Pastor Grant Brown's sermon on Psalm 100 highlights the psalm's structure, focusing on its commands and the reasons behind them. The psalm is divided into two sets of three commands, each followed by a rationale. The first set includes 'shout joyfully', 'serve with gladness', and 'come before Him with joyful singing'. These are repeated in reverse order in the second set. The reason for these commands is God's identity as Creator and Shepherd. Pastor Brown emphasizes that joyful obedience to God stems from understanding who He is and what He has done, particularly through Jesus Christ. He connects Psalm 100 to the life and work of Jesus, stating that He is the good shepherd and the fulfillment of the psalm's prophecy. The sermon stresses the importance of teaching children joyful obedience, linking it to both parenting and personal Christian conduct. Additionally, singing is highlighted as a vital part of worship, with an emphasis on its joyful nature. Overall, the sermon calls for a joyful response to God's eternal triumph through Jesus.

Psalm 100, and I'll ask the congregation to now stand as God now speaks. Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God.

It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him. Bless his name, For the Lord is good, His loving kindness is everlasting, and His faithfulness to all generations.

May God bless the reading and now the preaching of this is perfect word. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.

Him serve with fear, his praise forth tell. Come ye before him and rejoice. The Lord ye know is God indeed. Without our aid, he did us make. We are his flock, he doth us feed.

And for his sheep, he doth us take. O enter then his gates with praise, approach with joy his courts unto, praise Lord and bless his name always, for it is seemingly so to do. For why, the Lord our God is good, His mercy is forever sure, His truth at all times firmly stood and shall from age to age endure. Amen. That is him number 18 in our him and that is someone 100 of all the songs that I wanted to preach to you there's a lot There's actually 150 of them that I'd like to preach to you.

But of all the Psalms, Psalm 100 has been way up there. And now here it is. If you want a Psalm to hide in your hearts, here it is. If you want a psalm to hide in your hearts, here it is. If you want a psalm to teach your children, here it is.

If you want a psalm that will orient your heart rightly when all around your soul gives way, here it is. If you want a psalm that declares the triumph of Jesus Christ and his gospel over all the earth forever, here is that psalm. It's in our hymnal. We're going to sing it right after I'm finished, Lord willing. The 100th psalm.

A Psalm for God's people, a Psalm for a happy people, because happy are the people whose God is the Lord. The Lord of Psalm 100. Like most Psalms, the way to understand Psalm 100 is to understand its structure first. So I want to point out the structure of this Psalm. It's very important that you understand the way that a Psalm has been structured, that you might understand its meaning.

Well notice in your Bibles, look there at Psalm 100, just five verses, notice first verses one and two. There are three imperatives, three commands in verses one and two. Number one, shout joyfully. See that right there at the beginning. Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth.

That's the first command, shout joyfully. Second command, beginning of verse two, serve the Lord with gladness. Then the third command in verse two, come before him with joyful singing. Shout, serve, come. Why?

Why shout joyfully? Why serve gladly? Why come with joyful singing before the Lord? Because verse 3, The Lord is God and He made you and you are the sheep of His pasture. That's why you shout joyfully, that's why you gladly serve, and that's why you come to Him with joyful singing because verse 3 is true.

Three commands and then the reason why you obey those three commands. Three commands and then the rationale behind why you ought to do what God requires. Three commands and then reason. And then the Psalm repeats itself. Three more commands and the reason why.

This is Psalm 100, very simple Psalm. Three commands, the reason why. Three commands, the reason why. Look there in verse four. The three commands in verse four are the first three commands in reverse order.

They're the first three commands in reverse order. The psalm repeats itself just in reverse. Verse 4. Enter his gates. That's the same Hebrew word as the word come in verse 2.

So the last command in verse 2 is come. The first command in verse 4 is enter, come. Come. The second command in verse 4, give thanks to him. It's the same Hebrew idea as give an offering, give service to the Lord.

It's the same thing as the second command in verse two. And then the third command in verse four, bless his name. Very similar to the start of this psalm, shout joyfully. Same three commands, just essentially in reverse order. Why?

Why enter his gates? Why give him thanks? Why bless his name? Because verse 5 is true. Because He is the Lord of verse 3, His kindness is everlasting, and He's good.

