This evening for our scripture lesson we turn to the book of Proverbs again. Proverbs chapter 23. And we'll hear what the Lord has to say about our eating and our drinking. When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee, and put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties, for they are deceitful meat. Labor not to be rich. Cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings. They fly away as an eagle toward heaven. Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee. The more so which thou hast eaten, shalt thou vomit up and lose thy sweet words. Speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words. Remove not the old landmark and enter not into the fields of the fatherless. For their Redeemer is mighty. He shall plead their cause with thee. Apply thine heart unto instruction and thine ears to the words of knowledge. Withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with a rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with a rod and shalt deliver his soul from hell. My son, If thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. Yea, my reins shall rejoice when thy lips speak right things. Let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. For surely there is an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off. Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. Be not among wine-bibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh, for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. Hearken unto thy father that beget thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old, by the truth and sell it not, also wisdom and instruction and understanding. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bear thee shall rejoice. My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. For a whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit. She also lieth and waiteth for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men. Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last, it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say it. I was not sick. They have beaten me, and I felt it not. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. So far the reading of God's word, it is verses 20 and 21 that constitute my text. And that text is set in contrast to the three verses before it. Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long, for surely there's an end, and thine expectations shall not be cut off. Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. Be not among winebibbers, among riotous eaters of the flesh, for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. May the Lord. Bless the reading and the preaching of His Word again this evening. Solomon, the wise man. For a good part of his life, he did not himself live in that wisdom. He gave himself over to the pleasures of life. and to many different women. The Lord graciously didn't let go of His servant Solomon. But there is conversion toward the end of his life and you have these beautiful proverbs that he was given by God to write down for our instruction. How to live a life of godliness, of holiness. We have been called several weeks ago in our applicatory sermon to run the race that is set before us. We are to run that race with endurance. And how do we do that? By throwing off any weight that is on us, anything that weighs us down, and by laying aside the sin that so easily besets us. And so we have been looking at those sins. The sins of earlier pride. The sin also of wanting what others have, envy. The rottenness of bones. How can we run with rottenness of bones? Well, now before us again this evening is another sin that so easily besets us. We who live in this materialistic age, where there is almost no amount of things that we can't get for ourselves, whether it be drink, whether it be meat, or whether it be the pleasures of this world. Things that in themselves are good creatures of God and can be enjoyed by God's people, but they are also things that we can make as idols in our lives and bow down and serve. And so we need to be warned about this area of our life, the sin of gluttony. Under that theme, the sin of gluttony. O child of God, God has redeemed us from that lifestyle, the lifestyle of the wicked who live for themselves, who live for the moment. Eat, drink, and be merry, for we only go around once. That's the philosophy of the world that we live in, the materialistic world that we live in. We have been delivered from that by Christ Jesus. So notice with me then the sin of gluttony, what that sin is exactly. The warning in our text. And then thirdly, our wonderful and our powerful deliverance in Christ Jesus. Gluttony, what is it? The word means to be filled with excess, to be lavish, to swallow greedily. It's a word that stands for one who squanders what he has upon himself. More, more, more. I want more for myself. To eat or to drink to excess. Stuffing oneself, gorging oneself, cramming oneself with things. What are these things? Well, our text mentions two things. It mentions, first of all, strong drink. Solomon warns about what strong drink can do, while of itself it is a good creature of God that can be enjoyed by us. The Bible warns over and over and over about drinking to excess, that is becoming drunken. We need to hear that. How many people don't like to, how many people like to drink to excess? They want that high feeling. It liberates them. They can feel, they can be themselves, they say, and they can speak and not be inhibited. And if you listen to this chapter, it says we should be inhibited. Verse two, put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite. Strong drink lowers the inhibitions that we have, and those are good inhibitions. When it comes to our sexual nature, when it comes to what we say to one another, we should be on our guard. And strong drink shouldn't drown out those inhibition. Strong drink. What a graphic description Solomon gives in this chapter from about verse 26 on about what strong drink does to one. It takes one's power of reasons away and one literally becomes sick floating around