For some while, it has been my purpose to preach on the subject of music in the house of God. As the time draws near for my sabbatical of study, which will mean if things go as planned, there will be several weeks in which I will be out of the pulpit In anticipation of that, the pressure has increased that I discharge this responsibility. And so today, by God's grace, I will attempt to do that. Now to say that the subject of music in the church is controversial, would be like saying that there are people who have slightly differing views about George Bush. It would be a gross understatement. I humbly, but earnestly, appeal for a patient hearing of what I have to say. I ask you to hear me both morning and evening, prayerfully. The reason for the high intensity of controversy over the subject of music is because music is by its very nature emotional. It was designed to be emotional. And most of us tend to be rather emphatic concerning what we enjoy emotionally. And we tend to be rather emphatic about what we don't enjoy emotionally. Now there is a place, there is a place in this whole discussion for what we enjoy. But our subject, beloved, is music in God's house, not music in my house, not music in your house, not music in the opera house or the concert house or the coffee house. The subject is music in the house of God. Our emotional preferences are not of primary importance. Can you accept that? Can you? Some of you haven't. You must. The controversy would not be nearly as intense or sinful. And I've chosen that word deliberately. The controversy has been sinful. Sinful thoughts, sinful words, sinful action. The controversy would not be nearly so intense or so sinful if all God's people would prayerfully contemplate the scriptures in a spirit of childlike meekness. That's what I'm calling for you to do. My approach in preparation has been to focus exclusively on the scriptures. endeavoring to give consideration to every passage that I could find in the Bible that might remotely have to do with music. I think more than 300 of them. Now at other times I have read literature, old and popular, by human authors. And I have been engaged in more conversations than I can recall with people on the subject of music. And my conclusion is that when it comes to the emotional subject of music, people who would ordinarily on other subjects very carefully wed their dogmatism entirely to the text of scripture, tend on this occasion to be dogmatic where the Bible doesn't speak. To be dogmatic according to their preferences and to their experiences and to their prejudices. Beloved, I am operating unashamedly from the presupposition so well stated in the very first words of our confession of faith. I quote, the Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. The Bible is true, and the Bible is enough. And at this point, in my deliberation, and I know what I'm about to say can be can be misunderstood, and I hope you'll think the best, not the worst. But at this point, in my deliberation, I really don't want to hear the opinion of Dr. So-and-so with multiple degrees in music theory and performance and composition. And I don't want to hear the opinion of Mrs. So-and-so who's been teaching piano for 40 years. I don't want to hear the opinion of Mr. So-and-so who is a popular record producer or artist. I honestly don't even want to hear the opinion of Pastor So-and-so who has read 50 books on the subject. But I will be open to hear anyone who can shed light on the actual words of Scripture on the subject. Anyone, I include you. The issues are impossible to resolve on any basis other than the Bible. The issues will not be resolved on any other ground other than thus saith the Lord. If we won't bend and bow our hearts to that, then we will never know the truth on the subject. I've divided our study into two divisions. First, the regulative perspective on music in God's house. Secondly, the regulative ideals for music in God's house. This morning we will deal with the first, the regulative perspective on music in God's house. And by the regulative perspective, I mean, what is the place and what is the purpose of music in God's house? There are three divisions to this morning's message. First, the source of this regulative perspective, Secondly, the doctrinal content of this regulative perspective. And finally, conclusions and applications regarding this regulative perspective. First of all, the source of the regulative perspective concerning music and the house of God. Remember, beloved, we are talking about the house of God. which is the church. Therefore, because that is our point of reference, the source from which we must derive the regulative perspective must be the New Testament Scriptures. The New Testament Scriptures. Now allow me to explain why that is so. First of all, because the New Testament Scriptures comprise the mature, the completed revelation of God's mind and will for the church until the eternal world comes. Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom he also made the worlds." In Jesus Christ, God's revelation and God's redemption are completed until he returns. When he returns, There will be more revelation when he returns. The redemption of our bodies will be completed. But for now, in the accomplishment of revelation and redemption, it is complete in Jesus Christ. And through the Holy Spirit inspired writings of the apostles, Christ has revealed to us the last word from God. for his redeemed community, the church. Recently, we talked about the church. The church in the true sense of the word did not exist in the Old Testament. The church is a companion of the new covenant. It is an outworking of the new covenant. It is the fulfillment of God's redemptive purposes for the world. If an alien were to drop down out of Mars, now this is a far-fetched illustration, but if an alien dropped down out of Mars into your backyard, knocked at the door, calmed you down and said, look, I want to build a car for Martians. Could you give me a prototype of what a car can be and ought to be? Would you take him to a Model T Ford? Would you perhaps take him to a 2005 Acura RL? Now, the Model T would show him some of the basics. That's where it all began. But if you want to really see a car, and if you're going to build a car, this is what you ought to build. If we are serious, if we are serious about understanding the mind of God concerning his church, We must build our regulating principles from God's Word to His Church. His final words for this age. The second reason that our source will be the New Testament Scriptures is that Christ rendered the forms of the Old Covenant obsolete. Christ rendered the forms of the old covenant obsolete. He established a new order in the church. In Hebrews 8.13, we have these words. In that, he says, a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete. Now, what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. That's the old covenant. It's obsolete. It is vanishing away. But now I want you to turn to Matthew 9. Matthew chapter 9. A most critical passage. Matthew chapter 9. And I'm going to read a little bit more, and perhaps I absolutely have to. This message, I'm just going to tell you, it's going to take longer than I want to. I don't want to preach for four weeks on this subject, okay? Matthew 9, beginning in verse 10. Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? When Jesus heard that, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. But go and learn. Wow. Think God ever says that to us? Be quiet. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as a bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. For the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." Now some brief comments. The house where the banquet was held was the house of Matthew. Matthew had recently been called by Christ to follow him, and he wanted to celebrate his conversion by a banquet. And he invited the only people who would come to a tax collector's house. Who would come to a tax collector's house? Just other tax collectors and people who were generally viewed as too unclean for proper Hebrew society, people called sinners. Now the Pharisees, who were watching every move our Lord made, who were the self-appointed protectors of pure religion, they were incensed that a man purporting to be a prophet sent from God would have social fellowship with the vilest members of society. To which Christ responded that he had come, which necessarily implies pre-existence, he came to call sinners, not the self-righteous. And then he said, go and learn what this means. I desire mercy. And not sacrifice. Which means that in his kingdom, mercy is of much higher value than rituals or forms. His house is a house of mercy. The Pharisees wanted to make his house, like the house of Moses, a house of rituals and forms, and he said, my house isn't like that. Soon after this, the disciples of John the Baptist came, and they were also critical. They criticized Christ implicitly, but outwardly they raised the question concerning his disciples, and why they did not fast. They said, we fast, the Pharisees fast, your disciples, which was another way of saying you, do not fast. I understand that it was a ritual to fast two days a week. Two days a week. Christ didn't do that. His disciples didn't do that. And He responded by saying that fasting was completely inappropriate in His presence. You know what's striking about that? In the short time that John the Baptist had been ministering, already certain traditions had grown up around him and had become the standard or the test of orthodoxy. He's only been ministering for two or three years and already there are these traditions that people are using as tests for orthodoxy. How many other traditions do you think have grown up in the last four, five, six hundred years and are used as tests? Now, particularly notice verses 16 and 17. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. The patch pulls away, it shrinks, and when it does, the garment and the tear is made worse. nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break as the new wine ferments, and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." What's he talking about? Is he concerned about wine and wineskins? No, he's concerned about the relationship of his kingdom to the old covenant. The New Covenant and the Old Covenant. You can't put the New Covenant in the Old Covenant forms. The spirituality and the universality of the New Covenant Church cannot be contained within the narrow symbolic forms of Old Covenant religion. Beloved, Old Covenant religion was designed for one culture. preparing the world for Messiah. Old Covenant religion was culturally monolithic. God formed Old Covenant religion and Hebrew culture. He formed them together to fit together. He made them for each other. Now this is key. New Covenant religion is designed for the world. New Covenant religion is adaptable to all the cultures of the world. It wasn't made for Hebrew culture. It wasn't made for Western culture. It was made for all the cultures of the world. Yes, wherever the New Covenant goes, it corrects the evils of a culture. Puts an end to sacrificing babies. Puts an end to polygamy. Puts an end to wearing no