Alright, so we'll continue tonight in our series in Colossians chapter 3, and as we have gone through this section, We have gotten to verse number 16, which is really the crux of this chapter. It's really where this chapter has built up to. So let's read verse 16. It says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. So the last time we were together, we looked at the, actually I think it was two times ago, we looked at the command in this verse, and the command is to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. And the idea there is that we are to be controlled by the word of God. We're to allow the word of God to fill us up and then be controlled by it. So we read it, we think about it, we meditate on it, and then we do what it says, we put it into practice. And then, there are two consequences that we see in this passage that come out of a person's life that is filled up with and controlled by the Word of God. And the last time we were together, we looked at the first of those consequences, and that was the teaching and admonishing. And so tonight, we're going to look at the second of those consequences, and that is going to be worship, and that is singing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. And so we're going to look at that here this evening, and that is the second result or consequence that comes from a life that is filled up and controlled by the Word of God. So we see here it says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. So we're going to look at that second half of the verse. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for this time that we can meet together and hear your word and worship you. We ask that you'd help us to have hearts that are open and ready to learn and willing to change where needed in Jesus name. Amen. So, the second point here is worship. So, a result of having a life that is filled up with the Word of God, being controlled by the Word of God, is worship. And God wants to be worshipped. He wants to be worshipped. God wants to receive worship. John chapter four tells us that God wants to be worshiped. He says, God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And the previous verse before that says that the father seeks such to worship him. He is seeking after true worshipers, worshipers that worship in spirit and in truth. And so God wants to be worshiped. And specifically here tonight, we're gonna see that God wants to be worshiped with singing, with singing. So we're going to look at the content here of this worship and of this singing, and we're going to look into it and see what it is, see what Paul was referring to here when he gave this passage to the Colossian people. And so it says here that we are to sing with grace in our hearts to the Lord, but what is it that we're to be singing? Well, the content of our singing is found in the middle of the verse there, and it's psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Now, scholars across the board disagree very heavily as to what the exact meaning of those three terms is, psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. There's a lot of disagreement. Traditionally, and when I say traditionally, we traditionally from now all the way back A long time ago, traditionally, Psalm referred to the Old Testament Psalms, the Book of Psalms, what we see in the Old Testament, and then those were put to music. Hymn was a common term in the culture. that denoted some kind of poetic expression of praise to God. So a psalm was from the Psalms, a hymn was a poetic expression of praise to God for who he is and for what he has done. So these are songs that directly praise God for who he is and for what he has done. These would be songs like Wondrous King All-Glorious, O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing, all people that on earth do dwell, when morning gilds the skies, and holy, holy, holy. This is just a sampling of what traditionally we have called hymns. And then a spiritual song was a generic term, or it was a broad category of singing that would include songs of praise, songs of testimony, or songs of doctrine in an expression in song of what God has done for us. And the term spiritual here would designate these songs as specifically spiritual as opposed to something secular or worldly. So there's some sort of spiritual aspect to this song. These would be hymns or songs like Blessed Assurance, It Is Well With My Soul, Amazing Grace, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, and Trust and Obey. Another sampling of songs that we could say are, they're in our hymn book, but they're, you could say, a song that is a spiritual song that is a song of testimony, or a song about something that God has done spiritually for you. So this is traditionally how these terms have been taken. Now, some people will say, well, psalms are psalms and hymns are the hymn book and spiritual songs are like courses, you know, like the song the kids sing in junior church, you know, Father Abraham or whatever. Those are the spiritual songs. I don't think that's what it's talking about here. We're going to get into that here in just a minute. The proper interpretation of scripture, however, requires that we look at scripture and we discover not what we mean or how we have traditionally defined these terms when we use them today, but what the inspired writer, and here it's Apostle Paul, meant when he used them. So we're going to look at that tonight. We're going to look at what was Paul referring to when he said psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. The