The Lord that's in verse 3, the shepherd of verse 3, is a good shepherd. How can you not obey this Lord who is Himself God? How can you not enter and give thanks and bless the Lord who made you and calls you His sheep and is Himself the definition of goodness? How could you not want to do these three commands given to you twice. If verse 3 is true, if verse 5 is true, and they are, and if you know them, that changes everything about the way you obey the three commands.

It changes everything. For the Christian who belongs to the Great Shepherd of verse 3, for the Christian who belongs to the Good and Faithful One of verse 5, these commands in this Psalm to come and to sing and to serve and to shout. These are get to's. You get to do this. These aren't got to's.

Some burn you gotta just, oh I guess I gotta do this on the Lord's day. No, you wake up. This is amazing. I get to do this. I get to be happy.

I get to be happy. I get to do this. Why? Why, says the pagan. Why do you want to shout joyfully and serve him gladly and come to him with Thanksgiving?

Why says the pagan and you respond as a Christian? Why? Why? Haven't you read verse 3? Haven't you heard who he is?

Do you not know who it is we're singing about, who it is we're thanking and praising and blessing? It's the Creator. It's the Lord who is Himself God, the great shepherd of the sheep. He's the faithful one, The one who is the author of everything that is good, that's who he is. And that, that theology changes everything about the way you view the doxology described here in these verses.

So the theology, the truth about who God is in verse three and in verse five changes everything about the way you respond to that truth in doxology, praise, adoration, and obedience. You are to obey the Lord of Psalm 100 because of who the Lord of Psalm 100 is. Who is the Lord of Psalm 100? Have you paused to think about that? Who is the Lord?

Who is Himself God? Who has made us and not we ourselves? How we are His people and the chief of His pasture. Who is this one who is good and his loving kindness is everlasting and his faithfulness to all generations? Who is he?

What's the answer It's the children. It's the Sunday school answer He is the Lord Jesus Christ That's who he is Beloved the Lord of Psalm 100 is Jesus the Christ. In John chapter 1, you are told that Jesus is your Creator. He made you. It is He the Lord Jesus who made you and not you yourself.

It's John chapter 1. John chapter 1 says Psalm 100 is all about Jesus. In John chapter 10, we are told that Jesus is the good shepherd of the sheep. Who does Psalm 100 describe? Look in verse 3.

The Lord is the what? Look in verse 3, the Lord is what? We're the sheep of his pastor. That means he's the what? Shepherd.

Look at the beginning of verse 5. The shepherd is described as what kind of shepherd? The Lord is good. Put those two things together. Verse three, verse five, He is the good shepherd.

What is John called Jesus in John chapter 10? The good shepherd. John knew Psalm 100. Jesus knew Psalm 100. Who is Psalm 100 about?

Jesus, the Christ. This is a messianic psalm, a prophecy concerning the Christ to come who did come 2, 000 years ago in fulfillment of this psalm, this prophecy. His name is Jesus and he's the good shepherd. And Jesus gives three commands. Jesus gives you three commands twice followed by rationale.

You obey him because of who he is and what he's done in his death, resurrection, and ascension. You praise him for who he is and what he's done and what he promises still to do. So what a psalm, what a psalm. It's a psalm about Jesus and his everlasting triumph over the earth and our joyful response to it all as the sheep of his pasture. This is a psalm of the triumph of Jesus over all the earth and our joyful response as the sheep of his pasture.

Response number one. Response number one. Shout joyfully all the earth. Verse one. The first command.

Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth shout joyfully to the Lord children please listen to me I need to talk to you big time God is commanding all the earth to shout joyfully He is commanding all the earth to obey Him. Children, that includes you. You are to joyfully obey the Lord and your obedience to the Lord is to be a happy obedience, Joyful obedience. You are to obey with smiles on your face, with happiness in your heart. Why?

Because you belong to Him who is your Creator. You belong to Him who has made you a sheep of His pasture. Your obedience is to be a happy obedience. Children, if you are to joyfully obey God then, that means that you are to joyfully obey your parents. If you are to joyfully obey your to obey God you are to joyfully obey your parents because if you're to obey God he says to obey your parents.

