Sing to Remember (Exodus 15:1-21)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Foreign my name is Spencer I'm one of the pastors here we are continuing through Exodus chapter 15 verse 22 and we're going to go all the way through the end of chapter 16 today you can turn in your blue Bibles to page 34 the text will also be on the screen so uh one of the things I've realized over the last few years is that America has a new favorite pastime I'm not talking about how football clearly replaced baseball a couple decades ago as America's pastime uh America and Americans we love complaining like it it is real and it's getting worse I mean it is everywhere you go on social media.
See people rant on Facebook complain after complaint and if you're still on Twitter on Twitter and that gets like retweets and likes and you go girls and all kinds of stuff and it's not just there or in Google reviews or in Yelp reviews it's in work rooms uh break rooms and family dinner tables it's everywhere and here's what's Wild is that all of us realize that our culture is complaining and grumbling too much like we get that and no one thinks it's good right no one thinks it's a net positive.
For society when all of us are angry and complaining and grumbling all the time about things none of us like it but then we look in the mirror and then we realize how easy it is to complain like one of the things I've I've said in sermons in the past is I have chronic back pain and there's just times where it's just so easy to just complain so easy to just be frustrated and to grumble it's what we do and it's it's a it's a human problem it's a part of the Fall.
And while it may be very prevalent more now than it has been the past it is something that goes all the way back to our story in the book of Exodus today we are not alone in this we're going to see the people of God we're going to see how God provides for them and how they grumble in the midst of it so we'll see a few things happening as we walk through this story together we're going to see clearly that.
God is a provider and that he's good and his Provisions towards his people we're going to see that as he provides God is teaching his Covenant people of God what it means to be his people then we're going to see the people of God grumble and complain repeatedly and then we'll see how God responds to them so let me pray for us and we'll walk through this together Heavenly Father I pray that you would help the Scriptures come alive to us this morning that it would Pierce our hearts and that we would.
See what it means to have a God that loves us so much that provides for us that is worthy of our faith and out of that we would change and repent and be a people that grow into your likeness into your image and this would ultimately result in worship and delighting and you we ask this in Jesus name amen okay so this part of Exodus is a shift we're moving into the Wilderness part of the story the people of God are going to wander in the wilderness throughout the rest of Exodus in fact they're going to wander throughout the rest of the Old Testament law.
So the next few books in Leviticus numbers and Deuteronomy like this is what the people of God are going to be doing is wandering so we're going to pick up in verse 22 it says then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea and they went into the Wilderness of sure they went three days in the wilderness and found no water so they leave the Red Sea and they're wandering for three days in the wilderness and this Wilderness is the desert it's no small thing to not find water.
For three days that's not an inconvenience that's actually somewhat dangerous now the people would have surely had you know water packs you know lots of storage similar to I've seen some of you with your I don't think you can call this water bottles there's water gallon jugs you know with the motivational stickers to say you can do it drink a little more you go like they had some version of that but they would have been going through this water and it's a little concerning.
When you're in the desert with all these people and you don't see water it's no small thing and then in verse 23 it says when they came to Mara they could not drink the water of Mera because it was bitter therefore it was named maram so you can imagine you're traveling in the desert and then you see a water source and you're cracked lips smile and you run to that water source and you hit your knees and you scoop up some water and you bring it to your face and it's garbage it's awful it's bad water.
So bad that they named the place Mara when the Hebrew means bitter that's a disappointment and I would say it's okay it's fine to be disappointed in life it's fine to be disappointed when you're so desperate for something and you don't get it but how they respond in the midst of disappointment well that that's where things really start to go south verse 24 it says in the people grumbled against Moses saying what shall we drink they crumbled they murmured they complained what are we going to drink Moses this is not a question done from a respectful posture that's trusting Moses that's trusting.
God this is grumbling what are we going to do now Moses we've got no water we've got is This Bitter mess and it's wild because they've seen God work not too long ago in some incredible ways they saw as he brought plague after plague sign after Wonder upon Pharaoh their oppressor they walked out with gold and jewels from the Egyptians they were LED through the Wilderness by cloud and by fire they came to the Red Sea and watched God part the Red Sea and they safely went to the other side as the waters crashed down on the Egyptians who were trying to take them back they saw all of this in just a few days.
In they are grumbling baffles commentators when they look at this one commentator was like if you need evidence of Grace in the Old Testament look no further than this story he he should destroy them he should crush them after everything that he's done for them they are grumbling but we're going to see how God responds verse 25 and he cried to the Lord this is Moses and the Lord showed him a log and he threw it into the water and the water became sweet that.
God responds by providing how good is God Moses takes a log and throws into the water and now the water is sweet our God is so good in how he provides and then he uses this situation to teach the people so it says there the Lord made for them a statute and a rule and there he tested them saying if you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God and do which is do that which is right in his eyes and give ear to his Commandments and keep all his statutes I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians.
For I am the Lord your healer now I don't know if you caught that God just flexed both his unbelievable steadfast love and care and his power in the same breath like a good father whose hands provide the warmest and softness of embrace of his children but also the firmness of discipline he flexes his care and his power I am your healer but if you do not trust me and you don't walk in Covenant faithfulness with me you will see the power that I put on the Egyptians upon you and that's a lesson that the people of.
God need to learn one of the themes we're going to see Trace throughout the rest of Exodus is that the people of God are learning what it means to be the Covenant people of the Lord they've been slaves for 400 years and now they're learning what it means to be his people as they are wandering so they keep wondering verse 27 then they came to Elam where there were 12 Springs of water and 70 palm trees and they encamped there by the water they wander some more and again.
God provides leads them to water into palm trees so they get a chance as we move into chapter 16 to start fresh to trust God and then in verse 1 it says they set out from Elam and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the Wilderness of sin which is just the name of the region don't read too far into that which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day on the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt and the whole Congregation of the people of Israel grumble grumbled against Moses and Aaron and the Wilderness and the people of Israel said to them word that we had.
Died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat parts and ate the bread to the eight bread to the full for you have brought us out into the Wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger oh no uh you know the part of the movie where there's a there's a smaller guy and he's like talking a bunch of junk about a bigger guy he's talking smack and these guys are in front of them and he's just talking Sherman German chirp and also the big guy comes into view and kind of walks it behind him and he just keeps talking keeps talking that's how this feels it's.
Like oh no do you know who you're complaining against do you know what God has done for you now what you're saying is oh that we could just be back in Egypt as slaves again that we could belong to Pharaoh at least we had the meat pots and the bread to the fool this is the first time they've said something similar to uh you've brought us out here in the wilderness to kill us and Exodus 14 12 is the Red Sea there before it and they're waiting to.
See what's going to happen next they said for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness what this shows is they don't trust God they don't trust God they don't trust him to provide they don't trust them that he's going to take care of them after everything that God has done for them they do not trust that he is good they would rather be back in Egypt as slaves at least they had meat pots and bread.
So how does God respond to this verse 4. then the Lord said to Moses behold I'm about to Reign bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not God and His steadfast love towards his people listens to that grumbling and says I will provide for you I'll provide for you I'm going to rain down from heaven in spite of your grumbling in spite of your thanklessness and your discontentment I'm going to provide.
For you I'm going to bring bread down from heaven not only that in this I'm going to teach you how good is our God that he provides and that he endures and that he teaches and his steadfast love towards his people he's going to use this as a teachable moment day by day all the way until we get to the sixth day verse 5 on the sixth day when they prepare what they bring in it will be twice as much as they gather daily.
So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel at evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt so he's going to teach his people to trust him and then when the sixth day comes which is the day before the Sabbath and it's a little unclear in the text either they're going to be commanded to gather twice as much as they need or God is going to providentially and Care caring.
For his people give them twice the amount and what's that what's foreshadowing what you're going to see more than a moment is that God is trying to teach his people what it means to be the people of God by remembering the Sabbath this goes back to Adam and Eve and Adam and Eve were created in Genesis 1 and 2 that Sabbath rest was created for the people to rest in God and they have been slaves for centuries not taking the Sabbath they belonged to Pharaoh and not to.
God and God is trying to help them see you don't belong to him anymore you belong to me and my people will pause and they will rest they needed to make the switch and realize that they belong to now when I was in Middle School all the way through Middle School I was a part of I was in public school and then in the eighth grade um well the first eighth grade I did Eighth Grade twice because middle school is awesome.
But in the first eighth grade up until then I got in a lot of trouble I spent a lot of time in in-school suspension a lot of time in after school suspension because in public school it's a slap on the wrist it's like okay fine I get to be out of class I'm listening talk this is awesome but I went to this private school out in like the sticks of Saluda and Batesburg and uh the first week I got in trouble got sent the office I was waiting.
For my slap on the wrist and my uh my principal was also my coach he said all right grab tennis shoes I'll see you after school and I went what sheena's gonna send me to a room to like read a book and then after school I ran until I almost was sick and I realized I belonged to a new people and I will not continue like this and for the rest of the eighth grade and the rest of high school I did not get in a lot of trouble the people need to unite the shift to the need to.
See what it means you don't belong to fear anymore you belong to me and you're going to remember Sabbath rest and then number seven it continues in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord for what are we that you Grumble against us and Moses said when the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the fool which pause for a moment not just bread they're getting meat praise.
God can I get to eat meat too because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you Grumble against him what are we your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord that truth needs to sink so deeply into our souls as it needed to sit and sing deeply into theirs that when we Grumble and when we complain in this life that is ultimately against God God you've not provided and the ways that I want you've not done what I saw fit and the complaints and the grumbles that we have is ultimately against and Moses makes that clear your complaint is with the.
Lord verse 9 then Moses said to Aaron say to the whole Congregation of the people of Israel come near before the Lord for he has heard your grumbling and as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole Congregation of the people of Israel they looked toward the Wilderness and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud and the Lord said to Moses I've heard the grumbling of the people of Israel say to them at Twilight you shall eat meat in the morning you shall be filled with bread.
Then ye shall know that I am the Lord your God he's like I'm going to provide and you're going to know that I'm the Lord your God I'm going to teach this people who I am verse 13 in the evening Quail came up and covered the camp which if you don't know what quail are because you live in the city or you didn't hunt you didn't not Outdoors person or do you don't like birds it's a bird Quill's a bird and it covers the camp not oh they went outside and they started picking up a few Quail here and there it covers the camp they get to feast.