fact is that all three of these terms are used in the Bible to designate various selections contained in the Old Testament Book of Psalms. In the Greek version of the Old Testament, that's the Septuagint. Now I'm going to preface this to say the Septuagint is not inspired, but it's the Greek translation of the Old Testament. which in Paul's day, they would have been using some sort of Greek translation of the Old Testament. So we don't know exactly what he was using. You know, it may have turned into at some point what the Septuagint became or some version of that. But the Greek translation of the Old Testament in that translation, 67 of the titles within that translation, they translate the word psalm in the titles of the psalms. So if you go to a psalm, just flip back to the book of psalms, you don't see this necessarily as easily in English. But if you just turn to any psalm, there's a title that every psalm has a title, like psalm Chapter 46 says to the chief musician for the Sons of Korah, a song upon Alamoth. And each one of the Psalms has these titles at the beginning of them. In the Septuagint, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, 67 of those titles within the book, the word Psalm is used. However, in six of the titles, the word hymn is used. The word hymn is used in the title. rather than the word psalm. And in 35 of the titles, the word song appears. So we see in the titles of the psalms in the Greek New Testament, or the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word psalm, the word hymn, and the word song being used for each one of those psalms. Even more interesting is that 12 of the titles use both the term psalm and song. And two of the titles have the words psalm and hymn. And Psalm 76 says it is designated as a psalm, a hymn, and a song. And then at the end of the first 72 psalms in that translation that you read that the hymns of David, the son of Jesse are ended. And so you say, okay, what are you trying to get at there? Well, when Paul, said psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to the people in Colossae and in Ephesus. He says the same kind of thing in Ephesians 5. There's no more reason to think that when he said that, the people would have understood what he was saying. when he referred to Psalms, when he said Psalms, then when he said hymns and songs. For the simple reason that all three, Psalms, hymns, and songs, are biblical terms for the Psalms. I hope I didn't confuse you there, but all three of these terms that we see in Colossians 3, Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, are all found in the titles of each one of the Psalms. And so we can get in the habit of using the terms hymns and songs for compositions that are not psalms. In other words, people will say psalms are psalms. Hymns are compositions not inspired by God, but just written by man. And spiritual songs would be also songs not necessarily inspired by God, but written by man. Traditionally, that's been the interpretation and understanding. But here, Paul and the Christians at Ephesus and Colossae would have used these terms as the Bible itself uses them, namely as titles for the various Psalms in the Old Testament Psalter. So I believe that it's most likely when Paul says this here, he's referring to the Psalms. Now, there is a doctrine out there, or a belief out there, that is based solely off of this passage and this passage alone that says that we must then, therefore, because that's what Paul was saying, sing only Psalms in church. Only psalms can be sung for worship. There's a belief out there that actually enforces that, and it's mostly, I would say, in Protestant churches, maybe like Presbyterian and so on. There's maybe some reform that do that. They only will sing out of a psalter. Now, historically, Baptists have not done that. Historically, Baptists have sung psalms, and they've sung other songs that are not directly inspired by God. But when we seek to determine the meaning of this expression, Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, from this verse in Colossians 3.16 and Ephesians 5.19, we cannot do so without reckoning with the high probability that the author here would have been familiar with these pre-existing categories in the Book of Psalms. Now this is not to say that there is not something to the traditional understanding or application of these three words, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and how we apply them today. But I believe that when Paul wrote these and when these churches read it, they weren't thinking of three different genres or styles of music or styles of song, but rather three different titles of the psalms in the Old Testament. So you might say, well, it seems strange that he would use three separate words for the same concept or the same idea. Maybe that's unnecessary, that the Holy Spirit would use a variety of titles to describe one thing, the Psalms. But the fact is that he does do it, and he does it with other things. Just as the Holy Spirit speaks of in Deuteronomy 30, verse 16, his commandments and his statutes and his judgments. and of his miracles and wonders and signs in Acts chapter 2 and verse 22, so he speaks of his psalms and hymns and spiritual songs here in Colossians chapter 3. As commandments and statutes and judgments are all divine laws in the language of scriptures, and as miracles and wonders and signs are all different kinds of supernatural works of God in the language of scripture, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are