like one in the midst of the sea, or lying on top of the mast. Can you see that? The ship going this way and that way and way up there on the mast, especially the person lying up there, weaving back and forth. What a description of the person that drinks too much. Be not amongst wine-bibbers, Be not amongst those rioters eaters of the flesh. What is that? It is eating all that you can. How don't the restaurants cater to that sin? How many restaurants don't have their buffets where one can eat all they want? And one sometimes is in those places and one looks at the size of the people sitting down there and you say, you really don't need to eat all that you can here people. How many restaurants don't serve helpings that are really twice what a person needs to eat? Often my wife and I will go to a restaurant and we'll share a meal because these meals are so large. Those are the two examples that are given in our text of gluttony. But we could expand that, couldn't we? Any excess in our lives, anything that we give ourselves wholly to, whether it be pleasures, whether it be vacations, whether it be playing with our cell phones or the internet, Whatever we give ourself to without self-control. Gluttony. Me, myself, and I, I'm gonna take what this world has to offer and I'm going to take it to myself and I'm gonna get as much as I can. What a great temptation that is. What a besetting sin it can become. Where God's creatures abuse God's gifts. Where we do not eat in order to live, but where we live to eat. What is your goal? Do you notice the difference between those two phrases? We need to eat in order to be nourished, to go about our activities. That's a good gift. But woe unto the person that lives just in order to eat, in order to drink, in order to get more of this world's goodies for himself. Isn't that the philosophy of the world? They say, thankfully, it's Friday. I worked hard so that now I can give myself to the parties and to pleasure and just enjoying myself. What a temptation. It's a twofold temptation. First of all, the weakness of those who are tempted. We have that sinful nature. The sinful nature in which there is selfishness. What is there in it for me? What can I get for myself? And then second of all, the strength of the temptation. Whether it be that delicious looking food, whether it be that wine with its color, or whether it be the pleasures of the world, Those things look so appealing. So we are weak in ourself and those temptations are so strong bombarding us day after day. And if that's not enough, the advertisers in the magazines or on television or on radio make those things seem all the more important for us. If you want to be happy, if you want to be successful, you need to get more of these things. You deserve them. Good food, good drink, fun and very good inventions. Tempting. If there was coarse food, we would not be so easily tempted, would we? If there was just, let me use an example, and pardon me if you really like this stuff, but if there was just oatmeal to eat every day, I would not be tempted to overeat. In fact, I wouldn't be tempted to eat at all. Coarse food would not tempt us like that would. Or, if we had a subdued appetite, that is, if we are sick, than no matter how rich the food was. In fact, the richer the food is, probably the more obnoxious it would seem to us. We wouldn't want to even smell it. But God has given to us healthy appetites. And God has given us lavish good gifts. These are creatures of God. And now the question comes, what do we do with it? Yes, these are good creatures of God. We read in Psalm 104. It would be the verses 14 and 15. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. These are God's good gifts, the appetite, and also the good foods and wine that we eat and drink. But now the question comes, what do we as creatures do with those creatures that God has given to us? And the sin warned about is that we take it for ourself and we say, that's what I live for. We live for our bellies. We live for our pleasures. We live for the trips that we could take. We live for this and that and not for God. This is a characteristic of the wicked. In Deuteronomy chapter 21, we read there of a father and a mother who have been working with their son and their son will not heed them at all. And finally, the father and mother have to take that son over to the elders of Israel, and they say, this, our son, is a glutton and a drunkard. And the elders have to take that disobedient, that riotous young man out, and they stone him to death. a sin of the wicked. Boys and girls, perhaps you remember the story of wicked and foolish Nabal. He was a rich man. He had many flocks. And David and his men were protecting those flocks from intruders around. And Nabal's gonna have a big feast. And so David comes with a request. Can I and my men also join the feast and be fed and nourished? And foolish, wicked Nabal was angry in his heart. He says, no way. It's a feast for myself and for my family. No. And the Lord caused foolish Nabal to die. riotous living. The world in Noah's day when they heard the preacher of righteousness talking about God's coming judgment, what did they do? We read that they ate and they drank and they were merry until God closed up the door of the ark and the rain came down. They did not listen to God's coming judgment. They lived for the present. They lived for themselves. That is the warning that comes from Isaiah to the people in his day where they would eat and they would drink and they would be merry for we live today, Isaiah chapter 22. And the Apostle Paul writes finally in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, if in case it is true that there is no life after death. Then he says, well then go ahead, eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Then we're no better than the beast of the earth. You're only here around once, yeah, then live for yourself. But there is life after death. And just as they were eating and drinking in the days of Noah, so also Jesus says, at the end of the world, When the footsteps of Christ are heard in nature