Because God has provided Quail at night now wake up the next morning in the morning do lay around the camp and when the Dew had gone up there was on the face of the Wilderness A Fine flake-like Thing fine as frost on the ground so they wake up after a night of feasting and they rather sleep from their eyes and they look and they see the Dew and they keep looking and when the Dew dissipates this Frosted Flake like substance like the OG Frosted Flake you guys it starts appearing and their response is.
When the people of Israel verse 15 when the people of Israel saw it they said to one another what is it for they did not know what it was I said what is this and that's what they're going to call it is what is it bread it's called Manna we're going to see in a moment Manna means what is it in the Hebrew what is this and Moses said to them it is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat this is what the.
Lord has commanded gather of it each of you each one of you as much as he can eat you shall take an Omer which we don't measure in numbers anymore but the estimates is that's anywhere from between one and two pounds each of you take an armor according to the number of persons that each of you has and your tent so I have a family of five that means we'd have anywhere from 10 to 20 pounds of manna now I don't know.
If any of you cook or bake but 20 pounds of flour has a lot of biscuits it's a lot of scones a lot of Pancakes it's a lot of non-breakfast food item bread that's a lot you can eat on that for more than a day it is enough you're going to eat to the full verse 17 the people of Israel did so they gathered some more some less but when they measured it with an Omer where we gathered much had nothing left over whoever gathered little Had No Lack each of them gathered as much as he could eat and I I love this whether they're Gathering a ton as much as they can or little.
It's all going to come out it's all going to come out the same you get a number that's going to provide for you this is God teaching them I'm your provider I'm the one who gives Daily Bread you're going to learn this whatever you gather it's going to be what you need and then in verse 19 and Moses said to them let no one leave any of it over till morning now why would he say that why would he say don't don't leave any over left over to the morning.
Because it's possible they're not going to trust the Lord the reason you would try to keep some to the next day is because you don't think the next day man is coming like the reason why when I put my kids to bed and I tuck them in I don't find a bunch of z-bars and gummy gummy stuff and all the things we put in our snack drawer and applesauce packs you know I don't find that because they know that that food downstairs is stocked they know they can go a snack drawer they know it's there not from once or their thought I need to store some food.
Because I don't know if I'm going to eat the next day they know that it'll be provided for and the people of God need to believe this you need to trust God in this word here don't leave any over to the next day they're being tested they're being taught I don't know if you've seen the FEMA today but you can kind of guess how this is going to go verse 20 but they did not listen to Moses so I'm left part of it till morning and it bred worms and stank and Moses was angry with them morning by morning they gathered it each as much as he could eat.
But when the sun grew hot it melted so they didn't trust God again they disobeyed God again and the whole Camp stank and Moses is rightfully angry because this people isn't getting it they're not trusting God what does God have to do to help you see that he's worthy of your faith and your trust and your obedience these people will not listen and they have failed again but they're going to get a chance here because day after day all the way to the sixth day the Sabbath is coming and I have a chance to obey.
Verse 22. on the sixth day they gather twice as much bread two emers each when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses he said to them this is what the Lord has commanded tomorrow is a day of solemn rest a holy Sabbath to the Lord bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil and all that is left over lay it aside to be kept to Mourning so gather you're gonna have enough for two days this time you can set it aside it's going good.
So far 24 so they laid it aside till morning as Moses commanded them and it did not stink and there were no worms in it verse 25 Moses said eat it today for today is a Sabbath to the Lord today you will not find it in the field six days You Shall Gather in it but on the seventh which is the Sabbath there will be none for things trending well they're doing so good and then verse 27 happens on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather.
But they found no and there it is they again do not trust the Lord we got to go out we got to gather because what if we don't have enough and they don't trust God that he's going to take care of them again and the Lord verse 28 said to Moses how long will you refuse to keep my Commandments and my laws see the Lord has given you the Sabbath therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days remain each of you in his place let no one go outside of his place on the seventh day.
So the people rested on the seventh day God teaches them he doesn't bring judgment upon them he's providing and he's teaching he's trying to get through to the people of God and then in verse 31 it says now the house of Israel called its name manna it was like coriander seed White and the taste of it was like Wafers made with hunting which pause for a minute it's nice that God is not against sweet bread you know even against some of our diets don't you say we shouldn't have it.
But it's not it's good it's a gift from the Lord verse 32 Moses said this is what the Lord has commanded let a number of it be kept throughout your Generations so that you may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt and Moses said to Aaron take a jar and put an ombre of manna in it and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your Generations.
So God wants them to take take some put in a jar I want you to remember how I provided for you I want you to remember how I gave you daily manna 34 and as the Lord commanded Moses so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept the people of Israel ate the man of 40 years till they came to a habitable end they ate Manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan and Omer is the tenth of Heart of an even.
Okay and that's the end of chapter 16. this story is powerful because in spite of their lack of faith and in spite of the rebellion and in spite of Israel's sin in spite of their grumbling they're grumbling against the God who saved them who redeemed them who freed them to be in his presence in spite of all of that God provides for them again and again God takes care of his people and he teaches them in spite of their Rebellion he teaches them in spite of their sin and the good news of the Gospel is that.
God still does that with us that God still does that with us you see when he gets the New Testament and you get to John 6 and you see the feeding of the five thousand which is one of the more popular Miracles that we read about in the Scriptures when you read the feeding the five thousand you see that that entire miracle is an illusion it's alluding back to Exodus 16. there's so many things where Jesus in that moment is fulfilling Exodus 16 from the bread that is Multiplied into the people get enough to the 12 baskets that represent the 12 tribes there's.
So many things that are happening in that story that point back to Exodus 16 back to the story of manna and that's made even more explicitly clear in the teaching that follows the feeding of the five thousand so we're gonna pick it up in John 6 verse 30. it says so they said to him this is people asking him then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you what work do you perform our fathers ate the Manna in the wilderness as it is written he gave them bread from Heaven to eat that's Exodus 16.
So we get to see that miraculous sign from God what are you going to do Jesus then said to them truly truly I say to you it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven but my father gives you the true bread from heaven for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world and then they hear this and their ears perk up and they said to him verse 34 sir give us this bread always we want that you got something better than the man that was given to our people I I want that bread what is that bread.
Jesus answers Jesus said to them I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger never Believes In Me shall never thirst I am the Eternal manna I am the bread of life and if you eat of me and if you come to me for satisfaction if you come to me for fulfillment if you come to me you will never you will never be unfulfilled and you will always be satisfied so Jesus ultimately fulfills this story now I want to.
See two clear things coming out of this from Exodus 16 into John 6. and the first is this God cares for you God cares for you there are times where we don't believe that there are times where we have these these complaints that says if God really cared about me he would do fill in the blank he provided this he'd help me hear if God truly cared for me then I'd have this I'd have the meat pots back in Egypt I have the bread to the fool fill in the blank.
If God truly cared about me why doesn't he fix this and I want to say very clearly God absolutely cares for you and he cares for you more than you could ever care for yourself because what we see so clearly from the Scriptures is that our concern is mostly and sometimes exclusively about temporary things the things that we want the things that we so deeply desire oftentimes are only temporary things and God is saying I have something better for you I have something Eternal.
For you I have eternal Heavenly bread the bread of life in Christ that is for you have not forgotten you I care about you more than you could ever care for yourself so that's the first thing we need to clearly see that God loves us so much that he sent the Bread of Heaven down for us and he lived a life that we could not live and he died death in the cross that we deserve and he resurrected it to give us a new life in him.
So that we could eat of this eternal bread and take part in Christ into eternity God absolutely cares for you more than you could ever possibly know or imagine you just have to come to him in faith and here's the second thing that we need to see coming out of this story and this is especially true for Christians we need to stop grumbling we need to stop complaining we need to repent here because complaining is so native to who we are as humans and we need to stop it's not just a principle that's taught in Exodus 16.
As an explicit command when you get to the New Testament in Philippians 2 it says do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights and the world the rest of the world complains you know why because that's a Humanity problem it's what we do and what he's teaching is that you get to be uniquely different you get to shine as light in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation you get to be different you know why we get to be different.
Because we know better because as Christians we know better when John Piper is commenting on Philippians 2. he says do all things without grumbling why you have a sovereign God who is on your side who works everything together for your good that everything including the suffering including including the loss and the lacking is ultimately for your good and the Israelites could not see God's bigger plan they couldn't go a few days without water they couldn't go a few days with limited food they could not.
See God's bigger plan and they complained and they grumbled and so do we we don't see God's bigger plan and we Grumble we need to believe the Gospel we need to believe that Jesus is the bread of life and then when we do that we replace our grumbling with something better the solution to our grumbling is Godly gratitude the solution to our grumbling is Godly gratitude it is a deep founded belief that God works everything together for our good even the parts of life that are miserable even the life parts of life that are crummy even the parts of life that don't seem fair that in those moments we want to complain and we want.
To Grumble ultimately against our God for what he has not done I know I feel this y'all you might think but you don't understand my pain is chronic my hurt is unending how could God love me allow me to suffer like this we get to as Christians replace that with a posture of gratitude that says thank you Jesus that my hope is in a resurrection that is in the future a future bodily Resurrection where I will have no more pain and no more hurt and I will be and your presence forever and all this pain will be a distant memory.
But until then praise God that I have the teaching that comes from Paul that Jesus power will be made perfect in my weakness and I will praise you and thank you all the more you might think I just want to be married I just want to have a family I've wanted this I've wanted this I've wanted this if God really loved me why hasn't he given me this we need to believe the Gospel and we could replace that with gratitude that says thank you.
Jesus how I don't know why I don't have a family in this life but I thank you that I have an eternal family that I've been purchased into now and I can experience that in part now with this Church family and in my community group but that even pales in comparison to the Eternal family of God that awaits me when I will be in your presence with my brothers and sisters with you as my father thank you Jesus that I'm a part of a better family you might think I've got just others have it easier their lives are easier they have more means they have better physical health they have better mental health they have.
All of this God why can't I just have fill in the blank and we get to from a place of faith say thank you Jesus that you bless others man I don't know why you haven't blessed me I don't know why I'm suffering I don't know why I'm enduring loss but I'm going to learn what it means for you to be my daily bread because you are enough we need gratitude for the Glorious work of Christ that is the remedy to our grumbling I don't know why.
