The Inevitability Of Song

Psalm 118 and the Call to Worship

All right, good morning. I'll call us to worship this morning with Psalm 118. Others can hear me. Yes. All right. Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good for a steadfast love endures forever. Let Israel say his steadfast love endures forever, but the house of Aaron say his steadfast love endures forever.

But those who fear the Lord say his steadfast love endures forever. Out of my distress I called on the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me?

The Lord is on my side as my helper. I shall look and triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

All nations surrounded me in the name of the Lord. I cut them off. They surrounded me Surrounded me on every side in the name of the Lord. I cut them off. They surrounded me like bees. They went out like a fire among thorns in the name of the Lord.

I cut them off. I Was pushed hard so that I was falling so the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength my song. He has become my salvation. Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

The right hand of the Lord exalts. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Holy Father We come to you today Honoring you and praising you for the great salvation that you have brought us.

We were lost in sin guilt and misery apart from the great sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ and we thank you for this wonderful gift that you have given us and we Return our praise and our thanks.

I asked that You would heal those among us who are at home sick. There are multiple families that are Pray that you would comfort them and they would be able to watch the service through live streaming that Technology would work.

Well, I pray also That you would be with other churches who are not able to meet because of their circumstances. I ask that you would Bless them as they still try to honor you With what they with what opportunities they have and that you would hasten the day when all are able to meet without issue.

God, I pray for the gospel that you would allow the gospel to go forth even at this time when I it's Infrequent that people have interpersonal communication as as they frequently used to. I asked you would give us opportunities and that We would be able to meet people's needs with this great gospel that you have given.

I see you have blessed the counseling ministry of this church that is seeking to do that. I pray also that you would Grant our government wisdom as they make the various laws that they make as they make the various decisions that they make.

Pray that you would grant each individual Salvation, we know that is not your will for all to come to salvation. But we pray that you would save many of those who are Who are making rules and making laws?

We ask that you would be merciful to them. God, we also pray for the service that we are about to have pray that you would find our worship acceptable. There's nothing in ourselves that makes it acceptable.

Our hearts are mingled with sin and error. Our actions are mingled with sin and error. But we know that these things that are accepted if they are offered in your son and us pray that you would Accept them in your perfect son as he mediates them to you.

Please accept their worship. Please accept our praise and our thanks Jesus name. Amen. So I'd like to move now to the catechism teaching for today. Question is number 81 in the Baptist catechism is what is the ninth commandment now in subsequent weeks?

What is required by the ninth commandment was forbidden by the ninth commandment. But very simply what the ninth commandment is is thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor. And that of course comes from Exodus 20 16.

God gives the Ten Commandments. You know, I was trying to teach some of my daughters what it means to bear false witness. If they kept forgetting it means to lie it means to tell something other than the truth.

This is something very serious to God because God is truth. It is his very character and as we are supposed to be imitators of him. We ought to be telling the truth and acting truthfully. But thank God he has made a way for us to be forgiven.

You see Jesus when he was Crucified he was he was crucified on account of people. Accusing him of having born false witness about who he was because he claimed to be the Son of God. So though he was wrongly accused of this he bore The guilt the penalty for all those who are rightly accused of lying.

So if you have ever Told a lie or a mistruth or not spoken the truth when you ought to have as everybody here. I am certain is guilty of. Then you need the grace of Jesus Christ and thank God. The Father has offered that in his Son through the sacrifice of a perfect man who never lied.

And it is him today that we come together to worship and praise. I Would like to read to you About this son about the Son of God and the praise that he deserves if you would turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 19 and We'll start reading from verse 28.

Go ahead and turn to Luke chapter 19 and we'll begin reading in verse 28. And when he had said these things He went on ahead going up to Jerusalem when he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the mount that is called Olivet.

He sent two of the disciples saying go into the village in front of you. Where on entering you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you why are you untying it?

You shall say this the Lord has need of it. So those who went sent excuse me, so those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them and As they were untying the colt its owner said to them.

