Thank you very much, McIntyre. We do appreciate the opportunity to come and to speak and just to bring this subject. Thank you so much for your welcome. I wonder, would you turn in the Word of God to the book of Ephesians in that chapter, chapter 5? And we'll just read from verse 15 of that chapter. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 15, down through to verse 21. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 15, See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine wherein is access, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord. Amen. We know the Lord will surely bless the reading of His Word. Let's just bow in a few words of prayer before we consider this passage. Father, we thank you, Lord, for the gathering this evening. We thank you, Lord, for the encouragement of seeing folks out before the open book, out to hear the Word of God preached and to meditate upon its truth. And we pray that you'll strengthen us this evening, Lord, that we will know the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We thank you for last night's meeting. We thank you, Lord, for putting it at the heart of her brother and the session to convene these meetings. And we pray that you'll bless them in their entirety, that each man will know help from above, help from thee, will know the unfilling of the Holy Spirit, will know power in the proclaiming of your word. And we pray that your people will be stirred up, your people will be strengthened in their faith, and that they will be led of God. We ask these things in our Savior's precious name. Amen. Now, folks, I would like you to indulge me just for a moment this evening. I want to do something that's maybe a little bit unusual by way of introduction. I want to underline a point to you, and I think this is probably perhaps one of the better ways of doing it. I'd like you just to let your imagination run for a little while and just, you don't need to close your eyes or anything, but just let your imagination run. And I want you to imagine a day, a beautiful day, perhaps one like yesterday. You know the sort of day that you only get, we only get two or three of them in Northern Ireland per year? Just an absolute corker of a day, incredible weather, and not a cloud in the sky, and the sun's warm on your skin, just that nice, maybe a little bit of a cool breeze. And maybe it's your day off. Maybe it's your day off, you're fortunate enough for that, and you decide, and the kids are off, and you decide maybe to take the family to the beach. And you hit the beach. And of course everyone else has had the same idea as you. And they're all there. It's like those pictures that we saw in the news yesterday of the beaches in England where it's all sort of packed. But everybody's having a great time. And you look up and down the beach and people are chilled. And you can hear the sounds of that scene. You can hear children and they're laughing and having fun. And you can maybe hear a nice cream van in the background. And as you smell, you maybe smell the smell of somebody down the beach with one of those disposable barbecues and the smells wafting across. And you can smell the coconut of the suntan lotion. And you just imagine it through the lens of a camera. And then just think of the camera lens changing so it's looking inward to the beach from the water. And all the activity that's going on there, you can see just on the shore, there's, you know, the toddlers are there by the water, and they're splashing in the water and kicking up water with mom and dad, you know, and they're having a great time. And then maybe a little bit further right, you know, there's maybe somebody on a bodyboard and somebody on an inflatable, you know. And then maybe a wee bit further right, you know, there's the strong swimmers, and they're swimming up and down. And you know what comes next, don't you? There's some of you that think I've just lost my marbles. There's some of you that just think, what is that guy on? But then there's other of you and you know exactly what I'm talking about. There's some of you and you know exactly what I've done. You know that I have played just the opening notes of what is one of the most iconic soundtracks in all of movie history from the film Jaws, Two Notes, folks. Two Notes. That's the power of music. Two Notes changes what is a beautiful scene, somewhere where you would want to be. You'd want to be in that water splashing about, maybe. You maybe want to be in that water swimming, if you're a swimmer, and Two Notes changes it to somewhere where you wouldn't want to be. Two Notes changes your emotion from joy and happiness, and Two Notes brings in a deep sense of foreboding, that you know something bad is about to happen. two notes. That's the power of music. That right there is the power of music. What is music? Music is many things. But I think first and foremost, it is an emotion factory. Music manufactures emotion. Let me say that again. Music is an emotion factory. It manufactures emotions. Now, there are countless