1 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:06,980 This morning's reading is taken from the Psalms, 2 00:00:07,620 --> 00:00:08,640 Psalm 96. 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:15,440 Psalm 96. 4 00:00:16,340 --> 00:00:18,060 Sing to the Lord a new song. 5 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:20,580 Sing to the Lord all the earth. 6 00:00:21,300 --> 00:00:22,980 Sing to the Lord, praise his name. 7 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,000 Proclaim his salvation day after day. 8 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:28,900 Declare his glory among the nations. 9 00:00:29,700 --> 00:00:31,619 His marvelous deeds among all the peoples. 10 00:00:32,860 --> 00:00:34,760 For great is the Lord and most worthy 11 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:35,420 of praise. 12 00:00:35,420 --> 00:00:37,700 He is to be feared above all gods. 13 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:40,340 For all the gods of the nations are 14 00:00:40,340 --> 00:00:40,720 idols. 15 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:42,900 But the Lord made the heavens. 16 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:45,800 Splendor and majesty are before him. 17 00:00:46,500 --> 00:00:48,280 Strength and glory are in his sanctuary. 18 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:51,760 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations. 19 00:00:52,740 --> 00:00:54,600 Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 20 00:00:55,540 --> 00:00:57,320 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to 21 00:00:57,320 --> 00:00:57,820 his name. 22 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:00,740 Bring an offering and come into his courts. 23 00:01:02,340 --> 00:01:04,099 Worship the Lord in the splendor of his 24 00:01:04,099 --> 00:01:04,459 holiness. 25 00:01:05,320 --> 00:01:06,800 Tremble before him all the earth. 26 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,240 Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. 27 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:12,360 The world is firmly established. 28 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:13,620 It cannot be moved. 29 00:01:14,700 --> 00:01:16,180 He will judge the peoples with equity. 30 00:01:17,660 --> 00:01:18,800 Let the heavens rejoice. 31 00:01:19,100 --> 00:01:20,080 Let the earth be glad. 32 00:01:20,820 --> 00:01:23,300 Let the sea resound and all that is 33 00:01:23,300 --> 00:01:23,640 in it. 34 00:01:24,220 --> 00:01:26,260 Let the fields be jubilant and everything in 35 00:01:26,260 --> 00:01:26,440 them. 36 00:01:27,700 --> 00:01:31,180 Then all the trees of the will sing 37 00:01:31,180 --> 00:01:32,580 before the Lord for he comes. 38 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:34,120 He comes to judge the earth. 39 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:37,400 He will judge the world in righteousness and 40 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:38,560 the peoples in his truth. 41 00:01:39,500 --> 00:01:41,040 Thanks be to God for his right word. 42 00:04:19,110 --> 00:04:51,610 Now I'd 43 00:04:51,610 --> 00:04:53,810 be grateful if you'd have your Bibles open 44 00:04:53,810 --> 00:04:57,290 at Ephesians and chapter five. 45 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:03,800 I think the psalm that we heard read 46 00:05:04,500 --> 00:05:09,800 so well earlier contains an illustration of what 47 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:15,860 Paul is enjoining us to do in the 48 00:05:15,860 --> 00:05:19,120 19th verse of Ephesians 5, but to catch 49 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:24,200 the context I read from the 17th. 50 00:05:24,940 --> 00:05:28,320 Therefore do not be foolish but understand what 51 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:29,980 the Lord's will is. 52 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:33,820 Do not get drunk on wine which leads 53 00:05:33,820 --> 00:05:35,020 to debauchery. 54 00:05:35,940 --> 00:05:38,000 Instead be filled with the Spirit. 55 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:41,700 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and 56 00:05:41,700 --> 00:05:42,560 spiritual songs. 57 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:44,960 Sing and make melody in your heart to 58 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:45,260 the Lord. 59 00:05:45,340 --> 00:05:48,120 Always giving thanks to God the Father for 60 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:51,100 everything in the name of our Lord Jesus 61 00:05:51,100 --> 00:05:51,900 Christ. 62 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:55,680 Well last time we were together looking into 63 00:05:55,680 --> 00:06:00,600 these very precious words I was speaking on 64 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,700 the subject of being filled with the Spirit, 65 00:06:04,900 --> 00:06:08,060 and I suggested to you from these verses 66 00:06:08,060 --> 00:06:13,800 that to be filled with the Spirit as 67 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:16,940 we are instructed to be by the Apostle 68 00:06:16,940 --> 00:06:21,040 Paul is not so much a climax, a 69 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,840 climactic experience, but it is a condition. 70 00:06:25,140 --> 00:06:27,000 It is something in which you and I 71 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:30,180 as Christian people ought to find ourselves in. 72 00:06:31,460 --> 00:06:34,460 Therefore I went on to suggest to you 73 00:06:34,460 --> 00:06:37,440 that in this matter of being filled with 74 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:39,100 the Spirit we're not passive. 75 00:06:39,380 --> 00:06:41,600 We're not waiting for something to happen to 76 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:41,920 us. 77 00:06:42,620 --> 00:06:44,120 We are very active. 78 00:06:45,100 --> 00:06:46,720 And then I went on to show you 79 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:51,160 from this context and other scriptures certain do's 80 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:56,260 and don'ts which are very important if one 81 00:06:56,260 --> 00:06:57,980 is going to know what it is to 82 00:06:57,980 --> 00:07:00,280 be continually filled with the Spirit. 83 00:07:00,340 --> 00:07:01,940 Now if you weren't here this last week, 84 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:04,300 I particularly think of some of our young 85 00:07:04,300 --> 00:07:07,400 people who were out last Sunday morning ministering 86 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:07,760 elsewhere. 87 00:07:07,980 --> 00:07:09,600 I would like you to get that tape 88 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:12,420 and play it through together, maybe discuss it 89 00:07:12,420 --> 00:07:15,180 together, but I think it was an important 90 00:07:15,180 --> 00:07:18,700 word that is necessary for you to understand 91 00:07:18,700 --> 00:07:21,740 as we move on in Paul's teaching. 92 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:24,520 He goes on to say, having been filled 93 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:26,440 with the Spirit, or rather because we are 94 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:28,600 filled with the Spirit, certain things will follow. 95 00:07:28,940 --> 00:07:30,800 It will affect, from verse 19, the way 96 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:31,400 we worship. 97 00:07:32,100 --> 00:07:32,920 Would you believe him? 98 00:07:32,980 --> 00:07:35,380 From verse 22, it will affect the way 99 00:07:35,380 --> 00:07:37,120 that you relate to your wife or your 100 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,300 husband, assuming your marital state. 101 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:42,660 Verse 1 of this next chapter, it will 102 00:07:42,660 --> 00:07:44,220 affect the way that you bring up your 103 00:07:44,220 --> 00:07:44,580 children. 