that the Christian church should sing the Psalms is indisputable. The Bible commands as much, not once, but twice in the New Testament, both in Ephesians 5.19 and Colossians 3.16. That the use of Psalms in those two passages refers to the Psalms of David, that is the 150 Psalms of the Old Testament. It's backed by over 2,000 years of church practice across all three major branches of Christendom. Some movements within those branches still singing predominantly or exclusively from the Psalter. Now why psalm singing has fallen out of practice in far too many churches is not the focus of this message. But the question of how to sing the psalms as Christian worship is. And I pray that this message tonight would be life transformational for you. As I think about this problem, I believe that one of the reasons that people find psalm singing so inaccessible is because they have not been given a proper biblical framework for how to understand the psalms as Christian worship. I think the common thought is that the psalms were for the Old Testament people of God and not the New Testament people of God. But the church for 2,000 years has seen singing the Psalms as central to its worship in many parts of the church. In fact, up until the mid-19th century, the majority of all denominations sang the Psalms, whether exclusively or as a major part of their worship on the Lord's Day. Did you know, in fact, that the first book published in North America was the Bay Book of Psalms? that the pilgrims would sing every Lord's Day and throughout the week in their kitchens and their homes and their workplaces. So my prayer is that this message tonight would make Psalm singing accessible to you, not as some antiquated practice, but as something that is indispensable to Christian worship. And not just because the Bible commands us to do it in the New Testament, but because you discover your very life there as you discover Christ in the pages of the Psalms. So this message, beloved, is intended to show you how to sing the Psalms as Christian worship by teaching you how to see Christ in the Psalms. and then how to deepen the experience of your union and communion with Jesus as you sing them. You will learn a Christ-centered hermeneutic that will enable a richer theological experience as you sing the Psalms, and I pray thereby that you will also gain a more intimate experience of your union and communion with your Savior. Christ is everywhere in the Psalms. Sometimes he's the voice of the psalmist. Sometimes he is the object of the psalmist's prayers. But at all times, Christ's mediatorial work on our behalf is in view. The Psalms contain the experience of Christ as our Redeemer in both his ministries of humiliation and exaltation. If you want to experience Jesus in a brand new way, sing the Psalms. If you want to grow in Christ's likeness, learn to sing the Psalms after Christ. There you will sing with him and to him in a very real and intimate way. Beloved, the Psalms are the words of Christ. That is, after all, why Paul exhausts us to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, singing Psalms. The Psalms are the words of Christ, and I want to help you discover Christ tonight in the Psalms. So first, how to see Christ in the Psalms. How do we go about doing that? Whether you're reading the Psalms or singing them or praying them, how do we discover Christ in the Psalms? Several passages in the book of Hebrews gives us a window into the biblical basis, or you could say hermeneutic, which is a fancy way of saying Bible interpretation, the biblical hermeneutic for seeing Christ in the Psalms. So Hebrews gives us a God-inspired biblical hermeneutic of how to interpret the Psalms in a Christ-centered way. So we are going to use Hebrews tonight as a test case to learn how to see Christ in the Psalms. So the writer of Hebrews shows us that the Psalms are both prayers, the prayers of Christ, as well as prayers to Christ. They can also be objects of Trinitarian communication. And I'm going to explain all of that in a moment. So gaining a grasp of how the New Testament interprets the Psalms will unlock a hermeneutical principle that will help you understand the Psalms in layers and depths that you never imagined. The writer of Hebrews shows us how to interpret the Psalms as Christian worship in three fundamental ways. Each section of what follows will include two examples of how Hebrews uses the Psalter to help us see Christ in the Psalms. So number one, Christ as the subject of Christian worship in the Psalms. Hebrews shows us how to see Christ as the subject of Christian worship in the Psalms. Here we will see how the Epistle uses Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 to show us how Christ is the subject of these Psalms. The larger message of Hebrews is to show the supremacy of Christ over all things. And in chapter one, the focus is Jesus' supremacy over angels. Hebrews is using the Old Testament to defend the argument. And in verse five, the writer asks, for to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Here, Hebrews is citing Psalms 2-7 to show that Christ is the subject of this Psalm. Here we see an example of Trinitarian communication in the Psalms. The Father is speaking directly to the Son. In other words, Jesus is the subject of Psalm 2, and the Father and the Son are communicating. The words themselves become divine communication from the Father and the Son, and in turn, the psalmist exhorts us to worship the Messiah. Another example of Christ as the subject of the Psalms is found in chapter 5. There the writer uses Psalm 110 to defend the claim that Jesus holds an eternal priesthood that was given to him by the Father. And the writer says, So also, Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son, today