[0:00] Well, good morning, if you will, please. Take out your copy of God's Word and turn to two places.! We're going to spend our time considering musical worship.
[0:44] We're going to do that for three reasons. First, the men who lead our music attended a conference this week, which was actually every man on the stage this morning was at that conference together.
[0:57] It just has me thinking a lot about how we sing together. I'd like to spend, this is reason number two, I'd like to spend a bit more time with Romans 13, verses 11 through 14.
[1:12] And thirdly, we periodically preach sermons like this morning's, not to defend how we conduct ourselves when we gather, but to equip you to understand.
[1:23] Don't simply assume you know why we do what we do and why we do what we do the way that we do what we do. What's underneath that?
[1:35] Why is it that we do the things that we do and do them the way that we do them? It's important to know this. Be equipped. Share it with others.
[1:47] Help people to wrap their minds around what we do. Don't just see it as a preference. The last time we considered musical worship was about four years ago, and we have gained new members since then, praise God.
[2:01] So this topic seems due some attention. So, if you've not been around for very long, we do these sermons from time to time that I call the Why We Do What We Do and Why We Do What We Do the Way We Do What We Do sermons, which is a lot of Ws.
[2:17] So, today, specifically, our music together. When we gather together as a church, why do we engage in musical worship and why do we engage in musical worship the way that we do?
[2:33] I want to begin with an aside concerning our language, concerning music. In recent decades, for most of our lives, the music sung in church has been often referred to as worship, and the individual leading the music as the worship leader.
[2:57] Music, rightly sung in our church gatherings, or otherwise, certainly is worship. But it is not the totality of worship, and the individual leading the music is certainly leading us in worship, but not in the totality of worship.
[3:17] To call our singing together worship and the individual leading the music as the worship leader, and to not use this term in other spheres, suggests that our worship of God is reduced to a bit of time during a service on Sunday morning and implies the exclusion of our prayers and scripture reading, ordinance administering, and preaching.
[3:40] So, everything we do when we gather together as a church ought to be rightly taken up an act of worship. So, we want to be careful about this. We want to reject that kind of language.
[3:54] So, Paul stated in Romans 12, verse 1, And we were there not too long ago. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
[4:09] And we talked about how that word body means your being, your whole self. So, God means for all of ourselves, all of our lives, to be committed to His praise.
[4:21] So, we will never call the music here worship or the individual leading the music the worship leader at the exclusion of using that term elsewhere because it is confusing.
[4:34] I encourage you to toe this line. Some will say, well, you know what I mean when being corrected on the matter, but the problem is that words have meaning.
[4:45] They actually mean things, believe it or not. And you cannot be so cavalier with your use of words because my response will simply be, I don't know what you mean.
[4:57] The words you're using don't make sense the way you're using them. This is why we will speak in terms of musical worship.
[5:08] There you go. We're using the word worship, right? But we're qualifying what we mean. We're talking about musical worship and why we will call whoever is leading our music our music leader.
[5:21] The subject of musical worship in churches has been a highly contested one in my lifetime. These conflicts are often called the worship wars.
[5:33] Isn't that a tragic title? And they've revolved particularly around the debate between contemporary and traditional music. Much heat with very little light in these conflicts.
[5:49] The current solution has seemed to be for small churches to work to serve a particular demographic and for larger churches to cater to every demographic with multiple services.
[6:04] None of this is good for your faith or for the community of faith. It is not proper for a church to serve preference over purpose in the way that we gather.
[6:18] Is it okay to have preferences? Of course it is. It's okay to like particular types of music. But that's not why we arrange music the way that we do.
[6:30] It's serving a purpose. It is not healthy to meet felt needs at the expense of real needs. To promulgate consumerism in the worship of our God.
[6:46] I don't really care if you like our music if you're here and you're learning truth in the process of our singing. But oh, praise God, if you do like the music, I think that's good for you.
[7:00] In the very early days of our church, Wes, one of our founding elders and our music leader for the first nine years of our existence and myself were equally frustrated with the conflict we saw on this matter and desired to lead our small gathering well.
[7:17] I mean a tiny group of people to sing well together. I'm so glad for the good input we received from those faithful Christians. Praise be to God that he led us to the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture, believing that it contained within it everything we needed to guide the church and that he granted us grace to seek his wisdom from his word on that very matter.
[7:44] All a measure of grace. A miracle that we didn't just trend off into some happening thing that was going on. We very recently bought a fogger, hear me clearly, a fogger for the building so that we could fog cleaning supplies and help keep things tidy around here especially when we have these waves of sickness that come through the church building and I chuckle with Sam that our church finally has a fog machine.