104 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,360 Verse 5 of the sixth chapter, it will 105 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:54,280 affect industrial relationships, the relationships between employer and 106 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:54,960 employee. 107 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:57,520 You see this, this whole business of being 108 00:07:57,520 --> 00:07:59,660 filled with the Spirit, it's not something academic. 109 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:02,820 It's not something just reserved for monks in 110 00:08:02,820 --> 00:08:03,380 a monastery. 111 00:08:04,180 --> 00:08:06,180 It is something that is worked out in 112 00:08:06,180 --> 00:08:08,500 the ordinary warp and woof of human life, 113 00:08:08,580 --> 00:08:11,040 and it has some very practical implications. 114 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:14,300 However, I must resist the temptation to deal 115 00:08:14,300 --> 00:08:15,040 with it in general. 116 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:18,500 We are looking specifically at the nineteenth verse, 117 00:08:18,780 --> 00:08:21,180 and Paul is here dealing with our attitudes 118 00:08:21,180 --> 00:08:23,960 as Christian people, how we come together in 119 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:27,460 worship, because we're filled with the Spirit. 120 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:30,860 And so that's what I want to address 121 00:08:30,860 --> 00:08:33,919 you on this morning, because here I argue 122 00:08:33,919 --> 00:08:36,020 in the nineteenth verse, you get a snapshot, 123 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:40,520 a picture of the early church. 124 00:08:40,860 --> 00:08:42,400 I don't think it's a full picture. 125 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:45,440 I don't think there's a wide-angle lens 126 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:46,180 on the camera. 127 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:49,860 Here is part of a whole, and the 128 00:08:49,860 --> 00:08:52,160 whole is important, but so also is this 129 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:52,560 part. 130 00:08:53,180 --> 00:08:55,980 And so it's very important, it's very interesting 131 00:08:55,980 --> 00:08:58,600 for us to look into this nineteenth verse 132 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:01,200 of Ephesians 5, and we could of course 133 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,020 twin it with parallel scriptures. 134 00:09:03,540 --> 00:09:04,740 Let's look at one of those. 135 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:08,480 For example, in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 136 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,040 16, the Apostle is saying almost the same, 137 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:16,380 though the picture is slightly larger, just fractionally 138 00:09:16,380 --> 00:09:18,100 bigger in size. 139 00:09:19,020 --> 00:09:21,460 Let the word of Christ dwell in you 140 00:09:21,460 --> 00:09:24,380 richly as you teach and admonish one another 141 00:09:24,380 --> 00:09:27,480 with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, 142 00:09:27,620 --> 00:09:31,060 hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your 143 00:09:31,060 --> 00:09:35,480 hearts to God, and so forth. 144 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:38,320 And there's another verse which gives you perhaps 145 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:41,600 an even wider picture in Corinthians, but maybe 146 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:43,120 we'll come to that if we have time 147 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:44,620 in a moment or two. 148 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:47,060 Well, I put the question to you all 149 00:09:47,060 --> 00:09:48,920 this morning, whether you're in the galleries here 150 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:52,040 or down on the ground floor, in what 151 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:53,960 attitude did you come to church? 152 00:09:54,540 --> 00:09:55,460 Why did you come? 153 00:09:56,340 --> 00:10:00,040 What is your reason for being here? 154 00:10:00,740 --> 00:10:02,020 Well, it seems to me that these are 155 00:10:02,020 --> 00:10:03,560 questions that we can put up to our 156 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:06,960 text, and from the answers that we discover, 157 00:10:07,580 --> 00:10:11,220 we shall find whether our objective in coming 158 00:10:11,220 --> 00:10:14,800 to worship in the twentieth century equals that 159 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:16,260 of early Christian people. 160 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,280 What was their intention of coming together? 161 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:21,280 What was the reason? 162 00:10:22,980 --> 00:10:26,380 Well, recall that earlier on, Paul has been 163 00:10:26,380 --> 00:10:29,000 speaking of the man who likes drink. 164 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:32,180 Now, you must always bear this analogy in 165 00:10:32,180 --> 00:10:35,580 mind, because it has certain positive lessons as 166 00:10:35,580 --> 00:10:38,800 well as certain dissimilarities. 167 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:41,260 Why does a man have drink? 168 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:44,020 Why does he go to the public house? 169 00:10:44,020 --> 00:10:46,380 Now, the majority of people who go to 170 00:10:46,380 --> 00:10:49,900 the public house, they are in no way 171 00:10:49,900 --> 00:10:50,980 hooked on drink. 172 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:53,500 They're not alcoholics. 173 00:10:54,680 --> 00:10:56,460 Some of them, many of them, are very 174 00:10:56,460 --> 00:10:58,840 good ordinary citizens in our country. 175 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:00,060 Now, why do they go? 176 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:02,520 Well, what do you find in a public 177 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:02,880 house? 178 00:11:03,380 --> 00:11:05,000 You find a place where you can have 179 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:05,460 fellowship. 180 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:08,140 And so, after a hard day, if you're 181 00:11:08,140 --> 00:11:09,960 given to alcohol, someone comes to you and 182 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:10,920 says, come, let's have a drink. 183 00:11:11,680 --> 00:11:14,200 Let's relax together over a drink. 184 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:16,340 And what do you mean by relaxing? 185 00:11:16,460 --> 00:11:17,840 Well, you can talk, can't you? 186 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:20,820 You have a very convivial evening, or so 187 00:11:20,820 --> 00:11:22,800 the idea has it. 188 00:11:23,900 --> 00:11:26,980 And I understand in some public houses and 189 00:11:26,980 --> 00:11:29,140 in some restaurants that are licensed, that I've 190 00:11:29,140 --> 00:11:33,020 been into, that you find over the door 191 00:11:33,020 --> 00:11:36,140 of the saloon, licensed for singing. 192 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:39,440 Well, why do they license these places for 193 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:39,860 singing? 194 00:11:40,620 --> 00:11:42,860 Well, because the man who's had some drink, 195 00:11:42,980 --> 00:11:45,560 he not only feels relaxed as far as 196 00:11:45,560 --> 00:11:48,200 his normal vocal cords are concerned, but sometimes, 197 00:11:48,260 --> 00:11:50,980 not always, sometimes he'll go into song. 198 00:11:51,860 --> 00:11:54,160 And so, when you're passing some of these 199 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:55,880 places, you hear the people singing. 