ways that I could explain that to you and demonstrate that to you. You're maybe one of these people who goes to the gym, and as you can see, I'm not one of these people that goes to the gym, but maybe you're someone that goes to the gym frequently, and you know, maybe you've had a late night You've had a late night one night, and well, it's your time to go to the gym the next day, and you're really just feeling it. You couldn't see it far enough, and you're maybe having second thoughts, but you go anyway, and you get into your gear, and you go into the gym, and you pull out your phone, you put your ear pods in, or your headphones, or whatever you use, and you upload your Spotify, or whatever playlist you have, and you choose the music. You choose the music that's appropriate. And you see within a few bars, you're pumped up. Why? Because the music has changed your emotion. If you're wanting to take your wife, maybe it's a special occasion, you want to take your wife to somewhere really nice, to a fancy restaurant, or maybe your girlfriend, you want to really impress her, and you take her to this fancy restaurant, and in the corner there's a black ebony piano, sort of the finish of that one. You know, and there's maybe a very talented young woman or young girl or young man sitting playing this, and they're playing a very sophisticated arrangement of a popular tune, and it creates the feeling of sophistication. This is a sophisticated place. You've done right for your partner. You've taken her to a really special place. Or maybe you're like me and listen to Classic FM and you know you're maybe out late some night working and you're coming home from work and you're tired and a wee bit stressed and you want to unwind and you put the radio on in the car and Classic FM and watch the program Relaxing Evenings with Classic FM and there's a specially curated list of music that's just designed to create within you a state of calmness. What is music? Music is an emotion factory. It manufactures emotions. And I want you to hold that thought there. Just park that in your mind. And the reason why I say this is because of the verse 19 that I have been asked to speak upon this evening. And verse 19 is concerned with two things. First of all, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, obviously from the title of the series you'll know that, but also because it's linked to the previous verse, verse 18, where the subject is the infilling of the Spirit. So that's the first aspect in verse 19, and the second is singing in church, singing in the local congregation. And I have to say that I am fascinated that these two subjects are joined. the Holy Spirit's infilling in the Christian life, and congregational singing. And I think it is doubly fascinating that this particular subject of congregational singing should come first in the list. Paul opens up the subject in verse 18, as the Reverend Higginson dealt with last night with the subject of the Holy Spirit's infilling, and immediately after, immediately after he comes to the subject of congregational singing and congregational worship, and that's not a mistake. Can I say it's very clear that we are thinking about music, about singing, about worship in the context of a church. We're thinking about singing in the context of a local congregation such as this. These verses that you're going to consider over the next number of nights are not individualistic verses. They're not directed at me as an individual. They're not directed at me so much as a Christian by myself, but they're directed at me as part of a community, part of a group. They direct me in how I am to behave within the context of a group of others. And that's quite clear to see when you come down to verse 21, where it says that we are to submit, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. And then it goes on to talk about the context of marriage, and the context of work, the context of family. But here it's the context of church, the collective meeting of God's people in the congregation, very definitely. It says in verse 19, speaking to yourselves, not speaking to yourself. Speaking to yourselves. Congregational singing in church. It's not just about me going home and sitting down at the piano and rattling off a few gospel hymns and singing to myself. It's not even about me getting a few friends around and having a sing song around the piano. The primary place for people to sing to each other is the local congregation. And that's the first subject that Paul brings up after he begins speaking about Holy Spirit infilling. Now, why is that? Because Holy Spirit-infilled people sing. And that's just a fact. That's just a fact. Now, you could say that verse 19 is a command We're commanded to speak to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. You could certainly present it in that way, and it is a command, and we are commanded to sing in worship services. That's part and parcel of what the Lord expects of us in worship services and why that should be, we'll come to later. Yes, it's