[8:12] We have arrived. All right. So Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16 and Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18 and 19. I'll begin in Colossians.
[8:23] Before I read, let me remind you, beloved, that this is God's word to us written for his glory and our good. And so we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
[8:38] Paul writes, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
[8:53] And in Ephesians 5 verse 18 and 19, and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.
[9:11] So why do we sing together when we gather? The Bible commands it for God's glory and our good. Psalm 33 and verse 3 says, sing to him a new song.
[9:26] Play skillfully on the strings with loud shouts. Psalm 47 and verse 6, sing praises to God, sing praises.
[9:37] Sing praises to our King, sing praises. These are songs themselves written for congregational singing.
[9:49] The Bible contains over 400 references to singing and 50 direct commands to sing. The longest book of the Bible by verse count, the Psalms, is a book of songs.
[10:07] We have the example of Jesus in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 30. This is before his betrayal when they had sung a hymn.
[10:17] They went out to the Mount of Olives. And we have the example of heaven in the book of Revelation. Besides the book of Psalms, you know the book in the Bible that has the second most songs in it?
[10:31] It's the book of Revelation. We get to peer into heaven and see what the music looks like there. And there John records Revelation 15 verse 2 and 3, And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing by the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.
[10:54] And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God, the Almighty, just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.
[11:08] And the example of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail are not arguing that they were a church, but gathered Christians thrown in jail.
[11:19] We see about midnight, Acts 16 and verse 25, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. James says in James 5 and verse 13, Is anyone cheerful?
[11:34] Let him sing praise. John Calvin once said, Wherever faith is lively, holy rejoicing will follow.
[11:47] So, we should sing when we are gathered. Praise God that we do. What are we to sing? We're to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
[12:00] Psalms are those found in the book of Psalms. We should sing from God's song book. And we probably do this more than you realize.
[12:10] We may need to actually help you with that from time to time. A wonderful example of that is the song from the rising of the sun. We should sing hymns.
[12:23] Hymns are not just the songs found in a hymn. No, we could misunderstand this to be sure. You might think hymns are all those found in that book that we put on your chairs.
[12:34] And spiritual songs are the ones that are in the bulletin. No, not so. Hymns are songs to or about God and what He has done.
[12:45] To or about God and what He has done. An understanding of an early Christological hymn, a lot of commentators think it's because of the structure of the Greek language, is found in Colossians 1, verse 15 through 20.
[13:00] If you'd like to turn there and look at it, you may be familiar with this. We actually sing this set to a modern tune. He, Jesus Christ, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
[13:12] For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.
[13:23] And He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.
[13:35] For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.
[13:46] Man, I would have loved to have been in a first century church and sang that with them. I'm glad I get to be with you and sing that with you. So, all God word, right?
[13:57] To or about God and what He has accomplished. Other examples. How great thou art or holy, holy, holy.
[14:10] So, psalms and hymns were also to sing spiritual songs, which most agree, there's a little ambiguity here, but most agree that these are songs to or about us.
[14:22] So, we might sing to each other or about us in relation to God and what He has done. Two examples would be Amazing Grace and It Is Well.
[14:35] Some ones you may be familiar there with. So, we are instructed, right, to sing all kinds of songs. Humans are wired to give and receive through song.
[14:50] Musicians have been wildly popular for good and for bad throughout history. Every movement, every uprising, every cultural expression has its music.
[15:03] We are musical beings. Everyone will tap their foot or bob their head to something. Something will move you in that way. Singing in the church should engage our minds, but it also connects to our affections.
[15:24] So, when we sing, when we are gathered, it is our hope that our feelings catch up to the truth we believe. Right? It's good for us to feel the truth.
[15:38] Jonathan Edwards once wrote in his work Religious Affections, the duty of singing praises to God seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections.
[15:52] No other reason can be assigned why we should express ourselves to God in verse rather than in prose and do it with music, but only that such is our nature and frame that these things have a tendency to move our affections.
[16:09] My translation of that is just, we're musical beings. God seems to have wired us up this way and when we can combine His truth with good instrumentation.
[16:20] Right? Our feelings can catch up to the truth. So, we should sing when we gather together as a church. So, why do we do it the way that we do it?
[16:32] There's a lot of churches this morning that have sung songs in various ways. Well, if you look again at Colossians 3.16 and Ephesians 5.18 and 19, they show us that our singing together is the result of the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us.
[16:53] There's a striking parallel between the two texts. They both have Paul as their author, which allows for an incredible connection to be drawn from them.
[17:04] So, again, notice, he says, Colossians 3.16, Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Take up residence. Inhabit.
