EVIDENCE OF BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT (Ephesians 5:18-21)

We've got a number of people out today.

I guess the flu has has wreaked havoc on our community.

My family has been the recipient of that this week and I've still got a bit of a cough so bear with me.

Keith might actually have to turn the mic up a little bit today so y 'all can hear me.

But I'm so glad that you've chosen to come and worship today and bring your gifts and we're

thankful for all of our guests that have been able to be here.

If you didn't get a chance to get one of these connect cards, if you're a first -time guest, you got a bag at the front and it has one

of these cards in it.

It's just an opportunity for us to be able to answer any questions about who we are as a church and and then there's a section of the bottom to ask

how we can pray for you.

And if you fill that out and you put it in the offering plate when it comes by here in a little bit, it gives us a chance to be

able to pray specifically for you and maybe answer some of your questions and we look forward to getting to know you.

So thank you for for being here this morning.

But before we start our service, we always like to pray for a local church and this morning there's a

church that we've not yet prayed for.

It's just recently gotten put on our list.

It's a church from Black Rock, Arkansas.

It's Mount Vernon Baptist Church.

The pastor there, him and his wife actually attended, I think it was our grand opening service if I'm not

mistaken.

They took the Sunday off and just came and we pray that that was of benefit for them and restful time for them.

But we care for the saints over there and we just want to lift them up in prayer today.

I messaged him and and he said, really?

He said the prayer request that we're asking for is that is that we would be obedient to the

sovereign will of God.

And I said, well we can certainly pray for that, brother.

So so if you wouldn't mind bow with me as we pray for this church, Mount Vernon Baptist Church.

Oh dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you.

We thank you for your providence and in our lives as saints.

Lord, we we just want to lift up the brothers and sisters at Mount Vernon Baptist Church.

God, we pray for them.

We pray that you would work in their hearts and in their minds, Lord.

We pray that you would grow them in the fear and knowledge of the Lord.

We pray that that they would grow in their understanding of the of the the mighty God

that we serve.

God, I pray that they would be gospel minded.

I pray that their life would be saturated by grace.

The grace in which Christ has bestowed upon each of them if they are in Christ.

Lord, I pray for for Pastor Trent.

Lord, I pray for him and his family.

I pray that you give him boldness.

God, I pray that you give him clarity of thought as he proclaims your word this morning.

I pray that you would help him to be true to your word.

God, I pray that he would be able to show the full counsel of God

from your scripture so that the people may be impacted by that word.

Lord, help him to remember and to rest in the truth that that it is your word that has power, not his.

It is your opinion that has power, not his.

It is your moving that has power, not his.

God, I pray that you would just give him grace, help him to pastor the people well, to shepherd the flock that

you've tasked to his care.

God, I pray that they would be a people that would love you, that would impact that community with gospel

minded graciousness.

Christ's name, amen.

Amen.

Well, let's stand.

Let's go ahead and start our service this morning with a call to worship.

If you're a guest with us, you may not be familiar with how we do this.

We actually go through things like the Psalms this morning, Psalm 100.

And what we do is we break it down to where there's a read and a response.

And you'll see that up on the screen.

And we do that for the purpose of reminding us that this is a corporate involvement.

This is not something you just come and passively partake of.

This is something we're doing together in worship to our Lord.

And I pray that this great Psalm, Psalm 100 would drive our hearts and our minds and our souls

deeply into the throne room of God so that we would see the glory of our great

God and Savior.

The Psalmist says his steadfast love endures forever.

It's a Psalm for giving thanks.

And he says, make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth

come into his presence with singing.

It is he who made us and we are his.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving.

Give thanks to him.

Bless his name.

His steadfast love endures forever.

And all God's people said it's his steadfast love that endures forever.

This is why we worship this morning because it is not your faithfulness.

It's not my faithfulness.

Us showing up to church today wasn't an act of faithfulness.

It's his faithfulness that brought us here.

It's his faithfulness that allows us to stand and worship him in spirit and truth.

Right?

Let's pray a prayer of adoration before we sing to our great God.

Oh dear heavenly father, we come to you once again and we ask that you would be honored in our

worship.

God, our worship is so short -sighted often.

Our worship is so small and seemingly insignificant.

Oh God, but the holy spirit, the third person of the Godhead is within us.

If we are in Christ and our savior Jesus Christ, he is with us in

this moment.

And I pray that you would be honored as we

sing, as we pray, as we preach, as we think of you, as we ponder you, as we encourage

one another through the songs, as we encourage one another through our prayers.

God, I pray that we would drive, drive our hearts towards you, for you're

worthy of all praise.

Oh Lord, I ask that it not be indifference this moment.

Search our hearts.

Lord, if we come in here and we are numb to this or we are indifferent or our minds are elsewhere,

oh God, I pray that you strip that from our, our minds and our hearts and set our affections upon

you because you are.

Worthy of all

praise.

In

Christ's

name,

amen.

It's

only

because

of

you,

Lord,

you

brought

us

here

to

worship

and

honor

your

name.

Thank

you,

Father.

Mercy

is

more,

as

mercy

is

sufficient,.

As mercy covers us if we are in Christ.

