Why Christians Sing (Rev 15:1-4)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:09.750 Revelation, revelation fifteen, versus one through four. Then I saw another sign 2 00:00:09.830 --> 00:00:15.910 in heaven, great and amazing. Seven angels with seven plagues, which are 3 00:00:16.070 --> 00:00:22.019 the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished. And I 4 00:00:22.140 --> 00:00:26.899 saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire, and also 5 00:00:27.019 --> 00:00:31.699 those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, 6 00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:36.609 standing beside the Sea of glass with Harps of God in their hands, 7 00:00:36.649 --> 00:00:41.810 and they sing the Song of Moses, the Servant of God, and the 8 00:00:41.929 --> 00:00:46.770 song of the lamb, saying, great and amazing are your deeds, O 9 00:00:46.969 --> 00:00:51.640 Lord, God the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, o King 10 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:56.039 of the nations, who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your 11 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:00.359 name, for you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, 12 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:07.310 for your righteous acts have been revealed. A man may be seated. 13 00:01:10.069 --> 00:01:14.989 What's my intention this morning? To take on this passage from revelation fifteen and 14 00:01:15.150 --> 00:01:19.700 combination with a number of other passages of scripture, and to think about question 15 00:01:21.980 --> 00:01:26.859 with you from the Scriptures. WHY DO WE SING? Why do Christians Sing? 16 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:30.579 I think this is a nice time of year to think about this question, 17 00:01:30.659 --> 00:01:36.650 because there's a lot of singing going on. We had a nice Christmas 18 00:01:36.730 --> 00:01:45.209 him singing the beginning of this previous week. I think that was and of 19 00:01:45.290 --> 00:01:49.959 course we're singing in our worship services. We hear a lot of the songs. 20 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:52.040 This is a nice thing about this time of year. A lot of 21 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:56.040 the songs that we sing in worship we also get to hear in the grocery 22 00:01:56.079 --> 00:02:00.629 store and other places, which is always a nice thing, I think. 23 00:02:02.430 --> 00:02:07.229 But at Covenant and in Christian Church is all throughout the world. It's not 24 00:02:07.270 --> 00:02:10.389 just a Christmas time, of course, that we sing. We are singing 25 00:02:12.069 --> 00:02:15.900 all the time. We include singing and many of our Bible Studies, at 26 00:02:15.939 --> 00:02:21.620 our church meals and, of course, in our hymn sings. Singing as 27 00:02:21.659 --> 00:02:25.099 a major part of our public worship to we've already sung several times this morning. 28 00:02:25.539 --> 00:02:30.969 We've even had songs which have mentioned singing. In this last one that 29 00:02:31.050 --> 00:02:37.729 we've just sung, im talks about how God is above all praising, above 30 00:02:37.729 --> 00:02:42.129 all telling. We're commanded to sing in the scriptures, and yet we also 31 00:02:42.250 --> 00:02:46.919 come to realize God is above anything that we could ever give him, which 32 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:53.759 is why he gives to US singing as a major part of our public worship 33 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:59.789 in our services throughout the year. You might be interested to know we typically 34 00:02:59.830 --> 00:03:04.349 sing about four hundred and fifty songs over the course of a year. If 35 00:03:04.349 --> 00:03:07.389 you were to come to morning and evening worship services. Those are just the 36 00:03:07.469 --> 00:03:14.099 songs that we're singing together here and in worship now. There was a time 37 00:03:14.539 --> 00:03:20.099 in our country where this would have been considered normal, and perhaps is still 38 00:03:20.139 --> 00:03:24.340 considered normal in churches, but communal singing in a lot of ways is dying 39 00:03:24.379 --> 00:03:31.050 away. It's become kind of just a Christian thing, but it's a good 40 00:03:31.169 --> 00:03:38.330 thing. It's a good thing and it's worth explaining why we sing, especially 41 00:03:38.490 --> 00:03:42.560 for those who maybe didn't grow up in the church or see and see singing 42 00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:47.280 now is something that's maybe weird or awkward or or something that's just for professional 43 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:58.189 