I have begotten you. As he says also in another place, you are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. Psalms 110 is cited multiple times in Hebrews. You can also look in chapter 1 and in chapter 7 on two different occasions. This is another example of Trinitarian communication. Here the father appoints the son to an eternal priesthood. In this psalm, Christ is once again the subject of the psalm. There is no notion here that the psalms are an antiquated book for worship in the Old Covenant period. The psalms are all about Christ. In Psalm 110, again, we see the Father communicating directly to the Son in such a way that the writer of the God-inspired book of Hebrews says, So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him, that is the father, who said to him, that is Christ, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. And then you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Bible is telling us that here the father is directly speaking to the son. even though the psalm was written by a human author, but inspired by the Spirit. I mean, isn't that amazing? So, the book of Hebrews shows us that Christ is the subject of Christian worship in the psalms. But a second point, the book of Hebrews also shows us that Christ is the object of Christian worship in the psalms. Hebrews demonstrates that Christ is the object of Christian worship by citing, again, two new psalm selections. And again, here in the context of Hebrews, the writer is defending the supremacy of Christ over angels. And again, we're back in chapter one, the writer says, but of the Son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. Here, Hebrews argues that Jesus is supreme over angels because he is God. That is to say that Christ is the God that we worship in the Psalms. In the same chapter, the writer says, down in verse 10, And you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment. Like a robe, you will roll them up. Like a garment, they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end. This time, the writer of Hebrews is citing Psalm 102, and here again, he shows us that Christ is the object of Christian worship in the Psalms. Not just because he is the subject, but because he is the object as God, as the Lord of the Old Testaments. Now it is imperative that we get our minds around this. The personal name of God given to us in the Old Testament is Yahweh. Anytime you see LORD in all caps in your English translation, or HERON in all caps in your Norwegian translation, the translators are indicating that Yahweh is used in the original Hebrew. Psalm 102 addresses the prayer, the psalm that is, to Yahweh. So the writer of Hebrews is arguing that Jesus is supreme over angels because he is Yahweh himself. So Hebrews gives us a critical principle for Christian worship. Every time that we sing to the Lord in the psalms, we are singing to Christ as the object of our praise. Our prayers, our laments, and our praises from the Psalms are all addressed to our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. I should add a note here that this would include the Father and the Son as well, all being Lord. We worship one God. So here we have divinely inspired worship lyrics to praise our Savior. Let me say that again. When we sing the Psalms, we have divinely inspired worship lyrics. That is the worship lyrics that God Almighty has ordained for His own praise. He has given that to us in the Psalms. Indeed, when we sing the Psalms, we truly live out the Protestant Reformation principle of sola scriptura. Everything we need for worship is directly found in the Bible, and particularly in the Psalter in respect to singing. So, the writer of Hebrews shows us that Christ is both the subject and the object of Christian worship in the Psalms. But there's a third point that we need to say, and this is critical. And that is, the writer of Hebrews shows us that Christ is also the leader of Christian worship in the Psalms. And let me explain that. Hebrews is going to show us that the Psalms are the very words of Christ. When you sing the Psalms, you hear Jesus speaking directly to you. When the psalmist addresses you, it is Christ speaking directly to you. in the first person. I mean, there's no place in the Bible where we hear from Christ in a more intimate way than the Psalms. And so let me give you an example of that. In Hebrews chapter two, the writer shows us how Jesus is our divine worship leader. In chapter two, verses 11 to 12, the writer says, for he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is speaking directly through the psalmist, saying to the Father, I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise. When we sing the Psalms, Jesus is leading us in worship. Look there in chapter two, verses 11 and 12. Notice he says, the writer says, that is why he, he's talking about Jesus, that is why he, Jesus, is not ashamed to call them brothers saying, direct quote, I will tell of your name to my brothers. Brothers, of course, is you and me. When we sing the Psalms, Jesus is leading us as our worship leader. Another example in the Hebrews of Jesus speaking in the Psalms is found in Hebrews 10. There the writer argues, consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sin offerings, you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. Now here again, we see an example of Trinitarian dialogue in the Psalms, but this time the son is speaking to the father. Hebrews is telling us that Jesus himself is the one speaking through the psalmist. These are the very words of Christ. Again, I want you to just look at that, that the writer of Hebrews is saying, this is Jesus speaking. Look again in chapter 10, verse five, the writer says, consequently, when Christ came