God's law says honor obey your father and mother that it may go well with you in all the earth that you may live long in the earth obey your parents and so what should that obedience look like as you're obeying your parents children how should your obedience be described when you are honoring and obeying your parents verse one of our text joyfully joyfully joyful Did you notice all the descriptions in this psalm? Children, I'm going to point them out for you. All of the descriptions about your obedience, joyfully. Verse one. Verse two, gladness and joyful.

Verse four, Thanksgiving. This psalm is saturated with joy, happiness, gladness. What kind of obedience is this psalm talking about? A happy obedience. So children, you know the catechism.

If you don't, we need to learn. What were Adam and Eve like when God made them? Does anybody know? He made them. Holy and happy.

Ha ha! Good job, he made them holy and happy Children Jesus Christ has taken your sins away He's made you born again by grace or faith so that you might be what? Holy and happy. So that you would live as He has made you to live, holy and happy all the days of your life. And so when your parents ask you to obey them, how ought you to obey them?

Happily. Your holiness, your obedience is to be a happy obedience. You children are to obey right away, all the way, and with a happy heart. And parents, so are you. You are to obey the Lord all the way, right away, and with a happy heart.

This psalm describes obedience as joyful, glad obedience. And before you can deal with the sin in your children's hearts, you must first deal with your own. So parents, this day put away the sour spirit, Repent of the despondency inside of you and look to Jesus who went to a cross, was crucified for you. See him raised up victorious over your sour sin, over your guilt, over your failures, over your shortcomings. See him risen and rejoice.

That risen King is Jesus, and that risen King has rescued you, and that risen King has made you a sheep of his pasture. That risen King is the Lord of Psalm 100, and He calls you to shout joyfully, to obey joyfully, gladly. Obedience in your children's lives and in your life is to be right away, all the way, with a happy heart. And parents, if your children are not doing that, you need to spank them. You need to discipline your children when they do not obey right away, all the way, and with a happy heart.

The scripture says, drive that foolishness far from the hearts of your children. The scriptures say if you don't discipline your child, you hate them. You don't love them. You love them. So do what the scriptures say.

When they say no to you, that's a spanking right away. There is no gladness in no. There is no obedience in no. When they say no to you, You don't have to wonder, should I spank you? Yes.

They are saying no to God when they say no to you. Just think about that. They are saying no to God. It's a dangerous place to live. When they say no, that is not joyful obedience, that is rebellion against you and therefore rebellion against God.

They're choosing misery instead of happiness. And if you love your children, you look at them and you say that's the height of foolishness. To say no to God and to embrace misery instead of happiness. So you drive it far from them because you love them. You drive it far from them because the Lord of Psalm 100 says, no, shout joyfully, obey gladly with Thanksgiving in your heart.

So I've seen, we have to fight against our own selves, Karissa and I, but I've seen way too many parents tolerate their children saying no to them. Parents, you need to stop that. If your child says no when you've told them to do something, they must be disciplined. Don't argue with them. Don't ask them to correct it.

No, the rod needs to come out. Correct with the spanking. Remind them of the gospel. Remind them of the risen Savior. And then try again.

Yes, Mother. Yes, Father. Yes, Lord Jesus. And parents, if your children are obeying you, but they're obeying you not with happy hearts, you need to spank them for that too. That's going to get me in all kinds of trouble, I know.

Discipline for not happy hearts. God says so. This is disobedience against God if you don't do things with joy. So when they obey you, but not with the right attitude, That is not obedience as defined by Psalm 100 and all kinds of other scriptures. God says be happy.

Psalm 100, be joyful and be glad. I made you to be holy and happy, children. I made you to be holy and happy, parent. I made you to be holy and happy parent, I made you to be holy and happy man, woman, child. This is what Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection has made his sheep to be holy and happy.

And so when a child does what you ask, But the obedience that is not done with the right attitude, when your child is not obeying with a happy heart, they need an attitude adjustment. And that attitude adjustment starts with the rod. And it ends with a reminder of Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead. Spank your children when their attitudes do not line up with Psalm 100, joyful and glad obedience. And they will get older and thank you for it.