all referred to in the Psalms, in the titles, as the inspired composition of the Old Testament Psalter in the language of Scripture itself. And there is New Testament evidence that sustains this conclusion. Look at Matthew chapter 26 and Mark chapter 14. What I'm establishing here is that Psalms are psalms, psalms are hymns, and psalms are spiritual songs. Look at Matthew chapter 26 and verse 30. Matthew says, and when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. And if you look at Mark 14, 26, it's a parallel passage here. Pastor Stagger has recently talked about this in one of his messages in the last couple weeks. This was the traditional understanding of this hymn that was sung was the Hallel, the Hallel, which is Psalm chapter 113, through Psalm chapter 118. So on the night of the Last Supper, the Bible says that Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn. Bible expositors and theologians and scholars and historians and commentators all alike, almost every single one of them agree that that hymn that they sung was Psalm 113 to Psalm 118. which was a hymn or a psalm that was always sung at the Passover. So assuming that this is correct, and by all accounts it seems to be so, that this was the song that they sang, Matthew and Mark both call this section of the psalms a hymn. So Psalm 113 to Psalm 118 is a hymn. Because a psalm is a hymn in the terminology of the Bible. To the same effect is the Old Testament quotation in the book of Hebrews, chapter 2 and verse 12, which likely refers to this same occasion. And in that occasion, the Greek word hymn is quoted from the book of Psalms, chapter 22 and verse 22. And in this quotation from the Old Testament, Psalm, the word hymn is used to denote the singing of Psalms. Why? Because the Old Testament really makes no distinction between the two. A psalm is a hymn. So I don't believe that you can say with any certainty or prove based on these verses in Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 and these verses alone that Paul was instructing the Ephesians and Colossians to sing something other than the Psalms. I don't think you can prove that. First, at the very least, these passages include a mandate to sing the Psalms. So when we look at this passage, what we do know for sure is this, we should be singing the Psalms. And there are a lot of churches out there that are not singing the Psalms. They're singing hymns, they're singing songs, But they don't sing the Psalms. Why? Well, there's various different reasons for that. They're too hard. Maybe it doesn't fit in with their philosophy of inviting unsafe people in the church. They won't like the Psalms. But people are not singing the Psalms. We say, well, we sing the Psalms. So we're all good. We got that box checked. Let's go back to the first thing we talked about. God wants to be worshiped how? In spirit and in truth. If we stand and we sing our Psalter on Sunday mornings, and we're not doing it in spirit, in sincerity from the heart, you're not being obedient to this passage. Because it's not being done in spirit. It's not being done in sincerity. There's no heart behind it. It's not internal. It's just an outward, just something outward we're doing. But we're singing the Psalms, right? We're good. We got that checked off. But we need to be engaged when we're singing these Psalms. We need to be thinking. We're singing the words of God. We're singing about God. We're singing to God. And so we need to make sure that we are engaged and we are thinking about what we're singing. And we're offering that song up to God as praise to Him, as worship to Him. It's one of the elements of our worship, is singing. And so we need to make sure that we're engaged when we do that. Outward, just like the Pharisees, just out on the outside, look good on the outside, but on the inside, it's not sincere, it's not real. So I don't think this is as certain as just, well, we'll move on from that. First, at the very least, there's this mandate to sing in spirit-inspired Old Testament psalms. No matter how narrowly or how broadly one interprets these terms, that Paul commands believers to sing psalms is clear. It is as clear as it can be. We are to be singing the psalms. Whether these psalms are paraphrases, whether these psalms are exact quotes, whether they're versifications, that's beyond Paul's instruction here. That's beyond his purview. But churches wishing to actively apply his instruction must regularly incorporate Old Testament psalms into their worship. And so if a church is singing psalms and even only the psalms, then you are actually singing hymns and spiritual songs as well. So you could sing psalms and psalms only. We don't do that, but you could. And you could still be singing hymns and spiritual songs because psalms are hymns and psalms are spiritual songs. Second, and conversely, there's no clear argument that can be made from these passages alone concerning the warrant for singing songs beyond the Old Testament Psalms. And the key here is these passages alone. If you just take your Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 and read that, I don't see a clear warrant for singing songs beyond the Old Testament Psalms. Because these terms likely refer only to the different types of Psalms, based on what they would have understood when Paul wrote this in that day. One cannot argue then with certainty that Paul intended to broaden the church's singing beyond inspired psalms in these passages. Now, we're going to get into some other stuff here because