Why are you untying the colt? And they said the Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus and throwing their cloaks on the colt. They set they set Jesus on it and he rode along as he rode along they spread their cloaks on the road.

As He was drawing near already on the way down to the Mount of Olives the whole multitude of his disciples Began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen saying Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him teacher rebuke your disciples. He answered I tell you if these were silent the very stones would cry out God.

I ask that you would bless the preaching of your word this morning. Now you may have noticed that the order of service this morning has been different than it typically is. We have not sung we have skipped over singing.

And we have saved that for a later portion of the service because today singing is a bit more momentous for us. Singing is a bigger decision to make. You may have heard that the California state government has outlawed singing in churches.

Now there are actually several reasons why this does not apply to our particular gathering the most obvious of which being That it only applies to churches that are meeting indoors, and we are not meeting indoors.

However Santa Clara County has outlawed singing at all gatherings indoor or outdoor now. It is not clear to me whether or not Santa Clara County Intended to outlaw sing in something as safe as what we are doing and something like a drive-in service.

Previous versions of the regulations they have published have distinguished between In-person services and out person and outdoor services. So excuse me indoors and outdoors and then drive-in services as a different category.

However, the current set of regulations says nothing about drive-in services. So I don't know if that was their intent, but as written they've outlawed singing in churches now. We have before us a great decision.

This is read. This is brought up many different questions and thoughts. Certainly it brings up a Reminder to us that we ought to be praying for our government. We ought to be praying for their salvation.

We ought to be praying for the wisdom so that they would act justly and Not restrain us from worship but also brings to mind questions about what is the proper role of government what are its limitations and Unfortunately, I don't have all the answers for you.

These are things that pastor Josh and I are still working through for ourselves. At the same time I would like to approach this particular issue of singing today with a very simple premise. That simple premise is that acts 5 says that we ought to obey God rather than man and That the reason that we sing is because we have a command from God.

God commands us to sing so when we gather and to sing it's not just because we can freely do what we want. But because God has commanded us to do that. Now that is not an absolute command so that no other command can supersede it.

There have been times when other commands of God have superseded it. For example, you know that a couple months ago. We weren't meeting we weren't singing together Because of the health concerns, so I'm not suggesting that there aren't other commands that can supersede it.

But when we do Sing we sing because we have a command from God not because we have freedom and simply do what we want. And so while the government can certainly inform us of the health concerns while they can Persuade us that the health concerns are too great they do not have the ability to change the inherent rightness or wrongness of Whether or not to sing if God has given us command and it is right to sing given the current risks and the measures we've taken.

Then the government making a statement does not change the rightness of wrongness of this. So we today do not have the luxury of being able to defer our decision to someone else to hand off that Responsibility to someone else to decide for us.

We must decide for ourselves and the reason we must decide. It's because this is not something where they have the Expertise and authority to decide now. I am NOT a health expert. So I cannot I could not tell you of the dangers that we face and I Do not intend to.

However The judgments that are being made right now are not just judgments based on health risks. They're judgments based on values. There is a reason that Restaurants are allowed to operate. It's not because large-scale restaurants large-scale restaurant operations are Inherently less risky than several people gathering to sing three songs once a week.

But because the county knows that people find restaurants valuable and The reason why daycares are allowed to continue is not because daycares are inherently less risky Than several people meeting to sing three songs together once a week.

But because they know that we live in a culture that is very dependent on the Operation of daycares and values them highly. You see we have to make a value judgment about how valuable Singing is and is not something that they have the expertise to tell us.

And so I would like us to look at this passage that talks about the value of singing. Now, I know that this passage is not a perfect analogy for what we face today. You know, you'll see people singing and then authorities tell them to stop but Jesus confidently asserts that no the singing must go on.

It is not a perfect analogy for what we have today. We face a different set of circumstances yet at the same time this passage speaks to the value of Singing and it speaks to the courage of continuing despite what voices of authority say.