musicians. But it's not. And here's why. Singing gives us, or 44 00:03:58.469 --> 00:04:01.710 I'm sorry, the scriptures give us examples and commands to sing. This is 45 00:04:01.750 --> 00:04:04.830 a good place to start, right. WHY DO WE SING? Because the 46 00:04:04.909 --> 00:04:10.539 Bible tells us to. Right, singing as always had a prominent place in 47 00:04:10.580 --> 00:04:14.819 the life of God's people. It's commanded frequently in the Psalms and we have 48 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:19.620 fund many examples in the old testaments and the Old Testament men we find God's 49 00:04:19.660 --> 00:04:25.370 people singing in victory over his enemies and their enemies, and Exodus Fifteen, 50 00:04:25.410 --> 00:04:29.170 after being brought out of Egypt, the Great Song of Moses, which was 51 00:04:29.250 --> 00:04:33.649 just mentioned in revelation fifteen. We find people singing in times of crisis, 52 00:04:34.290 --> 00:04:40.120 on Psalm one hundred and forty five, in times of lamentation second chronicles three 53 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:43.600 thousand five hundred and twenty five and, of course, in temple worship. 54 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:46.720 In fact, one whole book of the Old Testament is the book of songs 55 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:54.829 and another one is frequently called the song of songs. The examples and commands 56 00:04:54.910 --> 00:05:00.029 to sing continue in the New Testament as well. Jesus and his disciples sang 57 00:05:00.069 --> 00:05:02.750 a hymn as they went out to the Mount of Olives, and Mark Fourteen, 58 00:05:03.589 --> 00:05:10.100 Paul and Silas were singing in jail hymns to God. And in there 59 00:05:10.180 --> 00:05:15.019 of course too, direct commands to Christians to sing together. One of them 60 00:05:15.060 --> 00:05:19.459 we've read already in Colossians three. Let the word of Christ dwell and you 61 00:05:19.500 --> 00:05:26.889 richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and 62 00:05:27.050 --> 00:05:31.730 spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. A similar command is 63 00:05:31.769 --> 00:05:38.759 given an Ephesians chapter five, verse Nineteen, Addressing One another in Psalms and 64 00:05:38.839 --> 00:05:44.759 hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. 65 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:49.829 Finally, as we consider these examples and commands from scripture, we have 66 00:05:50.470 --> 00:05:57.430 passage like revelation fifteen, where we find that Christians singing are communal. Singing 67 00:05:57.550 --> 00:06:02.829 together is grounded in heaven itself, where the angels and saints are continually singing 68 00:06:03.420 --> 00:06:10.939 before the throne of God. On addition to these examples and commands that we 69 00:06:11.100 --> 00:06:14.300 have, which are, of course, think, sufficient to explain why we 70 00:06:14.420 --> 00:06:18.050 sing, we can also consider some of the benefits of singing, and in 71 00:06:18.209 --> 00:06:25.810 them we find the encouragement and wisdom and goodness of God. Let's consider some 72 00:06:25.930 --> 00:06:30.930 of these. First of all, singing helps us to know God. Singing 73 00:06:30.970 --> 00:06:35.639 helps us know God. In addition to reading, teaching and preaching, God 74 00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:42.680 has chosen singing to spread his word throughout the world. Listen to Isaiah twelve. 75 00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:46.629 Five sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously. Let 76 00:06:46.829 --> 00:06:54.310 this be known in all the Earth, or job thir twenty four, remember 77 00:06:54.430 --> 00:06:59.550 to extol his work, of which men have sung, and then, of 78 00:06:59.589 --> 00:07:01.699 course, collossions three and sixteen. Again, let the word of Christ dwell 79 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:10.620 in you richly singing psalms hymns and spiritual songs. Why did God choose singing 80 00:07:11.100 --> 00:07:17.569 to read his word? The Fourth Century Theologian Basil the Great Suggests One likely 81 00:07:17.649 --> 00:07:25.529 answer. He writes the Holy Spirit mixed sweetness of melody with doctrine so that, 82 00:07:25.649 --> 00:07:30.439 inadvertently, we would absorb the benefits of the words through the gentleness and 83 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:35.240 ease of hearing, just as clever physicians frequently smear the Cup with honey when 84 00:07:35.319 --> 00:07:43.560 giving the fastidious some rather bitter medicine to drink. God, in other words, 85 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:49.550 is Basil puts it is both gentle and clever by mixing singing and doctrine. 