Just the other day, I looked at my mother and I said, thank you, thank you for disciplining me that I might have a happy heart. And again, parents, this is huge, this is huge. Before you do any of that spanking, before you do any of that spanking before you do any of that discipline confess your own sins confess your own sour and unpleasant attitude before the Lord confess it not just before the Lord but confess it before your spouse and confess it before your children you know what I'm talking about You cannot have a sour milk face. That's what we call it at our house, milk face. You just smelled sour milk.

You cannot have that going on in your heart and then dare to pick up the rod and say but you can't get the log out of your own eye before you try to get the splinter out of theirs confess your sins Live free and then be free to discipline your children that they might shout joyfully to the Lord with all the earth. This psalm is full of commands that are to be obeyed gladly. It's just saturated in this psalm. Joyful, glad, happy-hearted obedience. Shout joyfully to the Lord.

All the earth. All the earth. Now notice there the extent of this command. Who is this commanding? Who is to obey this Psalm?

Who is to shout joyfully? All the earth. This is not a command merely for Christians. This is a command for all of creation. All the earth.

We cannot forget that Psalm 100 is only two Psalms away from Psalm 98. And do you know what we get from Psalm 98? We get the glory of joy to the world. Joy to the world to Him. Joy to the world begins and comes from Psalm 98.

Two chapters after joy to the world you get Psalm 100. Joy to the world. Why? Because the Messiah has come. Jesus has come.

Let earth receive her King on Christmas 2000 years ago. Let every heart prepare Him room and heaven and nature sing. Joy to the earth the Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ. No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground.

For he comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found on Christmas." Two thousand years ago he came. And he rules the world with truth and grace. He rules the what? The world. And he makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and the wonders of his love.

He came on Christmas, Jesus came 2, 000 years ago on Christmas to make Psalm 98 true, to make Psalm 2 a reality that The nations of the world, the kings of all the earth, would kiss the Son, lest they perish in the way. And the power of His gospel, unleashed in His first advent, will do just that. Psalm 100, following the same flow of thought beginning in Psalm 98, says so. He will triumph. All the earth is His.

Jesus came into the world and He was tempted. He was taken up on a mountain by Satan to see all the kingdoms of the world, to see all the nations of the earth. Do you remember that? Jesus enters into his earthly ministry. One of the first things that happens after his baptism is he's taken up with Satan.

He's tempted. And the final temptation with Satan is that Satan says to him, see all the nations of the earth, see all of this world, I will give it to you, Jesus, if you but bow down and worship me. I will give to you, Jesus, what's mine, if you but bow the knee to me." What does Jesus say to Satan? No. No.

I will go and I'm going to win the earth myself. And that's exactly what he does. He lives a perfect life. He dies a substitutionary death for your sins and not for yours only but for the sins of the whole world. He's raised up triumphant.

He ascends to the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And what does Jesus say at his ascension to sit at the right hand of God the Father? What does he say? All authority in heaven and On earth has been given to me It's a done deal. Jesus says Psalm 98 being fulfilled The saw the the The prophecy of Psalm 100 is being fulfilled, Jesus says.

I rule, I reign over all the earth. I have purchased the earth with my unblemished blood my gospel will be triumphant over all the earth That's why you go into the world and proclaim the good news Because the earth is mine Because I'm king over it because all the nations no longer belong to Satan. No, they aren't Satan's property anymore They belong to me. So go and plunder his kingdom Because I've bound the strong man That's joy to the world in Psalm 98, Which means when you get to Psalm 100, here is what joy to the world looks like. Right now, shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth.

Because the earth is the Lord's and Jesus Christ reigns over it as King of Kings. Are you seeing what Psalm 100's all about? I know I haven't got off the first phrase yet. We're going to. Psalm 100 is all about Jesus Christ's everlasting triumph over the earth and how we should joyfully respond.

Psalm 100 is about Jesus Christ's everlasting triumph over the earth and how we should joyfully respond. Psalm 100 is about Jesus Christ's everlasting triumph over the earth and how you should joyfully respond. And that's precisely what Martin Luther said regarding Psalm 100. It's precisely what Luther said. Quote, this Psalm is a prophecy concerning Christ.