God has ordained that some of you suffer in the ways that you do I don't know why your life is not easier than others and I will pretend to be speaking on behalf of God directly to answer why you are suffering perhaps from the Scriptures you may have some reasons maybe he is teaching you daily Faith like he taught the Israelites maybe he's breaking you of Love of this world and believing the things in this world are going to satisfy when only.
Jesus can perhaps you are suffering in the wilderness in ways that are ultimately for your good that you may not have the answers for in this life I don't know but I do know the solution is the same Church family let's not be like the Israelites who God saved and redeemed and freed and brought into his presence and then went on to Grumble and Grumble and Grumble and Grumble we get to be the people of God who are saved and redeemed and freed and are brought into his presence and from that beautiful Gospel we say thank you.
Jesus that you're enough you will be my daily bread and that is enough Matt's going to come up and we're going to take the Lord's Supper which is a reminder that Jesus is enough that we get to come to the table as Jesus did 2000 years ago and we took bread and he broke and he said this is my body that was broken for you it's for it's the Bread of Heaven he's the Eternal manna he's whom we need it's my body that was broken.
For you he took the cup of the New Covenant he said this is my blood that was shed for you that is often as a as you eat and drink this you Proclaim my death until I return and as the people between his death and his return we sit in the middle and as Christians we get to believe the Gospel we get to believe that Jesus is enough and no doubt I've got repenting to do after complaining of my life.
Because you're human so do you and we get to come to the table and say thank you Jesus that you died for grumblers like me Lord help me have gratitude and thankfulness in faith faith to trust that you're enough and if you're not a Christian please don't take part in this I don't want you to take part in this we want you to take part in the Eternal manner who is Christ we want you to believe in him I want you to.
See that he's better there's nothing in this world that will satisfy you there's nothing in this world that is going to fill the God-shaped hole in your soul the only one who can is Christ and we plead with you believe right now place your faith and trust when you are ready come to the table and remember the Bread of Heaven that we get to take part in Christ and we pray heavenly father I pray that you would help us see you with.
So beautiful so much more compelling than anything else in this world God I pray that you would help us be a people that believe the Gospel that you are the bread of life that you are enough and out of that belief that we would be a people that show unbelievable gratitude knowing that we don't know how and why and all the things that are happening in our life the way they are happening but we know that you're enough and we will praise you and I pray.
If there's anyone here that has never eaten up your Eternal bread that is never trusted in you I pray right now that they would we ask this in Jesus name amen.
Confession
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We are continuing our Abide series. We've got two weeks left. And then we start the Gospel of Matthew.
Get excited. So we're going to be in there for a while. So we are continuing our series in Abiding where we are seeking to grow in abiding in Jesus. That we would use the ancient practices and disciplines that He's given us. We walk through abiding through His Word, through prayer, through feasting, through fasting. Today we're going to be abiding through confession.
So my wife and I, Anna, we were very different students growing up. She made lots of A's and some B's. And I made grades. They got degrees. So we learn differently.
We have different learning styles. My wife, one time, I remember in college, she called me super upset. She was upset. She was crying. She said, I'm going to fail this test. And it's going to be awful.
And, you know, I was like, well, you came the right person. If anyone knows how to fail tests and get through it, it's this guy. But I was like, it's probably fine. You know, you probably made an A or a B. And, of course, she made like a low A. And some of you were like that in school growing up.
There's a term for that. It's called annoying. But she just, she, most of our marriage is the two of us staring at something. She learns very quickly. She picks it up like that. And then I kind of sit in silence.
And then finally like, hmm. And then I figured out like, oh, I've got it. That's just, I'm a little bit slower. It takes me time. I'm in school. I had to study a whole lot.
Whether it was high school or college or seminary. I had to spend a lot of time rehearsing, reciting the same things over and over again. I just, that's how I learn. I'm a little bit slower learner. But I realized the thing a few years back.
My wife and I, we were talking. I was taking some counseling classes in seminary. And I referenced some psychology. My wife was a psych major. So I referenced some basics of psychology, some Freudian psychology, some Skinner.
And she's like, yeah, sure. I'm like, what do you mean, sure? She's like, I just don't, I don't really remember all of that. I was like, you don't remember? You were a psych major. Like, that's what you devoted your time in college to.
And I learned a thing. That she studied to pass the test. That she learns quickly. She aced the test. And that's just, and I, it took a lot longer to learn things. And I do pick up things slower in life.
But y'all, you know, as opposed to learning something quickly and having Freudian psychology is buried deep in your brain. I think I got the upper hand in life. The point is, we all learn differently. That's just a fact. We just, we learn differently. But there is some, there is some wisdom in slowly learning things and spaced repetition.
That's one of the things they've realized in neuroscience. That our brains were hardwired to, if you want to keep things in your memory, to learn it through spaced repetition. That you might be exposed to something over and over again. That it might sink deeply into our memories. And that is by God's design. That we were made to hear truth repeated over and over again.
That it might sink deep into our mind and to our soul. That we were made to slowly chisel truth. Slowly chisel the Bible that it might sink and steep deeply into our souls. That is by God's design. And Christians have understood this over the last 2,000 years. And one of the ways that they have practiced this, that we have practiced this over the last 2,000 years is through confession and creed.
Not that creed. Not the band. That we all, listen, we all love to bang on creed because it's easy. But you know all of us have that Human Clay album. Let's just be honest.
We all listen to some creed. Not that creed. This is confessions and creeds. Which are statements that are formed from the Bible. That help us stand firmly in truth. It's wisdom.
It's the gospel. It's biblical truth. It's formed that we might have a statement. Have a confession. Have a creed that guides us through faithful belief. And that's the goal.
It's the gospel summarized. We verbalize it. We rehearse it. We recite it. And it sinks deeply into our souls. So that is what we're going to take a look at today.
At this idea of confession. Repeated truths that help shape us in our walk with Jesus. And we're going to see three things as we walk through this. We're going to see why we need confessions. Why we need these. Why these are good.
Then we're going to see what confessions are. And what specifically good confessions are. And then lastly we're going to see how we practice confession. And we'll get practical. So let me pray.
And then we will jump in. God thank you so much for your word. That we get to rehearse it. We get to recite it. That we get to use it to confess the gospel. That it would radically change our hearts.
God I pray that you would help us listen today. To what you have to say. In Jesus name. Amen. Alright. So.
We've all got some background in this. Whether you have a lack of background. Or you were like me. Maybe you grew up in high church backgrounds. Where you had liturgy. And confessions.
And creeds. And some of you are like. I didn't even know that kind of church was legal in South Carolina. We just have different backgrounds. Some of you are exposed to it. Some of you enjoyed it.
It's nostalgic to even think that you would read liturgy. That you read confessional statements. Others of you regurgitated it. And you really don't like it. Some of you don't have a background at all. We all bring a little bit of bias to this subject.
So I want as best we can to remove that this morning. And see what confessions are. So. Why we need confessions. 1 John 4.15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God. God abides in him.
And he in God. John is highlighting the power of confession. That as we confess. Which is linked to belief. As we confess what we believe. That there is further abiding in Jesus.
That God abides in us. We abide in him. That they are linked. That confession. That belief. Help shape your identity.
And we need to understand that. We need to believe that. Because the reality is. Is that all of us have confessions. All of us have these internal confessional statements. That are within us.
That we've picked up. That have become our own. Sometimes those come from culture. Culture is consistently drilling things into us. And we pick up confessional statements. Culture will say things like.
You need to be your true self. You need to be how you feel that you are. You hear that over and over and over again. Until it becomes your own. You'll hear things like live your truth. Which is ridiculous.
There's no such thing as your truth. There is objective truth. But you'll hear that. Over and over again. Until you start to think the truth is more subjective. You'll hear the American dream.
That comes at us over and over and over again. That you need money. You need material things to be happy. And it slowly starts to become your own internal confession. Maybe it wasn't culture. Maybe it was mothers or fathers or friends who said things to you growing up.
Maybe you heard some form of you're not smart enough. You're dumb. And that has just been a confession in your head that you've heard over and over again. And that's what you think about yourself. Maybe you heard some form of you're not pretty enough. You're not handsome enough.
You're not tough enough. Maybe some version of you're not trying. You're not working hard enough. And that is what you hear over and over again in your head. Sometimes it comes from punk middle school students that said things to you growing up. I asked my wife permission to share this.
Sometimes I don't do this. And I regret it. But I asked specifically on this one. My wife in middle school was chubbier. And she had a middle school boy that came up to her and called her fat. And it took a sweet middle school girl and completely wrecked her.
To the point where she had to go to the doctor for weigh-ins. And would hide coins in her pockets to pass weight. Now, she's gotten past it. But there's this internal confession that is still there. That shows up every now and then. I want to find this punk middle school kid.
I think he still lives in the area. And harm him. Or forgive him. One of the two. But we have these.
We have these internal statements that come. Maybe they're from your fears. Maybe they're from your flesh. Maybe they're from the devil. Maybe you're hearing stuff like, I'm a bad mom. And you hear that over and over again.
That is how you filter your reality when it comes to raising kids. Maybe it's you'll be just like your father. You are just like your father. Maybe it's you'll always be alone. Maybe it's nobody cares about you. But we hear these.
Y'all feeling this? We hear these statements. Different versions of this. Over and over and over again. Until it becomes our own. We rehearse these confessions over and over again in our head.
Until it really becomes our own language. You don't even know where the source is. Years ago when we started. When I started. Decided that we were going to be one church together. And Chet and I started to build a friendship we did not have in college.
Because we've talked about this. We were not friends in college. We didn't like each other. But one of the things that helped bond us. Was a love for really 2000s comedies. Whether it was movies or TV or YouTube or whatever.
We started realizing that we would quote things. And the other one would pick up exactly what we were saying. And that's just something we love doing. But one of the things I've realized is. Because Chet has a much better memory than me. Is I will say things sometimes.
And he'll say oh yeah that's from that movie. Oh yeah that's from that video. And I'll go really? I completely forgot about that. Because that became so much a part of my language. Throughout that decade.
That it's. I don't even know where the source is. It becomes. It became my own language. And that happens. That we rehearse things over and over again.
Until it becomes our own language. And it sinks deep within us. Because. A few weeks ago Chet said that. The things you do. Do things to you.
And that is true. I would qualify that statement. That the things that you say. Say things back to you. And when you say it over. And over.
And over again. It starts to shape who you are. It starts to shape your belief. The Greeks had a term for this. Your ethos. It was your.