a command, but it's also a consequence. When Holy Spirit-filled people meet, There is a song. There's always a song. It happens automatically for the Holy Spirit-filled man or Holy Spirit-filled woman. It takes me back to the days of my youth when I had a whole lot less gray hair than I have now, and a brave bit lighter when we went to Castle Welland on the youth weekend. And there was a big group of saved young people, and they were on the main part zealous. zealous for God, zealous to go forward, zealous to learn, and it wasn't long before the singing started. Singing is not just a command. It's a consequence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. I firmly believe, and let me say this, I firmly believe that God's true people all have a song. You know, as you get older, and you start attending more funerals, which is a consequence, of course, of getting older, and you attend funerals in different congregations, different churches, different denominations, and you go into some churches and the singing is just woeful. And that's really the only word you could put on it. They're in a musical coma. And if you start to sing, you can hear your own voice. You know, the people all around you are mumbling. They're not like the ventriloquist dummy. They're like the ventriloquist. You know, their lips aren't moving at all, and there's no sound coming out. Singing is so dead. I have to say, there's a wee bit of mischievousness in me, because when you've been singing as long as I've been singing, you're not really worried about the sound of your own voice. And when I go into a situation like that, I just press the volume up. I tend to just light it up and sing out, and you can see the shock on the people's faces, because they're not used to anybody singing. Singing's dead. And then you hear the sermon, and you know why the singing's dead, because there's not a word of gospel. There's some old boy wearing a dress or a robe at the front of the church, and he's blethering on. And there's no Christ, and there's no cross, and there's no hope, and there's no power, and there's no salvation, and it's just waffle. And it doesn't take you too long to work out why they're not singing. No salvation. You know, one of the greatest things I think about being a free Presbyterian is that we are a singing church, great singing. Not highfalutin, as my mother would have said, but just good, solid singing, and that's because we're a gospel preaching church. And I tell you, the day that the free Presbyterian church loses its song is a very sad day because it's lost something else. Where there is salvation, there's a song. Yeah? Verse 18 speaks about not being drunk with wine wherein is access. And folks, it's a well-known consequence of drunkenness that they're singing. I'm sure you've seen it in the town. It's coming to closing time, and the boys roll out of the pub, and they're well liquored up, and they're singing. Why are they singing? They're happy, or they think they're happy. because they've forgotten their troubles, and they've forgotten their inhibitions, and they've forgotten who they are, and they've forgotten everything. And all they have is this misplaced joy that pours out of the bottle for a few seconds, and they sing. That's the natural consequence. Well, folks, we sing because we're filled with a different spirit. We're filled with the Spirit of God, and that is a consequence of salvation. You know, Perhaps the greatest picture of salvation in the Old Testament, or certainly one of the greatest pictures of salvation in the Old Testament is Egypt. You think about the children of Israel being delivered from slavery, being set free, and they're rescued from Pharaoh and Egypt, and as you read through the Bible, This is referred to over and over and over and over again. You're God's people because He set you free from bondage. He redeemed you with the blood of the Passover lamb. He delivered you from Pharaoh through the Red Sea. And you have seen, you looked and you've seen Pharaoh all washed up on the beach. Not a picture of the Christian life, by the way, yeah? Set free by the blood of the lamb. set free from the slave house of sin. Tell me, are you set free? I mean, it's good to see you in God's house, wonderful to see you at a series of meetings such as this, but are you saved? Have you been set free? Can you sing that tremendous hymn, I was a sinner, but now I'm free. His wondrous grace has rescued me. And you're saved. You've had a miraculous escape. The Lord has delivered you from the power of Satan. Satan's all washed up on the beach, as it were. What happened after Israel crossed the Red Sea? What happened? Well, turn with me please to Exodus chapter 15, and you'll see what happened immediately. The deliverance in the Red Sea came in Exodus chapter 14, and you will see immediately what happened in Exodus 15. Exodus 15 and verse 1, it says, Then sang Moses Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation." You see, folks, redeemed, redeemed people sing. The Lord's my strength. The