clothes. And yet, beloved, New Covenant religion also fits within established cultural forms. When the gospel goes to a new part of the world, those people don't have to change their dress unless they weren't wearing any. They don't have to change their diets. George McDiarmid was telling me what he was served in the home of an esteemed old Christian Chinese man. It's obvious he didn't change his diet when he got converted. Architecture doesn't necessarily change. Musical forms don't necessarily change. The Gospel is adaptable to all the cultures of the world by design. It wasn't made for the old wineskins. It was made for new wineskins. The spirituality and universality of the New Covenant would not fit the shrunken wineskin of the Old Covenant. And that is why we must not form our regulative perspective on music in the church from old covenant scriptures, but from the revelation of Christ and his apostle. And this addresses a very big problem in the whole issue of music. It's a common assumption that only one culture is suited for new covenant worship. We're not talking about Hebrew culture. We're talking about ours. There's only one culture that is suited for the expression of new covenant religion. It is American. It is Western. It is European. Wrong, beloved. Wrong. The first music in the church wasn't Western. It was Eastern. And if we heard it, we wouldn't even recognize it. The New Covenant does not require, neither does it endorse particular cultural forms. It is designed for the world. Well, that explains why we will establish our relative perspective concerning the place and purpose of music in God's house from the New Testament and not the Old Testament. Now we come to the actual doctrine. The actual doctrine of the regulative perspective. And here we're going to survey the key New Testament text on music. We're going to cover just about all of them, because there are not very many. Matthew chapter 26, please. Matthew 26. Verses 28 through 30. Matthew 26. you will recognize the context. Christ says, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's house. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. The scene is the upper room where Christ observed the Passover with his disciples for the last time, where he instituted the supper of remembrance for his new covenant people, after which he went out to prepare for the ordeal of Calvary. The time in the upper room, more pointedly, the conclusion of the Lord's Supper ended by the united singing of a hymn. Some think that they sang Psalm 118, which would be very fitting. I don't know how you know that. I don't think you can, but it would be very fitting. We may well suppose that Christ and the 12 frequently sang together during intimate seasons of worship and fellowship. But beloved, what is striking? is that this is the only explicit account of our Lord actually singing. Hebrews 2.12 quotes a prophecy regarding Him singing, but this is the only occasion that describes Him as doing so, assuming that the word they includes Him. Now turn to Acts chapter 16. Acts 16. Again, the context will be familiar. Acts 16, verse 25. At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. Now you remember what had happened. Paul and Silas had been severely beaten, thrown into prison, and fell by the accusation being that they were bringing Jewish customs, unlawful for Romans, into this Roman city. They were troublemakers. And so they were beaten severely. And then they were thrown into prison. And who knows what might have been next. The circumstances for Paul and Silas, their immediate prospects, their personal physical conditions were all miserable. Nonetheless, we are told that they were singing praises in conjunction with their prayers. Now, that is striking in light of what James says in James 5.13. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let Him sing songs. I can't imagine they were very cheerful, but they were singing. Which means that they were cheerful in the presence of their pain, their misery, their fear. They rejoiced in God. They rejoiced in all that God was to them, all that Christ had done for them, all that God had promised. Their hearts were full of faith, and thus they sang. Poe and Silas sang praises to God, just the two of them. It's not congregational worship. It's just two brothers fellowshipping, endeavoring to encourage one another in Christ. They sang together and they sang to each other. That's striking. It's also striking that this is the first and only account of singing And the whole book of Acts. The whole book of Acts. Now surely, surely the church in Jerusalem, surely the newly formed apostolic churches, surely they did in fact sing. But this is the only explicit statement of the fact that they sang. And this didn't concern a gathered church, it concerned two brothers. The next passage is more significant. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 1 Corinthians chapter 14. Follow as I read verses 15 and 16. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the Spirit I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the Spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. Otherwise, if you bless with the Spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say, Amen, at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say?" Now, what's Paul talking about? In the context, the Apostle Paul is arguing against unintelligible worship in the church. Unintelligible worship. Even when that unintelligible worship was brought about by the exercise of a supernatural spiritual gift. Speaking revelation from God in an unknown foreign language, the gift of tongues. There were people who said, I have the gift of tongues, I must speak. Paul said, no, no. Just because you have a spiritual gift, that doesn't mean that you must exercise it. Is there anyone to translate? If you don't have a translator, then nobody's going to understand. And without understanding, it's wasted. Now, previous to this, the apostle had established one of the deciding factors concerning public worship and the public gathering of God's people. Look back at verse 12. He says, Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel. The New American Standard reads, Seek to abound for the edification of the church Again, beloved, this is absolutely crucial. What is done in the gathered church should aim at the glory of God. That is beyond dispute. But it should also aim at maximum edification. Paul even went so far to say, you might have a spiritual gift and you can exercise it to the glory of God. But if it doesn't serve the edification of God's people, you keep Sion. You keep silent. Edification. Now what is edification? According to Thayer's Greek lexicon, edification is the act of one who promotes another's growth in Christian wisdom, piety, holiness, or happiness. Edification is a promotion of another's growth. in Christian wisdom, piety, holiness, or happiness. And it is particularly with edification in mind that Paul says, I will sing with the Spirit and I will also sing with the understanding. Paul is resolved that singing should have a two-fold involvement. First, the involvement of the Spirit Singing should engage the emotions. That's why singing was given the letter. To engage the emotions. Secondly, singing should also involve the intellect. Singing should focus our minds on some facet of divine truth while also making it possible for us to communicate that truth to others. Singing should involve the intellect focusing on truth and communicating truth. I love it. I love it. This is how music edifies. This is how music edifies. Let me explain it to you. Operating through pleasing, arresting sounds, music grips our souls with unchanging truth. That's how music edifies. Operating through pleasing and arresting sounds, music grips our souls with understandable truth. Now, truth is the all-important, objectively divine element in music. Truth is a non-negotiable. There must be understanding of truth in music. But the most distinguishing part of music is melody. Melody makes the reflection on truth emotionally stimulating and gripping. There is a power in singing truth over the emotions that isn't present in just reading it. Now, where do we get the melody? The melody or the musical sound should be in keeping with the particular truth that's being communicated. Lofty, transcendent truth should be accompanied by majestic and regal sounds. Experimental truth, love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, fellowship, should be accompanied by more soothing, dare I say it, romantic sounds. More folksy sounds. because we're talking about something intimate. But even beyond that, if music is to be edifying, the melody should resonate with the emotions of the people singing it. The melody, the musical sounds should resonate with the emotions of the people singing it. Listen, beloved, God has not commanded a particular melody or musical sound. He hasn't commanded a particular form of music. What God has commanded is our spirits, our emotional involvement. Those who worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth. That translates, practically, into whatever melody most stimulates the emotions of God's people without in any way obscuring the text. What is most stimulating to our emotions in keeping with the text of truth that we are singing? What makes it more memorable, more moving to us? Well, how in the world do you determine that for a congregation? What kind of melody best stimulates our spirits? The effectiveness of melody has to do with two primary features, culture and personal experience. culture and personal experience. All kinds of musical forms, perhaps new and awkward, even shocking at first, over time become assimilated into a culture. They become common and people come to identify with those sounds experimentally. When Handel's Messiah was first presented, there were Puritans who went through the roof. It was carnal. It was beneath the dignity of the Word of God. Now, who would say that now? Who would say that now? That is some of the best music in the world, right? Beethoven said he would gladly take his head off and bow to Handel. So would I if I could. Great music, but it wasn't initially. It became assimilated. The more commonly accepted, the more popular a musical form, the more effective that form tends to be in reaching us emotionally. It's just like styles of dress, beloved. I want to tell you, if most of you ladies walked into a church a hundred years ago, you would not have been allowed in. You would not have been allowed in. And there are people dressed on the cutting edge that wouldn't be allowed in here. Things are assimilated. And if they are not morally wrong, that is simply a fact of providence. But then our individual responses to certain maladies have a great deal to do with our personal experience. with those melodies. And this is where we get into conflict. For some of us, certain melodies were coming into provenance as we were experiencing adolescence. And some of us identify those musical sounds with some pretty carnal and embarrassing experiences. But by the time that others of us had grown to adolescence, those same musical sounds had been assimilated by Christian music. So that