Who you are. It's what you believe. It's what drives you. That it shapes you. And let me show you how this works. We have.
Bad. Confessional. Cycles. We have these bad. Confessional cycles. Where the confession is linked to our belief.
It's what we believe. And. Our beliefs affect our actions. We operate out. Out of our beliefs. And those actions have results.
And what happens is. Is those results. Will further inform our beliefs. Into a cycle of crazy. Let me show you. I'm going to be transparent for a moment.
I want to show you one of. Two of my deep idols. And how this plays out in my own life. Two of my deep idols are. Approval. And control.
Those are two. The more I. I wade into this. And I discover more of my sin. The more I see it's linked to these two. Deep idols.
Let me show you how this cycle of crazy. Happens in my life. I have a. Pretty much a confession. That's similar to this. My values come from.
Approval of others. And I need to be in control. That's it. Like if I. At my worst. I'm looking for approval in others.
And I. I like to be in control. And this is how it fleshes. Its way out. I have. This.
This. This striving to be the best. That I want to be the best. Not. For the reason. That I.
I want to. Gain approval from others. That I want. To be in control. That I work hard. That's something that I've inherited from my dad.
My dad. He is a hard worker. He's 76. And he still will work 12 hour days. He works hard. And I've picked that up from him.
But my. Reasons for doing it. Is to gain approval. It's to. It's to. Control.
What I've got right in front of me. That what I. One of the things I'll do. Is I'll control perception. And I'll try to leave the best. Impression.
Impression in people. And it's crazy. Because what. What will happen is. Is I'll have a conversation with somebody. And I'll.
I'll say something. That was off. Or I'll say something. That. I think they took the wrong way. And here's what happens.
Is that I will. Think about it. I'll be like. Man. I should have said that differently. And then I'll invent.
This entire narrative. Over what they thought about it. What they now think of me. Where that leads to. And now how their. Whole opinion has changed of me.
It's crazy. But this is the cycle. The bad confessional cycle. Of crazy. That happens. We have these actions.
There's results from these actions. The reality is. Is that no one can ever be the best. For very long. That I. Will fail at being the best.
That my work. Is never enough. That I will strive. That I will work. That I will go for it. And it's never enough.
I always think about. Did I say the wrong thing. Am I getting the respect. And approval. That I crave. And if I don't stop right there.
If I don't stop right there. And intervene with the gospel. And say no. I have a better confession. That says. That I don't have to.
Work for other people's approval. That I'm approved in Jesus. That I don't stop with the gospel. And say no. God is sovereign. I cannot be in control.
I wasn't made to be in control. Then it will continue. And if I didn't work hard enough. I'll try harder. I'll correct my mistakes. My mistakes.
I'll look at the tape. And I'll fix it. And I'll be better. So that I can be one approved. So that I can control things.
Y'all see this. This is what we do. We have these bad. Confessional statements. That shape us. That shape us in profound ways.
That we never thought possible. If we don't intervene. With a better confession. With the gospel. The reality is. Is that we all have these internal.
Confessional statements. That we rehearse these beliefs. Over and over. And over again. And if you let. Bad views of self.
Bad views of Jesus. And bad theology. Shape you. It will take you to places. That you never thought. That you would go.
We have bad. Confessional statements. We need better ones. So. I want to look at some. Good confessions.
Confessions. And kind of where these. Source from. Where this idea really. Source is from. And the earliest confessions.
We have. The earliest. The earliest. Repeated statements. That we have. In the church.
Show up in the New Testament. I want to show you a few of them. The first one. Is from 1st Corinthians. We read it earlier. 1st Corinthians 15.
The setup is. Paul's writing to the church at Corinth. He says. Now I would remind you. Brothers of the gospel. I preach to you.
Which you received. And which you stand. And by which. You are being saved. If you hold fast to the word. I preach to you.
Unless you believe it in vain. And here it comes. For I delivered you. As of first importance. What I also received. That Christ died for our sins.
In accordance with the scriptures. That he was buried. That he was raised in the third day. In accordance with. The scriptures. That he appeared to Cephas.
Which is Peter. And the twelve. That he appeared to more than 500 brothers. At one time. Most of whom are still alive. Though some have fallen asleep.
Then he appeared to James. Then the apostles. Last of all. As the one untimely born. He appeared to me. Now.
We can look at this. And look at church history. And it. It seems like the early church. Used that statement. Over and over again.
To solidify. The truth of the gospel. To solidify the record. Of what happened. This is the truth. That is in verse one and two.
Says. They stood in. That they received. And believed. And they now stand in. And they needed them.
Because early on. In the church. There were already heresies. False teachings. That were arising. One of them.
Was Gnosticism. Gnosticism. Just generally. Is the idea. That the material world. Is in and of itself.
Bad. Therefore. The way that gets fleshed out. Is that Jesus actually. Wasn't a real person. He was just.
Spirit. And that gets. You play that logic out. And you lose the gospel. And they had statements like this. That said.
No. Jesus died. He was buried. He did reigns. He was a real. Person.
They had other statements. I'll give you one more. From 2nd Timothy. Chapter 2. Verse 11 through 13. Says this.
The saying is trustworthy. For. If we have died with him. We will also live with him. If we endure. We will also reign with him.
If we deny him. He will also deny us. If we are faithless. He remains faithful. It's almost a little bit of call and response there. That they would rehearse.
There are statements like this. Where he says. The saying is trustworthy. That we see in the New Testament. These are statements. That they would have rehearsed.
Over. And over again. They were popular sayings. That the church used. To guide them in faith. And the tradition.
Of creeds. And confessional statements. Was birthed out of the church. One of the most popular. Confessional statements. In the history of the church.
Is the apostles creed. Or the. Niocene creed. It was a creed. That was formed. In the face of one of the most destructive heresies.
In the third and fourth century. Called Arianism. Arianism was the idea. That Jesus was created. And that he was not God. So.
I know. You are like. Man. There is a lot of church history here. This is. This is a little bit nerdy.
It is. But y'all. This almost ripped the church apart. They almost stopped believing. In the trinity. That God is father.
God is son. God is holy spirit. That three in one. They almost stopped believing this. And the church came together and said. No.
We have to have a creed. That we stand in. That we have received. That will guide us. So. I want to read.
From the apostles creed. The song that we sang earlier. This I believe. Is directly based on this. So. So.
The creed says. I believe. In God the father. Maker of heaven and earth. That's. Father.
And in Jesus Christ. His only son. Our Lord. Who is conceived by the Holy Spirit. Born. Born.
Of the Virgin Mary. Suffered. Under Pontius Pilate. Was crucified. Dead. And buried.
Now. I'm ahead. I have to readjust. Because. The. The tradition I grew up in.
Added an extra statement. That wasn't. Very helpful. Y'all remember. The. The ten of you.
That have high church background. Y'all remember. Going to another church. And hearing a different. Confessional statement. A different Lord's Prayer.
And you just sat in judgment. Like. Oh. They do it wrong. Y'all know. Was crucified.
Dead. Then buried. The third day. He rose again from the dead. He descended into heaven. And he sitteth at the right hand of God.
The Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge. The quick. And the dead. Quick being living. I believe in the Holy Spirit.
The holy Catholic Church. That's little c. Catholic. Which means universal. The communion of saints. The forgiveness of sins.
The resurrection of the body. And the life everlasting. Amen. Amen. Guys. That statement.
Guided the church. For the next 1700 years. It's settled. This is who we believe in. And it has guided us. In the midst of all.
There have been other. Neo-Aryan type religions. Like Mormonism. And Jehovah's Witness. That have popped up. That deny the deity of Jesus.
And we stand at this. No. Jesus is God. We worship a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So this was important.
This helped guide the church. I'll give you one more confessional statement. This showed up. In the Protestant Reformation. In the 1500s and 1600s. It is called.
The Westminster Confession of Faith. Or it's also. A shorter version. The Westminster Shorter Catechism. Some of you are like. Catechism.
What? Is that what they bury dead people? No. That's catechomes. This is a catechism. If you're not familiar with them.
They're like. Time tables. For Christians. You know. You learn. Question.
Answer. Question. Answer. My daughter gets a little bit older. We're going to start doing some of these. To help her understand this.
But. The Westminster Confession of Faith. And Shorter Catechism. Helps shape. Not only the church. The Protestant church.
But y'all. It also shapes some of American culture. The first. Question and answer. From the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Is what is the chief end of man?
Is to glorify God. And enjoy him forever. That the glory of God. So fused. Into the Protestant church. And also fused into American culture.
So much so. That you can. I remember back in the day. I watch award shows. And you have. Like a hip hop artist.
Who came up. And the song. That he got the award for. Was absolutely horrible. But he'd say.
To God be the glory. You hear professional athletes. Whose life. Models nothing about Jesus. And they'll say. To God be the glory.
It's so infused into our culture. And this goes back. All the way. The Westminster Confession. That helped guide. The Protestant church.
Some of what we teach. In our own church. We teach about submitting. To the authority. Of scripture. That shows up.
In our membership covenant. That goes back. To the Westminster Confession. Where we get our. Our love for God's grace. Is highlighted.
In the Westminster Confession. Where we get the language. Of Jesus. As prophet. Priest. And king.
Which we've used. In our church. Goes back. To the Westminster Confession. There are confessions. Like this.
Statements. Like this. That the church rehearsed. Over and over again. Over the last 2,000 years. And I know.
I know that five of you. Got really geeked out. About this. And the rest of you. Are like. I don't know if I'm going to go home.
And google confessions. This sounds really cool. What's the point? The point is. The principle. The principle is.
Is that these confessions. Us. Rehearsing truth. Over and over again. That it might sink deep. Within our soul.
That is what guides us. That's what helps guide us. In faith. So we need to grow. In rehearsing. In reciting truth.
That it might sink. Deep within our soul. And one of the ways. We can actually do this. Is through song. Is through music.
That music. Is a type of. Confession. You see. For. Millennium.
Cultures have understood. The power of music. The Greeks. Understood the power of music. How it could influence. Culture.
They had this Greek. Mythological figure. Called Orpheus. Orpheus. Orpheus. Orpheus.
Was like a super musician. So think. As far as super musicians go. Think like. The voice of Freddie Mercury. The guitar ability of Prince.
The stage presence of Springsteen. Which I don't even like. Bruce Springsteen. But. When he plays. Born to run.
Live. It lures you in. This is. Orpheus. And in that story. He would go around.
