Thank you again for the music.
That's a wonderful event for us just to
hear others praising the Lord.
We hear us all the time and it's
just wonderful to in this day and age
hear people who still sing tunes in praise
of the Lord, sing melodies, work with the
harmonies and so forth.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
Well, I need to put a guitar on
here and we're glad to be with you.
I think the preacher say four years and
I think that it is June of 2005,
so not quite four years.
We're going to look at a definition of
music according to the Bible tonight in Psalm
143 and then we're going to look at
a definition of the three parts of music
in Ephesians and in the book of John
and we may not get any further than
that tonight.
We have some things yet to bring tomorrow
and everything else is going to go unsaid,
but we will teach as much as we
can.
I'm glad God has much to say about
those things in the Bible.
We're going to go ahead and sing a
song that we have sung for years.
Our choir sang it.
A lot of the music we sing is
men's quartets that we've whittled down to two
parts and ladies trios that we've whittled down
to two parts and things that our choir
did that we've whittled down to two parts.
We couldn't get them to travel with us
or we would have taken them with us,
but this is a song that reminds us
never to get over the wonder that God
would love sinners such as we are and
we have just sung this song for years,
so filled with wonder am I.
God could love such as I, a soul
unworthy, yet raised in power, to live with
him on high.
The price that he paid,
my soul from bondage to save, and through
the ages I'll sing his praises, so filled
with wonder am I.
I can't explain the mystery
of love divine that lifted me.
I only know my heart rejoices to think
of his love for me.
But this I know, I'm new, I'm different
because of his love for me, for me.
God could love such as I, a soul
unworthy, yet raised in power, to
live with him on high.
How great the price that he paid, my
soul from bondage to save, and through the
ages I'll sing
his praises, so filled with wonder am I.
No matter how hard we may try to
work for the Lord and to run in
his strength and in his power, when we
get to heaven we'll wish we'd been more
consistent, more efficient, more useful, more filled with
the Holy Spirit of God, and a lady
actually wrote the tune and the poem and
captured this thought and this truth.
I wish I had given him more.
I trust it'll make us consider our ways
as we're down here more often and be
more careful and filled with the Spirit in
our life.
I wish I had given him more.
By and by when I
look on his face, beautiful face, thorn-shadowed
face, by and by when I look on
his face, I'll wish I had given him
more, more, so much more, more,
more of my life than I ever gave
before.
When I look on his face, I'll wish
I had given him, by
and by a
ribbon hand, by and by his
hand, I'll wish I had given him so
much more.
His hand, I'll wish I had given him,
in the light of that heavenly place, light
from his face, beautiful face, in the
light of that heavenly place, I'll wish I
had given him more, so
much more, treasures unbounded for him.
By and by when I look on his
face, beautiful face, I'll wish I had given
him more,
more, so much more.
Everywhere we go, we have the blessed privilege
of taking the Word of God and giving
it out to someone, and if we pray,
God opens doors for us to speak for
him, and it is marvelous, and we never
know when the meetings are short with other
people sometimes, we never know what the Word
of God will do, but we know it
will not return void to our Lord.
He promised it would not, and I remember
one night in particular, we were going up
around northern Michigan, and it was the middle
of the night, and I thought this is
no time to do any talking at all,
and yet the Lord was prompting me, and
there was a young man that was taking
care of the gas station in the middle
of the night, the middle of the night,
and I don't know how long it was,
but we took a long time there.
After we spoke to him for this great
length of time, he said, you know, you're
talking just like my friend.
He told me I had to be saved
too.
Someone else had already planted the seed, and
we were just doing a little bit of
watering, and I said, I have to leave,
and I may never see you again, but
you better go back and talk to your
friend again.
God is trying to get a hold of
you.
I said, do you realize this is the
middle of the night, and we don't ever
come this way, at least not very often,
and I said, I appreciate you listening to
the Word of God, but you still must
call upon the Lord and do this of
your own free will.
He had just gotten married and been married
a year or two, and already had a
child, and I said, boy, you need the
Lord more than ever, if for nothing else,
just to hold your family together and to
learn to be the husband you need to
be and the dad you've never been either
until just a little while ago, and I
said, most of all, you and your family
need to be saved, but it's a blessed
privilege to scatter the Word of God.
We know everyone doesn't listen, and everyone does
not receive it.
Some of it falls on poor ground, but
some of it falls on good ground.
Let's sing the song, Scattering Precious Seed.
Scattering precious seed by the wayside, scattering precious
seed by the hillside, scattering precious seed for
the fields wide, scattering precious seed by the
way, sowing in the morning, bearing the precious
seed, sowing at the new precious time, sowing
in the evening, sowing the precious seed by
the way of the day, scattering precious seed
for the growing, scattering precious seed freely sowing,
scattering precious seed trusting knowing, surely the Lord
will send it the way, sowing in the
morning, bearing the precious seed, sowing at the
new precious time, bearing the precious seed, sowing
the precious seed by the way of the
day, scattering precious seed doubting never, scattering precious
seed trusting ever, sowing the word with prayer
and endeavor, trusting the Lord for growth and
for years, sowing in the morning, bearing the
precious seed, sowing at the new precious time,
sowing in the evening, bearing the precious seed,
sowing the precious seed by the way of
the day, they that sow in tears shall
reap in joy, for God is on His
throne, for God is on His throne, we
must dream, till our
hearts will break, they that sow in
tears shall reap in joy, precious seed,
we are saved after we are saved.
After we're saved the most, the smartest thing,
the wisest thing that we can do is
simply to walk with our Lord day by
day.
The first thing the Apostle Paul said after
he was saved was, Lord what wilt thou
have me to do?
And that's good for every day that we
live.
We may assume sometimes, especially if we're in
a good work, we may just assume that
we're doing what the Lord wants, but we
ought to ask.
And then if the Lord has something that's
a surprise for us or something different for
us to do, we will still be ready
to do that.
I am looking.
We're going to go ahead and play the
old hymn, He Leadeth Me.
And the songwriter said that that was a
blessed thought, he leadeth me, oh blessed thought,
of words with heavenly comfort fraught.