86 00:07:49.829 --> 00:07:55.430 Continuing a basil quote here, those who are children in actual age, 87 00:07:55.430 --> 00:08:00.980 as well as those who are young and their behavior, while appearing only to 88 00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:05.740 sing, would in reality be training their souls. So singing helps us to 89 00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:11.819 know God, to know his words and to extol them, to spread them. 90 00:08:13.129 --> 00:08:18.970 Second, singing helps us to remember God. It's not enough to simply 91 00:08:18.129 --> 00:08:22.009 know God. He almost some he also must be fixed in our hearts and 92 00:08:22.170 --> 00:08:28.399 in our minds. Singing helps with that Basil. Observed that the same people 93 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:31.919 who would leave the church without retaining, quote, some Maxim of the apostles 94 00:08:31.960 --> 00:08:37.080 or prophets, would yet still sing the texts of the psalms at home and 95 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:43.590 circulate them in the marketplace. Perhaps you've had a similar experience of not really 96 00:08:43.629 --> 00:08:48.429 being able to remember anything from the sermon or the reading of the word, 97 00:08:48.509 --> 00:08:52.710 and yet remembering something from what you have sung. Music is very powerful in 98 00:08:52.789 --> 00:08:58.259 this way. My fatherin law, a hospice chaplain, has shared stories of 99 00:08:58.379 --> 00:09:05.259 visiting people who have long lost their minds and yet momentarily would regain their intellectual 100 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:11.730 and emotional capacities upon hearing of the familiar song like amazing grace. I saw 101 00:09:11.850 --> 00:09:15.490 this happen with my own grandmother at the end of her life, when my 102 00:09:15.649 --> 00:09:18.809 wife and I sang to her silent night, she kind of came alive for 103 00:09:18.889 --> 00:09:24.000 a moment and started out of her mind, on lots of her mind, 104 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:33.399 and began to sing these words of her most favorite song. Interestingly, God 105 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:41.990 says in a warning to tire Tyr he says in Isaiah Sixteen. Make sweet 106 00:09:41.070 --> 00:09:48.269 melody. Sing many songs that you may be remembered. While our goal is 107 00:09:48.350 --> 00:09:52.789 to remember God and not ourselves, we can note the truth that is supported 108 00:09:52.019 --> 00:10:03.820 in this verse. Songs preserve ideas. Singing turns thoughts into memories. Number 109 00:10:03.899 --> 00:10:09.090 three, singing helps us express and move our emotions in a godly direction. 110 00:10:11.730 --> 00:10:16.409 Our emotions are an important aspect of who God made us to be, and 111 00:10:16.649 --> 00:10:22.600 God does not neglect them. One Way God moves our emotions and helps us 112 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:26.960 to move them is in a godly direction, is through music, for example, 113 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:31.759 and the Psalms. We find that, as Calvin puts it, not 114 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:39.309 an emotion which anyone can be conscious that is not here in the psalms represented. 115 00:10:39.669 --> 00:10:43.990 In other words, all of the emotions that you can experience are there 116 00:10:45.309 --> 00:10:48.389 in the Book of Psalms and, of course, in the rest of scripture 117 00:10:48.389 --> 00:10:52.340 as well. For this reason, Calvin came up with this clever name for 118 00:10:52.419 --> 00:10:56.019 the Book of Psalms that he liked to say. He called it an anatomy 119 00:10:56.259 --> 00:11:03.779 of all the parts of the soul, all put into song. Let me 120 00:11:03.899 --> 00:11:09.090 read to you a long quote from an article I came across that explores music 121 00:11:09.210 --> 00:11:16.970 and singing and emotions. On this man, Theologian Rob Smith. He writes 122 00:11:16.049 --> 00:11:20.320 this. When we sing, we usually sing words with meanings, and those 123 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:28.399 words not only facilitate the communication of the cognitive content of the song, but 124 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:33.269 the singing of them helps communicate the emotional content of that song. More than 125 00:11:33.350 --> 00:11:37.070 that, the fact that we are singing these words or hearing them Sung, 126 00:11:37.830 --> 00:11:43.909 also helps us to feel an emotion appropriate with the words that we are singing. 