200 00:11:57,080 --> 00:11:58,920 Now, Paul doesn't blush to say that when 201 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,160 you're filled with the Spirit, well, in a 202 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:05,700 similar fashion, similar in one sense, dissimilar in 203 00:12:05,700 --> 00:12:07,380 another, you will react. 204 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:10,660 You will have vocal cords that are active. 205 00:12:10,980 --> 00:12:12,360 You want to say something. 206 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:14,180 You want to do something. 207 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:16,180 Be filled with the Spirit. 208 00:12:16,380 --> 00:12:18,480 Speak, actually, I-N-G should be on 209 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:20,560 the end of that, because it's, it brings 210 00:12:20,560 --> 00:12:23,840 out the participle, the present participle, speaking to 211 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:26,900 one another with songs, singing and making music 212 00:12:26,900 --> 00:12:27,900 in your heart to the Lord. 213 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:28,180 Why? 214 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:30,340 Well, because you're happy, not because of some 215 00:12:30,340 --> 00:12:33,540 drug, some stimulant, but because the Blessed Spirit 216 00:12:33,540 --> 00:12:35,400 has come into your heart and you're glad 217 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,300 as a result of that, so you speak. 218 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:41,200 And will you notice who you speak to? 219 00:12:42,740 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaking to one another. 220 00:12:43,940 --> 00:12:47,680 Actually, the verb speaking there really gives the 221 00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:49,900 same impression as the verb singing. 222 00:12:50,140 --> 00:12:53,040 It's got the idea of, of putting word 223 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:54,820 into song, even in the first part of 224 00:12:54,820 --> 00:12:57,260 verse 19, speaking to one another. 225 00:12:58,380 --> 00:13:00,960 I once recall reading a commentator, and how 226 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:03,740 often commentators confuse us when we're reading Scripture. 227 00:13:04,660 --> 00:13:05,620 Think that one through. 228 00:13:06,860 --> 00:13:11,260 I once remember a commentator passing scorn on 229 00:13:11,260 --> 00:13:12,220 the idea of a solo. 230 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:14,040 What does a soloist do? 231 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,200 And this is a Puritan commentator, incidentally. 232 00:13:16,820 --> 00:13:20,800 Well, the soloist exalts herself or himself, you 233 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:22,360 know, and now singing it to be to 234 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:22,920 the Lord. 235 00:13:23,680 --> 00:13:25,440 Well, I think that he went beyond Scripture, 236 00:13:25,560 --> 00:13:26,200 quite frankly. 237 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaking, singing to one another. 238 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:33,820 Architects are bad theologians. 239 00:13:35,020 --> 00:13:41,720 I wish that pastors, ministers, had constructed the 240 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:46,760 plans around which church buildings were erected, and 241 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:49,740 not architects alone. 242 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:51,560 Why do I say that? 243 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:53,600 Well, because they're obsessed with the rectangle. 244 00:13:54,500 --> 00:13:56,800 The only person virtually that you can see 245 00:13:56,800 --> 00:14:00,200 in most non-conformist churches is a man 246 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:00,860 in the pulpit. 247 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:05,280 Now, that could be unfortunate or pleasing, depending 248 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:10,040 presumably who's in the pulpit, but basically all 249 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:11,700 that you can see in the majority of 250 00:14:11,700 --> 00:14:16,360 churches is people's heads, and generally we'd rather 251 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:17,160 see their faces. 252 00:14:18,140 --> 00:14:20,280 Now, here in the tabernacle, the epitome of 253 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:23,300 balance, we've got a sort of compromise, because 254 00:14:23,300 --> 00:14:27,180 you've got the Grecian architecture, almost of the 255 00:14:27,180 --> 00:14:29,340 amphitheater, and you folks in the galleries, you 256 00:14:29,340 --> 00:14:31,200 can look across at one another, I trust 257 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:33,280 you do, not to scowl. 258 00:14:36,630 --> 00:14:40,550 And when you're singing, to whom are you 259 00:14:40,550 --> 00:14:41,370 singing sometimes? 260 00:14:41,510 --> 00:14:43,250 Well, you're not always singing to God, are 261 00:14:43,250 --> 00:14:43,430 you? 262 00:14:45,070 --> 00:14:45,950 You say, that's heresy. 263 00:14:46,030 --> 00:14:46,710 Of course we aren't. 264 00:14:47,170 --> 00:14:49,110 Seek ye first the kingdom of God and 265 00:14:49,110 --> 00:14:49,790 His righteousness. 266 00:14:49,790 --> 00:14:51,170 You don't need to sing that to the 267 00:14:51,170 --> 00:14:51,690 Lord Jesus. 268 00:14:51,850 --> 00:14:52,870 He planted the kingdom. 269 00:14:53,030 --> 00:14:53,590 He's the king. 270 00:14:54,290 --> 00:14:55,310 He doesn't need to seek it. 271 00:14:55,370 --> 00:14:57,330 Our blessed Lord is the monarch who reigns. 272 00:14:58,470 --> 00:14:59,690 So, who do you sing it to? 273 00:14:59,890 --> 00:15:01,050 We're encouraging one another. 274 00:15:01,210 --> 00:15:02,570 Seek ye first the kingdom of God. 275 00:15:02,670 --> 00:15:03,790 Here I've had a very bad week. 276 00:15:03,870 --> 00:15:04,830 You don't know what they did to me 277 00:15:04,830 --> 00:15:07,150 at the sixth form college, but my Derby 278 00:15:07,150 --> 00:15:08,430 and Joan club, to put it the other 279 00:15:08,430 --> 00:15:09,150 end of the spectrum. 280 00:15:10,370 --> 00:15:12,590 Very difficult, and here I am, I'm flabby 281 00:15:12,590 --> 00:15:13,590 in the Christian life. 282 00:15:13,690 --> 00:15:14,490 I need encouragement. 283 00:15:14,770 --> 00:15:16,770 Seek ye first the kingdom of God, brother, 284 00:15:16,930 --> 00:15:17,150 sister. 285 00:15:18,910 --> 00:15:20,630 What a friend we have in Jesus. 286 00:15:21,790 --> 00:15:22,830 To who are you singing that? 287 00:15:22,890 --> 00:15:23,450 To the Lord. 288 00:15:24,290 --> 00:15:25,270 You're not singing it to heaven. 289 00:15:25,450 --> 00:15:27,530 They're, they're perfectly aware that you've got the 290 00:15:27,530 --> 00:15:28,990 best friend in the universe. 291 00:15:29,470 --> 00:15:30,890 We're singing it to one another. 292 00:15:31,010 --> 00:15:33,190 What a friend we have in Jesus. 293 00:15:34,150 --> 00:15:37,150 I remember in a park in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, 294 00:15:37,190 --> 00:15:41,470 years ago being so encouraged, listening to Yugoslav 295 00:15:41,470 --> 00:15:44,310 Christians persecuted before their faith, going out and 296 00:15:44,310 --> 00:15:45,310 risking an open air. 297 00:15:45,410 --> 00:15:48,950 The local police had said that they couldn't 298 00:15:48,950 --> 00:15:52,450 speak in the open air, that nobody said 299 00:15:52,450 --> 00:15:53,510 anything about singing. 300 00:15:54,350 --> 00:15:55,590 So we went and we sang. 301 00:15:55,710 --> 00:15:57,890 What a friend we have in Jesus. 302 00:15:58,030 --> 00:16:02,010 That was testimony, provocative testimony, encouraging one another. 