It calls upon all to rejoice, to triumph, and to give thanks, to enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts and sanctuary with praise, because by his gospel and the preaching of the remission of sins, that kingdom of Christ is established and strengthened, which shall remain and stand forever." End quote. Amen. By his gospel and the preaching of the remission of sins, the kingdom of Christ is established and strengthened which shall remain and stand forever over all the earth. That's who the Lord of Psalm 100 is. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords glory over all the earth.

Shout joyfully that you belong to Him, beloved. Shout joyfully that you belong to this God. Shout joyfully that you've kissed the Son by His grace. How blessed are all to who Him turned, Psalm 2 says. Command number two, response number two, serve with gladness, serve with gladness.

Serve the Lord with gladness. Now again we see that obedience to Jesus Christ is a happy, glad obedience. Serve with gladness. I want to emphasize something different. Beloved, the path towards happiness And the path towards serving Jesus Christ, they are not two different paths.

They are the same path. The happiest people on the earth are those who know and serve the Lord Jesus. By faith. That's Psalm 100. That's the gospel.

Happy are the people whose God is the Lord Jesus. Happy are the sheep of this shepherd's pasture bought with the price of His blood at Calvary. So children, I want to speak to you again. Young men, young ladies, the world is going to tell you, the world is going to tell you that following Jesus is not the same thing as being happy. They are going to tell you that what the world has to offer is so much better than what Jesus has to offer.

Little ones, you need to understand this. That is exactly what the serpent Satan said to Eve. Follow me, Satan said. I will make you happy. Just listen to me.

This will make you happy. Forget about God, and you can be God. How rotten such a lie was. And what did Adam and Eve get when they listened to Satan's rotten lie? What did they get?

They get happiness? Death! They got death! You are inheritors of that death. Adam and Eve believed, the lie children, that happiness was found Outside of the creator and what did they get they got the very opposite the very enemies of happiness death death Sin and death that's what happened when our first parents believed the lie.

They got the opposite of everlasting joy, the opposite of everlasting gladness, the very enemy of your gladness, death and sin, that every day comes to just suck away your joy. Every day. Little ones, serving Jesus, following Jesus is the only way for your life to not be wasted. It is the only way children for you to be truly happy, to be truly glad, to be full of joy, because at God's right hand are pleasures forevermore. And isn't it interesting that Jesus sat at the right hand of God the Father?

In Jesus there is fullness of joy, nowhere else. So I sat down with a friend years ago at Chipotle of course. And my friend knew that he was a sinner. He could not deny that God existed. He could not deny that he was guilty of God's law.

And he could not deny that he believed to be heading to an eternity in hell. He believed all of that. But he just kept telling me, sitting across from me at Chipotle, he kept telling me, I know that's all true, but I don't want to give up on being happy. The following Jesus grant, that would mean that I have to give up on all these sins that bring me such joy. What a lie for my friend to believe.

Repentance away from sin towards Jesus Christ is not giving up on joy. It is finally getting it. Repentance and turning away from your sin and turning to Jesus is not giving up on joy. It's finally for the first time getting real joy. It's giving up on the putrid mud pies of your sin that you think are tasty, full of worms.

It's giving up on that and saying, I'm going to eat something that's even better than the best cherry pie I've ever had in my life, which it's hard to get better than cherry pie. You gain Jesus Christ, the one who closed the lilies of the field, the one who cares for the beasts of the field, you give up death that you might have life when you repent and believe on His name. It's crazy, the lies. The insanity of sin is this, that we would hug. We would hug the very thing, the very anchor that brings us down to damnation.

And while it's bringing us down in misery into eternal hell fire, hugging it, we call it happiness. Don't be a fool, children. The path towards gladness and the path towards obedience to God, they're not two separate paths, they are the same. Joy in this life and obedience to Jesus in this life, those are not enemies, They're the best of friends. Verse 2 says, Serve the Lord Jesus with gladness.

The Book of Common Prayer describes this service to Jesus Christ, this slavery to Jesus Christ, serving the Lord. It describes slavery to Christ as perfect freedom. You've got to serve somebody. That's not whether you serve somebody or not, but who you serve. And in service to Jesus Christ, you are finally free.