And he ended the poem, his faithful follower,
I would be for by his hand he
leadeth me.
And so we have that blessed privilege.
If you're wondering which hand it is he
holds us by, it's the right hand.
But there's a verse in Psalms that indicates
that I'm looking for a different pick than
I have in my hand.
We'll do a harp and guitar duet here.
The best thing that ever happened to Chopsticks
was someone wrote some Christian words to it.
And of course, that's that little piece, you
know, on the piano.
Starts out with a dissonance that resolves.
That's a nice thing to have happen.
But someone did write some Christian words to
it.
It seems like a children's song in many
ways.
I'm sure it is.
And yet the message of this song is
quite profound because it's an invitation for others
to come to the Savior.
And that's always a good thing to do
is invite others to come to the Lord.
God won't force anyone to be saved, and
we can't force anyone to be saved, but
we can persuade men, can't we?
And I'm glad we have the word of
God to help with that and to use
actually to put them in a place where
they'll be under conviction now just because.
So we have to have some kind of
a keyboard.
So my wife has two keyboards here.
Show them that one.
That looks a little bit like a piano
that's been shrunk and the bells aren't much
different here, but we'll use those and we'll
say Chopsticks for Christ.
Until I reach heaven's bright shore.
Oh won't you come and go with me
and be God's good judge for eternity.
He'll save your soul and bring you home
if you'd only trust him just now.
Jesus my Savior will keep me forever.
He'll never forsake me, no never.
And someday with angels in glory we'll all
sing the story forever around the bright world.
Oh won't you come and go with me
and be God's good judge for eternity.
He'll save your soul and bring you home
if you'd only trust him just now.
So last
time we were here we played Heaven Came
Down and Glory Filled My Soul and we're
going to play it again and try to
use some of these other instruments more moderately.
If you're missing your instrument tomorrow, you can
pick that up.
But this is Heaven Came Down and Glory
Filled My Soul.
So last time we were here we played
Heaven Came Down and
Glory Filled My Soul and we're going to
play it again and try to use some
of these other instruments more moderately.
If you're missing your instrument tomorrow, you can
pick that up.
The preacher's five daughters sang seven
guitar lines.
But they usually sang trios.
One day the oldest daughter Peggy played the
piano with her first kid.
Then the soloist.
That was a wonderful song.
Songs of salvation always are.
Those that are saved are reminded of the
day that they gave to the Lord and
the ones that have been saved.
And for those that have never been saved,
it's a great reminder that we must be
one with him.
This is a song called Now I'm Saved.
All this struggle trying to find God and
trying to figure life out and finally understanding
salvation is a gift of God.
The gift of God is what he raised.
The gift of righteousness.
The pre-gift of righteousness.
This is a song called Now I'm Saved.
And since Peggy's not here to play it,
she'll sing it tonight.
I came broken hearted to the Lord, some
tears, not expecting anything except just remorse for
being a sinner, and here the Lord along
with free salvation gave me joy and happiness
way beyond what I was looking for.
And once I became disentangled from the music
of this world, I joyfully praised the Lord.
As a matter of fact, I joyfully praised
him before that, but once I got free
of pop music, I was able to live
for the Lord with much greater victory and
have effectiveness in witnessing, a genuine burden for
souls, a greater understanding in the word of
God.
It's almost like all of a sudden I
woke up.
I was saved for two years and didn't
really see much of anything.
I think we're getting a little bit of
a ring there.
I think you can get rid of that.
I'm going to try to stay relatively short.
You can see I'm 5'6".
I'll try to stay a little short tonight,
but I did want to give you some
Bible definitions.
The definitions of these things just in and
of themselves are marvelous.
Man has got everything backwards, everything turned upside
down, everything twisted around.
None of it is right.
God's ways are certainly not man's ways.
And when it comes to music, this is
no exception, of course.
Remember when the disciples began to witness in
the New Testament times, and they accused them
of turning the world upside down?
They were just turning it back the way
it was supposed to be.
That's what we're trying to do with music.
We want it back the way God intends
it to be.
What did someone say?
They turned the world upside right?
If you've ever heard that phrase before, that
was kind of a new one for me
one day.
Upside right.
But anyway, we want to go to Psalm
143, as I said, and then we'll go
to the New Testament.
And I love the Word of God because
it gives to us the answers that we
need.
And it should not, it should not be
a surprise to any Christian that our final
authority, our final answer for everything is in
the Bible.
And an application, of course, a scriptural application
of it.
Do you know that escapes a lot of
people today?
I would hope not at this church.
I don't think so.
You've probably been taught better.
But we can rest our cause, we can
rest our soul, our life, everything on this
Bible.
We can trust it.
It has the answers for everything.
It is God's Word.
And so, let's go to Psalm 143.
Let's stand together and we're going to read
one verse.
And this is a verse with three parts
and David defines music in these three parts
in one verse.
Psalm 143 and verse 5.
So, let's read it.
Psalm 143 and verse 5 out loud together.
There's our word, music.
As short as we can get it in
English.
M-U-S-E.
Muse.
Let's pray.
Dear Father, make this message a blessing and
help it not to be long.
We have a wonderful day ahead of us
tomorrow.
But Lord, may it be filled with information
that will answer some questions for people here.
And be a blessing.
May saints go home encouraged tonight.
And Lord, we are.
Just to hear Thy praises sung.
When I can read my title clear from
the brass.
And so many other songs tonight.
Just a blessing to our hearts.
And to see young people too.
Praising Thee.
Willing to praise Thee.
Wanting to praise Thee.
And doing so well at it.
Dear Lord, help us to be found when
You come.
With faith on the earth and a heart
full of joy.
Singing Thy praises, Lord.
Lord, Thou hast lightened our footsteps.
And given us what others are looking for
and trying to have.
And though life can be rough, Lord, with
Thee.
It is a, what did Thou say?
My burden is light.
And oh Lord, it is.
Thank You for taking away.
The things that would weigh us down.
We cannot bear them ourselves.
And most of all, our sins.