Let's, let's go to our scripture reading this morning, which comes from the second chapter of Philippians,

the first 11 verses.

Paul says, so if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any

participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by

being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than

yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the

form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied

himself by, by taking the form of a servant, being born the likeness of

men and being found in human form.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

so that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and

every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the

father.

What, what a glorious truth.

It's his finished work.

It's his.

His mercy is more because he humbled himself and became like man, the creature that

he himself created, so that he could represent us, so that he could be

the true and better Adam, so that he could be the one to fulfill the covenant of works,

so that he could bring us into the covenant of grace, so that his mercy is more, even in

our sin.

Let's pray a prayer of confession and assurance, understanding that, yes, we do continue

to sin.

Oh, but when we're in Christ, there is total forgiveness, and we stand

righteous before God, free.

Let's pray.

Oh, Father, Lord, we acknowledge our sin before you.

God, we acknowledge that as a people, we do not, we do not live selflessly.

We do not live as our Savior, Jesus Christ, did and calls us to.

We cannot, we fall so short, we become selfish, Father.

We live for our own purposes and our own power and our own idols and our own means,

and we cause division.

We slander, we gossip.

We don't, we don't sing to you as we should.

We half -heartedly worship you when we come into the gathering place.

God, we don't read our Bibles as we ought.

We do not seek your wisdom as we ought, and when we do, we don't obey it all the time.

We fall so short.

Our sins are so many.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.

We stand perfectly clean in the perfect righteousness of Jesus

Christ, our representative.

If we are in Christ today, we, we no longer have any condemnation or judgment upon us.

Help us to rest in that this morning, God, as we continue to sing, as we sing of Christ, the true

and better Adam.

God, I pray that we would be reminded of that, that glorious hope that is ours in Christ

Jesus, that we stand perfect, and so as we, as we declare your praise, as we sing, we

know that our hearts and our minds are often covered with filth, but they are completely

washed in the blood of Christ.

We thank you to work in our hearts and minds.

In Christ's name, amen.

For

this

time

of

worship,

God,

we

just

ask

now

that

as we

prepare our hearts to,

to hear the word that, God, this, this worship would continue, Father, that it would worship

through this time of giving and offering, God, that it would continue through the time of, of quantity of feast

afterwards, and that it would continue in our daily walk, day -to -day, God.

Father, I thank you for bringing us here to worship and honor your holy, mighty name.

God, we thank you that these words are true, and it says, Christ, the true and better David, lowly shepherd, mighty king,

he the champion in the battle, where, oh, death is now thy sting.

Praise you, God, that we get these, these truths.

Thank you, Father, to you be all glory and honor forever

and

ever.

I

know sometimes that song can feel a little confusing for some, because.

Christ, the true and better Isaac, the true and better David, the true and better Moses, the

purpose for that song is to point to the fact that all of scripture points to

the plan of redemption.

It's all Christ.

Moses, Moses was a picture of Christ.

David was a picture of Christ.

These were all shadows of a substance to come, and that's, that incites in my heart is the worship that

God had planned all the way back from before the beginning of everything to carry out this

act of redemption, and he fulfilled it.

And if he did it then he will continue to fulfill it now.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's go ahead and open up your copy of God's word to Ephesians chapter five.

Ephesians chapter five, as we go into, I believe it's either week 51 or

week 52 today of our study through Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus or that

we've entitled In Christ.

In Christ, because this is a theme throughout the whole of Paul's letter here to the church at Ephesus, there

is no Jew nor Gentile.

There's no division.

We are all one in the body of Christ.

This is the overarching theme, and I've actually titled today's message Evidence of

Being Filled with the Spirit.

Evidence of Being Filled with the Spirit.

So let's start reading there in Ephesians chapter five, starting in verse 15, so we can get the context

here.

Paul says, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the

Spirit, addressing one another in songs and hymns and spiritual songs, singing

and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything

to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another

out of reverence for Christ.

This is the reading of God's word.

I want us to stop here.

I want to go to the Lord.

I want to pray that the Holy Spirit would illuminate our hearts and minds of this truth today and guard my lips from error.

Please bow with me.

Lord, we come to you now and we ask that you would help us in our frailty.

Lord, I am but a man and my opinions mean nothing.

My thoughts are futile, but your word is

clear and true and good and everything we need for life and godliness.

And so we ask that we would see them clearly today.

We would see what Paul is telling us here in these few verses in Ephesians and that it would penetrate into

our minds and then make its way into our hearts and then make its way out from our

lips and from our fingertips out into the congregation, God, into the world and the sphere

of influence that we have.

Give us clarity and wisdom.

Give us discernment.

Lord, help us to see the truth as it is in Christ's name.

Amen.

Last week we saw how Paul is telling us to to be filled with the spirit there in verse 18 like we just

read and that is of course the Holy Spirit.

You see it's capitalized there and how this is this is written in the passive voice and in the

present tense.

Oh come on, I don't want to talk about grammar here, right?

But this is important.

Essentially what we're looking at is this.

This is probably better translated, be being filled.

Be being filled.

Put off the old self and put on the new and be led, be dominated

by the spirit.

It's much like the sail on a boat.