303 00:16:02,310 --> 00:16:03,370 Speak to one another. 304 00:16:03,570 --> 00:16:04,650 Sing to one another. 305 00:16:05,430 --> 00:16:08,350 You know the word antiphony, antiphonal singing? 306 00:16:08,490 --> 00:16:10,930 That's when one part of the congregation takes 307 00:16:10,930 --> 00:16:12,990 up a melody, and another part, and another 308 00:16:12,990 --> 00:16:16,530 part, and in a period of time the 309 00:16:16,530 --> 00:16:19,170 whole congregation are involved in singing. 310 00:16:20,310 --> 00:16:22,330 Now I believe that that was part of 311 00:16:22,330 --> 00:16:22,790 the practice. 312 00:16:22,950 --> 00:16:24,210 I don't want to make too much from 313 00:16:24,210 --> 00:16:25,970 this comment, but I think that I can 314 00:16:25,970 --> 00:16:28,090 demonstrate to you that this was part of 315 00:16:28,090 --> 00:16:29,850 the way that the early Christians used to 316 00:16:29,850 --> 00:16:31,730 go about praising the Lord. 317 00:16:33,170 --> 00:16:36,410 It's horizontal, you see, provoking one another, encouraging 318 00:16:36,410 --> 00:16:38,990 one another, but of course the whole idea 319 00:16:38,990 --> 00:16:42,250 was a vertical, bringing praise to the Lord. 320 00:16:42,410 --> 00:16:44,290 It's not always easy, is it, to praise 321 00:16:44,290 --> 00:16:45,930 the Lord at the beginning of a service, 322 00:16:46,530 --> 00:16:48,050 particularly if it's at night, if it's an 323 00:16:48,050 --> 00:16:49,970 evening service, maybe the prayer meeting on a 324 00:16:49,970 --> 00:16:50,210 Monday. 325 00:16:50,470 --> 00:16:53,730 There you are, you had a difficult job 326 00:16:53,730 --> 00:16:56,270 during the day just to keep going, and 327 00:16:56,270 --> 00:16:58,490 it took a lot of energy and initiative 328 00:16:58,490 --> 00:17:00,070 just to come to the prayer meeting. 329 00:17:00,690 --> 00:17:02,310 You felt that you'd rather be in your 330 00:17:02,310 --> 00:17:05,210 garden, and you'd rather be watching the television, 331 00:17:05,510 --> 00:17:06,829 or what have you. 332 00:17:07,230 --> 00:17:10,010 You came along and you felt absolutely flaked, 333 00:17:10,030 --> 00:17:10,530 did you not? 334 00:17:11,650 --> 00:17:14,410 And then you waited upon the Lord, and 335 00:17:14,410 --> 00:17:16,690 somebody got going in prayer and praise, and 336 00:17:16,690 --> 00:17:18,450 they touched your heart, and by nine o 337 00:17:18,450 --> 00:17:19,869 'clock you weren't the same person as you 338 00:17:19,869 --> 00:17:20,670 were at 7 30. 339 00:17:20,790 --> 00:17:23,050 They that wait upon the Lord renew their 340 00:17:23,050 --> 00:17:25,030 strength, and ere long in a prayer meeting, 341 00:17:25,190 --> 00:17:27,030 it happens so often here in the town, 342 00:17:27,150 --> 00:17:29,090 it becomes electric towards the end. 343 00:17:29,350 --> 00:17:30,470 I use the word because I don't know 344 00:17:30,470 --> 00:17:31,890 what other word to use. 345 00:17:32,170 --> 00:17:32,710 What has happened? 346 00:17:32,770 --> 00:17:34,590 Well, you see, our hearts have been warmed, 347 00:17:34,750 --> 00:17:37,670 enlarged, and together now we're in a condition 348 00:17:37,670 --> 00:17:40,390 where we can bring a cacophony of sound, 349 00:17:40,530 --> 00:17:43,950 of praise, of melody to the Lord, singing 350 00:17:43,950 --> 00:17:49,470 in our hearts, and making melody to the 351 00:17:49,470 --> 00:17:51,670 Lord God, giving thanks to the Lord in 352 00:17:51,670 --> 00:17:52,310 everything. 353 00:17:53,530 --> 00:17:54,790 Do you know, I wish they didn't call 354 00:17:54,790 --> 00:17:55,870 this place the tabernacle. 355 00:17:58,020 --> 00:18:00,440 I say that because very few people know 356 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:01,720 what the tabernacle is. 357 00:18:02,340 --> 00:18:04,020 Of course, we've been here a long time, 358 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:06,140 some longer than others, and some of the 359 00:18:06,140 --> 00:18:08,620 people in the town have now worked out 360 00:18:08,620 --> 00:18:11,680 that we're not a Jewish synagogue, but I 361 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:14,140 have had letters to the chief rabbi. 362 00:18:16,500 --> 00:18:17,860 I'm being quite serious. 363 00:18:19,300 --> 00:18:21,180 I think I'd like to call this place 364 00:18:21,180 --> 00:18:22,840 the Melody Land Fellowship. 365 00:18:26,300 --> 00:18:29,000 In my heart there rings a melody. 366 00:18:30,860 --> 00:18:32,920 Song is the language of heaven. 367 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:38,560 Jesus has come that our joy might be 368 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:38,980 full. 369 00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:41,920 I was talking to a young teenage girl 370 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:44,840 this week, lovely lass if ever there was 371 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:46,620 one, came into my office, had never met 372 00:18:46,620 --> 00:18:47,020 her before. 373 00:18:48,120 --> 00:18:50,680 She was about to be pulled into one 374 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:52,380 of the sects in the town, and I 375 00:18:52,380 --> 00:18:54,540 said, well, what is it that puts you 376 00:18:54,540 --> 00:18:56,120 off about Christianity? 377 00:18:56,420 --> 00:18:57,760 She hadn't been in the town very long. 378 00:18:57,840 --> 00:18:58,880 She said, it's a joylessness. 379 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:01,700 Within the sect I found joy. 380 00:19:03,020 --> 00:19:05,340 You smile when I say Melody Land, and 381 00:19:05,340 --> 00:19:07,380 maybe I want to put my suggestion in 382 00:19:07,380 --> 00:19:09,760 inverted commas, but the principle is there, and 383 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:11,840 I don't apologize, neither do I qualify it. 384 00:19:12,020 --> 00:19:16,080 One moment, Him serve with mirth His praise 385 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:16,860 foretell. 386 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,200 Our Lord Jesus has done so much for 387 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,140 us, and He inhabits the praises of His 388 00:19:23,140 --> 00:19:23,500 people. 389 00:19:23,780 --> 00:19:25,920 That's what the psalmist says of God of 390 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:28,080 Jehovah, Psalm 22 and verse 3. 391 00:19:28,660 --> 00:19:30,140 Well, what was the intention of these people 392 00:19:30,140 --> 00:19:31,100 when they came together? 393 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:33,540 They came to worship God, and worship means 394 00:19:33,540 --> 00:19:36,760 giving full value to an ocean, thanking God 395 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:38,500 for His greatness, for His goodness. 396 00:19:38,820 --> 00:19:39,820 How did they go about it? 397 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:42,560 Well, look at the latter part of the 398 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:43,440 19th verse. 399 00:19:44,820 --> 00:19:46,460 Indeed, it's not the latter part, it's right 400 00:19:46,460 --> 00:19:46,840 in the middle. 401 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:49,500 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and 402 00:19:49,500 --> 00:19:50,800 spiritual songs. 403 00:19:52,260 --> 00:19:53,820 There are those who say that this is 404 00:19:53,820 --> 00:19:58,520 really just repetition, psalm equals hymns equals spiritual 405 00:19:58,520 --> 00:19:59,000 songs. 406 00:19:59,180 --> 00:20:01,860 This, in grammatical terms, is tautology. 407 00:20:02,020 --> 00:20:03,960 Paul is emphasizing to make a point. 408 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:05,620 Well, I'm not so sure. 409 00:20:07,420 --> 00:20:09,460 Let's try and define what he's talking about. 