127 00:11:43.549 --> 00:11:50.259 This is why the music matters. This truth, he continues to write, 128 00:11:50.340 --> 00:11:54.500 was captured beautifully and succinctly by the late Yep harbor, the man who 129 00:11:54.580 --> 00:12:00.220 wrote the mirror lyrics too, over the rainbow in another wizard of Oz. 130 00:12:01.169 --> 00:12:09.049 Mr Harborg writes famously said words make you think a thought. Music makes you 131 00:12:09.090 --> 00:12:16.159 feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought. This is perhaps 132 00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:22.320 exactly what was happening when Moses, after being and being brought out of Egypt, 133 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:26.639 having just seen God swallow up Pharaoh in the Red Sea and now he 134 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:33.990 and his people safely on dry ground, lifted up his voice in Victorious Song 135 00:12:33.190 --> 00:12:37.990 and saying, I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously 136 00:12:39.590 --> 00:12:43.149 the horse and his rider. He has thrown into the sea. The Lord 137 00:12:43.269 --> 00:12:46.700 is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. This is 138 00:12:48.019 --> 00:12:54.379 my God and I will praise him. There is great power in music, 139 00:12:56.179 --> 00:13:01.090 Calvin once wrote, in agreement with Plato quote, there is scarcely anything in 140 00:13:01.250 --> 00:13:09.649 this world more capable of turning or bending hither then than any of the other 141 00:13:09.809 --> 00:13:13.440 customs of men. This, of course, means that music can be a 142 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:20.320 very dangerous thing as well. It's powerful, singing can be downright dangerous. 143 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:26.360 Again, forgive all the quotes, but I hope they're helpful. I'm going. 144 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:31.350 Well, I'll leave it at that for a moment. In the wrong 145 00:13:31.470 --> 00:13:35.950 hand, singing can be dangerous. Listen to this internal memo I'm written for 146 00:13:37.029 --> 00:13:43.500 the leadership of the Hitler youth. It is precisely during celebrations and singing events 147 00:13:43.539 --> 00:13:50.620 that we have an excellent opportunity to have a political effect wide beyond typical formation. 148 00:13:50.659 --> 00:13:56.769 Songs possess the strongest community building power. Thus we use them deliberately at 149 00:13:56.850 --> 00:14:03.049 moments when we want to waken the conscience of being part of a community, 150 00:14:03.490 --> 00:14:11.519 in order to deepen the power of such an experience. Propagandists know the power 151 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:16.879 of music. The power to shape a people in a community, and they 152 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:20.960 they use it. This doesn't mean that music itself is a bad thing, 153 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:26.230 because the Oh, like any of God's good gifts, it can be and 154 00:14:26.509 --> 00:14:30.950 is abused by men. The hands of God, it is a blessing in 155 00:14:31.149 --> 00:14:37.350 its power. Calvin rights. We know from experience that singing has great power 156 00:14:37.029 --> 00:14:43.539 and vigor to enrouse and inflame men's hearts to call upon and praise God with 157 00:14:43.779 --> 00:14:48.940 more vehement and burning desire. Calvin goes on that, while we must guard 158 00:14:48.940 --> 00:14:56.970 against abusing and thus converting the power of singing to our condemnation, this power 159 00:14:56.129 --> 00:15:05.889 that music has is intended for our prophet and our salvation. Holy and honorable 160 00:15:05.009 --> 00:15:09.799 song, says Calvin, are something that quote, we must have and of 161 00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:15.360 course God commands it. He not only gives this to US and expects us 162 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:18.919 to use it, but he tells us to sing these songs to remember his 163 00:15:20.120 --> 00:15:26.149 name. Well, beyond the power of shaping our emotions, it also does 164 00:15:26.350 --> 00:15:33.470 have a power to shape and harmonize a people will. Much of what I've 165 00:15:33.789 --> 00:15:39.419 I'm spoken so far could be applied to individual singing. Singing also has special 166 00:15:39.539 --> 00:15:43.419 benefits when we sing together, which is what we do in our worship services. 