these very same type melodies became the context of real experiences of God's grace. That's a fact, beloved. I was reading yesterday some of the lyrics of Keith Green. Now, I wish Keith Green had not written some of the stuff he wrote. I wish William Cooper had not written some of the things that he wrote. But the fact is that Keith Green wrote some poignant music. And it was set to melodies that some of us associated with carnality. It was the only musical forms he was really experimentally acquainted with. He wrote the music, others heard it. I've had people tell me, I was converted listening to that music. What are their associations with that music? We associate it with certain carnal past experiences. They associate it with coming to Christ. Drastically different emotional responses to the same sounds. Now, how do you resolve that, beloved? Well, you say it's easy enough. You just say it's moral evil. How can you say it's moral evil if God doesn't say it's moral evil? Well, how do you resolve it? And I'm not making light. It's a real tension. How do you resolve it? There's one text of Scripture that resolves it. Romans 15, 2. Romans 15, 2. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good leading to edification. Sometimes, highly esteemed brethren, Respond to certain music and it doesn't do a thing for me and I'm listening to that and I'm saying whoa But I'm looking at them and it is obvious their hearts are running out to God That's what they tell me It's clear. The tears are running down their cheeks. They're happy in the Lord and what should be my response? I Don't understand that response But the text is good. The text is true. That's the unnegotiable, the text. The text is true. And if that builds them up, I praise God for it. And I'm going to try to learn how to sing it. That's the power of music. But that's also, beloved, listen to me, that's a power of love. That's a power of love. I had a strange experience last night. Some of you are really going to think I am non-reformed when I tell you this. I went home. I was tired. It had been a long day, a long week. I had dinner. And I sat down, and I know on Saturday evening there are a couple of places that have Christian music on television. So I turned to them. Now, hold on. One of them was Bill Gaither and his homecoming friends. And the other was a Billy Graham crusade. And I was flipping back and forth. The Billy Graham crusade, I was hearing Mercy Me singing, I Can Only Imagine. And then I turned over to Bill Gaither and they were singing, Revive Us Again acapella. And I thought, this is what I'm preaching tomorrow. Because you know what? You know what my response was? I was sitting there weeping like a baby. Weeping. Because of the words of I can only imagine. And because of some past personal experiences with revive us again. And I'm not ashamed of that. The words to revive us again are good. It's not Isaac Watts, but it's good. The words to I can only imagine are better. And the musical forms are drastically different. Are we gonna love each other? Enough to say, I will enter into that. It's true. It's true. I'm not going to sing something that's not true. But if that edifies, if that builds you up, I'm going to enter into that. Even though it's going to take some time for me. Perhaps we spend too much time there, but it's a key passage on the relative perspective of music in God's house. Before I leave, I have to say something about the amen. Look at verse 16, 1 Corinthians 14. Otherwise, if you bless with the Spirit without understanding, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say, Amen, at your giving of thanks, since he doesn't understand what you're saying? Now, Paul is arguing that what is said or prayed or sung in worship must be intelligible so everyone can participate. In the Amen, the Amen, definite article, the use of the Amen was a solemn affirmation of crucial truth. Jesus used the word I mean, I mean, repeatedly to introduce some of his most important sayings. It's translated verily, verily, truly, truly. I say to you, the apostle Paul used the amen to affirm some of his most crucial doctrinal statements. Like Romans 11, 36, for of him, through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. In the ancient synagogues, congregations would speak the Amen to express their collective personal embracement of a text or a sermon or a prayer. It is scriptural to say Amen at the end of a prayer. Let it be so. I make that mine. Now, the use of the Amen at the end of singing is a tradition. It's not commanded. But, beloved, it's a tradition that has some biblical roots. Let me put it to you like this. Singing has to end somehow. Surely it's not a bad thing to conclude singing with a strong affirmation, I believe what I just sang. now it's not commanded so you don't have to do it and you don't have to do it at the end of every song but it's a good way to end a song it's a good way to end a song now turn to Ephesians 5 18 through 20 Ephesians 5 18 through 20 and do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This emphasizes that our singing should be consciously directed toward two distinct parties. First, our hearts should be focused on Christ, singing, making melody in your heart to the Lord. Our hearts are to be singing out to Christ. And in a sense, beloved, we ought to be doing that all the time. We ought to be making melody in our hearts to the Lord always. That's an expression of rejoicing in the Lord always. That won't happen if you're not listening and ingesting scripturally-based music. Never mind the melody. You ought to be listening to scripture-based