And he'd play. Before the gods. And before. People. And. They would all be.
Emotionally influenced. He would reel them in. And that shaped. Greek. Western understanding. That music.
Has power. To influence. Now. They tapped into something. That is actually understood. They just didn't get the.
That is understood universally. They didn't understand. The back story. That God. Has given us music. He's given us.
Song. That it might. Take. Truth. And sink it. Deeply.
Into our souls. We see this in the Psalms. That God gave us the Psalms. To sing. That it might sink. The truth of.
God. And his sovereignty. And all the things. That we learn from the Psalms. Deeply. Into our soul.
Into our souls. We see it. In Colossians 3. 16. In the New Testament. It says.
Let the word of Christ. Dwell in you richly. Teaching. And admonishing one another. In all wisdom. Singing Psalms.
And hymns. And spiritual songs. That we see this ancient truth. That music. Helps us. Remember.
The gospel. It helps us. Remember truth. That from King David. All the way to. The Gettys.
And John Martin Millen. And other songwriters. That we have now. We have a long tradition. Of taking the Bible. And using songs.
To help sink. Help chisel truth. Into our souls. So. This is huge. It's huge for us to understand.
So let me address. Kind of the elephant in the room. When it comes to this. How about secular music. There is music. That was written.
Explicitly. To glorify God. God. Some people call that Christian music. And there is other music. That wasn't.
It was written for various reasons. And people will call that secular music. And people will ask. Well if music is so influential. Can you actually listen to music. That was not written.
To glorify God. Let me say. Absolutely. Yes. Secular music. Is not.
In and of itself. Evil. I love some of the music. That comes out. Of people that don't believe in Jesus. Bon Iver.
And Jason Isbell. And Chris Stapleton. Those are my people. I have some. Some. Some.
Their artistry. Is. Is. The way they understand the world. The way they even understand sin. Sometimes it's very helpful.
But we cannot be so foolish to think. That we are just a hundred percent objective. That all. We can listen to anything. And just filter it out. No.
That's not how that works. Some of you have to do the work of. Is there a thing. Are there things that I listen to. That actually don't inspire goodness. That don't inspire.
Anything that resembles good. As the Bible outlines it. There's stuff that when I became a Christian. I finally had to give up. Because it didn't inspire. Anything that was good.
It didn't inspire me to. Have a better understanding of the world. Or of God. It was just. Pagan. It was outside of.
Christianity. All together. There's other stuff that I've listened to. That's good in some seasons. And it's just. It's not in others.
That doesn't inspire goodness in certain seasons. So. We have to do the work of that. And deciding what we can and cannot listen to. This is something that made. Becoming a Christian.
In the 2000s. So. Painful. Because in the 2000s. When I became a Christian. I was like.
I guess I have to listen to Christian music now. So I went on the internet. And found the top 10. Christian songs on Christian radio. And I burned it. Right off LimeWire.
Because I wasn't yet convinced. That LimeWire was stealing music. But I listened to it. And I was like. Man. This is something.
It is cheesy. And painful. And y'all. Some of it is not family friendly. I don't care what Caleb says. Some of it is bad theology.
I would not let my kids listen to it. I do not want them to have that understanding of God. Some of it is deeply painful. So it. It took over the last decade plus. Of understanding a few things.
The first thing I understood. And when it comes to Christian music. Is that hymns. Are a gift. To the church. They are a gift.
I mean. If you just. Take some of the music aside. Just read hymns. Read it as well with our soul. Read some of these hymns.
And just look at the truth. That comes out of them. There is so much depth. And beauty. Such a profound understanding. Of the gospel.
That we see in these songs. And when they are done. For our purposes. And they are arranged. Helpfully. And beautifully.
And are true to the original version. Which. I won't get on that tangent. There are some hymns. That have been poorly redone. But the ones that we have redone.
The ones that we sing so often. In our church. I started to understand. Man. These are good. These help guide me.
In understanding. In this. Understanding of confession. Rehearsing these truths. Over and over again. So hymns.
Are a gift. That we have been given. The second thing happened. Really over the last. 10-15 years. Christian songwriters.
Have gotten better. Man. There are some really good songs. That have come out. The last 10-15 years. If you are a recent Christian.
You are blessed. Man. Songs like Death in His Grave. Songs like Made Alive. Death Was Arrested. Wonders Cross.
Like these songs. Are powerful. They are profound. They teach deep truths. And they are done. Well.
So right now. This moment. In the Western American church. We are blessed. Because we have the hymns. That some of us have rediscovered.
And modern songs. That help. Sink these truths. Deeper into our soul. That we would chisel these truths. Through music.
Through actually. Singing. So there is a different. A few different styles of confession. Saying it. Singing it.
So how do we. Make the shift. Practically as a church. How do we practice. Confession. We practice it.
Through a few different ways. The first category is personal. Confession. Personal confession. We need to go to work. On the.
First. First part. Internal. Personal confessions. That we have. Because we need better.
Internal. Confessions. We say. Often times. Confess your sin. And confess your.
Savior. Part of that. For us. Is. Understanding. That we have.
Bad. Confessional. Statements. They are not. Of the gospel. They are not.
Of Jesus. They are sinful. And we have given them. Power. So I want to walk through.
Some of this. Some of the bad confessions. That we have been carrying. How many of you. Have. Really some negative.
Image statements. That you rehearse. Over and over again. To yourself. How many of you say. I am.
I am a failure. All I do. Is. Fail. Or. Alongside that.
I am. I am a. I am a loser. How many of you. Are rehearsing. Some form of.
I am ugly. I am not beautiful. How many of you. Are rehearsing. Some form of. I am unloved.
That nobody really. Loves me. Or some version of. I am gross. Who could ever possibly. Want me.
We rehearse these. Over and over again. And we have to stop. They are not. Rooted in truth. They are not.
Rooted in the gospel. The gospel. Gives us a different. Confession. You are not a failure. In Christ.
You stand. Victoriously. You are not. Ugly. Because. Beauty is not.
Bound up. In the material. It is bound up. In the perfection. Of beauty. And God.
That we get to. Bear his fruit. That is where true. Beauty is found. That you are not. Unloved.
The God of the universe. Loved you so much. That he sent his son. To be. Slain for you. That's how much.
He loves you. That you are not. Gross. You do not bear. Shame. That shame.
Was put on. Jesus at the cross. We have to. Replace. These negative. Confession.
Statements. With a better one. We have to replace it. With the gospel. How many of you. Are believing lies.
Lies. That you hear. Over and over again. In your head. Lies. That we.
As we talk about. Deep idols. Lies. Like I need to be in control. Like I need to be. The person.
In power. The man. Or the woman. In power. That I need to be approved. By others.
To be okay. That the good life. Is found to being. Comfortable. In the comforts. Of this world.
How many of us. Are believing lies. They have to be. Replaced. With. Truth.
Y'all. And we got to rehearse this. That Jesus. Is the sovereign king. He's the one in control. He's the one in power.
That God has approval. In us. Because of what Jesus. Has done. That the comfort. That we should find.
Is not in this world. But in. Jesus. How many of us. Are believing lies. How many of us.
Are. Hearing these prophecies. Of failure. That circulate. In our head. Over and over again.
It's just projecting. Failure. You'll never get over. Your porn addiction. Now. No matter how hard.
You try. You're never going to get past it. You're always going to be. An anxious. Person. Always.
That you can't control. Your anger. You're always going to be. Angry. You're always going to push. People away.
How many of us. Are hearing these. Prophecies. Of failure. We have to step. In with.
The gospel. And preach. A better. Message. To ourselves. That we have.
Victory. Over. Sin. Because of Jesus. That we have. The hope.
Of. The gospel. That gives us. Freedom. That we're not. Slaves.
Y'all. This is what. When I counsel people. This is a lot of. What I'm trying to get at. I'm trying to get at.
These internal. Confessional statements. So much so. That I want people. To say them out loud. And oftentimes.
What I will hear is. I know this is going to sound stupid. This is going to sound silly. This is going to sound. Crazy. And I'm like.
Yes. It is. Bring it out. It is crazy. It is silly. Because it is not true.
And I know that we've. Rehearsed it so often. In our head. That we think. It is true. Because it sounds like us.
It is not of us. We've got to get it out. In the open. That we might be able to. Expose. Light to it.
And live. In a better confession. That's what we're actually going to do. In groups this week. Is we're going to get some of these. Bad confessions out.
And we're going to replace them. With the gospel. We've got to go to work. On our personal. Internal confessions. And replace them with better ones.
We also need a better. Personal. External. Confession. That we are literally. Out loud.
Rehearsing things. Over and over again. We talked about this. In the. Abiding in the bible. That we need to be growing.
In memorizing scripture. And we should do this. Out loud. That transition slide. That shows up before and after. Is still going to be there.
We're going to grow in this. As a church. That we will. Rehearse the gospel. Rehearse scripture. Out loud.
We. Need this. We need to. Grow in this. We also need to grow. In confessing Jesus.
Through evangelism. There's a lot of. Good that happens. In evangelism. In reaching the lost. But one thing that happens.
Is. Is the more that you actually. Share. Jesus. He goes to work. On your own soul.
And the gospel. Becomes more true. And it sinks. Deeper. Within you. Need a better.
Personal. Internal confession. A better. Better. Personal. External.
Confession. We also need. To grow. In corporate. Confession. For centuries.
The church. Has read. Scripture. Has read. Credal statements. Have done this.
Together. And if you grew up. Like me. In churches. That did this. Sometimes.
It was really boring. Going through. Confirmation class. With an awkward priest. Or a. Reverend.
Man. And learn. It. It was hard. So. It took years.
Down the road. Of following Jesus. To finally be a part of a church. That actually. Practice. Liturgy.
That practice. Corporate confession. That practice this. Beautifully. That did it. Worshipfully.
So that. As we try this. In our own church. As we are. Doing this. That when you see it.
On the screen. Scripture. That is meant to be read together. That we wouldn't just. Kind of. Go through the motions.
We see this. As a means. To helping us. Cement. This. Into our heart.
That we do this. Worshipfully. Proclaiming truth. Together. That we need to grow in this. In corporate confession.
And we also need to grow in this. Through song. That the people of God. Have sung songs. For. Thousands.
Of years. To help. Sink. And chisel truth. Deeply. Into us.
We need this. We need this. There is this. Theologian. From the 20th century. One of the biggest theologians.