I'm sensing some tension right now. We're going to talk about some other stuff here in a minute. Other New Testament passages may imply the allowance of non-inspired songs in Christian worship, but this cannot be proven, I don't believe proven, by these verses and these verses alone. Third, and on the other hand, these passages do not clearly restrict Christian song to Old Testament songs. So while I don't think you can prove that these passages teach other than Psalms, they don't restrict New Testament singing to Psalms and Psalms alone. As with the previous point, the ambiguity of these terms presents enough uncertainty to prevent any dogmatic argument for or against an exclusive psalmody position. Exclusive psalmody meaning that you have to sing the psalms and psalms only. There's not enough in these passages alone without looking at the rest of Scripture to guide us in a position there. So what about singing out of a hymn book, the blue book? So, the Blue Book is full of songs, hymns that are uninspired, meaning they are written by man. What about singing out of that? Obviously, we do. We do it as a Church, so what about that? Well, I want to give you a few reasons why I believe that our Church does. and why I believe that it's an acceptable thing to do to sing uninspired hymns, hymns composed by human authors. But Colossians 3.16 alone isn't that. It is related to these verses, but I don't think these verses prove the case in and of themselves. Now, first, and this is really not the strongest argument, but neither Ephesians nor Colossians prohibit the singing of uninspired songs. But I do think it's an argument, but I don't think it's the strongest argument. We can't prove or we don't prove or affirm a position in Scripture, especially as it relates to worship, simply because Scripture or a passage doesn't say that you can't do something. We talk about the regulative principle of worship, meaning that our worship is to be guided by what Scripture says, not by what it doesn't say. That principle requires that we have warrant in the Word of God for every element of our worship. With that said, though, there's not a single verse in the Old Testament or in the New Testament that prohibit uninspired songs in public worship or that you have to sing only the Psalms in the public worship of the church. So that's number one. Second, and this one is really where I think we could really develop this and spend weeks probably talking about this, but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to hit the main points. This second one here is really the one where I think when you look at the whole of Scripture and you open up Scripture and you look at music, This is the one I think really nails it home, so it's the one I'm going to talk about here the rest of this evening. What do we see in the rest of Scripture? Well, God's mighty acts of wrath and grace throughout all of Scripture were appropriate occasions and acceptable occasions before the Psalms and after the Psalms for the composition of new songs in Scripture that celebrated and memorialized these great and mighty acts of God. This is why new songs, other than the Psalms, are found in the historical books of the Old Testament before the Psalms, the prophetic books of the Old Testament after the Psalms. These mighty acts of God in every single generation, going all the way back to the very beginning, every generation, these mighty acts were put to music and they were sung by God's people. But they weren't Psalms. They were different songs. The people of God had the liberty in the Old Testament and the New Testament to write new songs of praise to God, and they were not restricted to the Psalms. So what I want to do here this evening is just take a look at a few of these songs in the Bible. We don't have the time to read the entire passages, but I'm going to give you the references, and if you'd like to read them at a later time, you can do that, because some of them are actually pretty lengthy. The first is found in Exodus chapter 15, verses 1 through 18. This is called the Song of Moses. And in Exodus 15, verses 20 and 21, we see the Song of Miriam. So what were these songs about? Well, during the Exodus, Pharaoh burned in his heart with regret because he let the children of Israel go. And what did he do? He decided to go after them, decided to pursue them. And so one final barrier stood in his way, and that was the Red Sea, or it stood in the children of Israel's way, and that was the Red Sea. They couldn't get across it. And God, through Moses, parted the Red Sea. The children of Israel crossed on dry ground. Pharaoh's army followed. And what happened? God brought the water in and destroyed Pharaoh's army and wiped it out completely. Upon the deliverance of the children of Israel, immediately upon that deliverance, Exodus chapter 15 gives a spontaneous burst into praise to God in song about this wonderful deliverance. This deliverance song sung by the children of Israel here is a detailed recap of God's miraculous deed and his power to defeat the enemy. But as Israel collectively sang about God's strength and his provision and his mercy and his grace and his justice and his deliverance, the words of these songs turned into a faith-filled, prophetic view of God's continued victory on their behalf. So this is a song of victory. that the children of Israel authored and sang in praise to God. So that's the first song we see in the Bible. The last song in the Bible is found in the book of Revelation. Scripture refers to this final song