around us in the various signs, the world that we live in eats and drinks and pursues its pleasures. They live for themselves. Now that's the wicked world. And God's people are warned here by Solomon as he speaks to his son saying, do not be like them. We need to hear that because we're part of the culture that we live in and we are living in a rich materialistic world where everyone is living for themselves. And we might even be envious of those people. And we may not. How easy a sin is this to fall into? Look at godly Noah. What a man of God. For 120 years he preaches of God's judgment coming. He is saved with his family in the waters of the flood. But afterwards, as a husbandman, he plants his vineyards, and yes, he gives himself to excess, and he makes of himself a spectacle in front of his children, drinking. Or in the New Testament, The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Don't you have food and drink at home? What was supposed to be a sacred love feast together, there were those in the congregation who would take plenty of wine and plenty of food and they would feast and they would become drunken while there were others in the congregation who had nothing. Those Corinthian believers were profaning the sacred feast by drunkenness and gluttony. We need to be warned. What do you live for? Do you eat in order to live? Or do you live in order to eat? Do you live for pleasures? Do you live for yourself? What is there in life for me? How can I get ahead? How can I have more of this world's goods? How can I have the pleasures of the wine cup? And how can I have good, tasty food, the best food? And all other kinds of trinkets to make us happy. Are we, at times, guilty of living for ourselves, living to excess while we are being stingy with kingdom causes? Or being stingy to the poor? When there is the benevolent offering, we say, well, why do we have to take care of all those families, let them work hard and have their own money, I worked hard for mine. May it not be said of us. Rich toward ourselves and stingy toward Christ's kingdom. Stingy toward one another. What are we here for? The sin of gluttony. Excess. Living for self. Being rich toward self. And now our text comes and warns us. Do not be among winebibbers. Do not be among the riotous eaters of the flesh. Don't be among them. Why? Because of the principle that we have been separated out from the wicked world that we live in, and we've been separated unto God. Don't join forces with that world. Don't be one with that world. Don't join their feast and don't join their drinking parties. The bar is not the place or the tavern is not the place for God's people to have fellowship with others. Those people are serving themselves, they're delighting themselves in what their money has purchased. Drinking to excess often, or eating to excess, or partying to excess. Do not join forces with them. Our text mentions especially winebibbers, drinking parties. Young people, let this be a warning to us. We should not be called out as church members or as a denomination of those who like to party, who like to drink to excess. And parents, we need to set a good example for our children. The fruit of the vine may be used, but not misused. Do we have to have those drinks in order to have a good time? Perhaps our young people are looking at us as parents and we see, oh yeah, I have every party, they gotta have the bottle, and therefore, if we're gonna have a get together as young people, we should too. Young people, do not go to those parties where alcohol is being served. Number one, you're underage, and it is wrong. It's sin for you to do so. Don't do so because you might be tempted to overindulge in it as a young person because everyone else is doing it. the world that thrives on excesses more and more and more pleasures whether it be drugs, whether it be alcohol, whether it be food, whether it be the things of this world don't be among them, why? because your God has separated you out from that riotous living to be his peculiar people to be a people that don't live for themselves, but who live for God, for His Christ, for His glory. The warning comes in our text not only not to be amongst them, but then it gives the warnings of what happens to those who live that way. For we read there that they will come to poverty. Be not among winebibbers, among riotous eaters of the flesh, for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. What is the picture there? The picture there is of the person or the world that spends his or her all for his drink, or for his food, or for his pleasures, for his righteous living. One thinks of the prodigal son. He couldn't wait to get away from the strict father in his household. He says, give me my inheritance so I can live to myself. And he spent his all on riotous living. And thankfully God used then his poverty to make him awaken and say, why did I leave father's house? The servants in my father's house have it better than me. Foolishness. Poverty. What trouble at times has to come in our marriages. And what trouble at times has to come in our families. Because the parents do not make a budget to live within. because there is no priorities in what is necessary. And so they give for themselves, they buy for themselves excess things that will please their flesh. And then they do not have enough for the necessities or for the kingdom causes. And the world makes it so easy, doesn't it? Live for today. Go in with your charge card and you can enjoy now and pay later. And pay later you will have to with hefty charges. And the family is destitute. They don't have, all of a sudden, when there comes a hospital bill, they don't have the tuition that they need, they don't have for the kingdom causes. Because they bought into the world's thing, buy now and you can pay later. Poverty. Poverty and shame come, and eternal ruin. For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags." Do you see that? Not having enough for the necessities. Temporal poverty, but more than that. What is this drowsiness? It's a spiritual poverty. When the end of your