167 00:15:45.460 --> 00:15:52.009 Singing unites us both in voice and also in living. When we sing 168 00:15:52.129 --> 00:15:56.289 to glorify God, we are at that moment when we're all singing together, 169 00:15:56.409 --> 00:16:02.409 we're at that moment united in a common task for the worship of God. 170 00:16:03.730 --> 00:16:08.720 That's a good thing for Christians who are designed to worship and glorify God. 171 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:15.080 You can see this and hear it and experience that when you look around you 172 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:21.710 and hear these many voices in the congregation of the Lord becoming one voice, 173 00:16:22.029 --> 00:16:27.470 the one voice of the body of Christ. Leaning on this reality, the 174 00:16:27.870 --> 00:16:33.899 Apostle Paul calls us to carry that musical moment of our singing together and worship, 175 00:16:34.779 --> 00:16:40.820 carry that moment into every area of our lives. So he writes in 176 00:16:40.860 --> 00:16:45.740 Romans fifteen, five and six. May the God of Endurance and encouragement grant 177 00:16:45.820 --> 00:16:52.289 you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 178 00:16:52.649 --> 00:16:59.809 that together you may, with one voice, glorify the Lord God or 179 00:17:00.009 --> 00:17:06.160 glorify the God and father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. In other words, 180 00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:11.599 our daily living is expressed in these musical terms, and this is not 181 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:18.029 an accident. The musical metaphor were works, because something similar is happening when 182 00:17:18.069 --> 00:17:23.950 we sing together, when we sing as a community, we are unified in 183 00:17:25.029 --> 00:17:30.339 that moment and we're also exhibiting the kind of community that we ought to always 184 00:17:30.460 --> 00:17:36.380 have, even when we're not singing in Christ to sing together, you might 185 00:17:36.539 --> 00:17:41.220 remember and experience in a moment when we sing together. To Sing together requires 186 00:17:41.339 --> 00:17:48.369 several common acts of Christian love. To sing together, we have to listen 187 00:17:48.849 --> 00:17:56.250 to one another, we have to follow one another, we have to make 188 00:17:56.329 --> 00:17:59.759 sure that we have the same aim, that we're on the same page, 189 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:04.960 even literally, we must do our best and do our part, while also 190 00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:11.680 not making it all about us. Singing together sometimes requires physical sharing. We 191 00:18:12.150 --> 00:18:18.509 share books, we bend low and we're singing with our children. We point 192 00:18:18.630 --> 00:18:22.950 to words as to for those that are learning to read. These are small 193 00:18:23.109 --> 00:18:27.140 things, of course, but they are all acts of love. They are 194 00:18:27.259 --> 00:18:33.940 little acts of love when we sing together that we are practicing and doing and 195 00:18:34.180 --> 00:18:41.609 perhaps even preparing for bigger and more challenging acts of love. So in our 196 00:18:41.690 --> 00:18:44.849 singing, when we sing together, right there, right at that moment, 197 00:18:45.009 --> 00:18:49.690 we are, I'm doing the things, experiencing and living in that unity that 198 00:18:49.809 --> 00:18:55.920 we are called to live in. It could be also that singing also makes 199 00:18:56.039 --> 00:19:00.839 living together easier. In other words, singing together helps us avoid conflict. 200 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:07.440 Basil observed this that it's harder to fight with one another after singing with one 201 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:15.390 another. I'll read a quote. A Psalm is tranquility of soul and arbitration 202 00:19:15.630 --> 00:19:22.589 of peace. It settles one's tumultuous and seething thoughts, it mollifies the soul's 203 00:19:22.670 --> 00:19:29.420 wrath and chastens its recalcitrans. A Psalm creates friendships, unites the separated and 204 00:19:29.539 --> 00:19:33.380 reconciles those of entity who can still consider one to be a foe, with 205 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:38.930 whom one utters the same prayer to God. This psalmnity provides the greatest of 206 00:19:38.970 --> 00:19:45.009 all goods, charity, which is love, by devising in its common good 207 00:19:45.049 --> 00:19:51.410 a certain bond of unity and by joining together the people into the concord of 208 00:19:51.529 --> 00:19:57.480 a single voice. So when the Apostle Paul connects singing with mutual submission in 209 00:19:57.640 --> 00:20:03.480 Ephesians five and singing with the peace of Christ in the body of Christ and 210 00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:11.509 