[17:15] Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. Singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
[17:28] And then, Ephesians 5.18 and 19, he says, there's a warning here, a prohibition. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. But, be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and making melody to the Lord with your heart.
[17:47] You see how closely parallel these two passages are. And I think what Paul means to communicate to us is that to be filled with the Spirit is to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.
[17:59] To have the truth take up residence, to inhabit you richly, in abundant. Let the Word of Christ fill you.
[18:13] Read it. Meditate on it. Memorize it. And song is useful to us in this way. I don't find myself particularly musical.
[18:26] If you ask me off the cuff to tell you my favorite song, I would draw a blank. It wouldn't be helpful to me. But there are times in my life that I'm thinking about a particular thing, I'm feeling something deeply, and God uses good songs, right?
[18:44] Scripture-rich songs by the power of the Spirit to bring truth to my mind. I'm so grateful for years of singing good songs that get embedded inside there.
[18:57] often, because I'm not a musically inclined person, I have to actually go look at the lyrics, and then I use that to drive me to the text itself.
[19:08] It's one of the reasons that you hold hymnals in your hands. We think it's good for you to see the words in their totality, to buy a copy of it and have it at home.
[19:20] Keep it on your desk, on your kitchen counter. Take that bulletin home with you that you'd have those lyrics of those songs that aren't contained in that particular hymnal, that you would be able to let the Word of Christ fill you and song being a tool to serve to that end.
[19:40] In case this connection between Colossians and Ephesians is just too vague for you, if you're saying, I don't know if you can do what you just did, a couple of other places.
[19:52] Romans 8.5 Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
[20:06] To be filled with the Spirit is to do what? To set our minds on the things of the Spirit, which is the truth about Christ. Proper worship of God is Spirit-filled worship of God, which is mindful worship of God.
[20:27] I mentioned to you some weeks ago when we were on sabbatical, and as a teaching opportunity for our boys, we took them to a rather large attractional prosperity megachurch in our area.
[20:40] And the music was well done. I mean, the production value was very high. But I was left the entire time going, why?
[20:51] And what? Like, we're supposed to be praising God right now, but you've given me nothing of any substance, and I wanted to cry out, right? My heart is weak.
[21:03] Tell me some truth that I can praise God for. Perhaps I walked in forgetting all of the glorious truths of God in Christ to me.
[21:14] Give me something to hang on to that would move me to praise. And it was paltry and shallow, thin, not untrue, but just nothing of substance found there.
[21:32] We want to have mindful worship. Our singing together must be that. It must be mindful, and it should be affectionate.
[21:44] again, Colossians 3.16, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, addressing one another in these psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
[21:59] John Owens once said, we must not allow ourselves to be satisfied with vague ideas of the love of Christ, which present nothing of His glory to our minds.
[22:10] hearts. You don't need to hear about a sloppy, wet kiss of God's love. It doesn't serve you at all. You need to be reminded of Christ's sacrificial death on your behalf.
[22:23] That's something that you can hang on to. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 15, I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.
[22:38] And Jesus says in John 4, verse 23, but the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.
[22:49] For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. So in brief, I've answered the question, like, why do we sing when we get together? We're commanded to do so.
[23:01] Why do we do it the way that we do it? Because of all of this, the mindful need of our worship, we use three parameters in considering the songs that we sing together.
[23:18] And as an aside, I just want to tell you how grateful I am for the men that work hard at doing this for us. They're volunteers and they put in the time and I'm grateful for them. Three parameters.
[23:30] And I'm just by grace from day one. Number one, truth. The songs that we sing should be true.
[23:41] So that question is asked, is the song true? Does it contain within it any error? So, I'll give you an example of a song that we do not sing, Reckless Love by Corey Asbury.
[23:57] Here's a little lyric for you. This is the chorus, I think. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. Oh, it chases me down, fights till I'm found, leaves the 99.
[24:12] I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it. Still, you give yourself away. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. Yeah.
[24:24] For some reason, I included that in the lyric. Now, so much is right, so much is true in that chorus. A lot of that is true.
[24:35] But God's love is not reckless, which means aimless. Right? John Piper wrote this little wonderful article defending Corey Asbury and saying, I don't think he means what the word actually means by that.
[24:48] And then Corey responded, no, that's what I mean. no purposeful, right? Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, purposeful love of God, right?
[25:00] That chases me down, fights till I'm found, leaves the 99. So, we're not going to sing a song. That's just not true. That's not true.
[25:12] So, is it true? Is it as precise as it should be? Sometimes there are songs that we say, I mean, I think we know what they mean. I think that we're on the same page.
[25:26] And I'll use an example of a song that's found in your hymnal, How Deep the Father's Love for Us. So, if you know the song very well, you know that we changed a small part of that song.
