You see the Lord is not calling the wise and mighty of this world to do his bidding.
¨ He is calling the weak and powerless of this world.
¨ -So, we do not know what future great preacher, Sunday School Teacher, or other Christian worker is waiting to be transported to our churches to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ probably for the first time.
¨ So, we see by going forth in many different ways we are making a joyful noise unto the Lord.
¨ PRAISE AND PRAYER
¨ The Bible tells us that praising God and praying to God are joyful noises unto the Lord.
¨ Hebrews 13:15-16, tells us about praise.
¨ "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."
¨ We see that the Lord considers praise a sacrifice unto to him to be done continually.
¨ Giving praise to the Lord is considered the fruit of our lips by God.
¨ Such a sacrifice pleases God.
¨ In Revelation 5:8, we see how the prayers of the saints are precious in the sight of the Lord because they are called golden vials full of odours.
¨ So, we see that prayers and praises are very important to the Lord and are a source of joy for Him.
¨ Please turn to Acts 16:25-31, to see how the combination of prayer and praise together is a noise especially joyful unto the Lord.
¨ We see Paul and Silas were thrown into dark, cold, probably rat infested jail for casting out a spirit from a young woman who brought her masters money for soothsaying.
¨ Do we find Paul and Silas with their heads bowed down and their chins on the floor crying and blaming one another?
¨ Throwing the traditional Baptist pity party.
¨ No, the Bible says in verse 25, that they prayed and sang praises to God.
¨ Now, let us look at the results.
¨ There was an earthquake, the foundations of the prison were shaken, the doors of cells were opened, everyone’s bands were loosed, the jailor and his family got saved!!!!
¨ Just because Paul and Silas decided to make a joyful noise unto the Lord instead of gripping and complaining.
¨ Let me ask you what has got you as a prisoner in your life?
¨ Do you want to be free of that bondage?
¨ No matter what it is.
¨ how are you dealing with it?
¨ Are you making complaints unto the Lord?
¨ Is the Lord tired of listening to your whining and complaining?
¨ How about making a joyful noise unto the Lord by praying for His guidance in your life, and singing praises to Him.
¨ Thanking Him for what he has given you and watch those fetters and chains drop off!!!
¨ REPENTANT SINNER
¨ What is the sweetest sound or joyful noise that anyone could make unto the Lord?
¨ That would be the noise of a repentant sinner asking "the Lord to be merciful to me a sinner."
¨ In other words this would be the unsaved person asking the Lord to forgive him for his sins and accepting the Lord Jesus Christ by faith to save him.
¨ The Bible tells us there is great joy in heaven over the lost being found.
¨ -Luke 15:3-7, "And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."
¨ You see the seeking man is the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ and the lost sheep which was found is a picture of anyone who comes to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour.
¨ CONCLUSION
¨ Let me ask you Christian.
¨ What kind of noises have you been making unto the Lord lately?
¨
¨ Ones of joy or ones full of complaints and groanings?
¨ If the Holy Spirit is convicting you to make it right with the Lord why not come to the altar and make joyful noise unto the Lord by praying and asking for His will to be done in your life by surrendering your heart over to Him this very day.
¨ Is there anyone here today who has not made the joyous noise of all by trusting in Jesus Christ and His shed blood alone to pay for your sins and give you a home in heaven?
¨ Is the Holy Spirit convicting you this day that you are tired of living under the burden of sin.
¨ Is this the day of salvation for you?
¨ -The Bible says, "(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)" 2 Cor 6:2.
¨ -Won’t you come this day and allow me or another Christian from the scriptures to show you how you can have eternal life by having repentance towards God and faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ?