The sail is hoisted into position but in order for it to function, in order for that sail

to do its job, to go anywhere and be fruitful in any way, it must be filled by the

wind.

You see, this is walking in the spirit.

Are we hoisted into position?

Are we in position, ready to be filled, ready to be moved along by, ready to be empowered by,

ready to be dominated by that wind that is the Holy Spirit?

Or are we, as Paul mentions earlier, grieving or elsewhere quenching

the spirit?

Being unfruitful, like Paul says.

The imagery I think of is are you wadded up on the deck of a boat, gathering rainwater and

subsequently mold like an old tarp laying out in the yard, being filled by

drunkenness or worldliness or anything other than the spirit.

Sometimes it's hard to tell.

I know in my own life it's hard to tell.

Most of us in this room, we don't go out getting drunk.

We just, we don't.

We don't go out cheating on our spouse.

We don't do these things.

For the most part, we try to play by the rules.

That's kind of the good Christian thing to do, right?

At least outwardly we do.

Sometimes we, much like the Pharisees of Jesus' day, were very good at making sure that the

outside of this cup is clean so that everybody sees it and we can hold it up and say, look how clean

this is.

Look, I don't go out and party like the world does.

I don't cheat on my spouse like the world does.

I don't do this like the world does.

I have all of my stuff together.

It looks clean, even though the inside of it is filthy.

It's filled up with rainwater and mold and you've not taken care of it.

Because of this, our own self -righteousness makes it so hard to tell when we are actually

being filled by the spirit or when we're being filled

by the spirit of our own self -deception because of our self -righteousness.

I mean, yes, we have the fruit of the spirit in contrast to the unfruitful works of darkness listed over in

Galatians 5, which we read last week, right?

That list of the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, self -control.

But yet we still deceive ourselves by perverting and misunderstanding the things within that list.

We justify our actions thinking that they are actually present in our life.

So how do we know if we are truly being filled by the spirit?

How are we supposed to discern this?

Well, good news, I believe Paul addresses this.

I think he points to this.

He gives us some insight into it here in our text.

You see, as soon as there in verse 18, he tells us to be filled with the spirit, he points to three

identifying markers of what that looks like.

And the first one that we see is being filled with the spirit

always leads to singing.

Being filled with the spirit always leads to singing.

Look at verse 19.

He says, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.

Now, we have to point to the fact that Paul's not telling us that if we want to be filled with the

spirit, we must sing.

A lot of times we get that backwards, right?

We think, well, if I want to really feel the spirit, if I really want to get in the mode where I'm

really being led by the spirit, then I've got to start by conjuring it up.

I've got to sing.

I've got to come to church, and I've got to be moved by the music.

I've got to be moved in some way so that I can then be filled by the spirit.

But that's not what Paul's telling us here.

He's telling us that if we are filled with the spirit, we will sing.

You see the difference?

But unfortunately in our culture today, doing this, or I should say doing this properly, has

been lost in most cases.

Now, let's be honest.

We're not a singing culture.

Most of us in here don't even know how to sing parts.

And how many of you in here know how to sing like a baritone or tenor or soprano part, harmonies?

A few of you.

Hey, thank goodness.

We ought to have you up here, right?

But few people do.

But this would have been common practice throughout much of history.

You realize that, right?

Even in recent times, in recent history, some of you older saints probably remember learning how to sing parts

and read music in school, right?

This was a common place, but it's not for us now.

It's not as though we don't like music.

And music is probably a bigger part of our life today than ever in history.

Music and music artists permeate our culture.

There are heroes in many cases.

You can't turn anything on without seeing Taylor Swift today, can you?

She even took over football.

It's everywhere.

Yet corporate singing is rare outside of the church, of course.

However, even there, it is still often malformed, deformed,

distorted.

And I think it's because the evil one is, I think he's played a cruel trick on us, right?

The evil one has got this world under his sway, right?

He's distorting things and perverting things that God calls good.

I think he's numbed our senses, and I think he's deceived us into a distorted relationship to music.

And I think he's done it in order to restrict God's people from this beautiful gift.

Don't get me wrong, there's beautiful music that gets created today.

I'm not downing music today.

I'm saying that somehow, some way, things have been twisted

to hinder God's people from partaking in this beautiful gift that he designed.

I'll give you some examples.

Now, when I give examples, I always get pushback, right?

These are generalizations, okay?

There are exceptions to the rule.

My wife is the one that gets on me every time she goes, I don't fit into that bill.

I'm like, yeah, babe, that's why I married you.

You're not typical, right?

You're better than everyone.

Points for me.

But these are generalizations, okay?

Women tend to be drawn to prefer extreme emotionalism,

especially when it comes to music, right?

Extremely sad songs, right?

Here's the exception.

I actually like sad songs.

You turn on some Celine Dion and I get like the goose bumps on my arms, right?

I don't know who can't do that, but most guys can't, right?

But women are tend to be drawn to either sad songs or and extremely happy songs.

Pop music, right?

The happy stuff.

The stuff that has a good repetitive beat and has uplifting lyrics and melodies and all that go

with it.

And because of the feminization of our culture permeating into the church and neutering our

gatherings, most of our worship music is geared towards this.