[25:38] And I don't think that what they wrote was wrong, but maybe a little misleading, so maybe not as precise as it might have been.
[25:50] So, in How Deep the Father's Love for Us, we sing, It was His love that held Him there. It was written, It was my sin that held Him there.
[26:03] So, when we first started singing this song, it just rubbed me wrong, and so I raised the question to Wes, who was again leading music at the time, and I just said, do you think that's the best way to communicate that?
[26:15] And what was in my mind was John 10 and verse 18, where Jesus says, No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. Now, saying our sin is what held Him there is not suggesting that we had the power to take Christ's life.
[26:30] It's not running in direct contradiction to that, but perhaps could confuse somebody when they take up John 10, 18. So, we just thought, perhaps we should replace that small phrase.
[26:43] And so we did. It was His love that held Him there. Now, it's in our hymnal. If we sang it that way, that'd be fine. If you went home and listened to it that way, you're probably not going to find a recording that has It was His love that held Him there.
[26:57] We're not worried about that, but we want to be as precise as we possibly can be. The third in the thought of truth is the song tied to any false teaching movements.
[27:12] There are some beautiful songs that express the truth, but are so tied to a particular church or teaching that we do not sing them because we don't want to give tacit approval of false teachers.
[27:27] We want to be careful that we don't connect you into a world of music that's tied to teaching that could lead you astray. so we don't sing songs as an example from Elevation Worship, Hillsong United, Bethel Music.
[27:44] We don't and we will not do so because we don't want you to get out there and find yourself confused. So, that's the first parameter, truth.
[27:54] Second parameter is depth. Does a song merely skip a stone off the surface of the truth or does it sink deep into it?
[28:05] Does a song teach us something about God and His work? Is a song content rich? Can we take hold of it? So, we sing wordy songs.
[28:17] We have limited time together in congregational gathering. So, we don't want to waste a moment of it. We want it to all be packed full of goodness.
[28:31] I grew up now having sung lots of hymns in my adult life. I grew up in a Southern Baptist tradition that often skipped the verses that were about sanctification.
[28:45] They started with salvation, they ended with glorification, wonderful things to sing about, but they left no music for me to think about how I live my Christian life in between those two states.
[28:58] I'm so glad for verses 2, 3, and 4. good and rich for today and to carry with me throughout my week.
[29:09] Our time is limited, so let's not waste any of it. True and deep and lastly our parameter is singable.
[29:20] Singability is a song congregational. We're commanded to teach and admonish each other in all wisdom addressing one another.
[29:32] It means we need to be able to sing the song. We need to be able to sing it to one another. Does it have a recognizable rhythm and a range designed for the average human?
[29:46] Our musicians work at picking keys very carefully. I'm grateful again for Wes, who had a much higher range than was comfortable for most people, and he let me be the average human and say to him still too high, still too high.
[30:03] I think the first year we were at church, he had to step songs down so that I could sing them. And I can remember in those early days my wife Sam coming to me and saying, a lot of these songs are too low for the women, they're hard for us to sing, and my response to her was, do you want the men to lead, even in music?
[30:22] She said, oh yeah, that's okay, then this is the key, we've got to be right here, this is the pocket where these men are going to be able to sing. So, can we, can we sing the song together is an important question to ask.
[30:38] Can it be played well by our musicians, right? Is the instrumentation too complicated? And style is not the question here at all. We do music the way we do music because the Lord's given us these musicians and it's the way they like to play.
[30:53] That's the extent of it. We've never had a single style meeting. If we had a little old lady and an organ and I had to sing, that's the way we would do music.
[31:06] Praise God, that is not the way it's happening. I have talked about this on numerous occasions and I would often threaten, you know, if we don't have musicians, you've got me.
[31:18] So, praise God for our musicians. And during the pandemic, there was a Sunday that none of our musicians were available, either sick or out of town. And I mean none. We looked.
[31:29] And you know what we did? I led music. We sang three songs, acapella, and I did it. I turned the mic on, I turned it back off again, I got it started and I turned it back off again, and we were done.
[31:42] But you know that traditionally throughout the history of the church, the person who most often led to music was, the pastor got up and sang. And I'm sure they didn't all sing incredibly well.
[31:55] We're not concerned about how we play music. We want to try to match the instrumentation up to the truth that you would get your feelings caught up to it. The guys are very thoughtful about the way they try to do arrangements to that very end.
[32:11] We keep the lights on, you might notice. I think it's good to look around and see each other singing. We try to keep the volume at a place where you can hear those folks around you singing songs because we're trying to fulfill this commandment to teach and admonish one another and address each other, psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
[32:32] So let me just briefly walk you through two songs, two songs that we sing often together and just show you the truth that's contained within them.