Dear Lord, honor Thy name and Thyself.
And help me preach it with Holy Spirit
power.
Blessed now in Jesus precious name.
We ask it.
Amen.
Be seated then.
And we'll look at these three parts.
This is a Bible definition of music.
The Word of God defining it for us.
And as I said, there's our word muse
in the third phrase.
But let's take a look and see what
music is all about according to this verse.
And then we're going to run to the
New Testament.
And break music up into its three parts.
And hope to give you some help with
that too.
Here we find it says, first of all,
I remember the days of old.
Good music, really all music.
But good music is meant to stir our
memory.
I would have to admit it's kind of
hard to stir our memory of things that
haven't taken place yet.
Now that's real deep, think about it for
a while.
But all music is really a look back
at something that already took place before.
And it so impressed the poet and the
musician that they wrote the experience.
Or they wrote the wisdom that they got.
Or the information, the help from God, whatever
it was.
They wrote it into a song.
They may have worked together or they may
have worked separately.
Or one person, as in that last, or
one of the songs we sang may have,
I wish I'd given them more, written all
by the same person.
Memory.
David says, I remember the days of old.
That's not just the good old days.
Guys are always, you know, you get to
be 40 years old and you talk about
the past because you probably got more past
than you got future left.
Unless you're a Christian, I guess.
Then we have lots of time in heaven.
But you get more memories than you can
remember as you get older.
And life on this earth, as we know
it, gets shorter at the forward end.
We call a practice with the choir a
rehearsal.
Rehearsal.
We rehear it and see it.
Whatever happened to this Christian who went before,
they left a little message for us in
that song.
And when we sing the song, we are
reminded of what God did for them.
And we know that God is no respecter
of persons.
If he answered their prayer, if he protected
them, if he provided for them, he can
take care of us in the same way.
If he blessed them, he can bless us.
And we gain strength from looking back at
what God did for someone else and singing
it.
And we get this little picture.
Music paints pictures, you know.
And in the case of God's music, it
paints a picture of something he's promised to
do and did for someone.
And they said he did.
And they wrote it down.
So that we could see it again.
So that we could hear it again.
So that it would not be forgotten.
And that's a blessed event.
Now he's not just talking about the days
of old.
He's talking about the things God has done.
But we won't know that for sure until
we get to the second phrase.
But songs stir our memory.
You know, even when it comes to worldly
music, there's a lot of songs that people
like because it stirs up a good memory
in them.
Now there's plenty of them that can stir
up bad memories.
But there are songs that are coupled with
family or home.
Or even with your wife or your spouse.
Couples always used to say, that's our song.
And they called that their love song forever.
You know, just thrilled with that song.
Might not have been much at all.
But they picked one out.
And the remembrances were sweet.
You know, when it comes to God, the
remembrances are good and they are sweet.
And that's what Christians have written down for
us.
With the world's music, you're not really sure.
Boy, a song will come up and you
go, oh boy, that reminds me of...
You know, fill in the blank.
But might not be a good memory.
With God's music, it's always going to be
a good memory that's stirred up.
I remember the days of old.
The second part of our definition is, I
meditate on all thy works.
Now we know it's not just the good
old days, but it's the things that God
has done in history.
By the way, I did not...
Well, let's be honest.
I hated history when I was a boy.
It seemed like, well, that's all done and
gone.
I got my life to live now.
But you know what?
What's gone on before has a whole lot
to do with what's going on right now.
And where it came from and where it's
going to still has a lot to do
with now.
But once I got saved and I saw
that God indeed has worked down through the
ages in nations, in people's lives.
I said, how many of my ancestors trusted
Christ?
I want to know who else got saved.
I was up a little bit north of
here and a preacher said to me that
it was Reuben Archatori, the evangelist, went to
the little town of Lawsville, Pennsylvania and he
won 85% of that town to the
Lord.
Well, I know the people in that town.
That's where we came from.
There's only 100 people there.
If Reuben Torrey won 85 of them, he
won some of my cousins.
This is a long time ago now, you
know.
But that's exciting.
All of a sudden, history is exciting.
God has worked down through the ages.
I don't have it with me, but I
wrote a poem called God in the Affairs
of Men.
And what God has done down through the
centuries, he's affected people.
You've probably heard the stories.
Many of the men who discovered things and
invented things had the help of God.
Thomas Edison's mother sent him to the Baptist
church when he was a boy in Ohio.
I don't know Thomas Edison's testimony, but I
know where he got the wisdom to think
some of his things through.
And I know what his mother was trying
to do for him.
Exciting, exciting things.
Colleges that have gone way liberal were started
once upon a time to train young men
for the ministry.
Even Yale.
That's my family's school.
God has worked down through history.
It's marvelous.
And all of a sudden, history comes alive.
Wars even.
He may be judging a nation or several
nations, but it's marvelous.
God has done something.
And that's what we need to find.
He says, I meditate on all thy works.
What has God done?
And David says, I'm thinking about it.
I'm meditating.
You know what meditation is?
We were talking about Eastern meditation.
How they just empty out their head and
the next thing that flies by, they accept.
And think they've had an inspiration.
Real Bible meditation is half like what the
Easterners call meditation.
They empty themselves of everything and they stay
empty.
A smart Christian says, I need to empty
my brain of my thoughts.
But then, we fill them with God's thoughts.
We get rid of our opinions and we
get the law of God.
God's opinion, if we can call it that.
We compare Scripture with Scripture and we have
wisdom instead of just our own ideas about
something.
That's meditation.
Then we apply it to our life.
How does this fit in my life?
What does it mean for me?
What does it have to do with the
choices that I make or the places I
go or what I say or what I'm
thinking?
And we put it in our life and
it's real and it's living.
That's meditation.
That's real Bible meditation.
And I guess the best description of musical
meditation is the Handel's Messiah.
Handel took 75 verses.
I think his friend gave them to him
to try and win him to the Savior.
He gave him the verse and said, here,
do something with these.