Most of today's worship gatherings and music are

essentially, don't give me, don't give me a lot of lyrics to remember.

Give me an emotional build and a really catchy, easy melody.

That's what we want.

We're not so worried about the precision of our theology.

We don't want to have to think about it.

We want to know how it makes us feel.

Ultimately leading us to a radical garbage like reckless love, right?

Where you're testing something to God that is totally against the very

character and nature of a God who is anything but reckless.

Well, we've seen how this has continued to permeate into our culture.

And even though this kind of music is also appealing to effeminate boys parading as men within the church,

the actual men are alienated by it.

They're alienated.

Leading the men away from doing what Paul is telling us to do here in verse 19.

I'll be honest, I am one of those men at one time in my life that was thoroughly alienated by it.

Nevertheless, women are not the cause of this.

By no means not the cause of this.

Matter of fact, I put the blame on the men where it always is.

Men around my age, we have a distorted view to music.

We have a distorted relationship to music.

We tend to be drawn to aggressive and angry songs, don't we?

Let's be honest, don't put on your holy face.

We all grew up on Rage Against the Machine and Tupac, right?

That's what we prefer.

I'm not sure what you younger guys are listening to, but I can promise you it's not healthy.

I can't understand what they're saying, but it's not good.

But then on the other extreme, some of you older saints in here, you grew up in the era of John Wayne.

You're like, well, John Wayne's not in music.

But here's what I mean.

There's this unspoken mentality of, well, singing's for the little lady.

I have to be stone cold.

I have to be rigid.

I'm an island unto myself, and everyone relies on me to be the hero.

And we detach.

You may say, well, man, I don't know anybody like that.

I grew up in church.

I know exactly what this is.

I remember as a boy watching the older men, even with the hymns, hymn books are open, and the older men, they're just barely

mumbling some words if they sing at all.

Most of them just stood there staunch.

But then when that one part of it is well, they had that real low bass part that was a repeat.

Then they'd sing that part out, and then they'd just be quiet for the rest of the time.

You know what I'm talking about.

If you grew up in church, that was the mentality of that generation.

You can see in every generation, we've been distorted in different ways.

And now because of this, our preferences and worldview have poisoned the well, and we've

distorted this view of singing together within the body of Christ.

Some have answers to this.

The Reformed world has an answer to this.

They have a response to this, some of them, not all of them.

In my opinion, not a biblical one.

Their answer over the past few years has been, let's take out all emotion.

Remove the emotion of it.

Let's make it rigid.

Let's make it lofty and heady.

That way the men can sing.

Very theological.

Doesn't even rhyme half the time.

But it's rigid, and we throw it to some cheap melody.

But is that really worship?

Or is it just more catechizing with a melody?

It's not the answer.

It's not healthy.

It's not what God has prescribed.

Well, how do we fix the problem?

How do we fix the problem in our own lives?

How do we fix the problem here within this congregation?

Well, just like we fix every problem, we look to God's Word.

Let's see what God's Word has to say.

It's not our opinion.

It's not our resolution to it.

Our fix typically is nothing more than a band -aid on a gunshot wound.

That wound needs to be healed, and only the words of God give us the cure.

So let's look at what he says.

Look at verse 19 with me again.

Notice he says addressing.

Addressing one another.

This word in the Greek, it's the same word that Paul used back in chapter 4 in verse 25 when he says, therefore,

having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak.

It's the same Greek word, the truth, with his neighbor.

You realize what that means, right?

If Paul's using this word, addressing one another, he's saying speak to one another.

Now, it's translated addressing because later on he defines it as singing, but this means that it

requires a physical verbal communication to each other.

We don't just sing together on the Lord's Day so that we can get our blood flowing and ready for the sermon.

I think there are many within theological, really theologically driven circles, that if they could get away

from the singing in scripture, if they could just get rid of a few of those verses, they would, and their service would

just be prayer, scripture reading, and teaching, and they wouldn't sing at all, but they feel like they have to.

There are many within that world that would do that because they're like, I don't get anything from the music.

It's just a time for filler.

Maybe it gets our blood flowing, gets our mind set for that, but we also don't sing as

individual time for you and the Lord.

Oh, that's where most of our culture goes now.

The reason we don't black out these windows and dim these lights down to black to where you can't see

anyone else in the room is because that's not what this Lord's Day gathering is about.

This is not your time for you and Jesus.

That time has already passed this week.

That time should have been you and Jesus in your closet, in your room, in your car.

That time is for you, and you should do that, and that's good.

You should worship the Lord.

That's why God has gifted us with music.

There's great music we can turn on in our house, and we can worship.

We can sing praise of the Lord, just you and him, but this is not the time.

This is corporate.

When we come together, this is something communal, as we see here in this

text, because some people will take these few verses, or this verse particularly, and they'll say, well,

Paul's not talking about the corporate gathering of worship.

I have a problem with that because we don't live in a musical.

Either Paul's talking about the corporate gathering, or he's talking about us walking around.

Katie would like this, right?

We're walking around, and every time I walk into someone's house, I start singing things to you.

It doesn't work like that.

Paul's obviously not talking about this.

Paul's talking about the corporate gathering.

We are addressing.