as the song of Moses and of the Lamb in Revelation chapter 15 and verse 3. In this passage of scripture, we see John having just witnessed the saints overcome the power of the beast through their faithful obedience to Christ. Seven final tribulation plagues come and are administered by these seven angels. But the saints stand by a fiery sea of glass and they sing their song of triumph to the one who has secured their redemption. A song of redemption. Both the first song and the last song in Scripture center on what? God's redemptive power to deliver His people out of slavery, out of bondage, and into the promises prepared for them. Judges 5, verses 1-31 is another Old Testament song. It's one of the oldest songs. recorded in scripture, and it is a song of victory sung by the prophetess Deborah. After she leads Barak into the battle against the Canaanite, God empowers their outnumbered army to overtake the enemy. And then we have the whole story of Sisera and jail and the nail. the stake driving this tent peg through the skull of Sisera. And Deborah and Barak, what do they do? They follow up with a song of victory, a song to the Lord, doing what? Giving Him full credit for the victory, giving Him full credit for the win as they recount these specific details in song in this battle, or the details of the battle in this song. Now, not all the songs in Scripture celebrate victory. The first mournful song in Scripture we see is found in 2 Samuel 1, verses 17-27. This is a song by David, and he composes a song of lament after he learns that his best friend Jonathan and King Saul were killed in battle. And so David writes a song. And what does he do? He commands that all of Judah learn this song. All of them were commanded to learn it and to sing it. And you see in the Old Testament, in the prophets, much of the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah and Lamentations, Ezekiel, containing these songs lamenting about God's judgment against Israel and about his judgment coming against the surrounding nations. And in fact, frequently the prophets express God's grief over wayward Israel through these kind of dirges or laments in song. So we see these Old Testament songs, but we also see new songs written in the New Testament. In Luke chapter 2, the angels open up the age of the new covenant with a glorious song, glory to God in the highest and peace on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. One of the most profound examples in the New Testament of a song is the Song of Mary. In Luke 1, verses 46-55, the angel Gabriel visits Mary and he announces that she will conceive a child. And he tells her that her cousin Elizabeth will also bear a son in her old age. And we know the story there, that Mary visits Elizabeth, and when she does, the baby leaps in the womb for joy upon hearing the greeting of Mary. And what is Mary's response? Mary's response is affirmation. Mary's response to Elizabeth's affirmation is a song of faith, a wonderful song of faith and confidence in the mighty hand of the Lord. who was going to perform this wonderful, great act. Matthew chapter 21, verses 8 and 9, Luke 19, verses 37 through 38. Here we see the crowds composing a new song to celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ. So we see the ringing in of the Old Testament. We see the ringing in of the New Testament, the New Covenant being celebrated, not with Psalms, but with new compositions of music. But what about at the end of the New Covenant? Revelation chapter four and verse 11. Revelation chapter five, verses nine through 14. What do we see here? Do we see the saints in heaven singing Psalms? No, we don't. We see them singing a new song to God. And so as we see these angelic songs beginning the New Testament, we see also these songs, new songs, closing out the New Testament. So what do we see? In the New Testament, in the Old Testament, God's people had the freedom God's people had the freedom to compose new songs to God. For what? For what purpose? To celebrate the wonderful covenantal acts of God in their own generation. So now what about us today? You look back in the Old Testament, God did these great and wonderful things, and immediately they burst into song. A new song. And what do we see in the New Testament? The same thing. God does a wonderful act, a great act. Immediately, there's a song of praise to God. So if the people of the Bible had the freedom to compose songs when God performed a great act, don't you think that the greatest act of all time Jesus Christ coming to this earth and dying for sinners would be an act worthy of new songs being written about. So I believe there is a basis for singing uninspired hymns in addition to the Psalms. But these uninspired hymns must follow after the pattern that we see in the Psalms. They must be rich in their doctrine. They must be rich in content. These songs must be about God's goodness and about his mercy. Yet we also must sing songs about God's anger and his judgment and his hatred of sin, just like we see in the Psalms. Our songs must follow after what we see in the Psalms. And so that's the content. The content is Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. What are they? Well, specifically in Colossians, I think they were Psalms, but when we take a look at the whole of Scripture, we should be singing Psalms, we should be singing hymns, songs of praise to God for who He is and what He does, and other songs of testimony, like we had mentioned earlier. All of those songs are great things that have spiritual truths, and