Well, George sat with his music manuscript and
I don't know if he had a keyboard
or not, but he shut himself in his
room for 24 days and he looked at
those 75 verses out of the Bible and
he turned them this way and that way
and this way and that way and then
he wrote a slow song and then he
wrote a fast song and then the choir
sang then the bass soloist sang and then
the trumpet played a solo and then the
alto had a little recitative and then the
choir came in again and then the orchestra
played something slow and somber and serious and
then there was something light and fast and
lively and happy and boy, he just did
everything he could to look at those 75
verses.
Now, it doesn't take four hours to read
them.
He turned that into three and a half
to four hours of music.
They've never done all of the Messiah in
one sitting, I don't think.
Not in the recording studio.
They do a little bit each day, you
know.
That's meditation.
Handel said, what does it mean?
What should I say about it?
Is this a frightening passage?
A happy passage?
Is this a serious passage?
Should I picture joy or what should it
be?
He spent 24 days alone with those verses
and God.
When he was done, I wish it had
been a clearer testimony but he said, I
did see the great God.
I think he saw him in the scriptures.
I think the Lord found him.
As he read over those verses his friend
gave him, he discovered that he needed the
Lord.
I wish we had a better testimony than
that but I know this, he was meditating.
You can't spend that.
He scarcely slept and ate and would not
see anybody.
He was totally taken up in those Bible
verses and I don't think that God has
to change a note of that music.
When we get to heaven we'll all be
able to sing all those things, you know,
that nobody can on earth.
Meditation.
Bible meditation.
Thinking about everything that God has done.
Our thoughts are supposed to be stayed on
Christ.
When things in life interfere that's not part
of God's plan.
You can mark it down.
It's really part of the devil's plan.
If you're distracted from thinking about the God
who made you and bought you with his
blood that's too much distraction.
And we work as Christians, don't we?
I hope we do.
To clear those extra things out of our
life that God may have a fuller, a
larger room in our heart, in our thoughts.
When the Lord write a book of remembrance
there's a book of remembrance in heaven for
those that thought upon his name.
Just thinking on the name Jesus.
That's what a lot of our music is.
Jesus, oh how sweet the name.
Jesus, every day the same.
Jesus, let all saints proclaim.
That worthy name of Jesus.
The songwriter just thinking about the name Jesus.
There's no other name like it.
He's our savior.
Remembering the days of old.
Meditating on God's works.
And then he says muse.
And by the way, the root for music
is muse.
And it means to think.
If you go to the fair or the
circus or whatever you call it when it
comes to town and you get on those
rides, you know, the Ferris wheel and the
bullet and the scrambler and all the rest
of those things.
Roller coaster rides.
And I'll tell you, for me it's six
flags over nausea.
After you're 40, you can watch those things
from the ground.
You don't need to get on them anymore.
You don't know where gravity is.
It's just a crazy thing to do.
But kids, you know, they do that and
they scream their heads off.
They ride until they get sick and then
they ride some more and they don't care.
They just get sick and keep going.
That is what we call amusement.
No thinking.
You just get on the ride and you
go whoo.
You know, and if you let go, it's
supposed to be more exciting.
I'll tell you what.
If I thought that that made it any
more possible to fall out, that would not
be exciting.
Hanging on or letting go.
I'm assuming those things are going to hold
me in there or I'm not going to
begin with.
But we don't think on the ride.
We don't get on the roller coaster and
go, I am going to contemplate the theory
of relativity on this ride.
I don't think so.
You might think about gravity, but you probably
don't think about anything except how you feel.
It's just a physical thrill.
That is amusement.
It's not thinking.
And how much amusement we want in our
life is a real big question that we
can put on that.
But music means to think.
And from what David said, it means to
think about what God has done before, everything
that he's done, and to think on it,
turn it every which way, comparing one scripture
with another scripture, and to be thinking about
everything that God has done from creation to
Calvary.
And that's what music is for.
Do you know how many musicians in this
world are playing music and you ask them
what for?
And they go, I want to make people
happy.
And do they?
No.
I played for the crowds that wanted to
be happy and I never made anybody happy.
Some of them were so drunk that they
didn't know what happy was.
They didn't know what we were playing either.
They weren't listening.
When I played that pop music, I was
just ambience for their night of evil.
They didn't care if I played it well
or not.
They didn't care if I could sing it
right or not.
They didn't care if I got the right
chords.
They didn't care what the song was about,
just so long as they could dance.
They didn't care what I was all about.
And here I was trying to make people
happy and it didn't even make me happy.
That's not the purpose of music.
I got a neighbor, well he moved away
now, his name is Jim.
And he just kept asking me and asking
me and asking me and asking me.
Doesn't God want me to be happy?
And I hemmed and hawed for a long
time and finally I said, No!
Jim, God wants you to be obedient and
then you will be happy.
But he wants you to obey him first.
Classic case of a man that says, I've
trusted Christ but I've not given him my
life for service.
What a waste.
What a sad thing.
But he can't be happy because he won't
serve.
I said, Jim, you've got to give your
life over to the Lord.
You won't be happy otherwise.
But the business of being happy, musicians think
they're playing to make people happy and there
might be a moment of entertainment involved but
oh, what a much higher calling to take
music and minister to the needs of men.
People have hurting hearts.
People have great needs in their life.
People need to know more of God.
It isn't anything else we need to find
out in this world.
We need to know the Lord better.
We need to get his wisdom.
We need to get a hold of him
and have his love in our hearts.
We need to have his comfort.
We need to have his strength.
And people all the time are looking for
the help that they can get from God
and we can do that ministering in music.
People get just a glimpse of a God
who cares for them.
A God who wants to straighten their life
out and bless them.
A God who can take care of all
of our problems.
And so real music, when the song starts,
whether there's any lyrics or not, turns everybody's
heart and soul and spirit to the God
of our comfort.
To the God who is our helper.
A very present help in time of trouble.
To the only place they can get an
answer from the God of the Bible, from
the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's no greater calling for music.
I know this.
You can read stories of so-and-so.
You know, there's some famous singer somewhere.
Well, I started in church when I was
a little boy and then I went to
the big time.
Can I say something?