We are speaking.

We are declaring to one another, and we are to do so, as he says in

Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

Now, there's some debate as to why Paul phrased it in this way, why he listed three things.

Are they different things, or are they the same thing, said three ways?

I'll be honest.

I hold to an interpretation that Paul is giving us variation.

I think there's variation within the addressing one another, the speaking, the declaring to one

another through song.

Let's look at the first one, Psalms.

To me, it's pretty obvious.

It seems as though Paul is referring to the Old Testament book of Psalms, isn't he?

The Psalms is the largest book in all of Scripture, and it's a compilation of what most

believe to be songs that the people of Israel would sing and worship to God.

Many of the songs that we sing and hear on Sundays are derived from those Psalms,

because they're very much, in many cases, they're almost word for word, the Psalms.

We're declaring, we are essentially singing back to God his own words, but then also singing to

each other his words.

And his words are the only ones with power, aren't they?

That's why we proclaim his word, his words are the only one with power.

God's words are the only concrete, sure truth, so it is essential that we are present

and are addressing each other in the word.

We are diving into the word and singing those Psalms to

God and to each other.

Paul also mentions hymns.

The Greek word that he used here is homnos.

This is really a Greek word that wouldn't have been common to just the church.

This is something that would have been common in culture.

It's referring to a song of praise to their gods, or heroes,

or conquerors.

So this homnos would be sung, a song written in praise of a conquering general that

would come back from a battle, and they would write a hymn, a homnos to them,

and they would sing it as a people in praise to this hero.

But of course, in our context, in this context from Paul, he's obviously using it in reference to songs of praise

to our mighty God.

There are Christians who hold to what's known as exclusive psalmity,

believing that it is forbidden to sing anything except the verbatim words of scripture.

They'll only sing the Psalms word for word.

It sure seems to me that Paul is contradicting that with his use of this particular word.

These hymns, these homnos, are songs, they're declarations of praise to their gods or

heroes, and they wrote these types of songs about the one true God.

The early church wrote songs about the one true God.

Some of the old hymns that we still sing today, things like Amazing Grace, most people don't realize this, these

were lyrics written in a certain cadence and put to bar tunes of that day.

That was back when even the world sang together.

When they would gather, they would have certain melodies that all of them knew, and they would just throw lyrics to those melodies.

So a lot of the old hymns that we sing were actually derived from the world's music.

Some of you are like, well, man, I love hymns.

I thought they were super holy, and that's how God really loved them.

I thought that was like the church.

No, that's not the way it has worked, but these are homnos, these are hymns.

This would have been commonplace.

And thirdly, he lists spiritual songs.

Songs sung in praise, glorious spiritual truths.

I think what Paul might be referring to here is songs written about spiritual

matters with new and fresh melodies.

Maybe not a rigid hymn type of cadence, much like the psalmist declaring

in Psalm 96, right, he said, oh, sing to the Lord a new song.

Something new in your heart, being creative, being poetic, while

maintaining theological precision, of course, that is always essential.

Look at what Paul says next in verse 19.

He's telling us, hey, addressing, speaking, declaring to one another in psalms and hymns and

spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord

with your heart.

Now, of course, I mentioned a moment ago, he is speaking of corporate gathering.

This should mark our gathering.

This should be a massive part of our gathering.

People would say, well, which one can I get rid of?

If I had to get rid of singing or preaching, I would definitely get rid of the singing.

And I would say you don't have the option.

That's not on the table.

Because to get rid of the singing is to disobey King Jesus, and now your preaching is worthless.

Because it's King Jesus who said to sing, because he's telling us through Paul here.

It should mark our gathering.

And if we are being filled with the spirit, you will not be able to merely stand there and half -heartedly

mumble these truths in melody.

Interesting enough, Ronald Allen, in his book, Worship, he wrote a book about worship,

Rediscovering the Missing Jewel.

He made this statement.

He said, when a non -singer becomes a Christian, he or she becomes a singer.

When a non -singer becomes a Christian, he or she becomes a singer.

You may say, well, pastor, I'm just not into music.

I'm really more into that preaching.

After all, that's the important part of the service.

Well, again, let's look at what scripture has to say about that.

Let's see what scripture has to say about singing.

Singing to the Lord is referred to over 400 times throughout scripture.

And it's always in reference to melody, to truly singing.

It's not just some metaphor of the heart.

And I said a moment ago, the largest book in all of scripture is a list of songs.

David essentially established the very first praise team.

We've got a pretty good praise team up here.

We were missing half of you this morning, but we've got a great team up here.

We've got great musicians here.

He enlisted for the people of Israel of that day, 4 ,000 trained musicians,

4 ,000 that were chosen at childhood and were immersed into

learning, growing, and knowing music, and that being their

craft, that being their entire future.

They took it serious, didn't they?

He had 220 chief musicians to lead the 4 ,000.

We've got Justin and Ryan.

They had 220.

They took it serious, right?

Men that were trained and skilled to train the 4 ,000 and lead them.

Over in Isaiah chapter 12, you can jot this passage down, verses 5 and 6.

Isaiah 12, 5 and 6.

He says, sing praises.

This is one of our references here to singing.