life comes, what do you have to say to the Lord for what He has given to you? your time, your talents, your possessions, will you say, well, yes, Lord, I had lots of things, and I used it on myself, and I had a good high time for a little while? Or are you able to say, Lord, with what you entrusted to me, this is what I did, I invested it, and therefore there are treasures laid up for us in heaven? where moth and rust do not consume, where thieves do not break through and steal. Spiritual poverty. Do you see it? Living for self. Living for pleasures, whatever they may be. Yes, the text mentions the two. Drink and riotous eating. But we can add to all that the other pleasures in themselves, good. Maybe nice vacations, maybe nice things in the home, a nice car, many different things in themselves, nothing wrong. But when they become our idol, when they become the thing that we set our hearts on, and we take those things with excess for ourselves, with nothing to give for others, oh, what a sin. What a contrast that is to the lifestyle that is described just before verses 20 and 21. Let not thine heart envy sinners. Out there in the world, yes, The psalmist, Psalm 73, he looked at the wicked who prospered. Look at how they could have easy life and all kinds of things. Let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. Why? For surely there is an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off. There is a long life in fearing the Lord, a happy life, a blessed life in fearing the Lord. Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. Hear, my son. You see, wisdom comes as well as faith from the hearing of God's word. Solomon has to speak to his son. He says, don't get caught up in the spirit of this world. Give me more and more of this world. Don't get caught up in that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Christ is that wisdom. Guide thine heart. We guide our hearts with God's word. And the Lord will surely show us then in his word what is the path that he has set out for his people. And he warns us in his word about sins that can so easily beset us and weigh us down. Instead of running the race, we're filling our tummy up with these pleasures and these excesses and we can hardly move our short stubby legs any longer on the race set before us. We become fat with the world, drunk with the world and its pleasures. Guide thine heart And the Lord will lead and there will be an end, a glorious end, a goal, a great expectation. A life lived for God here now and a life lived with God forever and ever. That's the contrast. Those who live for the world's things, there comes an end. They go to the grave, but that's not the worst. They go to the grave, but they also go to hell. But those who guide their hearts, those who fear the Lord, turn away from that lifestyle. And they serve the Lord with heart, soul, mind, and strength. They seek the things that are above. The sin of gluttony. all around us and our sinful nature would love to have more and more of these good things, these good creatures. So what is the answer? What is the answer for us? Shall we make up a long list of rules, legalism? Thou shalt not drink. Thou shalt not smoke. Thou shalt not eat meat. Thou shalt not eat pork. During lunch you'll only eat fish. And the answer's no, not legalism. But the answer is the life and the power of Jesus' cross. We have died with Christ Jesus. We've died to the power of sin. We've died to the power of selfishness. so that we're able to say no to those sinful cravings. I want what someone else has, and I want the best, and I want more for me. We've died to that. Jesus didn't live that kind of life, refusing things. He did not live the ascetic life that John the Baptist did. And oh, how his critics picked up on that, didn't they? We read of that in Matthew chapter 11. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he hath a devil. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, behold, a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. but wisdom is justified of her children. Both of them had a message. The message of John the Baptist was we need to repent, we need to turn away from things. And now the critics, when they looked at John's life, they said, how can he do that? He must be filled with the devil. But those same critics now look at Jesus Christ. when Jesus Christ would eat and drink because he pictured the joy of the kingdom. And there they say he must be a glutton. Jesus points out there how those critics are really childish. Notice there's a difference between being childlike and being childish. We should all be childlike, but don't be childish. Don't be frivolous, don't be irresponsible, don't be inconsistent. Those critics were never satisfied, whether it be John's lifestyle or whether it be Christ's lifestyle, they would always find fault. We have been delivered from the power of selfishness and seeking me and myself to excess. we can live a godly life enjoying the things that God has given to us. One of the beautiful passages of God's Word is where Paul writes to Timothy. And there were those ascetics in Paul's day who said, do not touch, do not handle, don't do this, don't do that. And we read in 1 Timothy chapter 4, Verse three through five. Those legalists forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth, for every creature of God is good. and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." Not legalism, but God says, here are my good gifts. I've created them all. Use them, but use them responsibly. Don't hunger and thirst for them and make them your life, your God. but take these things, these good gifts, in order to be strengthened and to serve me, whether it be drink, whether it be eating, or whether it be the other pleasures in life, good creatures. Everything that God made is good. Now being careful, in Christian liberty, Christian liberty that we don't abuse our own conscience, number one. If you believe that smoking is wrong, if you believe that drinking is a sin, you may not do that. You violate your own conscience. Or, Christian liberty, if your brother