And I don't mean it in a wrong
way, but singing in the church with the
Lord as your audience, even if it's for
a handful of people, that is the big
time.
Singing for the Lord.
Singing as before the Lord.
Singing unto the Lord.
There's no higher calling.
I sang for the drunks for eight years.
There was no pleasure in that.
I sang for the crowd that didn't care
about music and they didn't care what the
subject of my music was.
I'd much rather sing for the Lord.
He cares about what I'm singing.
And if there's five Christians there or ten
Christians there or twenty Christians there, they care
what's being sung.
Even if it's just because they care about
the Savior and they don't really care about
me or my instruments or anything else.
I know there's no higher calling than singing
for the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords.
It's not so easy to learn to make
Him your audience because we can't see Him.
Whom having not seen, yet ye love with
joy unspeakable and full of glory.
But if you learn that, you will never,
and you know what the word is?
When you sell out for money, when you
head for the world, whether it's in music
or any other talent that you have, when
you give it to the world instead of
to the Lord, that's called prostituting your gift.
That's pretty low terminology, isn't it?
I'd rather sing unto the Lord and be
poor and get rich using music for the
world.
I'm going to be in heaven and praising
the Lord forevermore.
Now is a good time for me to
get started.
So music means to remember everything God has
done and encourage other people with it.
It means to think about it, what God
has done and what it means in my
life.
What should I be doing because I know
this about God or that about God.
And then to be thinking.
Music is, you know, that headbanger stuff that
people isn't...
That's so they can shut off their thoughts
because they have painful thoughts and they don't
know what to do with them.
And they just zap themselves out of reality.
It's a drug.
Music is a drug when it's like that.
They just disappear into a vortex of sound.
God means for us to think about Him
when the music starts.
And if, by the way, the music keeps
you from thinking about the Lord or won't
help you think about the Lord, that might
be good music to turn off and just
leave it alone.
And there's plenty of that that we don't
need.
But let's go to the New Testament.
I said a definition of the parts of
music.
And this is so important too.
Do you realize I don't need harmony and
I don't need rhythm.
Those are just a little bit extra things
that God gave us but I do need
melody.
And we'll see why in just a moment.
Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 5.
Ephesians chapter 5.
And here we find melody.
It's the same word that we use for
the word Psalms.
In Ephesians chapter 5, verse 18, of course,
gives us that admonition to be filled with
the Spirit.
Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess
but be filled with the Spirit.
That's a speaking to yourselves.
Music is for us.
In some ways, you might say music is
a selfish thing for everyone.
It does something to us.
It talks to us.
By the way, don't ever forget that.
If you let a piece of music in
your life, you let it in your ears,
you let it in your heart.
If I let it in my life, it
might just decide to take up residence and
stay there for 40 years.
Music talks to us.
It's going to say something to you and
not just today.
You go, well, I listened to it today
but I don't want it tomorrow.
Or you might say, well, it was worldly
music today and yeah, it wasn't very good
but you know, I'll forget it.
Oh boy, it'll pop up 10 years later
when you don't want it.
When I don't want it, music talks.
What is the music you're storing away saying
to you?
You got to live with it.
I'm in some ways like the Apostle Paul.
What I did most of the years in
the rock band, I did ignorantly.
Had I known what I know today, I
never would have been there.
I can remember songs from 40 years ago.
I can remember songs before I was in
the band from 50 years ago.
Things mother played on the radio.
Things my parents sang to me.
But this verse says, speaking to yourselves in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, not carnal
songs, by the way, singing and making melody
in your heart to the Lord.
There's another thing that's wrong with rap, by
the way.
You can see the way music is going.
The first thing that we're supposed to have
in our heart to the Lord when it
comes to anything musical is a melody.
None of this droning, you know, tease in
the middle with a pickle on top or
whatever the rappers are saying.
They're complaining in the streets is what they
are.
And in that same chapter that says happy
is that people whose God is the Lord
is a verse that says when there is
no complaining in the streets.
That's what the hippies did.
That's what the beatniks before them did.
That's what the rappers are doing now and
they're cussing while they do it.
They're mad, but they don't have a solution.
They're just angry.
The hippies were mad, but they didn't have
a solution.
We had a solution.
It was peace, man.
They never had it.
They never got it.
It was a satanic imitation.
They were calling peace.
Making melody in your heart to the Lord.
You're supposed to have a tune.
When we're happy, God made us so that
a melody strikes up even if we're not
a singer.
I know people that can't sing that write
songs.
It's horrible trying to figure out what notes
they mean when they sing them to you
and it's all kind of droney, you know,
but you can hear it.
You can hear something is giving them joy
and they've got a smile on their face
and they sing this with the poor voice
that they have, but you go, whoa, there's
something there.
It's a melody.
Melody is the most important part of music.
With it, you and I commune with God.
Because I do pray it, I think of
this song almost always first.
Jesus, keep me near the cross.
There a precious fountain.
Why?
Because I'm no good when I get far
away from the Lord Jesus.
But oh, and the Lord keeps me close
to him.
Life is wonderful.
And I can be a blessing to someone.
I need my life to count for God.
I need my life to count in helping
somebody else or my life has no meaning.
So we sing that song.
It doesn't have to be fast or slow
or any particular rhythm.
I can sing Jesus, keep me near the
cross or Jesus, keep me near the cross
or Jesus, keep me near the cross.
The rhythm doesn't matter at all.
I don't need rhythm.
I just need a melody and I can
pray to the Lord.
All I need is a tune and I
can sing my prayer unto the Lord.
That's what David did.
That's what his psalms are.
And the word for psalms and the word
for melody are the same word.
And in the concordance, it tells us that
that word means to celebrate the divine worship
with instruments and accompanying odes.
A melody is to have instruments with it.
Yes, in New Testament times too.
Just like the psalms did in the Old
Testament.
There are some people that teach that the
instruments are wrong and they are very wrong.
I'm sorry that they think it.
We, in short, worship God.
We praise God.
Maybe that's a better word and they don't
mean the same thing.
Praise and worship are two different things.