into the world, he, that is Christ said, direct quote, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, et cetera, et cetera. Let that blow your mind as you hear Jesus speaking to us and speaking to the Father. It's like we have an opportunity to listen in to Jesus's prayers as he intercedes on our behalf before the Father. These are the very words of Christ. And now this is very interesting. Later in Psalm 40, Jesus prays, But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. May those who love your salvation say continually, Great is the Lord. And here we see directly that Jesus is our worship leader as he intercedes for us before the Father. When we sing the Psalms, we sing the very words of Christ. Psalm singing is Christian worship because Christ is the subject, the object, and the worship leader in the Psalms. These three interpretive principles are not founded on the cleverness of man. This is scripture interpreting scripture. This is an infallible rule for worship. The book of Hebrews gives us three biblically authoritative principles for singing the Psalms as Christian worship. So let that sink in for a moment. In our Reformation materials, such as in the Westminster Confession of Faith, is that we find there the principle that the one infallible rule of biblical interpretation is scripture interpreting scripture. And here in Hebrews, we find three marvelous principles for how to see Christ in the Psalms. Christ is the subject of Christian worship in the Psalms. Christ is the object of Christian worship in the Psalms. And Christ is the leader of Christian worship in the Psalms. Now this does not make the interpretation of the Psalms always easy. For example, one of the conundrums is how do you know if a particular Psalm is pointing to Jesus as the subject or the object, or is he directly speaking? Or can he be all three at the same time? And this leads us to our second point. how to commune with Christ in the Psalms. How can Christ be the subject, the object, and the worship leader at the same time? The answer to this is a vital key for experiencing our communion with Christ in the Psalms. Now, these are mysteries of the Trinity, as well as the hypostatic union of Jesus being both fully God and fully man, and it leads us to realms incomprehensible. Nevertheless, Orthodox Christianity affirms the biblical teaching that Jesus is fully God. That is, Jesus is the God of the Old Testament. As we have shown already, Jesus is Yahweh. And at the same time, Orthodox Christianity is also affirmed that the biblical teaching is that Jesus was also fully man. So Jesus is fully God and fully man. And that is why Paul can say in 1 Timothy 2.5, for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. So the Bible can refer to Christ as both God, Yahweh, and also as a man, a human mediator. And How that works together goes way beyond our subject tonight into the realms of the hypostatic union about how Jesus can be fully God and fully man at the same time. And we will leave that for another night. But the question is, why did Jesus become man? The second person of the Trinity became man for a reason. And that is this, in order to redeem us as our mediator. As the God-man, Jesus took our place in his life, death, and resurrection. He lived the life before the Father that we failed to live. He bore the wrath of God that our sins deserved. and he was raised to new life to share with us the glory that we could not ever merit. Thus God became man that we might be redeemed from our sins and raised up to glory. By our union with Christ, we are made heirs and partakers of these very promises. So what does that have to do with the Psalms? When we sing the Psalms, we experience our communion with Christ in both his ministry of humiliation and exaltation. In the Psalms, the God-man can sing to the Father in union with us, and at the same time, we can sing to him as God. Jesus can be both the subject and object of the Psalm at the same time. Likewise, Jesus can take on the sins of the psalmist as our Redeemer. Take Psalm 40 as an example. This is one of the Psalms that the book of Hebrews uses to show Jesus speaking in the Psalms, which we already looked at there in Hebrews 10. Well, later in Psalm 40, which the writer of Hebrews attributes to the very words of Christ, later in psalm 40 jesus says my iniquities have overtaken me and i cannot see they are more than the hairs of my head now the bible is clear as is hebrews specifically that jesus had no sin jesus was sinless and if jesus is sinless how can he say my iniquities have overtaken me and i cannot see they're more than the hairs of my head Now please, beloved, do not miss this point. When Jesus speaks of his sins, we see Jesus speaking in the Psalms as the redeemer who takes on our sins, as well as the sins of the psalmist. Jesus, as man, took on the sins of his people and brought them to the cross. He who knew no sin became sin. that we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus, as our Redeemer, became sin. That is, He took on our sin. And Psalm 40 is an example where Christ is speaking in the Psalms, as the book of Hebrews tells us, and yet He can speak of iniquities as if they are His, because He took them on in our place. So Christ is sinless, but He knew no sin. But he took on sin, he became sin, as Paul says, that we might become the righteousness of God. So don't miss this point. When we sing the Psalms as Christian worship, we experience an intimate communion with Jesus as he takes on our humiliation. Likewise, we experience the same close communion when we experience His exaltation. Sing Psalm 16 about the resurrection, for example, or Psalm 22 and follow the flow of Christ's humiliation and then exaltation through the narrative