music so that when you sing in your heart, you'll be singing to the Lord. But that's especially true in congregational singing. Our hearts should be running out to Christ. At the same time, we ought to be speaking to one another. in our singing. We're to be consciously speaking to one another, deliberately having a manward dimension to our corporate music. We are to aim at edifying one another by what we sing and by the way we sing it. It's not edifying, beloved, when people are singing like they're eating onions. It is edifying. to look around and see people with their heads up singing to the Lord. Singing like, I love this. I really love this. I love this song. I love what I'm doing. I love this place. That's edifying. The reference to psalms and spiritual songs, I take that to mean that we are to sing both what God has inspired and we are to sing uninspired expressions of truth. Only expressions of truth. Those that came from God and those that the Spirit has helped but not inspired men to write. Notice According to this text, singing is a function of being filled with the Holy Spirit. We should seek the Spirit's fullness on Saturday night so we can sing rightly on Sunday morning. I can't dwell on this, but I'm going to say it as firmly as I can. Carnality almost always arises when music is used without a conscious dependency on the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit of God, you become too affected by the melody, whether you like it or not, by the loudness or the softness or the piano, the quickness or the slowness of the pace. Beloved, those things don't matter. What matters is singing truth to God and to each other in the praise of God. Colossians 3.16. I shouldn't have said those things don't matter. Relatively speaking, they don't matter. They do matter, but in a very inferior sense. Colossians 3.16. 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. Now, that sounds a lot like Ephesians 5, right? Except in Ephesians 5, the catalyst to singing was having the Spirit of Christ dwelling with fullness in your soul. Here, the catalyst for singing is having the Word of Christ dwelling in you ritually. The Word of Christ. Ephesians 5 is the Spirit of Christ. Here it's the Word of Christ. Which means what? It means these two things are essentially connected. Being filled with the Holy Spirit requires a soul freshly filled with the Bible. You want to be under the influence of the Spirit? Then be under the influence of the Bible. Now, notice again in Colossians the double direction of our singing. We're to sing to the Lord always, but frankly, beloved, one of the things that surprised me as I got into New Testament text was a very distinct manward orientation of music in the house of God. First Corinthians 14, it's unto edification. Ephesians 5, It's to one another. Here it is for what? It's for teaching. It's for admonishing. Go back to verse 12. Or verse 14. Beginning in verse 12, Paul shows you what he's really concerned about in this text. He's concerned about our relations together in the church. In verse 14, He says, but above all these things put on love, which is a bond of perfection. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which you were also called in one body and be thankful. Now with that emphasis in view, then Paul says, let the word of Christ dwell in you in full measure, teaching and warning one another by song. The burden here is that we be expressing brotherly love, not just love to Christ. Yes, love to Christ, but not just love to Christ, love to each other. By singing songs that are designed to teach biblical truth and to remind one another of biblical warnings and to increase one another's joy and happiness in the Lord. That's a contest. I want to ask you, who do you think is responsible? for turning church music into the occasion of division and even hate. Who do you think's responsible for that? Who do you think's responsible for the irritation that you sometimes feel? Because you say, there we are singing that 400-year-old melody again. And you get irritated. I want to tell you, that's not the Spirit of God irritating you. Or you're irritated because you think the piano is being played too loud. Or you're being irritated because that music sounds too modern. And you're being irritated. Who is the cause of that irritation? It's not the Spirit of God. It is not. And I'm going to go beyond that. You need to repent of that irritation. You need to repent of it. It's not holy. It's not in keeping with the place and purpose of music in the church. It's not according to brotherly love. Now, in conclusion, what conclusions do we draw from these texts? We've covered just about every text, not quite every one, but just about every New Testament text. What are the conclusions? Number one, Christians ought to be a singing people. We ought to be a singing people. In our hearts, we should be singing continuously to Christ as a function of rejoicing always and being filled with the spirit and having hearts that are overflowing with God's word. The second conclusion, music should be a distinct component of our corporate worship and fellowship. Music should be a distinct component of our corporate worship and fellowship. And the emphasis, and you've read the text with me, the emphasis falls upon using music to minister to one another. Using music, using singing to edify one another, to teach one another, to warn one another, to express love to one another. Our songs must be about God's glory. Our songs must be about Christ's salvation. Our songs must be about gracious promises. But our songs are to be sung for one another's