But music, melody, means to praise God.
So I don't need to have any particular
accompaniment here.
We'll put a little harmony to our melody.
It's not the same note, but it matches.
It blends.
So if I sing, Jesus, keep me near
the cross.
There a precious fountain free to all a
healing stream flows from Calvary's mountain.
Harmony is a funny thing.
It matches.
I played a single note there, like another
voice, but I can play full chords.
Jesus, keep me near the cross.
There a precious fountain.
And so forth.
Harmony works in different ways.
But we'll see what that is in just
a moment.
But the definition of melody is to pick
up an instrument and ode, a poem.
Pick up a poem and an instrument and
sing that musical tune, whatever it is, a
melody, to the Lord, to praise God.
I can think of lots of music written
in this world, because the world is twisted
and turned upside down.
Lots of music that was never written to
bring praise to God.
You know where worldly music comes from?
It comes from someone thinking that somehow he
likes a bottle of liquor.
And so he writes a song about getting
drunk.
And that's his God, whether he wants it
to be after a while or not.
People write about the flings that they have
and the affairs, adultery and fornication, God calls
it, and they brag about it and they
boast about it, because that is their God.
They live for illicit sex.
There are people that write songs about fast
cars.
People that write songs about smoking cigarettes.
Can you believe that?
There's been half a dozen of them for
sure.
There are people who write about getting away
from the law.
And there's people that write about getting caught
by the law.
And there's people that write about brawling and
fighting, because that is their God.
And they write about all the fun they're
going to have and the thrills they're going
to have, because those are their gods.
That's where music comes from.
Something stirs in our heart and we like
it so much that we sing about it.
That's where worldly music comes from.
We sing about the Lord because we found
out what?
He first loved us.
Do you know how many songs have been
written from 1 John 4, 19?
I'm sure dozens and dozens of them.
We love Him because He first loved us.
Oh, how I love Jesus because He first
loved me.
Lots of those.
I'm so glad we can sing unto the
living and the true God with our melodies.
And that's what God meant for tunes to
be all about.
If we don't do the world's music, we'll
make beautiful melodies.
Well, if it's beautiful enough, then it ought
to be used in praise of God.
And some of them have.
There have been some beautiful folk songs that
have been turned into gospel songs.
And they work because the music is decent.
But oh my, what a sad thing for
a person to write a song and doesn't
even write it to point people to the
God who made us and bought us with
His blood.
Melody means to praise God.
When our tunes are not directed toward God,
they really don't fulfill the Bible description of
what a tune is.
We praise God because He's worthy to be
praised.
Whether we're doing well financially, whether we're doing
well spiritually or emotionally, whether we're doing well
physically, whether things look good or not, God
is worthy to be praised.
I will call upon the Lord who is
worthy to be praised, David said.
That's what we're to do with our melodies.
Our heart will be lifted to heaven.
Our prayers will be heard.
His ears are open unto our prayers.
And our tunes will be what they're supposed
to be if we follow the Bible.
What about that harmony?
We played a little bit of it there
in Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross.
It's just extra.
Harmony's extra.
It's a backdrop for the melody.
But we need to see a picture of
it.
The word is not even in our English
Bible.
Just a picture of it.
So I've got two little pictures in Ephesians
chapter 4.
It says in verse 16, a verse about
the local church from whom the whole body
fitly joined together and compacted by that which
every joint supplieth according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part maketh increase
of the body unto the edifying of itself
in love.
That's a whole bunch of words.
And they say this.
God set up the solitary in families.
He took us out of the world, took
us out of the life of sin and
put us in a Christian family with others
that were born into the kingdom of God.
And said, now, I want you to find
your place and I want you to be
in your place and stay in your place
and that's your job and that's my job,
by the way.
You find your place in the local church,
it's never right to get so mad at
sister so-and-so and brother so-and
-so that you go, I'm never going to
knock on the doors of that church again.
That's not right.
You don't come to church because brother so
-and-so is so nice and such a
good Christian.
And you don't come to church because sister
so-and-so is so sweet and so
godly.
You come to church to honor the Lord
Jesus Christ who is always good to you
and always good to me.
You come to honor the Lord because He
saved your soul and His word is truth
and we need it and it doesn't matter.
If you're not getting along with someone, do
you ever stop thinking it might not be
their fault, it might be yours?
Me?
Let's just make sure it's not.
But I know that I got so mad
one day, like one fella said, I'm leaving
the Baptist church.
The worst things that ever happened to me
happened in the Baptist church.
Well, buddy, when you're a Baptist, that's all
you are is in church pretty much.
And everything that happens to you, whether it's
good or bad, happens in the Baptist church.
So that's no argument at all.
But I got so mad.
I was like that guy one day and
I said, this guy did this and he
said that and he cheated me and these
people...
I'm not going to be a Baptist.
But when I read my Bible, I are
one already.
Is one.
Am one.
And I finally said, those people can leave
if they want.
I'm staying here.
That's the picture.
Well, not quite.
That's not a good picture.
The picture of harmony is, I need to
stay in my place.
Okay?
And if I'm right next to that brother,
I need to love him in the Lord
anyway.
And if he really did me wrong, I
need to forgive him as God, for Christ's
sake, has forgiven me.
For Jesus' sake, I need to get along
with the worst rotten scoundrel that calls themselves
a Christian for the honor and glory of
God.
Harmony.
It says the building is fitly joined together.
It's talking about blocks.
In a church building, you've got concrete blocks.
And you put a little mortar between the
sides and the bottom.
There's a little space between us.
Now, if I get right in here, I'm
in his face, right?
That's not harmony.
It's mortar between.
There's a little space.
You've got to have that space between brothers
and sisters.
There's a too close and there's a too
far away.
You don't say, Oh, I'm never coming back.
That's like a divorce, isn't it?
You don't want that.
So, someone's got to say, I'm sorry.
Someone's got to say, forgive me.
And then you have harmony.
Here's a musical conflict.
Two brothers that can't stand each other.
Rotten brother so and so and the other
rotten brother so and so.
Here they are, arguing.
You like that?