we can sing them in church, and we can sing them at home, we can sing them in the car, we can sing them in the shower, we can sing them anywhere. and offer up praise to God, and He will accept that offering of worship. The second characteristic is singing. So, we have the content, sorry, the first characteristic is singing. What is singing? Well, singing simply means to make music with the voice. Make music with the voice. You may sing well. You may sing poorly. You may just be right in the middle. No matter where you fall on that spectrum, God wants to hear you sing. It is to be part of your worship of Him. Now, if you look at the parallel passage, which is Ephesians 5.19, that passage adds the phrase singing and making melody to the type of music. The word melody here comes from the Greek word solo, and that word means specifically to pluck on a stringed instrument. So what do we see? We see singing with our voice. So music with our voice, but we also see music with instrument in scripture. And there's a whole bunch of different passages. We can look at Psalms. I mean, you could spend I don't know how many weeks on music. Pastor Brandenburg wrote a whole book on it. So there's plenty of passages you could read about our voice and singing and music and also instrumental music. But let's expand on this a little bit and expand on some of the ramifications of our passage for us. First, notice that there's no mention about the quality of music. There's no mention here about the quality of music. Now, while it's beneficial and it's nice to have those who have better ability performing special music, performing special presentations, every believer is to be involved in singing. Whether you have perfect pitch or you can only carry a tune in a bucket, it doesn't matter. You are to be involved in this act of worship. And when you think about in the book of Psalms, we have the phrase, make a joyful noise unto the Lord. That phrase occurs several times in Psalms, and so while there were special opportunities for musicians who had the skills and the talents to offer special, beautiful sounds as is detailed in temple worship, they had these opportunities to perform special music. We do it in church. We have groups that come up in small groups, or we have solos, or piano solos, or we have an instrumental piece that's done. Well, that is certainly an acceptable thing, There's also an important place for every single person to be involved in music. So when we sing as a congregation, if that's as far as your talent will take you, that's just fine. Sing. Lift up your voice. Don't feel bad about being off or being out of tune. It's okay. Make a joyful noise. Offer up praise to the Lord from your heart. He will hear it. So one, there's no mention here about the quality, just that those people who are controlled by the Word of God are going to be doing this. So sing. Sing it out. Second, while there are many new good and wholesome songs that are written in accordance with this passage, this verse, I'm sure, would probably come as a shock. to all the CCM, Contemporary Christian Music people who are all involved in all of this kind of worldly music that is full of just empty, vain, repetitious phrases that have no depth whatsoever, no content. Many of these songs make allusions to something. They allude to something, but they never make clear exactly what that allusion is to. One person that I read as I was studying for this refers to these genres of contemporary music as Jesus is my boyfriend songs. Because you can't tell if the song is referring to Jesus or if it's talking about your boyfriend, but they're Christian songs. A classic example of this, and this is what I read, I don't know this song, it's from the 70s, but it's a CCM song that was entitled, You Light Up My Life. And in the song, apparently it was very popular back then, it contained the phrase, how could it be wrong when it feels so right? But this is a Christian song. doesn't apply to Jesus, so the song's not about him. Yet the great ignorance of the word of Christ gives cover for the delusion that these are true worship songs. And really, it's only become worse since then. Even now, you cannot tell the difference between, you hear the song and you think, are they singing about Jesus? You can't even tell anymore. If you were to examine the words and the lyrics of many of the popular CCM artists of today, it would be hard to know why they are even called Christian songs, considering that they never even, or rarely, use the words Jesus or God in them. They don't even talk about God. They don't even refer to God. They're songs to please the flesh. They're not designed to offer praise and worship to the Father. Now let's expand on this a little bit. Paul's statement here says that a person who is filled up with and controlled by the word of God, what will that result in? That will result in worship whose content is psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And I don't believe it's just referring to what is performed in church. Or at a worship service, but rather that which should fill up our entire life, all of our days, and our fellowships with one another. So as a Christian, you need to be careful and you need to be thoughtful about the music that you make a part of your life. I'm talking about the music that you listen to. I'm talking about the music that you play for other people. Do your musical choices help the word of Christ to dwell in you richly? Do they teach you about God? Do they teach you about his character? Do they