410 00:20:10,260 --> 00:20:12,120 I don't have a great amount of time 411 00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:14,020 to go into this, so I can't give 412 00:20:14,020 --> 00:20:15,300 you all my reasoning, though I'd be very 413 00:20:15,300 --> 00:20:16,200 glad to give it in private. 414 00:20:17,300 --> 00:20:19,060 Speak to one another with psalms. 415 00:20:19,140 --> 00:20:20,700 Well, psalms, that's quite easy, isn't it? 416 00:20:20,740 --> 00:20:22,620 We have the psaltery, the book of psalms 417 00:20:22,620 --> 00:20:24,100 in the Old Testament. 418 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:26,360 We read that when our Lord took His 419 00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:28,560 leave from the upper room with His disciples, 420 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:29,520 He sang a psalm. 421 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:33,020 One of the Hallel psalms, the second part 422 00:20:33,020 --> 00:20:36,240 of the Hallel, Jewish collection of psalms incorporated 423 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:37,420 in the book of psalms. 424 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:41,900 Full of joy, I will keep my vows 425 00:20:41,900 --> 00:20:43,680 in the presence of the Lord, sang our 426 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:44,660 Lord Jesus Christ. 427 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:49,400 The psalms, so often they're the jubilati, so 428 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:51,500 often there is worship, so often there is 429 00:20:51,500 --> 00:20:54,660 emotion, and the Hebrews were not afraid to 430 00:20:54,660 --> 00:20:55,420 release emotion. 431 00:20:56,180 --> 00:20:59,300 Sometimes I think that we harm ourselves spiritually 432 00:20:59,300 --> 00:21:01,960 because of our fear in this area. 433 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:07,280 Nobody wants a false emotionalism, but there is 434 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:10,100 a blessed religious emotion that is part of 435 00:21:10,100 --> 00:21:12,020 worship, without which worship cannot proceed. 436 00:21:12,820 --> 00:21:13,700 The psalms. 437 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:16,940 Well, the early church, they used to sing 438 00:21:16,940 --> 00:21:19,100 the psalms, but let's remember we're talking about 439 00:21:19,100 --> 00:21:19,760 Gentiles here. 440 00:21:19,820 --> 00:21:21,040 Paul is writing to the Ephesians. 441 00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:22,780 They didn't have the Old Testament, at least 442 00:21:22,780 --> 00:21:24,780 not many of them, only the Jewish part 443 00:21:24,780 --> 00:21:25,400 of the church. 444 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:27,520 They wouldn't have known many of the psalms, 445 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:29,260 doubtless they were learning them as we learn 446 00:21:29,260 --> 00:21:29,940 them and sing them. 447 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:34,860 But because Christianity is in effect an entry 448 00:21:34,860 --> 00:21:39,880 into melody land, then they became vocal themselves. 449 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:43,920 Again, you know, we can be very pious 450 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:45,060 sometimes, can't we? 451 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:49,140 In our evangelicalism, we're intellectuals, we're academic. 452 00:21:49,940 --> 00:21:52,120 A curse on intellectualism, a curse on being 453 00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:55,500 academic, if it strips you from the simplicity 454 00:21:55,500 --> 00:21:57,600 as it is in Christ and causes you 455 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:01,420 not to enjoy emotionally your faith. 456 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:04,060 Why do I say that? 457 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:05,620 Well, come to this business of choruses. 458 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:08,660 I've known people sort of turn up their 459 00:22:08,660 --> 00:22:09,840 nose at a chorus. 460 00:22:10,620 --> 00:22:14,600 They're so theologically erudite, they cannot sing choruses, 461 00:22:14,660 --> 00:22:17,520 even when these are chock-a-block full 462 00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:18,040 of Scripture. 463 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:19,680 I admit, they're not all, and some are 464 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:21,000 quite banal, but some of the hymns are. 465 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:22,700 Let's face it. 466 00:22:23,940 --> 00:22:25,720 But what did these early Christians do? 467 00:22:25,780 --> 00:22:27,080 Well, I put it to you, they composed 468 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:28,540 their own hymns, not lengthy hymns. 469 00:22:28,580 --> 00:22:30,020 They didn't have hymn books like we have. 470 00:22:30,180 --> 00:22:31,700 They didn't have the printing press as we 471 00:22:31,700 --> 00:22:31,960 have. 472 00:22:32,100 --> 00:22:32,920 They had to memorize. 473 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:35,040 Do you want an example of an early 474 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:35,820 Christian song? 475 00:22:36,660 --> 00:22:38,620 Then go to the fourteenth verse of this 476 00:22:38,620 --> 00:22:39,000 chapter. 477 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:41,560 In fact, it may be very appropriate to 478 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:42,260 you at this point. 479 00:22:43,140 --> 00:22:46,540 Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, 480 00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:48,920 and Christ will shine on you. 481 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:51,240 That's an early Christian song. 482 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:54,140 The man who taught me historical theology, Professor 483 00:22:54,140 --> 00:22:59,360 Ralph Martin, has almost given up a major 484 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:01,480 part of his life into the researching in 485 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:05,000 the Bible of ancient hymns, of early church 486 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,260 hymns, and he translates this one as such, 487 00:23:07,500 --> 00:23:10,440 and his translation is, Awake, O sleeper, from 488 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:12,980 the grave arise, the light of Christ upon 489 00:23:12,980 --> 00:23:13,560 you shines. 490 00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:16,960 And the idea is the baptismal service, you 491 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:17,100 see. 492 00:23:17,180 --> 00:23:19,580 The candidate's gone in, and he's being immersed, 493 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:21,920 and the brothers, the elders, they're lifting him 494 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:23,960 out of the water, and the congregation, to 495 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:25,580 a man, to a woman, they start to 496 00:23:25,580 --> 00:23:28,960 sing, perhaps antiphonally, one section singing one line, 497 00:23:29,060 --> 00:23:31,020 another section the other line, and so forth. 498 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,780 Wake up, O sleeper, arise from the grave, 499 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:37,240 the light of Christ upon you shines. 500 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:41,260 Do you want another example? 501 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:42,500 I could give you several. 502 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:44,760 Let me settle for one more. 503 00:23:44,860 --> 00:23:47,680 Here's Paul writing to Timothy, the end of 504 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:49,820 the sixteenth, the end of the third chapter, 505 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:51,620 the sixteenth verse of the first epistle. 