Do that for half an hour.
You get a headache and an upset stomach.
Somebody's wrong.
That's too much clashing.
That happens in marriages.
That happens at work.
It happens in families.
It happens everywhere.
It happens in churches, unfortunately.
Conflict.
I can't stand it.
We're just butting heads all the time.
We just don't have any peace.
You know what's got to happen?
If this guy will quit hollering over here
and just move back a little bit, you'll
have peace.
A right relationship.
Harmony.
Now they're fitly joined together.
There's that space with the mortar in between.
If we ever get that figured out, our
marriages will stay together.
This is a miracle of God.
She's east, I'm west.
She's south, I'm north.
I'm hot, she's cold.
It just doesn't fail.
Not ever.
How long have we been married?
Seventy years?
Seventy years.
Thirty-five for her and thirty-five for
me.
That's seventy.
Don't laugh.
I got my math right.
It's because God is...
I will be honest.
God is teaching us.
We keep learning new things all the time.
God is teaching us that if it's not
life or death, if it's not Bible doctrine,
I can say I'm sorry.
I can walk away and quit arguing.
I can give her the space that she
needs.
She's a person too.
Look at her.
You're a person.
You needed to know that, right?
With the word of God, with prayer, with
the grace of God, that's what harmony is
all about.
You get a clash.
You get a conflict.
And then you resolve it with God.
With the Bible.
With the Holy Spirit.
And you have peace.
The sinner says, I'm not a sinner.
I'm not a sinner.
I don't have to get saved.
There's no such thing as sin.
The Bible's not true.
All the sinner has to do is say
I'm an ungodly sinner.
And I don't even deserve to go to
heaven.
But Lord, be gracious to me.
God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
And save me.
Peace with God.
Harmony is a picture of peace with God.
Let me give you one other demonstration.
I know you might say, what if that
other guy's wrong?
They're arguing still.
There they go again.
They ought to quit it.
Move the other one up out of the
way.
And then we have harmony.
For instance, if I play a, this is
a real original piece.
It came to rest, didn't it?
Even a mild suspension, dissonance.
Like chopsticks.
There has to be a resolution.
And that's what harmonious music teaches us.
You got a problem?
Solve it with God.
You don't end the song.
Can you imagine pop music, you know, with
all their chords?
Always with dissonance in it.
Never seems to come to rest.
Never seems to come to an end.
The jazz musicians, they're even worse.
They use these hot chords, you know.
And you're just supposed to take it, you
know.
Dissonance.
Conflict.
And God means for us to be in
the right place.
And it'll take the grace of God to
hold a marriage together, to hold the church
people together, to keep peace at a workplace,
even at school.
But that's what harmony is all about.
That's the picture of harmony there.
Fitly joined together.
And then the church can grow.
Then the family can grow.
Then the marriage can grow.
And so forth.
The other picture is for a carpenter.
It's in chapter 2 of Ephesians.
And it says in verse 21, in whom
all the building fitly framed together groweth unto
an holy temple in the Lord.
We grow up to be a holy temple
in the Lord when we all know our
place.
Now, I'm not a builder, but they build
those things, I don't know, what, 14, 15,
16 inches apart?
The studs, they call them, those 2x4s that
aren't really 2x4 because they want to save
money and they're less.
They make them smaller than they used to.
But anyway, they're in a certain spot and
then there's space in between them.
And that's fitly framed together.
Everyone has a place.
And my job isn't to put my brother
in his place.
My job is for me to get in
my place.
You and I got enough to do to
keep ourselves in the right place.
And if we stay in the right place,
I told my children too.
And I tell myself, I talk to me
sometimes.
I like me, mostly.
I said, you can walk with God if
nobody else does.
You can do right if nobody else does.
That's peace with God.
I want to stay right with God.
I had a heart attack 2 years ago.
I know more than I ever knew and
I've known it since I've been saved.
But I might just meet God tonight or
tomorrow.
I want to meet Him right with Him.
I know I'm saved.
I'm not worried about hell.
But I'm worried about answering to God for
not living for Him and not being right
and not keeping my sin confessed.
And I don't want to go to heaven
that way.
I want to be right with God.
I want to keep my sin confessed.
And I want to have a happy, victorious,
fruitful, Christian life.
Harmony with God first.
Then I'll know how to make that harmony
with other people and get rid of the
dissonance.
But the definition of harmony shows us that
there's a right place for notes.
The end result.
When you listen to some music and it
leaves you all ruffled and rattled inside, something's
wrong with the way that thing was written.
It ought to be satisfying.
It ought to be peaceful.
It ought to make you think about having
a right relationship with God and with your
spouse and with your parents and with your
children and with your neighbors and with your
friends in church and so forth.
Anyway, we need to go on and finish
up here tonight.
But that's the picture of harmony.
It means to join.
To join.
Harmony joins the melody to the rhythm.
And harmony joins itself to the melody.
It does it in various ways and I
played them just real quickly for you.
But let's look at rhythm.
We did preach something on it last time
but I just want to say something again.
Here these things about music have to do
with peace with God and having a right
relationship to God.
They have to do with praising God.
They have to do with thinking about God.
They're all related to the Lord because He
made music and gave it to us to
be a blessing.
But John chapter 7 in here he's going
to talk about rhythm and guess what?
It has to do with living water.
It has to do with drinking that water
from God where you never thirst again.
Have you drunk the water from God where
you'll never thirst again?
That living water that He says we need.
He told the woman at the well she
needed it.
That's what rhythm is all about.
It says in the last day in John
7 37 and 38 that great day of
the feast Jesus stood and cried saying if
any man thirsts let him come unto me
and drink.
He that believeth on me as the scriptureth
said out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water.
We drink this and we thirst again.
I drank the whole glass now tonight and
I still am thirsty after it's all done.
But Jesus has living water and yet that's
the picture that water just flowing when I
swallow it.
It says he that believeth on me as
the scriptureth said out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water.
When we get saved the life giving spirit
of God however He does it flows through
the Christian and God means it to be
that way unless we get out of fellowship
with God and we shut off the blessings
the Lord's hand is not certain that He
cannot save neither is His ear heavy that
He will not hear but your iniquities have
hit His face from you.