Lord's my deliverer. The Lord is my victory. Oh, victory in Jesus! The Lord has become my salvation. I was bound in sin. I had none to help, but now God is my salvation and my song. I believe every truly Holy Spirit-filled Christian born again has the song of the soul set free. And what does the psalmist say? He brought me up also out of an horrible pit and out of the merry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings, and he hath put a new song in my mouth. It's one of the reasons why I don't believe in exclusive psalmody, because I believe the song that we sing ought to be a new song. We should have something new to sing to the Lord constantly through our life, what the Lord is doing in us, what the Lord is doing through us. Oh, I love that song. I have a song that Jesus gave to me. It was sent from heaven above. There never was a sweeter melody, tis the melody of love in my heart, there rings a melody." Folks, the people of the Lord have a right to shout and sing. Folks, there's so much to thank the Lord for, so much to thank the Lord for. We're pardoned, pardoned from the blackest of black sins with peace with God. We're brought into the family. We have the person of Jesus Christ as our friend for eternity. as our Savior. We've been promised, listen folks, we've been promised resurrection from the dead. Not in some vague, airy-fairy way, not that we're going to live on in the collective memory of the human race. No, we're promised resurrection, a promised paradise as our ultimate destination. We have a right to shout and sing. Can I just say this? Can I just stop and say this to you? Do sing. Do sing. Because I know there's other issues there. There's the issues of nervousness. There's maybe the issues of people don't feel that they can sing very well. It doesn't matter. Sing. I don't care if you think you have a good voice or not. Sing. I don't care if your timing is up the left. Sing. I don't care if you can't sing in tune, if you couldn't even do do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do. Sing. I encourage you to. I really do, and I mean that genuinely. I remember doing an open hour some years ago, quite a number of years ago now, in the Reverend Graham Middleton's trailer a long time before either of us ever had any, well, either of us ever went anywhere near Bible college. We used to do some outreach on a Saturday morning. And he had this trailer, and he would preach, and I would sing, and he thought he was moody, and I thought I was zanky, and the both of us hadn't a clue. But we did an open air in a town, and there was a certain minister came and not say who it was, and we were doing the open air and the trailer, and his singing was so bad. I literally could not keep the tune and the timing in my head to play the accordion. I lost my way because his singing was so bad. Yeah, amen. I'm glad he sang, because God's people who are saved, who are filled with the Spirit, they sing. I just want to encourage you, don't let anybody take away your song. You sing and sing out. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Come back with me, please, to verse 19. Look what it says, just the first verse. Oh, there's a whole lot that you could say about this verse. But look at the first word, speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Speaking, speaking. Even though this verse is about singing, it begins with the word speaking. And that word just simply underlines the fact that it is the message of what you're singing that is paramount. And I say that as someone who loves music, broadly speaking, who loves instrumental, who plays a number of different instruments, but it is the message in the hymn, in the psalm, in the spiritual song that is paramount. It doesn't say motivating yourselves with a rhythm like the way you would do in a gym. It doesn't say entertaining yourselves with a performance like you would do in a concert. It says speaking to yourselves because you have a message. And praise God, our hymns do have a message, a great message. One of the legacies of our Free Presbyterian Church is our hymn book. what a message they have. Now, of course, let me just sidetrack a little. Let me say that naturally, church music will aim to be as professional as possible. I'll say that again. Naturally, church music will aim to be as professional as possible because everything a Spirit-filled person does, they do to their best. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, We do it with our might, and if our hand finds our way onto a church piano or a church organ, or indeed the church sound desk, or anything else that we do within the confines of the church, we do it with all our might. We aim to be as professional as possible. Of course, that goes without saying. And it also goes without saying that verse 19 doesn't preclude our enjoyment. There ought to be enjoyment. in the house of God as we sing. But the motivation of the Holy Spirit-filled person is not to perform. It's not to entertain. It's to speak to others in the congregation, speaking to yourselves. Message is paramount. The words and the purpose is, of course, to edify, to build one another up in the faith, and ultimately to make them look to the Lord, because that's how the verse ends, making melody in your heart to the Lord. It's ultimately with an eye to the glory of God. I come into church, perhaps, and I've had a rough week. I'm all over the place. And Satan's been whispering a whole pile of lies in my ear. You're a failure. You've fallen to temptation. You've blown it. God has no more time for you. He'll never use you again in your life. And then the minister calls number six. And I maybe can't sing because I'm just so down. And the congregation around me starts to sing, praise my soul, the King of heaven. To his feet thy tribute bring, ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven. Who like thee his praise shall sing? It starts to dawn in my heart, oh, I'm a sinner for sure. I'm a failure for sure, but I've been ransomed and healed and restored and forgiven. And I'm the very sort of person that should sing praise unto the Lord, who like me, his praise should sing. My heart is spoken to. Now there's a melody within my heart. maybe there's a young person here, and you've had a big debate, a dust-up at university, and you're swarmed around by a whole pile of atheists and secular classmates, and they won't even give you time to answer, and they're constantly deriding the Word of God and His power and His truth. And You step into the service and someone calls number 42. When through the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees, when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze, then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, how great thy art. And the Holy Spirit uses those lyrics to lift your heart, to lift your heart to God. That's what I'm talking about. The English Puritan John Trapp, he put it like this, spiritual songs are called spiritual songs because they spiritualize us in the use of them. In other words, they make us more spiritual. They lift us up to the Lord. Speaking to yourselves, that's the focus, that's the purpose. That word speaking, that speaks volumes, doesn't it? That word speaking there at the beginning of verse 9 just, you know, that regulates the whole matter of music in the church, doesn't it? All these questions that come out, you know, how should music be played in the church? What instruments should be used? What volume should the instruments be playing at? What style of accompaniment should they be playing at? Well, if I focus on the message, if that's what I'm focused on, that fixes a lot of problems, doesn't it? You see, if it's the focus to get you all pumped up well, then you need a band, don't you? And you need a drum kit to drive the rhythm. You need a big set of bass bins here. If the focus is on attracting the unsaved into the service, well, then you need to replicate the music of the world, don't you? You maybe want a few strobe lights. But that's not where the focus is, is it? Just that one word. That one word sets the focus, speaking. It's to do with the message. The music ought not to interfere with the message, and I say that as someone who loves music. You see, it's the truth. It's the truth contained in the psalms and the hymns and the spiritual songs that must get through, not the temple. And it's to edify the soul. It's to build up the faith. I'm not going to lay down a whole list of rules about music in a compliment, You know, I've heard the greatest load of tripe talked about music. Music is a very nuanced subject. It's a very complicated subject. It's a sort of subject that you can make a fool out of yourself very, very quickly by starting to talk about it. I've heard folks say the most bonkers things. Talk about musical instruments that should or should not be used. In church, they talk about, you know, they have a blacklist of things that they have made up, musical styles and instruments, and some instruments are worldly and they can't be used, and this instrument or that instrument is ungodly, and they seem to forget that the Free Presbyterian Church was born singing around the Hammond organ. The Hammond organ is one of the most iconic jazz and rock instruments that there is in this world. Do you know that? That's someone who doesn't know what they're talking about. Heard somebody else say, if the music makes you tap your feet, it's wrong. Well, you just cringe. You just cringe and put your head in your hands. You hear things like that. Because all music has rhythm. Without rhythm, it's just noise. That's all it is. I mean, people who say those sort of things shouldn't be let out, really. They shouldn't. I'm not going to make a list of rules, but just let me say this. Our music should promote the message. The volume should be loud enough so the congregation are led, but not so loud that they can't think of the meaning. You see some of these so-called churches that are around the country. and the music is just so loud. Never mind, but first of all, it's got to a