From the 20th century. He. Was once doing. A question and answer session. And someone asked him. They said.
What was the most profound. What's the most profound. Doctrine or theology. That you've ever. Understood. And he paused for a minute.
And he said. Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible. Tells me so. And it's just like.
Man that. You learned that. We sing that. With our own kids. So that you.
If you. Had a Christian home. That you got to. Sing that as a kid. And it. Sinks.
Deep. Within us. We need this. We need to sing truth. Deeply. Into our souls.
That it might guide us. In faith. There's a song. That. Shane and Shane. They did.
An adaption of Psalm 34. And in this adaption. They. They took Psalm 34. And some of it's verbatim. Taken from.
Psalm 34. Some of it is. Is summarized. But there are moments. Where I can't. And in.
Seasons of difficulty. I can't really. Picture. The scripture that I need to hear. That I can't. Dwell on the truth.
But there's. Moments. When I can hear it sung. And when I. A few years back. Heard.
This version of Psalm 34. There are moments. When I can't think of Psalm 34. I can't quote it. But I can.
Hear it. Taste. And see. That the Lord. Is good. Oh blessed.
Is he. That hides. In him. Oh fear the Lord. Oh you saints. He'll give you everything.
He'll give you everything. That I can. Hear that. And it is a comfort. And that is because. We sing truth.
Deep into our soul. So we need to actually sing. That men. We need to actually. Sing on. Sunday.
And I know some of you are like. But I don't sing well. Listen. Take it from me. From somebody. Who does not sing well.
At all. The people who sit in front of me. Usually can attest to that. That's okay. We all. We have people that show up here.
Early on Sunday morning. And they do sound. And they do music. And what they do. Is they make sure that the music. Is loud enough.
To where your individual voice. Can't be heard. But quiet enough. To where the collective voice. Can be heard together. Y'all we need to sing.
Sing boldly. Sing joyously. That the truth of the gospel. Would. Grow deeper in us. That we would abide further in Jesus.
Through this. We need to grow in confession. And we need to replace the bad ones. Whether it's through saying it. To ourselves. Whether it's saying it out loud.
Whether it's singing it. Or saying it corporately. We've got to grow. In having a better confession. Because we have. A better savior.
And we remember that.
Psalm 96 - Music and Song
Transcript
Good morning. I think that was the remix version. Get halfway through. God's working magic up there. It's good to see you guys today. My name's Matt.
I'm one of the pastors here with Mill City. If it is your first time hanging out with us, welcome. We're glad you're here. We do pray that this morning there'll be a blessing to you. And as Spencer said earlier, we are walking through the book of Psalms, basically talking about what does it mean to have a life of worship. And today specifically, we're going to talk about singing and music.
And for most of us, if you grew up in and around the church, that's actually the thing you think of first when you hear the word worship. You think music and song is the first thing that kind of pops in your mind. And I kind of want to address this right up front. So singing and music are worship, but worship is not just music and singing. Okay. So what we do on Sundays is worship, but worship is not just Sundays.
We believe that worship is a lifestyle. That's the way the Bible talks about it. That basically anything we think, say, or do when done for the glory of God is worship. So that's everything, which also means that music and singing do fit into that category. So as we continue the Psalms today and talk about worship, we're going to talk about music and singing.
Make sense? Got it? All right. I'm going to interchange those words today. So I just want to make sure we're all on the same page.
Go ahead. Grab a Bible. Turn to Psalm 96. It's going to be on page 286 in the white Bibles. As you're turning there, if you don't have one of these, if you don't have a Bible that's your own, I want you to take this one with you. We want everyone to have a Bible.
And as Spencer said earlier, we do have our Psalms books kind of over there by the door. But here's how Psalm 96 begins. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name. Tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. You guys pray with me as we get started this morning. God, your word very clearly commands us to sing, commands us to make music. And so our prayer this morning as a church family is that as we continue to grow in what it looks like to have a lifestyle of worship, God, that you would work as your Holy Spirit speaks, as you speak through your word to teach us how music and singing can be used as worship of you and how we ought to do that. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right. So right from the get, Psalm 96, Oh, sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord. Sing to the Lord. Tell of his salvation. Declare.
Bless. So like right up front, you're kind of hit with a whole bunch of commands. A whole bunch of commands right at the beginning. Sing, sing, sing. And then the other three commands, bless, tell, and declare, are all just tagging back to this idea of singing. So right out the gate, this, this Psalm is talking about singing and music.
And really, all told, the Bible has over 400 references to singing and music and over, there's 50 direct commands to sing. I mean, that, that's crazy when you think about all of scripture. Uh, the book of Psalms is really one of the largest books in, in the Bible. And it's basically a book of songs. In the New Testament, we're commanded in two different places to sing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs when we're together. Uh, Psalm 22, which is, uh, in reference to Jesus says that in the midst of the congregation, I will sing.
The night before, uh, Jesus was crucified, he gathered with his disciples and they sang a hymn. In Zephaniah 3, 17, we get this picture of God singing over his people, exalting in the midst of his people. And it's just kind of crazy how much the Bible actually talks about, uh, music and singing. But if you think about it, that's, that's kind of weird. Or, or it at least makes you ask the question, why? Why does God command us to sing and make music?
Because I think for most of us, there are other commands that it's way easier for us to get on board with, right? It just, it just kind of makes more sense. Uh, so when the Bible commands us to love one another. Okay, makes sense. I can see how that works out well for us. Uh, the Bible says don't commit murder.
Okay, well, if we're going to love one another, that makes sense. Probably, probably shouldn't kill each other. Bible commands, open your mouth and sing loudly with a group of other people. That, it just, it just doesn't quite fit in the same category. Like, if I'm sitting down with someone and I'm kind of in a, oh, lost my papers here. Uh, if I'm in a pastoral counseling situation with someone, and they basically look at me and say, Matt, I am really struggling right now with two sins.
Two major sin areas in my life that I am just struggling with. I'm stealing. Every time I see something that I want, I just, I just take it and I'm stealing. And when our church gets together on Sunday, I don't sing. There's one of those that I'm just going to kind of just move to the side. I'm saying, all right, grab a Bible.
Let's go to the 10 commandments where it says you shall not steal. It also says you shouldn't covet. Uh, let's talk about the punishment for stealing. And like, that's, that's the one I'm most comfortable going after. Uh, but here's the deal. The Bible actually only talks about theft and stealing in general 52 times.
The Bible talks about music and singing 400 times and has 50 direct commands to sing, but that's not the one I'm going after. I'm just kind of shooing that one to the side because for some reason in my brain, it fits in a different category. Like it's, it's not a command. It's a, it's kind of like a suggestion or maybe it's optional. It just doesn't fit in the same category. I've even been in conversations with people, uh, like about what we do on Sundays and they'll say things like, wow, man, you know, I really don't like to sing or I'm not a huge fan of the music that we do on Sundays.
And I have in those conversations said, ah, it's not that big a deal. You know, just stand, you know, just, just listen. Don't worry about singing. Bad pastor, bad, bad pastor. Like if I have said that to you wrong, like I am wrong there. The Bible commands us to sing.
It carries the weight of obedience, which means that God's serious about it. And when we don't do it, it's actually sin. So, and I think, truthfully, I think there are all kinds of reasons why, why people don't want to sing on Sundays. So, uh, for some of us, it's a self-conscious thing. Okay. Like we just, we do not sing well.
And so we do not want other people to hear us sing and therefore be a distraction. I get that. Uh, for some of us, maybe just music isn't your thing. You don't connect with music or maybe you just don't, uh, see the point. Uh, maybe you're a guy and you think, ah, music's kind of effeminate. And look, I know our church family.
Uh, some of you are going, I don't know about that fancy musical term effeminate, but it's kind of girly. Uh, fair point. Uh, maybe you just kind of think it's weird and awkward. Okay. So maybe you didn't grow up in and around the church.
And so standing with a bunch of other people and singing just isn't comfortable. Or maybe you like music. Maybe you're kind of a music person and you like coming in and singing songs, but you just kind of come in and you just kind of go through the motions. Like you're singing good, good melody. It's like you're, but you're not actually thinking about the words. And the truth is whatever spectrum you kind of fall in, uh, wherever you fall on that line across the room, we got to wrestle with the fact that God commands us to sing.
And this really is one of the most unique aspects for us, uh, as followers of Jesus. There are very few organized groups and even organized religions that gather on a regular basis for the purpose of singing together. And I'm not talking about like at a concert where you sing along because you know the words or like in a high school course. I'm talking about singing with a group of other people because you believe the same thing. And the purpose is to glorify and magnify and lift up the name of Jesus. Like that, that's us.
And it's part of what makes us, us. It's very unique. But if you think about it, it, it is kind of weird. It is odd. It is different. So the question we got to wrestle with is why would God command us to sing?
Why would he command us to do that? Um, most of you know this, but I studied music in college. And so I just tried to, to take a second that when the Bible says, sing to the Lord, a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth. Like, I wanted to just think like, what is it? What could it be about music in general? What, what is it made up of, uh, that might clue us in on why God might call us to sing?
Why might command us to make music to him? So these are just, these are some general observations. These are not coming directly out of the text, but I think we would all agree to most of this. And I think it'll help us see why God commands us to sing. We're, we're actually going to put these up on the screen. Uh, if you're a note taker, uh, maybe these are helpful for you.
If not, just, just kind of listen along. Uh, the first one is this music helps us learn, remember, and internalize. It does. Music just helps us learn, remember, and internalize. Think about, think about this situation. What if I asked you, what are the three letters that come after I in the alphabet?
Yeah, someone's, I heard it. I heard someone singing it. That's how you got there, right? You didn't just go J KL. Nobody's doing that. You went A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L.
Also, did anyone think elementa was a letter for a while? Elementa, man. Sorry, that's a tangent. Helps us learn good things and bad things. J KL, it's how you learned, was by song. Here's another one.
Play along. One little, two little, three little chickens. I'm going to try again. And I'm going to expect better results. One little, two little, three little chickens. All right.
Yep. We're talking about making a joyful noise in a second. But yeah, that's part of how we learn to count. And music has that ability. It helps us remember things. It makes things sticky.
It just does. Play along again. Ready? Ba-da-ba-ba-ba. Yeah. You all know the jingle.