We can shut off the blessings but God
doesn't give us jolts in life it's not
a 220 zap from the socket.
His Holy Spirit would supply and supply and
supply like a river of water running.
Oh that thou hadst hearken to my commandments
Isaiah 48 in verse 18 I think it
is or 42 18 Oh that thou hadst
hearken to my commandments then had thy peace
been as a river.
God gives peace when we follow what He
tells us to do when we follow His
word and that peace is a picture of
rhythm it's a river flowing rhythm means to
run like water when the director directs do
you know what this is?
he's waving his arms these are ripples of
water this is a river his hands don't
stop they don't go like this they're not
robotic they're not stiff they flow they're florid
because the picture of rhythm is that it
flows and if the director could it would
be like this I would love to tell
you what I think of Jesus but you
couldn't get a choir to run along with
him either for I found in him a
friend so strong it's a river running rivers
are beautiful rivers are powerful they're unstoppable you
gotta bend in the road the river just
takes it you got a tree branch here
the river goes through it you got a
rock there it goes around it over it
sometimes it's deep sometimes it's shallow sometimes it's
wide sometimes it's narrow the river just keeps
on going that's how you and I as
Christians are supposed to be and the picture
of rhythm isn't the pulsating it's like the
blood flowing as the heart beats you don't
hear the beats you just the blood flows
in truth it kind of goes but it
flows when we witness to someone out of
our belly is flowing rivers of living water
words of truth that people need and when
the Lord is helping us we remember where
the verses are and we know which ones
to use and God uses us and so
that same help from the Holy Spirit that
flow is supposed to be in our life
and so when we sing as Christians we
sing and we talked about it earlier but
we sing in long flowing lines like a
river and I like to sing that song
it's one of my favorite songs but I
would love to tell you what I think
of Jesus since I found in him a
friend so strong and true it's just a
river flowing we just let that tone pour
out and roll out and it's not supposed
to stop and that's the important thing is
that the music moves forward with a pretty
much irresistible force but it's not pounding all
the way through that ruins the flow can
you imagine you know I would love to
tell you what I think of Jesus since
I found in him a friend so strong
and true that ruins the whole thing that's
not flowing at all I'm just chopping chopping
chopping chopping all the way through well we'll
be here all night if I don't quit
somewhere but I wanted you to see that
rhythm has to do with a flow of
water running and so we work to make
our our music move forward powerfully but it
doesn't have to pound and pulsate I suppose
it would in a march more than in
any in anything but even there the most
important thing is all the music happening in
that space of time keeping a steady beat
so a soldier could march to it but
we don't have to pound like what we
hear from modern music today definition of music
to think about God and all that he's
done definition of melody to praise God definition
of harmony to have a right relationship especially
and first with God definition of rhythm to
run like water and it's living water it's
the spirit of God flowing and working through
us and that's the picture that we're supposed
to gain wisdom from to guide our music
so it's the right kind of music I'm
not going to go any further than that
I could ask you a couple questions preacher
why don't you come and musicians will close
as he sees fit here but have you
drunk from that fountain of living water where
you don't thirst again do you have a
right relationship to God and to your fellow
man are you praising God and walking with
the Lord are you thinking about the Lord
all the day long where we fail that's
where we need to ask for help maybe
you're even here tonight and I don't know
you all and you've never trusted the Lord
you don't have that living water flowing through
you you don't have the forgiveness of sins
you don't have the hope and assurance of
heaven Jesus is the only one who can
give it to you he's died for your
sins shed his blood for the remission of
your sins but he invites you to come
to him and receive that gift of eternal
life let's stand to our feet I'm going
to pray with you and then turn this
service over to pastor Hargett tonight he may
know you all better than I do but
with heads bowed and eyes closed can I
just ask is there anybody here tonight you
say I'm not even sure I'm a Christian
and you'd let me know just slip your
hand up and put it down real quick
and I would know there's someone to pray
for to be saved tonight you say I
don't have that living water I don't know
what it is I don't know that heaven
is my home I don't have that peace
with God nothing that you're talking about anyone
like that could you just slip up your
hand all right maybe then I'm talking to
Christians and we'll pray in a moment but
would you have to say tonight I do
need prayer I'm saved but things aren't right
between me and God I don't have that
harmonious peace like I ought to have I've
got some sins to confess or I've got
to make some things right with a brother
or sister in church I tell you what
it's a miracle for a church to stay
together too it needs the spirit of God
and the help of God but anyone like
that I need God to help me there
I want prayer just slip up your hand
maybe you'd have to say I'm not the
kind of witness where the living water just
flows out of me and I want prayer
for that anyone like that just slip up
your hand amen amen you need to ask
the Lord for that help thank you anyone
have to say you know what a lot
of days I'm not thinking about the Lord
a lot of time I'm not thinking about
the Lord I just want God to help
me with my thought life my thought life
and you want prayer for that slip up
your hand and we'll pray here in a
moment and then we'll let preacher close amen
amen thank God always for tender hearts dear
father we do need help from thee may
these verses be a help tonight may thy
word be a help may the fellowship that
we give to others as Christians be a
help may preachers preaching and this council be
a help Lord may thy Holy Spirit help
us that we would be what thou would
have us to be help us to set
our mind and heart to it and keep
us from wandering keep us from straying keep
us from being ever in a place where
we are worthless now Lord we went longer
tonight than we thought we would and we
pray that when everyone goes home they'd be
refreshed and have good sleep and be rested
for tomorrow but Lord before we go home
maybe there's some that just need to bring
their needs to thee and Lord we prayed
together but maybe they need to talk to
thee by themselves so Lord send that help
from heaven and may we know it's thee
and praise thee and thank thee for it
we know we don't have our own strength
and we cannot run in that so dear
Lord send help and may we have the
testimony that we have victory because of thy
help in Jesus name Amen I'm going to
let Pastor Hargit close you come talk to
the Lord at the altar if there's still
some things on your heart