is offended by it, Don't do it in their presence. Eat and drink, but do not hurt your fellow believer who might be caused to fall into sin. Christian liberty with wine. One may use it, but careful parents. Are we laying a stumbling block for our children? How is it to be used? or the pleasures of this world? Do the children just expect that the things that you have automatically they're going to have also when they get married or on their own? Delivered from the need for these things. Good things in themselves, but not used to excess. What is the fruit of Christ's cross? His Spirit dwells in us. We've been separated out from the world to be God's people. And of those fruits of the Holy Spirit that are very applicable to the sin of gluttony is the fruit of temperance. Galatians chapter 5 where you read of those Fruits of the Spirit. Temperance. That word temperance in a song comes self-control. Controlling ourself. One drink is sufficient. We don't need the third and the fourth one. We need some food to eat. We don't have to be overstuffed so that we hurt. And we can't hardly do anything afterwards. Enjoy pleasures, but not living for the pleasures. And so the question comes tonight as we hear this word of God, the sin of gluttony that so easily can beset us. What do you live for? What is most important in your life? My belly? My pleasures? Is it me, myself, and I that I can get the goodies of the world for myself? Can we say no to self in order that we say yes to Christ and we say yes to His glory and His service? Can we say no to ourselves, self-control, so that we have wherewithal that we can give to the church? so that we can give to Christian education. Many of our schools are bursting at the seams. There's building projects going on. There's high tuition for some of the families. Cutting back on our own pleasures and the things that we get for ourselves so that we have, so that we give the budget and that we give over the budget to the various causes of the kingdom. The sin of gluttony says, no, it's mine. I'm not going to share. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Aud, I have enough. Audrit, I don't need that. These are the Lord's monies. These are gifts and talents that I must use for the kingdom. Paul writing in Romans 13. Romans 13 verses 13 and 14. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Self-control. The lust of the flesh. We say, no! No, you don't need more to drink. You don't need more to eat. You don't need more to live on. No. Not making provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. What is gluttony? Being rich in excess to self. and being stingy to others or to kingdom causes. In the very next chapter, Paul writes, Romans 14, six and seven, he that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks. He that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, For whether we live, we live to the Lord. We are the Lord's. And then continuing on in Romans 14, Paul writes, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved by God. That's what you and I want, don't we? In our lives, we want to be acceptable to God, an acceptable sacrifice of thanksgiving. He has redeemed us from our sins, forgiving us and delivering us from the power of sin. Again, we read in 2 Corinthians 6 and 7. Be separate, saith the Lord. and I will receive you, and I'll be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, that God's gonna be our father, we're his sons and daughters, having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. That's what this warning is all about, gluttony. fulfilling the lust of the flesh, let us cleanse ourselves from that filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness, self-control, running the race set before us with endurance, throwing off the sin that so easily weighs us down, gluttony, pleasing oneself to excess. God's word says to us, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 31, whether you eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Take that verse, child of God, with you as you run the race in this coming week. Good gifts God has given to us. We're thankful for those good gifts. Eat, drink. Other gifts He's given in His creation, enjoy. But do it to the glory of God. Self-control, saying no to the sinful nature, to selfishness, more for me. Eat and drink in order to serve the Lord. Amen. O Father in heaven, we're thankful for the end that comes to those that fear Thee. For the end that comes to those that serve Thee with heart and life is joy and peace and long life, knowing covenant fellowship with Thee. That's the way we desire to live. Give us grace, Father, so that we lay aside the sin of gluttony and we eat and we drink in order to live for Thy glory, giving thanks for the things that we have. Amen. Let's turn in our Psalter to number 407. Can we run this race, putting aside that sin, controlling that sin? For this is His word, stanza four, His saints shall not fail, but over the earth their power shall prevail. All kingdoms and nations shall yield to their sway, to God give the glory and praise Him for aye. We'll sing all four stanzas of 407. ♪ Praise ye the Lord and sing a new song ♪ ♪ Come ye all his saints, his praises roar on ♪ ♪ The praise of heaven and earth his people shall sing ♪ ♪ And children of Zion rejoice in their King ♪ ♪ With temple they call and joyful aglame ♪ and earth sing praise to his name. For God in his people, his flesh and blood speak, with prompts of salvation, we know and love him. In glory exalt ye saints of the Lord, with songs in the night thy praises accord. Look forth in his service, stand strong in his might, to conquer all evil, and stand for the right. His saints shall not fail, but over the earth their power shall prevail. All kingdoms and nations shall yield to his will. To God be all glory, and praise him forever. Praising the Lord, ye know some of Him yonder and behind. And bless the Lord, ye saints below, This creature's life to take, the honor and the joy. Let all that breathe it praise you, and to glorify the Lord. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.