level. There's a level that you can play at and it's so loud that it actually puts the congregation off singing. And it's even beyond that. It's so loud you couldn't even think of what they're saying. Accompaniment should not distract from the meaning. The accompaniment should promote a reverent atmosphere because that's what we want. That's what we need. It's to the Lord. Praise and honor to the Lord should promote an atmosphere where we can think on the truth that we're singing about. And can I say this? Our music ought to be separate. We are a separatist denomination. We ought not to be trying to replicate the music accompaniment that's popular in the music charts. It's the message. It's the message. It's the message every time, so that your faith may be built up on those around you, and particularly regarding the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, folks, it makes perfect sense that Holy Spirit-filled people will sing message-filled music. Let me say that again to you. It makes perfect sense that Holy Spirit-filled people will sing message-filled music, because ultimately that's what the Holy Spirit does. He brings to us the message of Christ. Will you turn to John chapter 15, please? John chapter 15, and just dip in at verse 26. Oh, I know the Holy Spirit does a whole lot of things. Everything that we're enabled to do in the Christian life, we're enabled because of the Holy Spirit and His power within our life. But chiefly, what is the function of the Spirit? John 15 and 26. But when the comfort of the Holy Spirit is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." The Holy Spirit's main role is to bring the message of Christ. to drive home, to drive home the message of the Master into my heart and into your heart. And music is a very powerful tool for doing that. Can I take you back to the beach? Can I take you back to that sunny day? Can I take you back to those two notes? Why did I play those two notes at the beginning? What did I say about music? It's an emotion factory. It manufactures emotion. It makes you feel a certain way. If two notes can take you from a thoughts of joy and happiness and relaxation to a sense of foreboding, just think about the potential in music as a whole. I don't have time to go into it, but certain chords and certain rhythms make you feel certain emotions. Different melodies make you feel differently. And let me say this, that there is nothing like emotion to drive a message home. You talk to any psychologist, you talk to anyone who's a professional in education, and they will tell you that when you're teaching, if you can link the truth that you're conveying to the student, if you can in some way link that truth to an emotion, the student will not forget it. If you can make the student feel an emotion whenever they're thinking of what you're teaching them, the lesson will stick. It will penetrate. Is that not what verse 19 is saying to us? Let's just read the verse again, Ephesians 5 and 19, speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart. You folks that are filled with the Holy Spirit, and they're singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and they're thinking of the message, and the music adds emotion. And the Holy Spirit uses that as a tool to drive the message into the heart. The music and the emotion drives the message home deeper and deeper and deeper. The music touches the deepest recesses of our being. Listen, truth touches the head, emotion touches the heart. That's why music's such a powerful tool. It writes those wonderful words that we think about. It writes them deep, and it lifts us up to the Lord, turns our eyes to Him. That's why I think we need to take music very seriously. That's why I think that we need people who are gifted by the Holy Spirit to lead and play. Remember the tabernacle? Remember the building of the tabernacle? And God gave the pattern of the tabernacle to Moses, And then God gave two other men a special gift. Their name was Aholiav and Betsaliel. You can read about them in Exodus 31. And God filled them with the Holy Spirit. He didn't fill them with the Holy Spirit to be preachers. He filled them with the Holy Spirit to be manufacturers, so that they could craft the bespoke furniture and items that were in the tabernacle. in the place of worship. The Holy Spirit fills people with all sorts of abilities, and I personally believe strongly that we need people who are gifted by the Holy Spirit to play and to lead, if need be to lead, but certainly to play, so that our music does enhance the message, does enhance the hymns. And not only that, I believe that Holy Spirit-filled people sing a great variety of music. You can see that here, verse 19, Ephesians 5 and 19, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts, psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Now, I know that there are some who will say that that really just means psalms, psalms, and psalms. But those terms refer to the different sections of the Psalms, and they insist only in singing the Psalms. And