Free! Free to be holy and happy. No longer captive to the change of your doom and gloom, your sin, but free. Free to be glad. Slavery to Jesus is perfect freedom.

Perfect freedom. In Saint Augustine, he completely agrees. Saint Augustine, quote, do not be afraid of slavery to this Lord of ours. There will be no complaining among his slaves, No grumbling, no resentment, no one begs to be emancipated from that service because it is so delightful that all of us have been redeemed." End quote. Serve the Lord with gladness.

Number three. Come with joyful singing. Come with joyful singing. This third command, this third response says to come, come and to come with singing, joyful singing. Why do we sing in the Lord's Day worship?

Because we think it'll just be fun? It is fun. But why do we sing? It's not because we ourselves have invented it. We sing together on the Lord's Day because the Lord who made us says to sing he is himself God Psalm 100 says it is he who has made us not we ourselves and he the Lord he says come and sing and so we sing.

We sing because he commands it. Beloved, you are to sing joyfully. You are to sing joyfully. God says that he is to be worshiped by singing. It's non-negotiable in worship, which is why we do what we do here at Crossroad.

It's why we take singing so seriously and joyfully here at Crossroad Church. So what does the end of this verse then mean for you? What does come before Him with joyful singing, What does it mean for you? Well it means first, listen to me, it means first that you need to learn how to sing. You need to learn how to sing.

And by the way, you do a good job of it. So please, so grateful to God. You need to make singing a regular part of your family culture. You need to make singing a regular part of your family culture. You need to make singing a regular part of your daily or weekly schedule.

This first means that you need to learn how to carry a melody and how to sing our hymns and how to sing the Psalms. Beloved, That's one of the reasons we went to a hymnal, that you would have no confusion. I wonder what songs we're singing. Right here. Or one of the 150 Psalms.

That's it. That's a lot when I say that's it. This is what we sing. We need to, You need to know how to sing hymns, psalms. You need to be able to teach those same skills to your household.

Listen to this, you are not obeying God. You're not obeying God and you're not loving your wife, men, you're not loving your children, men, when you're not teaching them how to obey the end of verse 2 the end of verse 2 is huge that's one thing it means for you you need to learn how to sing you need to teach it to your household here's another thing the end of verse 2 means you are sinning when you don't sing so when you don't sing especially on the Lord's Day with the Lord's people when you don't come before the Lord with joyful singing on the Christian Sabbath you are sinning I'm not making it up it's right there the command, come before him with joyful singing. Now, of course, if you are sick, you're physically not capable of making an utterance. You are exempt from this divine requirement. But if the Lord has not providentially hindered you, he's not providentially hindered you from being able to sing, then you are sinning, verse two says, you are sinning if you do not sing joyfully.

And man, this is especially applicable to you. Men, you are to lead your family in singing and if you've grown up in the modern evangelicaly fish American church, then you probably have seen and been involved in worship where heads of households show up on Sunday morning and they just stand there with their mouths closed while their wife and children belted out. God says in Psalm 100, you stop that man. We don't deal with that very much here, but I feel like I gotta say it anyway. You are to lead your household, brothers, beginning in the worship of Almighty God, what a glorious task God has given to you men.

Lead your covenant household into the presence of the Lord with a joyful voice on the Lord's day. Lead your household by showing them what joyful singing looks like it doesn't matter if you're flat It doesn't matter if you're sharp doesn't matter if you're tenor doesn't matter if your base doesn't matter if you don't know what you are It matters that you do it in joy Because He whose death and resurrection has set you free has made you free indeed men and free men sing. We got a song to sing. We want the whole earth to hear it beginning with our wife and our children and men if you're not married yet Practice what a glorious time to practice Free men sing Colossians 3 16 God commends singing in corporate worship Ephesians 5 18 and 19 God commends singing together as a church. James 5, 13, sing.

So men, sing. Sisters, sing. Men, if you stand there mute, you are being obedient. So men up, sing. We don't sing fluffy stuff here.

We don't sing songs that are so high that only the women can sing. Oh, I don't like that. No, we sing psalms and hymns that can be joyfully belted out. Psalms and hymns that when free men sing them, the gates of hell shudder. Because your worship, men, your worship, sisters, is warfare, joyful warfare, fought by free men and women, singing men and singing women.