So I'd like to For us to examine this passage Luke 19 37 to 40. I would like us to consider how God values his worship how he values song. I Would like us to consider Its importance and the courage that we ought to have to do so despite voices of authority and I would like you to also Consider that singing is inevitable.

That's that's something I want you to really latch on to this singing is inevitable. Jesus says if these were silent the very stones would cry out. There's no way to stop singing is inevitable. And that is One of the things that should direct the way we think about this matter.

So as we look at this passage. And we consider what's going on. Jesus is arriving in Jerusalem having having traveled from elsewhere in Judea and this is significant as People have gathered around him and recognized more and more that this is the Son of God.

This is the true Messiah. This is the true King of Israel. They recognize that him entering the capital city entering Jerusalem is him approaching the throne. This is the king approaching the throne and that warrants praise.

This is something we owe to him. It says in verse 37 as he was drawing near. Already on the way down the Mount of Olives the whole multitude of his disciples Began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen.

Now Jesus had performed all kinds of mighty works. He had raised the dead. He had brought sight to blind people but these miracles while fantastic Were Primarily illustrations of a greater miracle. See.

Jesus did not just open physical eyes. Open spiritual eyes that could not see the truth. He did not just raise the physical dead, but he raised the spiritually dead need life. So these reasons why they were singing are the same reasons that we have to sing today.

That he has brought us life. If you are one who trusts in Jesus Christ you have life on. The cross he died and bore the penalty for our sins. If you remember back before you had salvation or if you do not yet know the Lord, you know the weight of sin and guilt.

You know how much people how much effort people spend to try to get rid of this weight of sin and guilt. This is something that Jesus done away with on the cross by bearing the penalty so that we don't have to.

You know how much people spend how much effort people put into trying to preserve their lives. Jesus granted us eternal life so that we might rise again. In response, this is something we owe him because the salvation is so great.

Now, maybe you don't think of singing as something you owe God you think of it as something that you do on a weekly basis. But not as something that you owe to Jesus Christ for the salvation He has given but if that's the case that you aren't thinking in those terms.

Think about how great the salvation is if this salvation is so great. If you think about what it is exactly that he has saved you from you will realize how much you owe. Now this is not just something we owe him.

It is something that we've been freed to do. You see when people sing in song they don't they don't sing as though it is something that's a Burden and you know required of them even though it is required of them.

They sing with joy. You see when Christ saves us He gives us hearts of joy so that we are free to sing with with hearts that are joyful. If you're familiar with the Westminster Catechism first question says what is the chief end of man?

The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. We are to enjoy him forever, but there can be no enjoyment of him. When we face death there can be no enjoyment of him when we are burdened by sin and guilt.

But when he has saved us we are freed to enjoy him. And we should take every advantage of that freedom that we have now. From our end we owe praise to Christ. But this is a two-way relationship from Christ and he deserves praise.

Let's keep reading here in verse 38. Saying blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. You see he is a king that speaks of his regal status. He is a king. He is high and he is majestic and part of the point of a king is to Defeat enemies to give the people peace and this is something that Jesus has done.

You see this phrase right here. Bless is the king who comes in the name of the Lord that comes from Psalm 118 the psalm. We read at the beginning of the service. Psalm 118 26 says blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.

So the people recognize That he is worthy of praise because he is a high and mighty king. And they say peace in heaven. Peace in heaven because he is a king who has brought peace because he has defeated enemies.

Now this peace is said to be in heaven. Meaning that this is not just an earthly peace like when a king physically defeats his enemies. But this peace is something greater than that. There is a spiritual battle going on and while that spiritual battle Still rages in a sense.

It has already been won because Jesus has assured the victory and from these people's perspective. They're waiting for the king to take his throne to do it from our perspective. We look back at the resurrection and we know that he already has he already has defeated The enemies and so because of that he's worthy of our praise.

You know this peace in heaven if you have trouble thinking about what peace in heaven looks like or feels like think of this you know people Talk about inner peace often and really why don't people have inner peace.