This is, sing praises to the Lord.

Four, why do we sing praises to the Lord?

Why is he worthy of singing out?

For he has done gloriously.

Let this be made known to all the earth.

Sometimes in here, when we come in and gather and we sing praises to our glorious king,

very few people can hear, can they?

We should be singing so loudly that the neighbors around here hate us on Sunday mornings because

the glory of the Lord is being magnified

through the voices of declaration from his people to shout

and sing for joy.

And sometimes I'm afraid I'm distracting.

I just get so wrapped up.

I'm up here on the front row.

And when a song's done, I shout something out.

And I'm like, man, don't be distracting.

Don't be distracting.

Then I have to remind myself, no, no, no, no.

God's called me to do this.

Like if I'm excited about the glory of Lord that I shout, I declare it.

We shout and sing for joy, oh, inhabitant of Zion.

That's us.

For great in your midst is the holy one of Israel.

He is great.

Is he great?

Well, we say that.

We say that and we say, oh, he's great.

The Lord is wonderful and he's glorious and he's magnificent.

And then we stand and we sing of the glories of Christ with our hand in our pocket, mumbling the words

as if it doesn't actually matter to us to then turn around next Saturday and scream at the top of our lungs until we lose our

voice for our favorite football team.

Who's your God?

It isn't the glorious God.

It's something else.

I'm feeling that in my own heart.

I'm not preaching.

I'm not yelling at you.

No, I'm sorry if I get aggressive.

I'm yelling at myself because I know my own heart.

I know my propensity to turn and to be numb and be indifferent.

But the word of God, sing praises, shout and sing for joy.

A non -Christian, a non -singer becomes a Christian, becomes a singer because God has called

us to turn in your Bibles actually to Psalm 47.

Psalm chapter 47.

Let's

look at one of these very songs.

And as we read this, I want you to think of the people of Israel singing this declaration out.

And I promise you this was not done monotone.

That would be awkward.

Psalm chapter 47, starting in verse one, what does he say?

He says, clap your hands.

You ever noticed in a really theologically minded church, the two or three people that clap their hands make it

awkward for the rest?

Why?

Maybe we're not being filled by the Spirit.

Maybe we're being hindered by our own flesh.

Clap your hands, all peoples.

Shout to God with a loud song of joy for the

Lord, the most high is to be feared.

And we don't fear him.

He's a great king over all the earth.

Sets enthroned over all things.

He's the great king over that football team that you love so dearly that you're willing to worship.

He's the king over whatever concert you go to and pay all the money for and dance and

sing and clap and worship before the altar of something other than the king above all

things.

And then you come in here and you're indifferent.

Verse three, he says, he subdued peoples under us, the nations under our feet.

He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loves, Selah.

Oh, what a good and gracious God.

He says, God has gone up with a shout.

And I want you to notice that.

We're going to go back to verse five here in a moment.

But God has gone up with a shout.

The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

Sing praises to God.

Sing praises.

Sing praises to our king.

Sing praises for God is the king of all the earth.

Sing praises with a song.

I think if we're going to repeat it that many times, there's something to that, isn't there?

Sing praises to the one who is worthy.

God reigns over the nations.

God sits on his holy throne.

The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham.

For the shields of the earth belong to God.

He is highly exalted.

He is worthy of our praise.

David knew this, didn't he?

David danced in the streets naked for God.

Please don't do that.

You don't have the right to do that.

But he declared the praises of God.

He was so overwhelmed by the majesty of the almighty king over all the earth.

And he's saying, sing.

Sing praise.

But I want you to look back, think back at verse five.

I just told you God has gone up with a shout.

Notice even our God sings.

Even our God sings.

Says he's gone up with a shout.

The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

In Zephaniah chapter three, verse 17, it says the Lord your God is in your midst.

A mighty one who will save.

He will rejoice over you with gladness.

He will quiet you with his love.

He will exalt over you with loud singing.

We're called to imitate God, aren't we?

We didn't create singing.

We didn't create melody.

He created it.

It flowed from him.

And he sings over us.

He shouts over us for his glory,

for his worship.

After all, singing is part of our eternity, isn't it?

Over in Revelation chapter five, it says, and when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the

24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp.

That harp wasn't for battle, was it?

What was it for?

Melody, beauty, music, art.

And they sang a new song.

They sang it.

They didn't just chant it.

They didn't declare it.

They sang it, saying worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals

for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and

people and nation.

There is singing to King Jesus because he's worthy of that praise.

I wish I knew the melody to those lyrics.

I'm sure it's a beautiful declaration.

We'll hear it one day, right?

They're singing.

We will be singing.

We see the act of it all throughout the book of Revelation.

You see, knowing what we know about God, that he is greatly to be praised, do you think he's honored in mindless

emotionalism with theologically inaccurate truths

about him?

Repetitiveness of just saying a phrase over and over again until the kick drum hits in on that quarter note and

drives you and makes you feel something no different than a concert?

Is that what he's honored in?

Do you think he's honored in emotionless, boring, lazy melodies that are created cheaply?

He's the God of art.

He's the God of music.

He created it and he made you in his image to create art, to create beauty, to create melody,

and to take it seriously, to create beauty in it, goodness in it,

to declare his goodness and his grace.