Come to Him with joyful singing, do battle. Theologian William Plumer, Over 150 years ago, he said this, quote, nothing is more offensive to God than that we bow the head like a bulrush and give way to sadness and gloom when we are called to joyful Thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before Him with joyful singing.

Why? Because, verse 3, the Lord Himself is God. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture Why why do these things verse 3 is the why why are we to shout? Why are we to serve?

Why are we to come and sing with happy hearts because of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done Who is Jesus first three the Lord Jesus is himself God? Jesus is God. He is the one true living God. And it's He who has made you. John chapter 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

It was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being. And that word became flesh and dwelt among us. His name is Jesus the Christ. Jesus is the Creator.

When God said, let there be light, that was Jesus. When God said, let us make man in our image, that was Jesus. So why should you shout? Why should you come and serve gladly? Why should you sing with a joyful voice?

Children, what's the answer to the catechism question? Why should you glorify God? Why? Because He loves me, He made me, and He takes care of me. He made me and takes care of me.

This is like a great row right here. He made me and takes care of me. Jesus Christ is God and He made you And He cares for you. What other response can there be from the grateful creatures who have been made by His sheer grace? That's why we shout joyfully and serve gladly and sing with joy, because He has made us and not we ourselves.

You didn't have anything to do with your existence. Nobody in this room willed themselves into being. No! But God in His magnificent mercy, He formed you in your mother's womb. He knew you before you were even born.

He gave you the breath in your lungs. You know, He gave you the lungs that the breath go in, and He gave you your heart. He gave you the mouth. He gave you your body. He gave you everything, and you didn't do anything to make Him do any of that for you.

He just did it because of who He is and not who you are. He made you beloved and he remade you. If you name the name of Christ this morning, he made you and he remade you. He made you born again by the Spirit. He made you a sheep of His pasture, verse 3 says.

When you were once captive to sin, when you were once an enemy of God, He took it away. He regenerated you. He gave you eyes to see the beauty of Jesus Christ who went to the cross in your place bearing the wrath of God that was due to your sin. He made you to see just how much you need that Savior, how much you needed that substitutionary sacrifice And how much you needed that Savior not just to be there to die on your place But you needed that Savior to be raised up from the dead that you might be righteous before God's eyes forever You needed it, and he gave you the eyes to see how much you needed it, Then He gave you the faith to believe, to believe. He needed, He gave you the eyes to see that you needed a risen Savior.

And hallelujah, Jesus Christ is risen, he's risen indeed. And that risen Savior says to you in Psalm 100, come. Look in verse 2, come. End of verse 2, come before Him. Come to me.

Look at verse 4. What does he say again in verse 4? Enter his gates. Same Hebrew word for come. He says to you on either side of verse 3, you come.

You come. Come. He says, come. Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He says, come to me with your sin and I will bear it myself.

He says, come to me sinner, come to my wounded side which flows the double cure. I will sever the power of your sin and I will make you clean. I will cleanse you from all your unrighteousness. He says, come ye sinner who once shouted blasphemies, I will give you a new heart when you come to me, I will put a new spirit in you that you might instead of shouting blasphemies, you will shout joyfully to the Lord with all the earth. He says, come ye sinner, for I will give you a new song to sing.

No longer a song of enmity, but a song of joy. I'll give you a freed man's song. A song that we're about to sing. A song that goes like this, the Lord ye know is God indeed, and without our aid he did us make. We are his flock, and he doth us feed, and for his sheep he doth us take.

O enter then his gates with praise. Approach with joy as courts unto, praise Lord and bless his name, for it seemingly so to do. For why? The Lord our God is good, his mercy is forever sure, his truth at all times firmly stood and shall from age to age endure. Amen.

I only got through half the song. We'll go again next Lord's Day. Let's pray. Our Father, thank you for this, your perfect word, and thank you that you have given us a new song to sing as your sheep. Holy, holy, holy are you God Almighty, And we thank you for your risen and reigning son, Jesus, who has done a miracle in us.

Oh God, thank you. Thank you. Make us a happy people because you are our Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen.

Amen.