[32:44] Had I planned this way in advance, they'd be songs we're singing this morning, but I didn't, so they're not. But maybe you'll enjoy hearing these lyrics all the same. The first is a modern song called Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery.
[32:59] If you want to see these lyrics, you can find it in your hymnal. It's hymn number 184. of interest to you, one of the mats that helped write this song is local.
[33:15] He's from Gainesville. Verse 1 says, Come behold the wondrous mystery in the dawning of the King. He, the theme of heaven's praises, robed in frail humanity.
[33:31] In our longing, in our darkness, now the light of life has come. Look to Christ who condescended, took on flesh to ransom us.
[33:42] So we see the incarnation of Christ in this text. John 1, verses 1-5. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
[33:57] In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. We also see the purpose of his incarnation in verse 1.
[34:09] Luke 19 and verse 10, For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Verse 2, Come behold the wondrous mystery, he the perfect Son of Man, in his living, in his suffering, never trace nor stain of sin.
[34:28] See the true and better Adam come to save the hell-bound man, Christ the great and sure fulfillment of the law. In him we stand. We see his active obedience in this verse, his keeping of the law on our behalf.
[34:44] We also see his passive suffering, his death on the cross, paying the penalty for our sin. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
[35:00] Romans 5, verse 17, For if because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
[35:16] Verse 3 goes on to talk about the passive obedience of Christ. Come behold, the tree, in the stead of ruined sinners, hangs the lamb in victory.
[35:29] See the price of our redemption, see the Father's plan unfold, bringing many sons to glory, atonement of Christ. 1 Corinthians 15, 13, For I deliver to you as a first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures.
[35:48] Verse 4, Come behold the wondrous mystery, slain by death, the God of life, but no grave could e'er restrain him. Praise the Lord, he is alive. What a foretaste of deliverance, how unwavering our hope, Christ in power resurrected, as we will be when he comes.
[36:08] What a foretaste of deliverance, how unwavering our hope, Christ in power resurrected, as we will be when he comes. So there we see the resurrection of Christ, 1 Corinthians 15, 4, he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accord with the scriptures.
[36:28] Glorification of the saints, Colossians 3, 4, when Christ who is your life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. You cannot leave on a Sunday morning that we have sung this song and say that you weren't fed the truth of God.
[36:46] If you do, you are tuned out. Look at it, take it up, read it, sing it with joy, right?
[36:57] We've seen the incarnation and the purpose of that incarnation, the active and passive suffering of Christ, substitutionary atonement, the resurrection and our glorification in those four verses, which takes us four minutes to sing together, packed full of things to hang on to this week.
[37:20] Second one in closing, great is thy faithfulness. This is hymn 86. Verse one, great is thy of turning with thee.
[37:35] Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever will be.
[37:47] I need to hear this truth this morning. The immutability of God is unchangeable character. He says in Malachi 3, 6, for I the Lord do not change.
[37:58] Therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. And the steadfast love of God. 1 Chronicles 16 and verse 34, O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
[38:20] And then the chorus, great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see.
[38:36] All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
[38:52] I had no intention of singing that. And then I started and went, oh man, now I gotta finish. Don't we need to hear this? Don't we need to hear about the new morning mercies of God?
[39:03] Lamentations 3, 22 and 23. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
[39:14] And God's provision, Philippians 4, 19, and my God's will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. verse 2.
[39:28] Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above. Join with all nature in manifold witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
[39:45] Witness of creation we see in this verse. Isaiah 6, 3. One called to another, talking about the creation, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
[39:56] The whole earth is full of his glory. So maybe you have a difficult time seeing it this morning in your own life, but look out there. The creation witnesses to this great truth that God is faithful.
[40:16] Verse 3. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth. Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
[40:29] Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside. We see justification, Romans 8, 1. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[40:39] Sanctification, Philippians 1, 6. And I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. And glorification, Ephesians 1, 11 through 12.
[40:52] In him we have obtained an inheritance, having predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who are the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
[41:05] In one verse, four lines, justification, sanctification, glorification, things to hang on to, and maybe you'll join me this time.
[41:16] Great is thy faithfulness. Thank you. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
[41:30] All I have needed, thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
[41:50] Amen. It's why we sing together, and it's why we sing together the way that we sing together. Truth, depth, singability, all for the glory of God and for the good of his people.
[42:07] Let us be a people who sing to one another as we're commanded to do, and know why we sing to one another, and who know what and how we should sing to one another, because our God is worthy of this praise.
[42:25] Let's pray together.