Just because it's theologically accurate doesn't mean it's praise to God.

It may be good to remind yourselves of those truths.

I got to step back.

I get in front of the speakers.

I get too excited.

But it's not worship.

Do we think he's honored in half -breath mumbling?

Do you think he's honored in hands in your pocket ready for the sermon to start?

No.

Scripture points us to something far greater, something much bigger than what

we in our own sinful flesh have distorted.

For one, I desire for us to truly worship in spirit and truth.

I desire for our church to be one that worships in spirit and in truth.

I don't want us to be one of those rigid, lifeless, emotionless, reformed churches.

God tells us to raise our hands.

God tells us to clap our hands.

God tells us to shout with joy, and

we hinder that.

If God truly is what we claim he is, what we see in scripture,

and we can take or leave the singing portion of Sunday, there's a disconnect somewhere.

Something's wrong.

The truth must not have renewed our minds and made its way into our heart as much as we thought it

had.

Pray with me over the next few weeks as a church that we would have our minds renewed and our hearts when

it comes to music, that music would be redeemed in our lives and used towards the worship of our great

God.

That we would be a people who address one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

that we would sing and make melody to the Lord with our hearts.

You see, you will most certainly be able to tell if a people are being filled by the Spirit, because we will be a

people singing and making melody, will we not?

This is one thing that Paul lists here as an evidence of being filled with the

Spirit.

But remember, just because someone is singing and making melody doesn't mean it's from the heart.

That's why this can't be the only distinguishing marker.

I'm moving.

We'll get through the next two faster.

Which leads us to the second thing I want us to see.

Being filled with the Spirit always leads to satisfaction.

Verse 20.

He says, giving thanks.

The word that he uses there, forgiving, it kind of has this understanding of an ongoing, always.

A continuation of it.

A continuation of giving.

Giving thanks always and for everything.

What's everything?

All circumstances?

Everything?

Absolutely.

Good, the bad, the ugly.

Give thanks always and for everything to God.

The Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You remember over in Philippians, Paul's chained to a Roman guard.

He's lost his freedom.

He's been wrongly imprisoned.

And he says, I know how to be brought low.

I know how to abound in any and every circumstance.

I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

I can do all things through who?

Who strengthens me?

Him.

We are to give thanks for everything to the Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In him, we have the strength to give thanks.

This verse is not about winning the, or scoring the winning

touchdown.

It's not about you able to run that extra mile.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I like, you can do all things through a verse taken out of context, right?

Paul's saying that I can withstand.

I can find thankfulness and joy.

And praise in the midst of all of this, because of him, because of

Christ.

You ever notice the times you're not thankful, that you're not being filled with the spirit, are the times where

you are discontent with your circumstances.

You ever been around a Christian like that?

It just sucks the life out of everything, doesn't it?

Somebody that always comes to church, they're never satisfied with their life.

Always upset about their circumstances.

They want something more different from God.

Whenever you see it in your own life, or in others, just know you or they are not

currently being filled with the spirit.

Because being filled with the spirit always leads to satisfaction.

An ongoing giving.

Giving thanks, praise to God.

Now the good thing is, when you do see it in others or yourself, it gives you an opportunity to

point them or yourself back to the glorious inheritance that is theirs in Christ Jesus.

That's what Paul's saying, right?

To be reminded of it.

John Piper famously said, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

God gets all the glory when we are resting in Christ.

Seeing the big picture, not being short -sighted about our momentary afflictions,

but realizing that no matter what they are, he is sovereign and in control.

And they're being used, as Paul said over in 2 Corinthians, right?

To prepare us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comprehension.

And he goes on, he says, as we look to the things unseen.

When we are not content, when we're not satisfied, we're looking to the things that are seen.

Are we not?

My circumstances.

The situation that I'm in.

Sometimes even my own sin.

I'm looking at my own sin.

I'm looking at myself.

I'm looking at my ability to get myself out of this circumstance.

I'm looking at anything and everything except for the unseen.

The secret things.

The secret perfect plans of God for our life and for his glory.

Because all things work together for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purposes, right?

All things.

No matter how tragic.

But we must be able to find satisfaction there.

When you and I are being filled and we are being dominated by the Spirit, the third person of the Godhead within

us, we are comforted.

We are resting in that sovereign, perfect will in our good and gracious Savior God.

And being satisfied helps us in this third evidence.

This third and final point that I want us to see is being filled with the Spirit always leads to submission.

Look at verse 21.

There he is.

He says, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

This is a compound Greek word, hupotasso.

It's actually a military term that was used by the Greeks.

It's a military term.

The compound is hupa, which means under, and tasso, to arrange or to place in order.

And when it's put together, it's referring to a hierarchy of authority structures

within a military setting.

And Paul uses this compound word.

Paul's not telling us that we are to submit to one another as if there are no authority structures,

as some would interpret this.

Many would interpret this verse as, well, we're all, no matter, there's nobody, there's nobody in any kind of authority.

We're all just submitting to one another.

That's mass chaos.

As a matter of fact, over the next few weeks, we're going to look in detail at some of the authority structures God has

given us as he speaks about husbands and wives, children and parents, slaves and masters.

