The Inevitability Of Song

Alright, 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 and 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 it's infrequent that people have interpersonal communication as as they frequently used to I ask that 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 ask that you would bless 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 God we also pray for the service that we are about to have pray that you would find our worship acceptable

There is 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 in 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 we will talk about what is required by the ninth commandment was forbidden by the ninth commandment But very simply what the ninth commandment is is

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor and that of course comes from Exodus 20 16

When God gives the Ten Commandments Now 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. They're 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 you to 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 singing 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

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 red

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 it brings to mind questions about what is the proper role of government? What are its limitations and 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 you know

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 that 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 He opened spiritual eyes that could not see the truth.

He's not just raised 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 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

Uh talk about inner peace often And really why don't people have inner peace it is because they are at war 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 uh 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 uh Demonstration or recognition of how great and awesome

God is so when they say glory in the highest what they are saying or wishing or uh

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 uh 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 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 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

Uh will no longer Maybe mine will be less nasal. Maybe you all

I will have greater lung capacity or higher range or I don't know.

I don't know how how great my voice will sound then but we will have more excellent voices There will also not be uh doctrinal disputes that divide churches and 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 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 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 praise or sing i've been i've been talking about singing and 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, uh, 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 and 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 Uh, 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 uh, very important to god. You see it all over the bible you have hundreds and hundreds of references to uh to 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.

He 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 Now god does not have a mouth like ours or a voice like ours

But the bible wants us to know that the closest thing uh 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 are supposed to value the things he values.

We are 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 are 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 uh 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 uh 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 i'm praising god as king or excuse me.

I'm praising jesus as king Uh, the pharisees do not believe that jesus is king. They do not think he should be worshiped as king

And so they tell him to rebuke his disciples keep them from singing Uh, they do not they do not value this 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 oh 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

To 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 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 um Uh this belief like the pharisees were that that jesus is king well,

I would say to you that I don't believe that someone who believes that jesus king 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, uh, you know up until the more recent, uh,

California order if you've heard that the county was willing to Uh, 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 on them and not be partial this is partiality and you might object again and say uh

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 they're trying to care for us

I would say that that is 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

Would 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 uh, 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 I 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

Uh records a similar sermon in which jesus is offering blessings and woes and jesus says blessed are those uh

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

I you are not truly a follower of christ. So I think it's important to use this language biblically the way that Jesus in the bible uses this language that 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've 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?

We 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 then 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 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 and 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 reward 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 a more able More able presenter of your word yet 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.