of that psalm. Do that and you will know what I mean when I say we experience that same close communion with Christ in the Psalms. There is no man-made hymn or song that could ever possibly give us that same intimate experience of our union and communion with Christ, because no man-made hymn or song is inspired by God. So no matter how well-written or how theologically sound or rich a man-made hymn or song is, none of those can compare to the level and the depth of experience that we can have of our union and communion with Christ as when we sing the biblical psalms. When we sing the psalms, we are singing the very words of Christ. By way of application, we must understand the Psalms are not fast food contemporary Christian worship lyrics. We're not eating a burger at McDonald's when we try to interpret and sing the Psalms. This is rich and robust food. In fact, when you first try it, you might actually feel overwhelmed and exhausted. When I was, uh, first married, uh, to my wife, Deborah, she, she married a husband who ate lots and lots of fast food. I had a sweet tooth, uh, pretty bad. And, but she loved cooking good food, organic food, vegetables, and all of that. When I first started eating that food, it didn't taste that good. Not because Deborah was a bad cook, but because I had no palate. My palate was so overstimulated by processed sugary food. I didn't even have an ability to access that good food and appreciate it for what it was. And over the time, my palate changed and I was able to taste the richness of the flavors of real food. In the same way, it takes time to develop a palate for singing the Psalms and to taste it in all of its richness. It takes time and it takes practice to grow in your understanding and ability to sing the Psalms as Christian worship. But if you value your union and communion with Christ, your training here will pay back unimaginable dividends. If you are in a place of stalemate with your walk with the Lord, take on singing the Psalms and you will find a new depth to your relationship with Christ that you never thought you could have. So to help you sing the Psalms as Christian worship, I'm going to close with a few next steps to help you learn how to sing them more fully and more richly as Christian worship. So number one, begin to sing the Psalms in your personal devotions. sing through one psalm a day or take one psalm for a whole week, and practice interpreting it according to the principles that we have learned from Hebrews above. Of course, if you're going to sing the psalms, you will need a metrical psalter. Before the time of the Reformation, when the psalms were sung, they were usually chanted. And at the time of the Reformation, we were given a marvelous gift. We were given the psalms in metrical form. So they were translated according to meters so that we could sing them with tunes that we already know. Now there are many good Psalters to choose from. The Trinity Psalter is an excellent choice. The Scottish Psalter is a classic. One that I often recommend is the Book of Psalms for worship. And what makes this such an accessible starting point is that it comes with an app. So you can go on your phone and go to the Android store or the iTunes store and you can download the Book of Psalms for Worship. It's maybe five or six bucks, but very, very accessible way to get the Psalms on your phone. And what's so wonderful about the app is that you can listen to the tunes. so that if you're not good at reading music, it can aid your ability to read and sing the Psalms while the tune plays along. And at least in the app, the version that I have on my iPhone, you can turn the phone sideways and it will give you the full sheet music. Of course, I would greatly encourage you to actually buy a copy for yourself. A couple things, as you sing the Psalms in your devotions, these are a couple questions that might be helpful for you to think about finding Christ and how to see Christ in the Psalms. So, one, a good question. How does this psalm function as a prayer to Christ as God? That is, as Lord. So as you're singing a particular psalm, how does it serve as our prayer to Christ as Lord? A second question to ask. How does this psalm function as the prayers of Christ as a man praying to the Father? In other words, how does this psalm display the intimate relationship that the second person of the Trinity had and has with the first person of the Trinity? How do we see this as Jesus praying directly to the Father in such a way that we see, for example, in John 17 in the high priestly prayer? A third question you can ask, how does this psalm reveal the mediatorial work of Christ as our Redeemer? Like I shared in Psalm 40, where Jesus takes on our sins, how does the psalm that you're reading or singing reveal some aspect of Christ's mediatorial work as our Redeemer? Is it something about a humiliation he underwent on our behalf, or an exaltation that he underwent in which we are brought into through our union with him? A fourth question you could ask is, how does this psalm display Christ as our model to follow? So take Psalm 1, for example. We read there in Psalm 1, I'll turn to it in my Bible here, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. goes down in verse five, therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment or sinners in the congregation, the righteous for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Now, if we sing that basically it's just something we do to merit favor of God, that's ridiculous. That's works righteousness, that's legalism. And we know full well that we fail day in and day out to do this. We day in and day out, are tempted and often walk the way of the wicked and stand in the way of sinners and sit in the seat of scoffers. We