506 00:23:52,180 --> 00:23:54,020 Here are words you find nowhere else in 507 00:23:54,020 --> 00:23:55,200 Scripture, but it's a quotation. 508 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:56,940 Those of you who follow the NIV will 509 00:23:56,940 --> 00:23:57,280 see it. 510 00:23:57,500 --> 00:24:00,120 Set out, as such, speaks of our Lord 511 00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:02,660 Jesus, tells us several things about Him. 512 00:24:02,980 --> 00:24:05,020 He appeared in a body, was vindicated by 513 00:24:05,020 --> 00:24:07,060 the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached 514 00:24:07,060 --> 00:24:09,140 among the nations, was believed on in the 515 00:24:09,140 --> 00:24:10,640 world, and taken up into glory. 516 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:11,380 What is that? 517 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,660 Well, it's none other than a New Testament 518 00:24:14,660 --> 00:24:19,540 song, praising the Lord Jesus Christ, bringing Him 519 00:24:19,540 --> 00:24:23,460 honor and glory, a New Testament hymn. 520 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:26,860 Augustine said that a hymn, to be a 521 00:24:26,860 --> 00:24:28,300 Christian hymn, must be praised. 522 00:24:28,380 --> 00:24:30,280 It must be praised to God, and it 523 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:31,560 must be sung. 524 00:24:32,940 --> 00:24:35,460 But then the Apostle Paul interestingly makes reference 525 00:24:35,460 --> 00:24:37,160 to spiritual songs. 526 00:24:37,980 --> 00:24:39,980 He doesn't need the word spiritual to define 527 00:24:39,980 --> 00:24:42,400 psalms, because there isn't anything else apart from 528 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:45,180 a spiritual psalm, and despite the quotation from 529 00:24:45,180 --> 00:24:47,540 Augustine that there's nothing else in a hymn 530 00:24:47,540 --> 00:24:48,760 apart from a spiritual hymn. 531 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:50,180 You never talk of a secular hymn. 532 00:24:51,420 --> 00:24:52,940 Well, if you do, then you use the 533 00:24:52,940 --> 00:24:54,400 word wrongly, the word hymn wrongly. 534 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:55,660 But a song, that's different. 535 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:57,080 You have secular songs, don't you? 536 00:24:57,140 --> 00:25:00,220 Comic songs, and so forth, folk songs. 537 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:02,600 But Paul is here saying spiritual songs. 538 00:25:03,500 --> 00:25:05,020 What does he mean by spiritual songs? 539 00:25:05,120 --> 00:25:07,200 Well, remember we're in the language of the 540 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:07,540 Spirit. 541 00:25:07,700 --> 00:25:09,980 We're talking about the experience of the Spirit. 542 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:13,560 Therefore, it's reasonable to suppose that he's talking 543 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:16,280 about songs which the Spirit inspires. 544 00:25:19,260 --> 00:25:21,260 When a great and glad thing happens to 545 00:25:21,260 --> 00:25:22,280 one, what do they do? 546 00:25:23,460 --> 00:25:25,680 In the Christian realm, in the religious realm, 547 00:25:25,740 --> 00:25:26,260 they sing. 548 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:29,240 Hannah is without child. 549 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,780 She takes her need to God, and God 550 00:25:32,780 --> 00:25:35,780 says, Hannah, you'll have a child. 551 00:25:36,740 --> 00:25:38,980 She bursts out into song, the Magnificat of 552 00:25:38,980 --> 00:25:39,720 the Old Testament. 553 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:43,160 Here is Mary corresponding to Hannah in the 554 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:44,520 New Testament. 555 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:46,480 She hears that she will be with child. 556 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:49,080 She goes to see cousin Elizabeth, and together 557 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:50,260 they praise the Lord. 558 00:25:50,580 --> 00:25:53,240 And that glorious poem, that glorious song, the 559 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,180 Magnificat, falls from her lips. 560 00:25:55,340 --> 00:25:56,080 It's not prepared. 561 00:25:56,720 --> 00:25:58,540 She hasn't premeditated upon it. 562 00:25:58,940 --> 00:26:01,300 It's what naturally comes into her heart as 563 00:26:01,300 --> 00:26:04,140 the Spirit moves upon her, and prophetically and 564 00:26:04,140 --> 00:26:07,960 winsomely she sings about the greatness of her 565 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:08,480 God. 566 00:26:10,140 --> 00:26:13,480 You find exactly the same, I say, as 567 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:14,580 you move into Revelation. 568 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:15,900 You smiled at me. 569 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:17,100 I'm getting my own back now. 570 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:19,080 You smiled when I said I'd call this 571 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:19,980 place Melodyland. 572 00:26:20,780 --> 00:26:23,880 But how, how would you describe heaven? 573 00:26:25,260 --> 00:26:26,460 A land of song. 574 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:31,460 Look at Revelation in chapter five, verse nine, 575 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,160 and they sang a new song. 576 00:26:34,340 --> 00:26:35,280 Who were these people? 577 00:26:35,360 --> 00:26:37,300 Well, those who have been redeemed by the 578 00:26:37,300 --> 00:26:39,600 precious blood of Jesus, and they sing to 579 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:39,880 Him. 580 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,380 And you've got to have a new song 581 00:26:42,380 --> 00:26:44,360 if you're a new singer, as Cliff Richard 582 00:26:44,360 --> 00:26:46,400 will tell you in a book that carries 583 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:47,920 part of his autobiography. 584 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:50,340 You are worthy to take the scroll, to 585 00:26:50,340 --> 00:26:52,900 open the seals, because you were slain and 586 00:26:52,900 --> 00:26:55,060 with your blood you purchased men from God, 587 00:26:55,820 --> 00:26:58,320 for God from every tribe and language and 588 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:02,280 people and nation, and so forth. 589 00:27:02,940 --> 00:27:05,260 You go on in the book of Revelation. 590 00:27:05,740 --> 00:27:07,640 You come to the fourteenth chapter in the, 591 00:27:08,180 --> 00:27:10,560 and the third verse there, and you get 592 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:12,660 another comment about people. 593 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:14,380 One hundred and forty-four thousand. 594 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:15,540 The number of perfection. 595 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:16,720 Twelve times twelve. 596 00:27:16,860 --> 00:27:18,980 One hundred times one hundred. 597 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:20,560 People coming to the Lord. 598 00:27:20,660 --> 00:27:21,780 All the redeemed. 599 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:22,620 And what are they doing? 600 00:27:22,700 --> 00:27:23,160 They're singing. 601 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:23,940 What is a song? 602 00:27:24,100 --> 00:27:25,020 It's a new song. 603 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:26,040 It has to be new. 604 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:27,320 It's not Old Testament. 