It is because they are at war. It's because they are at war with God. But through the gospel Jesus has made it possible. Decide with God's kingdom and be free. Be free so that we have peace with God. And we don't have to be at war with him.

You know people pay therapists all kinds of money to get that kind of peace, but Jesus has provided it freely. How much does he deserve song? They say glory in the highest glory is the Demonstration or a recognition of how great and awesome God is.

So when they say glory in the highest but they are saying or wishing or Or declaring should be the case that all the angels in heaven the highest that's heaven all the angels in heaven. Worship God because of the great salvation that he has provided in his son Jesus Christ glory in the highest now.

This this is significant because these phrases peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Those are things above the earth and yet these people singing here in this passage are singing on the earth. That shows us that our singing here on the earth is supposed to be a reflection of Of the worship that is going on in heaven and This way of thinking about our worship and our singing really should change.

It should be transformative. If you consider how we are singing it in light of eternity it really changes the way that you think about these things. You know in eternity we are going to have perfect bodies.

We'll be able to sing perfectly those who have problems with their voice. Will no longer. Maybe mine will be less nasal. Maybe you all will have greater lung capacity or higher range or I Don't know. I don't know how great my voice will sound then but we will have more excellent voices.

There will also not be Doctrinal disputes that divide churches to keep them from worshiping together. There will also not be disagreements about how we ought to worship. So that every Christian will be able to worship together in peace because everyone will know that we need to use the Trinity hymnal and piano music.

It's a joke. It's it's different when you don't have the audible laughter there will be no self-consciousness. People won't worry what others think there will be no fear. And if we have that in mind, that is what we are supposed to be reflecting.

It sets the bar higher. It helps us to think about it. Now if you're intrigued about how we should worship there's a book I'd like to recommend to you called true worshipers by Bob Coughlin and the very last chapter talks about this worshiping and anticipation of eternity.

And it's a it's a very good chapter. I would highly recommend now. Praise. Praise of Jesus. We've seen that we owe it to him. He deserves it. This praise is most climatically exhibited in song. Now thus far We've not actually seen the word praising or sing.

I've been I've been talking about singing in song. But this passage doesn't actually use the word sing or song. So, how do we know that singing is going on here? Well first of all It says they praise God with a loud voice.

How do you get multiple people to praise God with a singular loud voice? It's through song. You know, they aren't chanting like at a protest. They are singing and Psalm 118 the words that they are using are a song.

The Psalms are meant for singing and Moreover Psalm 118 if you read the words is very explicit about being a song. You know, it says the Lord is my strength in my song. He has become my salvation. There's a lot of words about about singing in Psalm 118.

So these people are singing to the Lord, you know, there's a reason that We tend to use the word worship to refer exclusively to singing now this church. You don't see that as much. We tend to use the word worship to refer to Bible reading to to prayer to all different aspects of worship.

But a lot of people tend to use the word worship to refer exclusively to singing and there's a reason for that. It's because this really is the most climactic expression of our praise. This is very important to God.

You see it all over the Bible you have hundreds and hundreds of references to the song. There are nearly 50 direct exhortations to sing and You see singing often paired with other acts of worship. For example after Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper then went on to sing a hymn with his disciples.

This is very important to God. In fact, it's so important the Bible even describes him as singing. In Zephaniah 3 17 talking about our salvation talking about the same reason that the people are singing here.

It says that God exalts over his people in song. So God does not have a mouth like ours or a voice like ours. But the Bible wants us to know that the closest thing in this world To describe God's disposition towards salvation is song that he sings over the salvation of his people now.

Our task on this earth as image bearers of God is to further be like him and further Reflect his character and who he is. Then we ought to be singing as well. Just like we taught on the ninth commandment.

The reason that we ought to be truthful is because God is truth. The reason that we ought to sing is because God sings it is a reflection of his character. We're supposed to value the things he values.

We're supposed to sing in joy of our salvation because he sings in joy of our salvation. There are a lot of reasons that we sing. Colossians 3 16 says that we are supposed to let the Word dwell in us richly and then when it explains how we're to let that happen.