teach you about his will? Do the songs you listen to teach you how to live a righteous life? Do these songs warn you against straying from the narrow way that leads to righteousness? Or do they lead you from the narrow way? I already know that for the greater Christian world out there, there's very little discernment when it comes to music. Professing Christians freely will listen to all kinds of music that glorifies evil, instead of music that warns against evil. And these supposed Christian music songs, these CCM songs that people listen to, they're filled with all these tofu lyrics. They have no depth. There's no doctrinal content. And sometimes they even contain heresy in them. And my fear, church, is that you can fall victim to these as well. And so I challenge you today and going forward to become and be discerning in the music that you listen to. We must be discerning that the message of the music that we sing in church and the message of the music that we listen to on our own time outside of church fits within the parameters of what God has set in Scripture. So a person who's filled up with God's Word, what's gonna come out of them? What are they gonna listen to? What are they gonna fill their life up with? It's gonna be Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And so we must listen to and sing music that honors God. God must be honored in it. Righteousness must be promoted in the music that we are involved in. Sin must be admonished in the music that we sing and listen to. And any music that glorifies sin or glorifies or mocks righteousness or mocks God or disparages Him, that music must always be unacceptable. So what do we do? We don't listen to it. We get rid of it. We get it out of our playlists. We get it off of our ringtones. We make sure that every aspect, every area of our life is full of God-honoring, God-pleasing music. The final phrase of this verse brings in again the use of music in the worship of God. It says this, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. We are to sing with grace or thankfulness in our hearts. to the Lord. When the Word of Christ dwells richly within you, then there will be a proper response of worship to God for what? Everything that He has done for us. The word grace here is the word charis. It's one of the familiar Greek words that you may have heard before. It is also translated in various locations as thankful, thankfulness. Why? Because it is our response. It is how we respond to the grace that we receive from God. And we respond with gratefulness, with thanksgiving, in our hearts, singing in our hearts to Him. Now, the idea of singing in your heart, some may say, well, you just have to have a song in your heart. You don't actually have to verbalize it. No. Remember how we define singing? To make music with the mouth, OK? The idea of singing here is not a reference to emotion or singing silently, though it is certainly fine to have a song in the heart. but rather it is a reference to a response of worship that arises from within our being, from inside of us. This is that sincerity, worshiping in spirit. The origin of true worship is always internal. It always starts on the inside. Many people can sing with their lips. They can make skilled sounds on instruments. They could play their instrument really well. They could come up here and sing a solo and do it really well, but if the heart If the heart is not included, it is not spirit-filled music, and it's not of worship, and so it will lack in its ability to truly praise God. So kids, when you sing your solos and you play your pieces, do it from the heart. Think about what you're singing. Think about what you're playing. And parents, can I encourage you? Don't get comfortable just throwing your kids up here to do it. If you can sing, sing. If you can play a solo, play a solo. If you don't think you can do a solo, do a duet or a trio, okay? But let's all be involved in this. If you can do it, whatever level you're at, if it's just congregational and that's all you can do, when we have congregational singing, sing it out, belt it out. For what? For the Lord, because he is great. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. A non-Christian can sing a song about our Lord as many of them do in singing Christmas carols and all kinds of popular gospel songs, but it's not worship. It's not true worship. Only a true Christian who's redeemed and regenerated and reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ, only they can fulfill this command to sing with grace in their hearts to God in true worship of Him. So let's make sure as a church that we're doing that. We're singing from the heart. We're offering up this wonderful praise to God for the wonderful things that He's done for us. What has God done for you? Think about all the wonderful spiritual blessings that you have from God, the grace, the mercy, all of the love, the long-suffering, the death of Christ on the cross. If you fill in your life up with Scripture and you're reading about all these things, what's going to come out? What's going to come bubbling out? It's going to be teaching and admonishing, okay, and it's going to be music. It's going to be song. So let's make sure we're doing that and doing it from the heart unto the Lord. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your goodness to us. We ask that you be honored and glorified. I pray that you'd help us to put this into practice and that you would help us to do the things that we know we ought to do for your honor and glory in Jesus' name.