spiritual good. To the glory of God, yes. But God has made His glory coincidental here with one another's edification. And that means that our melodies should be calculated to stimulate an emotional response to truth. And the burden of that falls on those who lead worship. Conclusion number three, and I'm finished. And I want you to hear this one well, all of you. Music does not receive the emphasis in the new covenant that it is receiving in the modern church. Music simply does not receive the emphasis in the new covenant that it is receiving in large portions of evangelical Christianity. Beloved, I didn't write the New Testament, okay? I'm not manipulating the facts. The facts are there's one account of Christ singing. Fact, there's one account of singing in the whole book of Acts that chronicles the planting of the church. There are three directives given in Paul's epistles. No directives given in John's epistles or in Peter's epistles. And what is most striking to me, there are no references in the pastoral epistles to singing. And the pastoral epistles were explicitly given for ordering the worship and life of the New Covenant Church. You say, well, they just assumed music. Didn't they assume prayer? Tons of things said about prayer. Didn't they assume preaching? Preaching is a predominant subject. What did Christ do more than anything else? He preached. He prayed. What did the apostles do more than anything else? They preached. They prayed. Those things aren't assumed. Beloved, the emphasis in the new covenant scriptures for the new covenant church is upon the public and private communication of the Bible. That's the emphasis. Now what does that mean? Does it mean that music is unimportant? No, it doesn't mean that. We've seen that music is a part of New Covenant church life and tonight we'll try to discover what kind of music God wants. But here's a lesson. The proclamation of the Bible, the exposition and application of the Bible Prayer. These things are decidedly more important to Christ in God's house than music. And His greatest blessings are communicated through preaching and through praying. And there is where the danger lies, beloved. It is a propensity of men, including saved men, to exaggerate what they like most in worship. Above what God requires. Christ warned about that. When he quoted Isaiah, these people draw near to me with their mouth. They honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, listen, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. It's a subtle form of will worship. I don't know how many times I've heard people say to me, well, I know the preaching in that church is not very good. It's not expositional. It's not applicatory. It's not very doctrinal. But man, the music is great. And I choose to go there because of the music. I know, I know the preaching is not what it ought to be. But man, and I'm telling you, I'm telling you, beloved, because the Bible compels me to tell you that is unfaithfulness to the text of Scripture. It would have been so easy for Christ to say, listen people, the health and well-being of the church, the glory of my worship depends supremely on music. Your ability to reach the world depends on the music you sing. He could say that so easily. There's not a word of that. Not a word. Not a word. By all means, we must sing. And we must be more careful about what we sing. That it pleases God and it edifies our brethren. We must focus on using music for the good of the church, expressing love by singing truth in musical forms that resonate with the affections of our brethren. But beloved, I beg you, I plead with you, do not fall prey to the unwarranted, spiritually dangerous exaltation of music. above the preached Word of God. If you want to do that, you're free to do it. There are a lot of churches that will cater to that. But I'm telling you, that's unfaithful to the text of Scripture. And that's putting your soul in jeopardy. Because when you're being tempted to adultery, music won't keep you. The Word of God will. And when you're being assaulted with all kinds of lies about the existence of God and the nature of truth, and whether Jesus was really God, music is not going to win the day for you, but the Word of God will. You want to see your children come to Christ. Music may make them think Christianity is hip, and it may please them. But faith comes through the hearing of the Word of God. And it pleases God through the foolishness of the thing preached to save those who believe. You put your soul in jeopardy, beloved, when you get things out of divine order. I plead with you. I plead with you. I think the Word of God is pretty clear about what receives the emphasis. May God help us to be faithful. Let's pray. Father, that's what we've asked. Supremely, that's our heart's cry. that we would be faithful to you, faithful to your word. We do believe that the Bible is sufficient. We thank you for the light that the Bible brings. We thank you for the rebuke that the Bible brings. We welcome it, Father. We want to be corrected. We want to be rebuked. We want to improve. in our holiness. We want to improve in our love. We want to improve in our worship. Help us by your Spirit and by your Word. Save us from our own prejudices. Save us from the tyranny of our own emotions. And save us from the Spirit, contrary to the Scriptures. that would come to us even in the name of Jesus and mislead us. Father, we're not sufficient, but you are. We pray that you would be merciful to us, that you would guide us into all truth for your name's sake, through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.