Coossians three, this is not a mere rhetorical move. Singing praise to God 211 00:20:11.789 --> 00:20:19.349 together is one way that we come to better live in God together. Ultimately, 212 00:20:21.390 --> 00:20:26.460 the most important benefit of singing together is found in our bringing glory to 213 00:20:26.500 --> 00:20:32.660 God, because it is in God that we find our happiness. Psalm one 214 00:20:32.700 --> 00:20:37.250 hundred and forty seven one says, for it is good to sing praises to 215 00:20:37.369 --> 00:20:41.849 our God, for it is pleasant and a song of praise is fitting, 216 00:20:41.890 --> 00:20:47.809 and all the other benefits of singing our subservient to this one. We sing 217 00:20:48.009 --> 00:20:52.400 together because it brings glory to our God, our God who has saved us. 218 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:57.160 Psalm Ninety eight one. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song, 219 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:02.519 for he has done marvelous things. Psalm sixty six one to two. 220 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:07.230 Shout for joy to God. All the Earth Sing the glory of his name, 221 00:21:07.390 --> 00:21:14.349 give to him glorious praise and less we forget. This is only possible 222 00:21:15.109 --> 00:21:22.900 because God himself is our voice. He is our song. Worldly people unite 223 00:21:22.900 --> 00:21:26.859 around all sorts of terrible things, but we find our unity in our singing 224 00:21:26.940 --> 00:21:34.609 and in our lives because God has united us in him another were it's singing 225 00:21:34.769 --> 00:21:38.450 is not just this magical power that always of a sudden creates a Christian. 226 00:21:40.369 --> 00:21:44.809 Now God is the one who creates a Christian and then blesses us and uses 227 00:21:44.930 --> 00:21:52.279 these means to bring us to him and closer to him. It's God's unity 228 00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:57.279 with us that ultimately matters and creates our unity together and in him. And 229 00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:03.990 he did this, as we know, by becoming one of us, by 230 00:22:04.069 --> 00:22:07.990 becoming so united with us, as we read earlier in Hebrews, that he 231 00:22:08.109 --> 00:22:14.750 took on flesh and blood so that he could die, and say flesh and 232 00:22:14.829 --> 00:22:18.660 blood, through the perfection of his righteousness and through the goodness of His grace, 233 00:22:18.700 --> 00:22:26.579 Jesus Christ would save mankind. And in this work of God, Jesus 234 00:22:26.740 --> 00:22:32.650 called from an ugly and broken world a people so that, being in one 235 00:22:32.849 --> 00:22:37.569 body, they might be ready to sing in harmony unto God and to make 236 00:22:38.210 --> 00:22:44.960 that make God's name known to others in their songs. We are just like 237 00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:48.480 Israel, standing on the other side of the Red Sea, having all of 238 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:55.720 God's enemies conquered, having been baptized in Christ, carried through those waters of 239 00:22:55.839 --> 00:23:00.589 judgment, standing now on solid ground, and we slipped up and we sing 240 00:23:00.750 --> 00:23:04.390 God's pray is and we say I will sing God's praise. He is my 241 00:23:04.630 --> 00:23:11.309 strength, he is my song. This is why we can sing together, 242 00:23:12.740 --> 00:23:18.500 because what God has done for us in Christ this is how we sing together 243 00:23:18.779 --> 00:23:22.619 because of what God has done for us in Christ, and that's why the 244 00:23:22.660 --> 00:23:30.730 Apostle says let the word of Christ dwell in you, richly singing. So 245 00:23:30.849 --> 00:23:36.890 whenever we sing together, may our prayer to God be as the hymn puts 246 00:23:36.930 --> 00:23:42.960 it. Come thou found of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy 247 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:48.920 grace. And the good news for us is that God will answer that prayer, 248 00:23:49.079 --> 00:23:56.190 because when we sing together we sing as one body, with Christ himself 249 00:23:56.269 --> 00:24:03.470 as our head, singing right along with us. In this remarkable verse which 250 00:24:03.509 --> 00:24:08.470 all conclude with in Hebrews to twelve, our Lord says this. I will 251 00:24:08.789 --> 00:24:14.140 tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation, 252 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:21.779 I will sing your praise. We sing with Jesus, we sing to Jesus 253 00:24:22.460 --> 00:24:26.170 and we sing through Jesus unto God. Let's pray