When you got $3 in your pocket and it's midnight and you kind of want some semblance of a hamburger. You know that jingle. Okay. Don't stop. Oh, that was better. We were having more gusto on that one.
Yeah. Everyone's favorite wedding song. Music just sticks with us. It helps us remember things in a way that without music we're not able to. If you were to sit me down and ask me the question, Matt, what has more value? The book of Ephesians or Limp Bizkit's album from 1998?
I would without batting an eye tell you the book of Ephesians. If your follow-up question was, which one of those two do you have mostly memorized? Don't judge me. Stop it. Stop it. You all have songs and albums memorized that you couldn't forget them if you wanted to.
Music has that ability. It just makes things stick with us. It helps us learn, remember, and internalize in a way that without it you can't. You can remember an entire song but not the parts of the body on an exam. I mean, like, that's how it works. Music helps us do that.
The second thing is this. Music can bring us together. It is. It's just one of the properties of music. Music has the ability to bring us together. For those of you who are Carolina fans, just imagine.
In a couple of weeks, you're in Williams-Brice Stadium with upwards of 20,000 other people. And sandstorm. Yeah, it'll sink in. And sandstorm comes on. And you're just like... You didn't say two words to the person sitting next to you until that song came in.
And now you're just in it together. I mean, it's your favorite two parts of the ballgame. Music just has the ability to bring us together. That one will sink in later. Okay. Or imagine you're at a baseball game.
Imagine you're at a baseball game and this is what you hear. Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. What are you doing? You are standing up. And you're going to sing. You're going to sing with other people who are Americans.
The national anthem. Or you've probably been to a concert where you've just gotten like lost in the moment. Some of our church fam went to a Beyonce concert last year. And they just talked about it forever and ever. And ever. My wife and I are going to see...
In Charlotte next week, we're going to see Counting Crows. And Matchbox 20. I'm very excited. It'll be a bunch of other 30-year-olds who now have kids that were product of the 90s. And we'll throw on our Birkenstocks and sing Mr. Jones at the top of our lungs.
But there's something about that moment that just makes you connected to the people who are around you. But not even on the big scale like that. Think about small scale. Let's imagine you're working with someone. And then all of a sudden you realize they like the same band that you do. Like a whole new level of friendship is unlocked.
Or maybe you find out it's like they like country music. Like old country music. Not new country music. They actually hate new country music. They love old country music. Your best friends from forever except for like Chris Stapleton.
We'll take him. But it does. It just helps us connect. We bond over music. What happens very often after tragedies like the Manchester bombings or even after 9-11? Benefit concerts.
Why? Because music has the ability to heal and to bring us together. Okay. The last one I just want to point out as I thought about it is that music also has the ability to connect with our emotions. It just does. Even if you're not an emotional person, music has the ability to connect with our emotions.
Music can get behind our walls and boundaries that we have set up and get to our hearts. And in some ways music can get deep inside of you to stuff that you didn't even know was in there. Think about it like this. If you're in a good mood, if you're happy and you listen to a happy song, it makes you happier. If you're sad and you listen to a sad song, it makes you sadder. It helps us connect with our emotions.
Music does in a way that really nothing else can. And I want to just illustrate this. Okay. So, I'm going to play some stuff on the piano. And I'm not going to tell you what to feel. I just want you to think about what it makes you feel in the moment.
Okay. You ready? Just turn it on. We're good? For real, imagine Jaws without the soundtrack, right? It would really be a camera person following someone doing a beautiful breaststroke and then shark.
Like there's no suspense, no buildup at all. Like really any movie. Think about any movie without the soundtrack. Or just imagine you've got the camera angle where you're looking up through the water at the person swimming. Doesn't match, right? It doesn't create the same type of emotion.
Okay, but it's not just fear. Like some of you are ready to go run right now. Okay, here's another one. Some of you makes you think about a wedding. Some of you guys got that sick feeling in your stomach again. I will remember you.
I will remember you. I will remember you. Will you remember me? It's not like you say sorry. Who's waiting on a different story? This time I'll...
Music does that. It has the ability to make you feel all kinds of different things. And here's what I want to point out. If all of that is actually true about music. That it has the ability to help us learn and remember and internalize. And it can bring us together.
And it can make us feel things in a way that without it we can't. Doesn't it make sense that the God who so desires a relationship with us to connect with us would give us the gift of music. And its fullest expression would be when we actually give it back to Him. God didn't discover music. He created it. He made it potent and powerful.
And He's weaponized it. That melody and harmony and beat and rhyme and meter and melody and harmony. All of it can be used by Him to teach us who He is and to help us connect with Him. So when the Bible actually commands us to sing to the Lord. God's got a purpose in it. And it's to help draw us closer to Him.
So with those kind of things in mind. Since music actually can do that. Now I want us to walk through and look at these verses. And basically say if that's what music can do. What should be the substance of our music and song? What should the worship actually look like?
So we're just going to walk through. I'm going to kind of move at a quick clip. Because I think the scripture helps us see this very clearly. We're just going to make six observations about what music and song and worship should look like. So pick back up.
Psalm 96. Verse 1. Oh sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord bless His name. Tell of His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations. His marvelous works among all the peoples. Okay so we already said this. But it starts off with six commands. All of which are pointing towards singing. Sing to the Lord.
Sing to the Lord. Sing to the Lord. I want to read that again. And I'm just going to add some emphasis. Because I think it will help us see the first aspect of worship. Oh sing to the Lord a new song.
Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord. Bless His name. Tell of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations. His marvelous works among all the peoples.
Sing to the Lord. The worship of the church should be God centered. That's the purpose. So when it says sing to the Lord. Our worship is about Him. It's to Him.
It's for Him. It's through Him. The songs that we sing collectively are in worship to God. So they're going to be for Him and about Him. And I want to point this out. So perk up this morning.
If any of those hesitations or reasons for not singing kind of resonated with you earlier. I want you to hear this. Because this is important. Maybe the most important thing you hear this morning. Whatever reason it was. So like take the example of I don't like to sing.
Because I don't sing well. Okay. The Bible actually kind of addresses that one clearly. Raz read it earlier. Psalm 95, 98, and 100. All say make a joyful noise to the Lord.
But all of those reasons that we give. Whether it's we don't like music. Or we don't feel it. Or it really doesn't do anything to us. Think about this for a second. What better way for you to make your worship God centered.
Than by moving past all of your personal thoughts about music. And singing to God. You see that? So every one of the reasons or excuses that we leverage to say. Well I just don't sing. It's not my thing.
What better way for you to worship God. To make your worship God centered. Than by putting those to the side. Because what happens is. What's happening in those moments when we choose not to sing. Or when we choose not to make music.
Is that worship is actually about us. We're the most important thing in the room. But when we move past that. And put it to the side. And give ourselves fully into worship. God's honored through that.
And if you tag back to some of what we said at the beginning. God's got a purpose in it. If the songs that we're singing are to him. And for him. And about him. God can use those.
To help us learn. And remember. And actually begin to internalize truths about him. That music can take that truth. And plant it in your hearts. In a way that affects normal everyday life for you.
So when we gather for corporate worship. It's going to be about him. He's the point. It's to him. And for him. Verse number two.
Kind of repeating a little bit of what we've already read. But it says. Sing to the Lord. Bless his name. Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations.
His marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the Lord. And greatly to be praised. Okay. I want to point something out. That if you just read the text.
It's hard to pick up on. If you go back to the original language of Hebrew. That this was written in. You'd notice one thing. That every one of those verbs. And commands.
Are not in the singular. They're plural. It's not you sing. You tell. You declare. It's y'all.
Y'all sing. Y'all declare. Y'all tell. Which means that. The worship of the church. Should be congregational.
Should be congregational. It's an us thing. Or here's. Here's kind of another way to say it. The worship of the church. Should be corporate.
It should be unifying. It should be among other people. It should bring us together. It's not solely a personal thing. It can be. It absolutely can be.
Music and singing can be a personal thing. But we are commanded together. To sing. To the Lord. Among other people. And let me give you a little clue into why.
At least why I think this is so good. Have you ever walked into this room. Just not feeling it. You're down. You're depressed. Maybe you're angry.
About something. Maybe you're struggling with sin. It's just. You're done. You're just done. But you showed up this morning anyways.
And you walk in. And people stand up. And they start singing. You stand up with them. But you're not singing.
But you're listening. You're listening to people singing on your left. And on your right. And they're singing truths about God. That you're wrestling with. Believing.
Whether they're even true. And God starts doing something in that moment. That as you hear your brothers and sisters. Stand and sing about how good God is. And how he's to be worshipped. And how loving he is.
The Holy Spirit starts doing something in that moment. To encourage us. He's helping us see that like. We're not alone. We're not by ourselves in the midst of that fight. That you've got people on your left and right.
Who believe the same thing you do. Who are going to bear burdens with you. Who are going to call you to holiness. He does something in the midst of us singing. That encourages us. And brings us together.
So in those moments where we think. Well I don't need to sing. Or I don't need to participate. What's actually happening. Is that we're short changing the people around us. From one of the means that God actually uses.
To heal them. That part of the reason the church is called to sing together. Is to remember that we're in us. That we are a family. That we are in this together. So we can actually.
The worship of the church should be congregational. So that we can remember that we're in us. That we're actually together. And let me just say this. There are going to be times. There are going to be times where you need to sit and listen.
There are going to be times where you're not there. You're wrestling with whether our singing is actually true. You need to sit and listen. And to ponder that. But on the whole.
We're commanded to sing. And it should be done. Together. Grab your Bibles. Go back to verse 7. Ascribe to the Lord.
O families of the peoples. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Oh I'm sorry. I jumped. I jumped. Go back.
Strike that. Go. Go back to verse 4. Says this. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. For he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the people are worthless idols. But the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Says great. Great is the Lord and worthy to be praised.
He's worthy of it. Because of what we've already talked about earlier. His wonderful deeds. And his marvelous works. And then it says. He is to be feared above all gods.
Little g. Gods. We said this earlier. But music has the ability to get to our emotions. In a way that nothing else really does. Has the ability to get past our walls.
And our boundaries. To get to our hearts in a way that exposes stuff. So that when it says that God is to be feared above all gods. It is tapping into the idea of our emotions. Fear has the ability to influence in such a way. That it becomes the dominant feeling or emotion.
But fear and emotion. It goes beyond that. It goes to a place where it's a recognition. That begins to expose what we love. What we value. What we hold up and honor.