605 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:29,980 Inasmuch as now, what was hidden in the 606 00:27:29,980 --> 00:27:31,360 Old Testament is revealed. 607 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:33,460 The lambs that were slain in the Old 608 00:27:33,460 --> 00:27:35,660 Testament, they pointed to the Lamb of God, 609 00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:37,680 the Son of God, who takes away the 610 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:38,360 sin of the world. 611 00:27:38,540 --> 00:27:40,260 Who knows about these things? 612 00:27:40,260 --> 00:27:41,860 The Christian knows. 613 00:27:42,300 --> 00:27:44,580 On earth and in heaven. 614 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:47,700 And what does the Christian church do in 615 00:27:47,700 --> 00:27:48,220 response? 616 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:48,980 They sing. 617 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:52,680 They sing a new song before the throne 618 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:56,040 and before the four living creatures and elders. 619 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,180 No one could learn the song, except the 620 00:28:00,180 --> 00:28:01,940 one hundred and forty-four thousand. 621 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,380 You can't learn to sing spiritually, you see. 622 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:05,880 You can't learn it. 623 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:08,240 It's something that's given you, because you have 624 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:09,020 the experience. 625 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:10,980 There's a new song in my heart. 626 00:28:11,420 --> 00:28:13,120 Even praise unto our God. 627 00:28:13,460 --> 00:28:15,680 Once as David the psalmist, I was in 628 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:16,160 the mire. 629 00:28:16,660 --> 00:28:17,460 I was in the clay. 630 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:19,940 I was deep down there, but God lifted 631 00:28:19,940 --> 00:28:21,180 me from the mire and he put me 632 00:28:21,180 --> 00:28:21,760 in the choir. 633 00:28:24,650 --> 00:28:27,630 From the rubbish to the glory. 634 00:28:28,610 --> 00:28:29,990 The new song. 635 00:28:30,410 --> 00:28:33,690 And these Christians in New Testament times, they 636 00:28:33,690 --> 00:28:37,670 experience the winsomeness, the inspiration of the Spirit, 637 00:28:37,670 --> 00:28:41,010 and it gives vent to song, sometimes unpremeditated, 638 00:28:41,790 --> 00:28:44,990 as they come together and as they rejoice 639 00:28:45,970 --> 00:28:46,930 before the Lord. 640 00:28:47,010 --> 00:28:50,890 The immediacy of praise is how I would 641 00:28:50,890 --> 00:28:51,450 describe it. 642 00:28:51,510 --> 00:28:52,870 Well, let's hasten on. 643 00:28:53,410 --> 00:28:56,170 What about the application of all this? 644 00:28:56,770 --> 00:28:58,150 The application of all this. 645 00:28:58,230 --> 00:28:59,650 Well, go back to my thought that this 646 00:28:59,650 --> 00:29:00,190 is a snapshot. 647 00:29:00,390 --> 00:29:01,550 It's not the whole of worship. 648 00:29:02,230 --> 00:29:04,390 I make that point because some people get 649 00:29:04,390 --> 00:29:07,830 worship in their understanding completely wrong these days. 650 00:29:09,110 --> 00:29:10,770 I read of meetings where they have the 651 00:29:10,770 --> 00:29:13,270 worship and then the preaching, or the preaching 652 00:29:13,270 --> 00:29:14,010 and then the worship. 653 00:29:14,110 --> 00:29:16,090 You get it in some evangelical circles. 654 00:29:16,210 --> 00:29:18,070 You even get it in a more sacramental 655 00:29:18,070 --> 00:29:20,310 fashion in the high church circles. 656 00:29:20,610 --> 00:29:21,890 They have the liturgy, then the preaching. 657 00:29:22,830 --> 00:29:23,370 Not a bit. 658 00:29:23,990 --> 00:29:25,790 If you were to read Acts 17, where 659 00:29:25,790 --> 00:29:28,310 Paul speaks of, or where there's a description 660 00:29:28,310 --> 00:29:30,930 of Paul's activity in Ephesus when he was 661 00:29:30,930 --> 00:29:33,630 there for two years plus, you'll find that 662 00:29:33,630 --> 00:29:36,690 day after day he expounded the Scriptures. 663 00:29:38,330 --> 00:29:39,790 That's why I say this is just a 664 00:29:39,790 --> 00:29:40,210 snapshot. 665 00:29:41,030 --> 00:29:42,730 There's more to be added, but what is 666 00:29:42,730 --> 00:29:44,530 there in the snapshot is important. 667 00:29:45,090 --> 00:29:46,190 It doesn't speak of preaching. 668 00:29:46,430 --> 00:29:47,670 It doesn't speak of prophesying. 669 00:29:47,890 --> 00:29:50,250 Many things, several things, it doesn't touch on, 670 00:29:50,410 --> 00:29:52,410 but what it does touch on, I argue, 671 00:29:52,530 --> 00:29:53,350 is important. 672 00:29:54,330 --> 00:29:58,670 This whole business of praising, praising the Lord. 673 00:29:58,970 --> 00:30:01,810 Now I can demonstrate that this is something 674 00:30:01,810 --> 00:30:04,410 that was historically applied to the church. 675 00:30:05,290 --> 00:30:06,870 Take a great man of God by the 676 00:30:06,870 --> 00:30:07,610 name of Tertullian. 677 00:30:07,750 --> 00:30:10,130 He lived between 150 and 220 AD. 678 00:30:10,970 --> 00:30:12,850 I was reading some of his writings just 679 00:30:12,850 --> 00:30:13,550 last week. 680 00:30:14,590 --> 00:30:16,830 Tertullian was a man who reacted against the 681 00:30:16,830 --> 00:30:19,150 dullness and drabness that soon set into Christian 682 00:30:19,150 --> 00:30:22,630 worship when it became liturgical and formal, and 683 00:30:22,630 --> 00:30:25,550 he says that to counter this, he describes 684 00:30:25,550 --> 00:30:27,410 one of the love feasts of the early 685 00:30:27,410 --> 00:30:30,390 vibrant Christians, and he says they rejoiced together 686 00:30:30,390 --> 00:30:33,530 after water for their hands and lights had 687 00:30:33,530 --> 00:30:34,330 been brought in. 688 00:30:34,830 --> 00:30:37,370 Each one, each believer is invited to sing 689 00:30:37,370 --> 00:30:39,170 to God in the presence of the others 690 00:30:39,170 --> 00:30:41,310 from what he knows of the Holy Scriptures 691 00:30:41,310 --> 00:30:43,770 or from his own heart. 692 00:30:44,630 --> 00:30:45,310 You have it again. 693 00:30:45,390 --> 00:30:48,050 You see this unpremeditated praise. 694 00:30:48,210 --> 00:30:50,790 They come in, they're warm, they're enlivened by 695 00:30:50,790 --> 00:30:53,190 the Christian people as they speak to one 696 00:30:53,190 --> 00:30:55,050 another, as they sing to one another, and 697 00:30:55,050 --> 00:30:57,790 then suddenly a man gets up, a woman 698 00:30:57,790 --> 00:31:00,550 gets up, and she, she speaks out. 699 00:31:00,790 --> 00:31:05,490 She, he sings forth what God is revealing, 700 00:31:05,710 --> 00:31:08,730 the kiss of God upon the soul with 701 00:31:08,730 --> 00:31:10,410 great spontaneity. 702 00:31:11,630 --> 00:31:13,250 And now it seems that I could demonstrate 703 00:31:13,250 --> 00:31:16,910 this to you, not only in New Testament 704 00:31:16,910 --> 00:31:20,130 times, not only in the second century A 705 00:31:20,130 --> 00:31:22,450 .D., I would take you to some of 706 00:31:22,450 --> 00:31:23,390 the great revivals. 707 00:31:24,390 --> 00:31:27,890 Go to the, the class meetings of John 708 00:31:27,890 --> 00:31:28,950 and Charles Wesley. 709 00:31:29,070 --> 00:31:32,610 You remember these great brothers ministered in this 710 00:31:32,610 --> 00:31:35,010 country at the same time as George Whitefield 711 00:31:35,010 --> 00:31:38,150 and Marshall, they're converts into an organization which 712 00:31:38,150 --> 00:31:39,410 had a method about it. 713 00:31:39,410 --> 00:31:41,090 Thus the method is church. 714 00:31:41,610 --> 00:31:43,590 Well, part of the method was bringing together 715 00:31:43,590 --> 00:31:46,430 people in classes, and in these classes they 716 00:31:46,430 --> 00:31:49,430 would share together, and they would praise God 717 00:31:49,430 --> 00:31:49,850 together. 