It says by singing to each other songs hymns and spiritual songs. You see the one of the purposes of singing is to allow the Word of Christ to dwell in us richly so that we can Memorize the truth that God has given us.

It also says in Ephesians 5 19 that we're to sing songs hymns and Spiritual songs to each other with melody in our heart. Song is something that engages the emotions in the way that other aspects of worship like prayer and reading the Bible do not song is.

Song engages the emotion and it gives vent to the emotion. The people here in this passage they have emotions about their salvation. They have emotion about this king that is coming and they give vent to it.

They express it in the way that God has commanded via song. And so as we think about these things as we think about making melody in our hearts. We should sing to God loudly. We should sing to God loudly not being self-conscious.

Because we are to be singing to others, you know. It's a little hard for us to hear each other while we're in our cars, but but you can if you if you sing loudly enough. We should also be singing Daily right.

God calls us to worship daily now a lot of people limit that to other elements of worship like reading their Bible every day. And praying every day. But singing is also an element of worship. We ought to be singing to God every day whether you're single or whether you have a family to worship with.

I would highly commend singing every day and I Would also recommend That Just like with other acts of worship where we seek to improve ourselves. We seek to improve our Bible study. We seek to improve our our prayer that we also seek to improve our singing now.

That's not something you hear very often because singing is one of those things where it's very obvious that people have different Skills and different talents and you don't want to impose on someone a burden that they can't handle.

But if we are to improve ourselves and other aspects of our worship, we should also be seeking to improve ourselves in song. Now that might mean different things for different people. It's not always going to mean picking up an instrument and learning it or taking voice lessons.

It could mean Memorizing a song so that when it comes up in our hymnal that you'll be able to Sing along without being distracted by trying to keep up but be able to make a greater melody in your heart.

Or maybe it means singing daily. So you become more accustomed to singing but just like other acts of worship. You should be seeking to improve in your worship of God through song. Now the stark reality that comes after this verse is that because Singing is the climactic expression of our praise for God.

That it will be always opposed by the world. Verse 39. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him teach her rebuke your disciples. You see these people in praising God as king or excuse me of praising Jesus as king.

The Pharisees do not believe that Jesus is king they do not think he should be worshipped as king. And so they tell him to rebuke his disciples keep them from singing. They do not they do not value the song.

They do not Appreciate it. They despise it. And really is that any different than what is going on today? Now you might object to this and you might say all despising is a really harsh word. I don't think anyone despises saying certainly those who have Made rules for the counting do not despise singing.

I'm just using the word biblically if you consider what the Bible says about Esau that he despised his blessing. Right now I think if you read Genesis and you consider what it says about Esau and his blessing.

You will not think that he hated the blessing and what it entailed you would think rather that he valued it very little. He valued it less than a bowl of soup. That's what's going on today. People have made their value judgments and they despise singing.

You might object again and say oh, but they're not remaking making a religious judgment. They're not condemning This belief like the Pharisees were that that Jesus came. I Would say to you that I don't believe that someone who believes that Jesus came would make laws Outlawing praise to him and you might say well, they aren't being partial.

They have been partial. They have been partial allowing other Facilities and businesses to do things indoors, for example, you know up until the more recent California order if you've heard that the county was willing to.

The county was willing to have all sorts of businesses operate indoors except for churches. Churches not allowed to. And it's been partial from the beginning. From the beginning it was declared that things like liquor stores were essential and yet churches not essential.

You can't have a different set of values and try to operate the on them and not be partial. This is partiality and you might object again and say.

Excuse me just a minute here. You might object again and say but they're doing it for our good.

You know, they're trying to trying to care for us. I Would say that's what the Pharisees were doing as well. The Pharisees were trying to do this for the people's good. The Pharisees Believed that it was wrong to worship Jesus like this and that it was in the people's best interest that they stopped.