that's a massive subject on its own. Needless to say, I disagree with them. I find it fascinating that those people who claim exclusive psalmody say you can only sing the Psalms. What do they do about the first song in the Bible, the song of Moses? Can they not sing that? What do they do when they come to Revelation? Revelation chapter 1, that tremendous song, Unto him that hath loved us and washed us from our sins. I find it incredible that the Holy Spirit would not permit us to sing the name of Jesus Christ, if we're to sing exclusively the Psalms. And yes, I know Christ is in the Psalms, of course He is, but that name of Jesus is not. I think that would be an incredible thing if it were true, but it's not. Now, I believe Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs mean a variety. And can I say this, and I don't want to blow our own trumpet, but we have a wonderful variety here in the Free Presbyterian Church. There's such a legacy of music. You just go through our hymn book, and you see music from the 1700s, the 1800s, right through to the 20th century. You see the many different styles and genres in that book, many different. One of my favorite hymns, that majestic hymn of Luther, A Mighty Fortress is Our God. That was a hymn of its time with melodies and harmonies that were commensurate with Luther's day. And then you come across to that tremendous hymn, What a Wonderful Change in My Life Has Been Wrought Since Jesus Came into My Heart. And there's a hymn with melody and harmonies that are commensurate with its day. And then we come on forward to 1, 3, 4, before the throne of God above, the modern hymn to it, tune to it, which I'm sure you sing. And that's just the hymn book. Of course, our new hymn book's going to increase that. You think about the many wonderful choruses that have been sung throughout the years, and the old Mark Raphel chorus book, as it was called, you know, the old light blue chorus book that every church had a number of copies and every church used. The legacy of that? The king is coming. The marketplace is empty. No more traffic in the street. All the builders' tools are silent. No more time to harvest wheat. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. What tremendous choruses! What about, By and by, when I look on his face, beautiful face, thorn-shadowed face. By and by, when I look in his face, I wish I had given him more. What a message! Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, I wish I had given him more. Never let anybody steal the song from the Free Presbyterian Church. That's all I'll say. I'll finish with this because it probably went on longer than what I ought, certainly longer than what I normally do, and I thank you for your patience. Our Lord Jesus Christ was a man with a song in his heart, and that's because he was a man who was anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure. Our Savior was a Jewish man. He grew up a Jewish boy. From a young age, he was familiar with the synagogues. As a Jewish boy, he would have sung in the temple the Psalms that were sung in the temple at the Passover. Without doubt, the Lord Jesus Christ sang many, many, many times in his life, and yet there's only one occasion when it's actually recorded that he did, as the shadow of the cross was falling over him. in the upper room, just hours to go to Calvary. Before he headed out into the night, Matthew 26 tells us, and when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Can I say this? There's nothing like singing in the face of adversity. I say that again because it's such an important lesson that so many people just haven't got. There's nothing like singing in the face of adversity. The forces of hell were arrayed against him. The deal was done, the money was set aside, 30 pieces of silver, the blood money, the mob was waiting. Judas was there. Satan was in the garden, the prince of darkness. And how does the Lord respond? As he's filled with the Holy Spirit, he sings. He sings. Yes, he goes out to pray, an indispensable part of his battle, but he also sings. We live in a world full of mental health issues, and that's a huge subject on its own. But I believe the church, well, I believe it's a place where the song must be vital. The song must be heard. permits us to reflect on the message. You've got that truth being sung in the psalm or the hymn or the spiritual song, and the Holy Spirit takes that, combines it with the music, and we speak to one another. and our souls are edified, our souls are lifted up to the Lord. And the Holy Spirit takes that truth and the emotion of the music and it drives it into the heart, into the heart of that person that's in that dark place and puts a melody in their heart. The house of God ought to be a place where there's a song of the soul set free. If we are full of the Spirit, we will sing. And I encourage you to, just as I did before, do sing. Don't worry about voice, don't worry about time, and don't worry about tone, don't worry about pitch. Sing. You have Christ in your heart. Sing. Amen.