Fear. So when it says he is to be feared above all gods. What it's saying is. When we come together and we sing these truths. What happens is that it begins to expose. All of the areas in our hearts and in our lives.
That we're fearing all of the other little g. Gods. That something else holds sway in our life. Other than God. There's all these little g. Gods.
And that can be our spouses. That could be our work. That could be our bank account. And what happens is. When we come together and we start singing. There's something the Holy Spirit does.
That is you're singing truths about how big God is. And how glorious. And how he provides. And how he redeems. It actually begins to expose. All the other little things that we're trusting in.
That aren't God. So in that moment. Music is getting to our hearts. In a way that we weren't ready for. And so the worship of the church should affect our hearts. And lead us to repentance.
And faith. So that in that. In those moments where we're singing. Truths about God. And the Holy Spirit's moving and working. There should be times.
When you are absolutely cut to your core. Because you're singing something about how God provides. And the Holy Spirit's going. Not your bank account. You don't believe that. We're talking about how big.
And how good. And how loving God is. Because it's not your wife's Job. And we're broken. Over it. And the Bible says.
In that moment. We get to repent. We get to turn from. Wrong belief. About who God is. And turn to.
Correct. Belief. That's part of what music does. It has the ability to get to our hearts. And help us see that. Help us see what we're loving.
Trusting. And believing in. More than. Jesus. And so we turn from it. In.
Repentance. And faith. Verse 7. Now. Now we'll do this one.
Ascribe to the Lord. O families of the peoples. Ascribe to the Lord. Glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord. The glory.
Do his name. Bring an offering. And come into his courts. Worship the Lord. In the splendor of holiness. Tremble before him.
All the earth. Okay. So it starts off with. Ascribe. Ascribe to the Lord. Ascribe.
Ascribe is a fancy word for acknowledge. To acknowledge that God is the source of. Fill in the blank. And maybe another way to think about it. Is to. To give credit to.
Or to attribute. Something to. But it's not really a word we use very often. But basically it's saying. Acknowledge that God is worthy of worship. Or he is the source of.
All of these different things. That. That. Glory and strength. Or do his name. That we should bring an offering.
That we should. Tremble. Before him. And here's. I want to take a step here. And help us see something.
If our worship is supposed to be. God centered. And we're supposed to. Ascribe. Or acknowledge him. As we ought to.
Then it's on God. To reveal himself. To us. So that we know who he is. And what he's done. And the way that he does that.
Is through the Bible. Okay. So it's not specifically. Saying that here. But the only way.
We're going to be able to acknowledge God. As we ought to. Is through the Bible. So the worship. Of the church. Should be.
Formed. By the Bible. It should be huge for us. That's why we spend so much. Time in our worship gatherings. Together.
Preaching. It takes the majority of our time. But even as we. Talk about praying. We're talking about it. In reference to the Bible.
Giving. Because God calls us to. To it through his word. The songs that we're singing. Are coming directly. From the Bible.
Without the Bible. We're sunk. When it comes to worship. But through the Bible. We begin to learn. Who God is.
And what he's done. And why we ought to be. Worshiping him. Most of you know this. But part of.
Part of my job. As one of our pastors. Is that I get to plan. Our time of worship together. And I have a great team of people. Who help me do this.
But that's. Really what we're shooting for. When we're choosing songs. For us to sing. Are songs that. Accurately reflect.
What the Bible says. About God. And what he does. And in turn. What that means for us. And what we do.
Because music is so catchy. It helps us learn. And remember. And internalize. If we're singing things. That aren't true about God.
Or aren't true for us. It's actually helping us. Rehearse bad theology. It's actually part of the reason. We. You probably noticed.
That maybe you don't know. All the songs. When you show up. We steer away. From some of the stuff. That's on Christian radio.
Because it has the ability. To just talk about us. But the point of worship. Is God. So we try to find songs.
That actually help us. Remember. And learn. And internalize. Things that are true. About God.
And here's another thing. The Bible not only tells us. About God. And why we should worship him. But it tells us.
How to do it. So. We're already talking about. Sing to the Lord. But here.
Just check out this list. Okay. I'm going to kind of tag it quickly. And we'll keep moving. Psalm 9. 2 says singing.
Isaiah 29. Says standing. Dancing. Psalm 71. Says shouting. Psalm 5.
Says praying. Psalm 30. Says dancing. I'm going to say that one again. Psalm 30. Says dancing.
Some of you with Baptist roots. Just died a little bit inside. I need y'all. Church. I need y'all to hear that this morning. I know the predominant stance.
In worship. Is coffee cup. In this hand. In this hand. In this pocket. But watch.
You can. You can. Guys. You can move. You can dance. As a part of worship.
Says clapping. Psalm 47. Guys. You can clap. Before a song. During a song.
After a song. Permission granted. Go for it. Lifting hands. That's Psalm 134. Bowing down.
That's Exodus 34. The Bible actually tells us. How to worship. It tells us how to do it. I want our church. To be a place.
Where you can freely. Express yourself. In worship. If you want to raise your hands. Do it. If you want to clap.
Do it. If you need to bow down. And pray. Do it. As part of the reason. We're doing a worship night.
This coming Thursday. Is that we've got room. To grow. As a church family. And actually being able. To express ourselves.
In worship. One of the coolest aspects. Of this Psalm. In particular. Is that it's actually used. In worship.
In the Bible. In 1st Chronicles 15. And 16. David's leading the Ark of the Covenant. Back into Jerusalem. And the people actually use.
Part of this Psalm. To worship God. They're singing. And it says. They're clashing cymbals together. And people are playing trumpets.
And they're playing lyres. Which is like a string instrument. It says the people. Were singing. And making music. Loudly.
David. Danced. Before the Ark of the Covenant. And that was a man. After God's own heart. So we've got room.
To grow. As a church family. What it looks like. For us to worship. I'm not afraid. To put a saxophone.
On stage. Not afraid. To have a drum set. Be up here on stage. That's why. It looks a little bit different.
Every Sunday. Because there's so much. Variety for us. In worship. And we've got a lot. Of room to grow.
But for us. The Bible is central. It helps us see. Who God is. And how. He wants to be.
Worship. Verse 10. Say among the nations. The Lord reigns. Yes. The world.
Is established. It shall never. Be moved. He will judge. The peoples. With equity.
It says. Say among. The nations. The Lord reigns. The whole. The whole world.
Tell it. To everyone. The worship. Of the church. Should propel us. To mission.
It should. The worship. Of the church. Should drive us out. To tell more. And more people.
About. Jesus. The part of the reason. We come together. As a church family. On Sundays.
Is to sing. And to celebrate. And to remember. The good news. Of the gospel. And that it's good.
So that when we leave this place. We're more apt. Because we've been reminded. That God is good. And the gospel is good news. For everyone.
So the worship of the church. Should drive us out. Should remind us. That as believers. We've been called. To share that message.
To tell. To bless. To declare. To sing. To go tell as many people. About Jesus as possible.
And I'm going to lay all my cards. On the table. If you. If you're in this room. This morning. And you are not.
A Christian. That's what we believe. We believe. That Jesus. Came and rescued us. At our point of need.
That we were dead. In our sin. Without hope. And that Jesus. Came to rescue us. And to redeem us.
That he died on the cross. To pay for our sin. And he rose from the grave. So that we could have. New life in him. And that's why we come together.
To celebrate. And that's the good news. We want you to know. You can place your faith. In Jesus today. And for us.
As a church family. When we sing. Songs about the gospel. It drives us out. Drives us out. To tell as many.
People. About it. As possible. Verse 11. As we wrap up. Let the heavens be glad.
And let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar. And all that fills it. Let the field exult. And everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest.
Sing for joy. Before the Lord. For he comes. For he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world. In righteousness.
And the peoples. In his faithfulness. You see that? The sea is going to roar. And all the animals that fill it. Fields and creation.
Come to life. Trees singing before the Lord. As he comes. What we get here. At the end of this Psalm. Is a look forward.
To what's going to happen. In the future. Which means the worship of the church. Should fill us. With hope. And joy.
In Christ. Should fill us with hope. That one day. Jesus is going to crack the sky. And come back. And get his church.
And everything that is wrong. With the world. Will be made right. The world itself. Will be returned. To a state.
Of the garden of Eden. That justice. Will be had. That vengeance. Will be served. And God's going to set up.
His eternal reign forever. And that's actually good news. For Christians. That's the best news. Because it says. He will judge the world.
In righteousness. His. Right. His righteous standard. And for those that have placed faith. In Jesus.
Your hope is secure. There's joy. That we can go through. What. Everything we're going through. Right now.
Is just a blip. On the radar screen. Of eternity. We can walk through life. Right now. With hope and joy.
That we have in Christ. In fact. When the church gathers. On Sunday. When we gather to sing. It's actually just a little bit of practice.
For what eternity is going to be like. We're actually getting in work now. That when you sing with brothers and sisters. All across this room. That's just a small picture. Of what heaven.
Is going to look like. Should fill us with hope and joy. Raz and Bianca are going to come back up. And we're actually. We're going to take a little bit of time. To just put this into practice.
That when God commands us to sing. He's serious about it. But it's for our joy. That he created music with a purpose. That it can help us learn. And remember.
And internalize. And bring it. It can bring us together. And can help get to our emotions. So that as we sing as a church family.
We're going to make it about God. We're going to sing songs together. And remember that we're unified. We're going to allow the Holy Spirit to work. And get to our hearts. And lead us to repentance.
And faith. We're going to sing songs. That come out of the Bible. Like we're about to. That come from the book of Romans. And 1 Corinthians.
And John. And Psalms. And Hebrews. And then as we leave this place. We're going to be filled. We're going to be reminded.
That our worship should. Propel us out to mission. And give us joy. And hope. I want to ask you guys to stand. Go ahead and stand.
We're going to sing in just a second. God my prayer. Is that we would be a church. That rightly sees the joy. Of your command to sing. To sing to you.
And bring honor and glory to your name. That God you use it. You use it powerfully. God to work in our lives. In such a way that we. Come to know who you are.
Or that you can get to our emotions. You can bring us together. Father. So God my prayer. Is that you would actually. Help us push back.
All of the hesitations. All of the reservations. All of the wrong thoughts. About your commands to sing. And your Holy Spirit. Would allow us to do so freely.
This morning. Because you're worthy of our praise. In Jesus name. Amen. You guys sing with us.