But as he introduces this here in verse 21, he's pointing to the fact that someone who is being

led by the Spirit is someone who submits themselves to the God -ordained

design.

You show me someone who cannot submit themselves to the authority of the church, and I'll show you someone

who is not submitted to the authority of Christ.

I'm going to say that again.

You show me someone who is not submitted to the authority of the church, they are someone

for certain, without question and without doubt, not submitted to the kingship of Christ.

I tell all my children that their mother, my wife, is my representative when

I'm not home.

They are to submit to her in the exact same way that they are to submit to me.

Whatever she says is if it's from me, because she's my bride.

Her and I are one flesh, right?

Just as the church is the bride of Christ, brought into his body and is his

representative until he comes home.

Is it not?

Just like in my home, the only authority that I have is that in which God has given me.

That's it.

That's where it stops.

I can't tell my children or my wife to sin.

My authority stops there.

I can't just rule over with an iron fist.

My authority stops there.

My authority is a servant, foot -washing leader that lives

sacrificially for his family.

That's where my authority stops.

Just like Christ's leadership or the church leadership within

Christ's prescribed means is the only authority they have is that which Christ has given.

A pastor doesn't have authority over you in many areas of your life.

I can't come into your home and tell you to show me your tax return.

I have no authority over you in that area.

My authority ends at just spiritual oversight and structure within the church,

but it's still there.

And it's not me alone.

We're a plurality.

Pastor Jeremiah, soon Brother Keith.

Pastors equally under the submission of Christ.

I like what Martin Lloyd -Jones said about this verse.

I want to give you this quote.

We're about to wrap up here.

But in this particular verse, he says, Paul gives us a picture of soldiers here,

aligning under one mighty captain.

Of course, that's King Jesus, right?

No man remains an individual.

He's now part, all of them, of the regiment, all together taking orders from

one and from one captain.

And when a man joins the army, he signs away the rights to determine his life and activity.

And that's the core of his contract that he no longer governs himself.

He can't go on holiday when he likes.

He can't get up late in the morning as he likes.

He's now a man under authority and a captain and the orders dictate his call and anything

else he says is insubordinate.

You join the military and try and live on your own outside of authority and see what happens.

Doesn't work, does it?

There's a structure that's given there.

The church is very similar here.

We do not belong to ourselves.

We were bought with a price.

There's no longer I, but Christ who lives in me, the head of the church.

And King Jesus, the one who purchased us by blood ransom, brought us into this glorious inheritance,

sitting at the right hand of the father now.

And he's the one, the only one, who gets to govern our lives.

That's it.

Why do you think we take this word so important?

Why do you think we focus so closely in on it?

Because I have no wisdom for you.

If you're following me, I'm gonna lead you astray.

I'm sorry.

That's bad news for you.

But if I can be like Paul and say, say, imitate me as I imitate Christ,

that's the way it's supposed to go.

Because Christ is the head.

It's how the church should be structured and how we should live within that paradigm and we should do so

through a life of submission.

Let me close with this.

Are you being filled with the spirit?

That's the question, right?

If you are, it will show.

You're singing and praising God.

It will show by being satisfied in his gracious providence.

It will show by your submission to his authority, by submitting to one another within his

prescribed me.

If those aren't present, you're not currently being filled by the spirit.

I mean, I didn't say it, Paul did it.

It's a good chance for us to evaluate our lives, isn't it?

We can deceive ourselves so easily.

I deceive myself so many times, I think I'm more spiritual than I am.

Do you feel it?

I deceive myself.

I look around and I compare myself to others or I compare myself to what I was before and I think, okay, well, I'm doing

good.

I must be being filled with the spirit.

I must be walking in the spirit.

I must be doing as I ought to do.

And then I hold up this mirror that is the word of God and I go, oh no,

I see myself.

I see myself for what I truly am because it exposes all of the faults and all the

things that I didn't know were there and shows that I am not.

I'm not being filled with the spirit.

I'm being filled with the spirit of self -deception at times.

If that's you, I ask now that we would stop for a moment, pray,

search your hearts, ask God to search your hearts more, step in too close, ask

God to search your hearts.

And as we do that here in just a few minutes, I would like for us to then go to the table.

Go to the table and rest in Christ because you're gonna fail.

That's why we continually come back to this.

And then we go over to the table and we see the wine that represents the blood spilt for us, that covers us.

We see the unleavened bread that represents his perfect spotless body as a representative for us

and we partake in that element, those elements, and we are reminded

of our position.

He is our righteousness.

We have none and we rest in him.

Amen.

Fair enough.

But for those of you that aren't familiar with this, here in just a moment when we do this, Brother Keith will be on this side.

Brother Jeremiah will be over here on this side.

The elements are on tables right here.

We go around the outside.

Maybe some of this back row over here, if maybe y 'all could come over on this side to even out the balance.

You can get the elements.

You can go back to your seat through the middle.

You can pray together as a family.

You can pray individually.

You can worshipfully partake in the elements.

And then we will sing once again and we will continue our time of worship through fellowship and joining in a feast.

Let's have a moment now where we bow our heads and ask God to search our hearts.