There's no amount of well-meaningness. That changes the nature of this very real persecution that we are under right now. Now a lot of people We would object to using the word persecution like that, but once again I'm just trying to use the word the way the Bible does, you know, people might say Oh persecution that only applies to those who are under are Fearing for their very lives, you know people in other countries who are killed for being Christians.

The Bible never uses the word so narrowly it applies to all sorts of suffering and there's just one example of this. Consider the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says Blessed are those. Blessed are those who are persecuted.

Now the opposite end of that is woe to those who are not persecuted and we know that because Luke also Records a similar sermon in which Jesus is offering blessings and woes and Jesus says blessed are those.

Blessed are you when people speak ill of you for my name's sake but woe to you when all speak well of you. We know that each woe or each blessing Jesus also followed by a woe for those who did not fall in this category that category Blessed are the persecuted means woe to those who are not persecuted if you are not suffering in some measure for Christ if you are not resisting temptation if you are not Suffering the the low thoughts of others as they despise you and the things you value.

You are not truly a follower of Christ, so I think it's important to use this language biblically the way that Jesus and the Bible uses this language, but this is persecution. But despite all this persecution Singing must go on he answered I tell you if these were silent the very stones would cry out.

If these people were silent the very stones would cry out and Jesus is confident in his assertion now. There are two strains of thought on this. One is that some people say that the stones crying out is are because they're witnessing injustice.

All right, and that comes from Habakkuk 2 11 talks about stones and a wall witnessing injustice. However, I think the more reasonable Assertion is that all of creation is bent on praising God. All of creation exists to praise God and to assist us in our praise Of God so that if we were not to praise God Creation itself would and you see that earlier in Luke 2 and Luke 3 11 and Luke 3 11 Jesus says that God would be able to raise up from these stones sons for Abraham right the people Consider themselves God's people because they're sons of Abraham and Jesus says that if they are not praising God rightly He will raise up for himself sons for Abraham out of the very stones.

The idea being that if this opportunity is missed it will be given to someone else and That nation as they by and large rejected Jesus. The opportunity did go to someone else the gospel went out to the Gentiles and others ended up being the ones who primarily praise the Lord.

You do not want to to miss this opportunity. God knows what is good for us. We have been freed freed for this. We have been freed for this opportunity. We have been freed from the fear of death. We've by the gospel.

We're free from the fear of death. We don't need to worry about death because we will one day live again because the gospel we are free from the fear of man because What can man do. Man can kill us but cannot destroy our soul?

And we've been freed to worship God without restraint. We have been freed so that we can have a pure joy and worship him without without second thought. There are a lot of people Capitalizing on fear right now because it is in their best interest.

But I would like you to consider this matter without fear as God has called you to think about the matter. You must make these decisions for yourself. We cannot offload them off to somebody else when we have been given a command.

So if all you know is fear that I encourage you to trust in Christ. But if you already know him, I would ask you to consider the matter rationally and without fear. Whether or not the situation really warrants Ridding ourselves of song to the one who deserves song above all others.

So, I know that this is a confusing time. I know I don't have all the answers. But I know several things that is it corporate Worship corporate song is of inestimable importance and those who have made the judgments They have made have made their judgments by different set of values.

And we must make our judgments by the right values. Fear of death controlling our worship is no way to live. The fear of God is and I pray that as you look at this passage and you consider the value of worship that you will be encouraged to worship him because Singing is inevitable.

God will bring song to himself one way or the other. We ought to praise him as we ought. The opportunity will be stripped away. Praise him for the great salvation we have so that we can sing full of joy.

Let's pray Dear Heavenly Father. We thank you for the word and the clarity it gives us. We acknowledge though that we and ourselves are often not that clear. I acknowledge that I am not that clear. I Wish that I were a better speaker more able More able presenter of your word at the same time I have confidence in what you've given us.

I pray that you would give each one of us confidence as we seek to serve you rightly. And I pray that you would help us in the days and weeks ahead as we continue to deal with the situation in which we've been placed in Jesus name.