718 00:31:50,130 --> 00:31:52,210 There would be an element of spontaneity. 719 00:31:53,410 --> 00:31:55,610 You get it also in the experienced meetings 720 00:31:55,610 --> 00:31:58,770 in the, in the Welsh hills when revival 721 00:31:58,770 --> 00:32:01,930 touched that land, and people would come together 722 00:32:01,930 --> 00:32:03,550 and they would say what God had done. 723 00:32:03,610 --> 00:32:04,830 It wouldn't just be a case of the 724 00:32:04,830 --> 00:32:05,090 preacher. 725 00:32:05,670 --> 00:32:07,510 There was no threat between the laity and 726 00:32:07,510 --> 00:32:09,170 the clergy, so to speak. 727 00:32:09,270 --> 00:32:12,190 That distinction evaporates in revival. 728 00:32:12,330 --> 00:32:14,570 It must do, because it's a false distinction. 729 00:32:15,030 --> 00:32:16,550 They all have things to say. 730 00:32:16,770 --> 00:32:18,190 They all have things to testify. 731 00:32:18,490 --> 00:32:20,190 There were men who were given specific gifts. 732 00:32:20,350 --> 00:32:20,770 That is so. 733 00:32:20,910 --> 00:32:22,990 It is always so, because God gives the 734 00:32:22,990 --> 00:32:23,310 gifts. 735 00:32:23,650 --> 00:32:26,850 As Ephesians 4 tells us, the Lord Jesus 736 00:32:26,850 --> 00:32:29,730 gives certain gifts to his church in terms 737 00:32:29,730 --> 00:32:32,090 of ministry, of teaching, and so forth. 738 00:32:32,130 --> 00:32:35,010 But these people, their hearts are overjoyed. 739 00:32:35,030 --> 00:32:36,530 And I go so far as to argue 740 00:32:36,530 --> 00:32:39,310 that if there is no opportunity for spontaneity 741 00:32:39,310 --> 00:32:43,430 in the structure of any church program, then 742 00:32:43,430 --> 00:32:45,770 in effect you are squeezing out, you're cancelling 743 00:32:45,770 --> 00:32:47,650 out what is one of the most beneficial 744 00:32:47,650 --> 00:32:51,750 and one of the most blessed means of 745 00:32:51,750 --> 00:32:55,710 enjoying the presence of God together. 746 00:32:56,630 --> 00:32:59,510 Well then, here we are. 747 00:32:59,750 --> 00:33:01,870 My time is nigh on gone. 748 00:33:02,390 --> 00:33:08,110 We're looking into these teachings of Scripture, and 749 00:33:08,110 --> 00:33:13,470 we're seeing that the early Christians, when they 750 00:33:13,470 --> 00:33:16,630 came together, there was a sort of equivalent 751 00:33:16,630 --> 00:33:20,610 to, but an improvement on, the jollification of 752 00:33:20,610 --> 00:33:23,450 the people who are drunk, of the people 753 00:33:23,450 --> 00:33:24,750 who are intoxicated. 754 00:33:25,750 --> 00:33:28,470 In a drunken orgy, everyone has something to 755 00:33:28,470 --> 00:33:28,670 say. 756 00:33:28,730 --> 00:33:29,890 Now, it's never like that. 757 00:33:30,430 --> 00:33:31,070 It's not an orgy. 758 00:33:31,170 --> 00:33:31,890 There's not confusion. 759 00:33:32,150 --> 00:33:33,790 Where there is confusion, then it has to 760 00:33:33,790 --> 00:33:34,390 be controlled. 761 00:33:35,170 --> 00:33:37,170 But the opposite to control is not to 762 00:33:37,170 --> 00:33:39,050 cancel everything out, it's to have order. 763 00:33:39,530 --> 00:33:40,970 That's why Paul, when he writes to the 764 00:33:40,970 --> 00:33:43,110 Corinthians, puts up several controls. 765 00:33:43,730 --> 00:33:46,050 He'd never have to control the majority of 766 00:33:46,050 --> 00:33:47,710 evangelical communities in these days. 767 00:33:47,770 --> 00:33:48,050 Why not? 768 00:33:48,110 --> 00:33:50,850 Well, you see, the spontaneous element, it's almost 769 00:33:50,850 --> 00:33:51,450 eliminated. 770 00:33:51,450 --> 00:33:53,690 It's most unfortunate, but that is the case. 771 00:33:54,910 --> 00:33:57,250 And so, I'm bringing you back to Ephesians 772 00:33:57,250 --> 00:33:57,670 5. 773 00:33:58,210 --> 00:34:00,250 Here we have, I say, a little snapshot. 774 00:34:00,690 --> 00:34:01,770 Not the full picture. 775 00:34:01,870 --> 00:34:02,950 There's more to be said. 776 00:34:03,370 --> 00:34:07,030 But here is a scene of Christian people 777 00:34:07,030 --> 00:34:09,389 coming together who love the Lord. 778 00:34:09,610 --> 00:34:10,949 They're filled with the Spirit. 779 00:34:11,230 --> 00:34:12,350 There's something charismatic. 780 00:34:12,690 --> 00:34:14,370 Understand that term biblically. 781 00:34:14,610 --> 00:34:16,770 There's something charismatic about them. 782 00:34:18,110 --> 00:34:21,170 There's not just something charismatic, there's something didactic. 783 00:34:21,770 --> 00:34:23,730 That means they want teaching. 784 00:34:23,889 --> 00:34:25,290 That's what didactic means. 785 00:34:25,949 --> 00:34:27,850 There's something eucharistic about it. 786 00:34:28,250 --> 00:34:30,330 That word is not just for the use 787 00:34:30,330 --> 00:34:33,530 of Anglo-Catholics and Roman Catholics, eucharisto. 788 00:34:33,710 --> 00:34:35,570 It means in the Greek to praise, to 789 00:34:35,570 --> 00:34:36,210 give thanks. 790 00:34:37,250 --> 00:34:40,110 And here are people, I argue, who are 791 00:34:40,110 --> 00:34:41,110 praising God. 792 00:34:41,170 --> 00:34:42,090 Why are they praising God? 793 00:34:42,170 --> 00:34:43,010 Well, they've got a new song. 794 00:34:43,210 --> 00:34:44,389 Where did the new song come from? 795 00:34:44,469 --> 00:34:47,170 Well, it came from centering their attention on 796 00:34:47,170 --> 00:34:49,449 Jesus and his death on the cross and 797 00:34:49,449 --> 00:34:50,690 his mighty resurrection. 798 00:34:51,449 --> 00:34:55,270 You can't know him and not at times 799 00:34:55,270 --> 00:34:56,430 be elated. 800 00:34:57,470 --> 00:35:00,190 And not to give expression to that elation 801 00:35:00,850 --> 00:35:02,410 is a terrible thing. 802 00:35:03,650 --> 00:35:05,750 Psychologists will tell you that the repression of 803 00:35:05,750 --> 00:35:08,310 the emotions can do incalculable harm to your 804 00:35:08,310 --> 00:35:09,670 psyche, to your personality. 805 00:35:11,010 --> 00:35:13,430 And that, at the spiritual level, is true. 806 00:35:14,650 --> 00:35:19,070 Sometimes, my dear brothers and sisters, we could 807 00:35:19,070 --> 00:35:22,750 do with examining the checks that we put 808 00:35:22,750 --> 00:35:26,110 on our own emotion as we come before 809 00:35:26,110 --> 00:35:29,950 the Lord and recognize that a holy emotion 810 00:35:29,950 --> 00:35:33,530 is something that is pleasing to almighty God 811 00:35:33,530 --> 00:35:37,590 as we lift up our praise and our 812 00:35:37,590 --> 00:35:39,570 worship to him. 813 00:35:40,030 --> 00:35:42,730 Well, maybe more of this next week. 814 00:35:43,270 --> 00:35:43,790 Amen. 815 00:35:51,570 --> 00:35:52,090 124. 816 00:35:53,370 --> 00:35:55,570 We have only time for one or two 817 00:35:55,570 --> 00:35:56,590 verses of this hymn. 818 00:35:57,490 --> 00:35:59,130 Let's sing the first, the third, and the 819 00:35:59,130 --> 00:36:02,150 fifth verses, please, of 124. 820 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:48,940 And, Father, 821 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,220 for that final thought of singing in the 822 00:37:51,220 --> 00:37:54,320 hereafter with all the angelic hosts, we thank 823 00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:54,720 you. 824 00:37:55,260 --> 00:37:57,500 Let's continue now to make us a praying 825 00:37:57,500 --> 00:38:02,780 and a praising people, rejoicing in the goodness 826 00:38:02,780 --> 00:38:07,400 of God, encouraging and provoking one another to 827 00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:11,240 a higher quality of life, a more happy 828 00:38:11,240 --> 00:38:12,460 expression of worship. 829 00:38:13,540 --> 00:38:16,240 And be with us as we come around 830 00:38:16,240 --> 00:38:16,820 the table. 831 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:19,840 And may the bread and the wine be 832 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:24,680 precious as more we feel the presence of 833 00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:25,120 the Savior. 834 00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:26,720 Amen.