fail miserably at Psalms 1, but Jesus fulfilled it perfectly. So there, as our mediator, he did what we failed to do. But at the same time, Christ also becomes our model, and here Psalms 1 becomes a model for how we are to live in light of what Christ has done for us. So we can sing of these psalms both in respect to Christ as our mediator and in respect to Christ as our model to follow. So that's a first. really important way to grow in learning how to sing the Psalms as Christian worship. Sing them in your personal devotions. A second next step. Study Hebrew's Psalter hermeneutics for yourself. That is the letter of Hebrews in the New Testament. Study its own Psalter hermeneutics for yourself. That is how Hebrews interprets the Psalms. Really, the most important way to be convinced that we should sing the Psalms as Christian worship is by studying the Bible for yourself. And outside of the passages in Ephesians and Colossians that directly command us to sing the Psalms, you have to deal with how the book of Hebrews interprets the Psalms. There's really no better place to start than Hebrews outside of Ephesians and Colossians. And I've given you a sample of that in this message, but you really need to discover it for yourself. A third next step. Learn about Christ's mediatorial work as your Redeemer in the Westminster Standards. As Presbyterians, our confessional standards are the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechism. And if you go there, there is wonderful and rich resources to learn about all of the aspects and all of the multifaceted dimensions by which Christ serves as our Redeemer, how he mediates for us as the God-man. So you can look in the Westminster Confession of Faith in Chapter 8. You can look at the Westminster Larger Catechism, questions 36 through 57, and 65 to 89, and there particularly what is really helpful is it talks about how we are united to Christ and how we experience union and communion with him in both his ministries of humiliation and exaltation. Also, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 21 to 28, you study those things, it will give you tools and resources, theological categories and buckets to help you see Christ more clearly as our Redeemer in the Psalms. A fourth next step, and this one is specifically for pastors. Pastors, give the words of Christ to your congregation. Let them hear Jesus as you sing Psalms. When you can sing the actual words of Christ, it makes you less excited to sing merely human words about him. The more time that I have spent singing the words of Christ in the Psalms, the more I want to shout out to worship leaders when I'm in other services, in a psalm-less service, give me Christ! I want to hear from Jesus! I want to sing the songs of my Savior! With so much talk today about experiential worship, there is no greater experience than to intimately sing the very words of Jesus. Along with participation in baptism and the Lord's Supper, there is no greater experience of our union and communion with Christ than in singing His very words in the Psalter. For a pastor serving in a psalmist tradition, this can be daunting. And I would encourage you to start with low-hanging fruit. Begin with psalms like Psalm 23 or Psalm 121. These are great places to give your congregation a taste for psalm singing. In close, I would like to make a personal appeal. I have been privileged to lead God's people in worship since the age of 16, in one capacity or another. For most of that journey, I was a kid or a guy on stage with a guitar, often an electric guitar. For the later part of that journey, I was a pastor on stage with an acoustic guitar, typically. Now I stand with the psalter open for the people and lead them in songs of Christ with nothing but our voices. Now you can use music if you wish. I have no intention to speak against that unless you are depending upon music as a new means of grace to somehow win people to the Lord. I have no reason or no intention to speak against music, but I simply want to close with this personal story in order to simply say that when I discovered a Psalter for the first time about a decade ago, it completely transformed the way I understood worship. At that time, I was leading worship in a non-psalm singing setting. For most of that time, psalm singing was merely something I dabbled with in personal devotions. Frankly, it felt awkward to me for a long time. And it felt even more awkward as I thought about trying to transform my former church into a psalm singing congregation. Now, don't get me wrong, I had wonderful wonderful and rich experience of leading worship in non-psalm singing settings. I hold those times and my relationships with those colleagues dear. But now that I pastor in the Presbyterian tradition, which has psalm singing at the center of its worship heritage, I share this in hopes that God will use it to reform the worship of my own Presbyterian tribe, as well as to bring reform to your own worship, too, even if it's only for your own personal devotions. But one thing is clear from the Bible. The Christian church is to sing the Psalms as Christian worship. And the book of Hebrews is a remarkable demonstration of how we can see, savor, and sing the glory of Christ in the Psalms. Christian You need a place where you can find Christ in the midst of your sorrows and joys. You need Christ in your grief and you need to look to him for hope. And there is no place in the Bible quite like the Psalms to do just that in prayer and song. The Psalms are the words of Christ. And with the Apostle Paul, my prayer is that the word of Christ would dwell richly in you, and all the more richly now that you have learned a few biblical principles for how to sing the Psalms as Christian worship.