Would you please find Ephesians chapter 5, Ephesians chapter 5, if you would please find that in your Bibles today. A relative of mine came to visit us once and when he was planning his visit, he said, when I come for the weekend, I would like to worship with you. And I remember him saying that because it made an impression on me. What would we normally say? If we're going to visit someone for the weekend and we know that they attend a church, we might say what? When I come, I would like to what? Go to church with you. Is there a difference? You can drive your vehicle, enter the building, occupy a pew, sing from a hymnal, put money into an offering plate, shake a few hands, listen to a sermon, And walk out and go home and say that you what? You went to church, but I think it's possible to do all of that without worshiping. And that is my burden, and that's why I'm talking to you about worship on purpose. I think it is possible for us very easily to engage in the activities that we associate with church and think that we've done all and everything that we should do and be content with that. But I think we can very easily miss what it is that we are here to do, what God has put before us to do. As I talk about this, nobody has said this, but I think it's possible that some might think, well, Pastor, I need something more. I need something practical. Give us something that helps us live. Don't need to focus so much on what we do while we're at church. We need more focus on what we do when we're away from church. I would say this to all of us. Worshiping God is the most important thing you do in life. And how you view God and your response to him really determines how you live, does it not? And so I think it's extremely relevant and practical and helpful to us. I am also burdened that we as a ministry understand where we are, why we are where we are. Some of what our current condition is. Receive direction from God's word, understand our position in relation to Christianity, broader Christianity, measure ourselves by God's word, see how we can improve and grow. So I think this is very important for us. What is worship? Worship is recognizing God's worth and responding accordingly. It's recognizing God's worth. and responding accordingly. There's some biblical ways to do that. The first one we talked about is by preparation. We come to worship God having already prepared to some degree for it. That's not just the pastor or the people who are directing the music or participating who do it. Everyone prepares for worship. We talked secondly about explaining and applying the word as being a significant part of biblical worship or worship on purpose. And today I want to talk about another biblical aspect of worship one that is extremely important very significant about which the Bible has some clear things to say. I think we could say this morning that that we probably all have agreement on some of the issues and aspect of musical worship, but probably each of us has some different ideas as well, don't we? And I want to go to the text. I want to go to the word. I want to see what God's word has to say about this. What does the Bible say about musical worship? We see some Old Testament practices. We see some Old Testament patterns. We see some New Testament practices and we see some New Testament principles. I'm going to focus on the New Testament. Let me put up in front of you right now several descriptive passages that we find in the New Testament of musical worship. They tell us what people did and we can learn from that. When Jesus met with his disciples of the upper room and they had the Passover meal together, Matthew 2630 says, and when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. This was probably one of the Psalms that was used as part of the Passover, the Jewish Passover observance. So the disciples and Jesus participated in musical worship. The apostles did as well. We know the familiar story from Acts 16 25 when Paul and Silas were in prison at midnight, they prayed and they sang praises unto God. And the prisoners heard them, they were singing, they were praising God, worshiping God with music out loud. And I think that's kind of what James was talking about when he said in the very first New Testament epistle to be written to those dispersed Jews who were Christians setting the pattern for Christian worship. He said in James 5.13, Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry or cheerful? Is there joy in your life? Let him sing psalms. And he's not talking about a circumstantial happiness. He's talking about that unconditional joy that believers have. And the natural expression of that is musical worship. We not only look back, but Scripture points us forward to when we see worship taking place in heaven and in eternity. Revelation describes this in chapter 5 with the song to the Lamb in heaven. We see also a description of musical worship in Revelation chapter 14, where 144,000 Jews sing a song to the Lamb on Mount Zion. And then we also see it in a song of deliverance in Revelation chapter 15. These are all descriptive. And in fact, what I just showed you and what I'm about to show you that we will look at this morning, I think, is all of the New Testament passages that pertain to musical worship. So it's those and what we're going to look at today. Those are primarily descriptive. Now we're going to look at some pre-scriptive passages. That is, they tell us what to do. They instruct us. They guide us. And it is important for us not only to see the pattern in those descriptive passages that tell us what they did, but to see these principles in the passages that guide us and direct us in what to do. There are three of them. One is in First Corinthians 14. The other one is Ephesians 5, 19, and the third one is Colossians 3, 16. 1 Corinthians 14, Ephesians 5, 19, and Colossians 3, 16. We'll be looking at each of these this morning. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. He wrote to the local church in Ephesus. He wrote to the Lord's Day gathering in Colossae, and he gave them some instructions, and they give us direction as well about our musical worship. What I want to do is this morning, look closely at these texts. I want us to see what the Bible says and unfold what it means. Tonight, I'll make some applications this morning, but tonight I will make some very specific applications to us as individuals and us as a ministry regarding our musical worship. So this will really be a two part message. Look at Ephesians chapter 5, let me read for us, starting with verse 18, Ephesians 5, 18. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, 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. Let's look to God and ask for his help as we look into his word. What a precious privilege it is to look upon the text of Scripture, to read it, to Meditate on it. Consider it together. Father, I pray that you would help us to settle in now. Help us, I pray, to discipline our minds. Help us, I ask, to Cause our hearts to have this singular and exclusive focus right now, or we we tend to wander. Our minds go places. Our hearts want things. I pray that we would want nothing more now than the bread of life, than the word of God. Lord, feed us, I pray, nourish our souls. I pray that we would not be disappointed that there are no flashy images or exciting plots. But I pray that we would be overwhelmed with the wonder of the wonderful words of life. Lord, give us your word. Show us your will. Put your hand upon our lives, upon this church, I pray. Help me, Lord. Help me in my human weakness to present your word in the best possible way. In Jesus name, Amen. I want to talk first of all about the life setting for musical worship. He describes here a setting, and by that I don't mean a place or or a room, but I'm talking about a life setting. What kind of person can engage in musical worship? Where does this come from? He says in verse 18 that that we are to not be under the influence of alcohol. And he's talking to these church people, he's saying, OK, this may be what you used to do, but this is not what you're to be engaged in now that controlled your life. Then don't let it now, but let your life be under the influence of the substance, if you will, really the person of the Holy Spirit. He came into you when you were saved. Now let him control you. Be under his influence. What's this talking about? It's talking about something that every Christian can experience. Folks, this is a command. It's not describing some ideal experience a few people have. It's commanding you as a believer to not only be saved, but be controlled by the Spirit of God. It's talking about a saved person, a person who has seen Jesus Christ as the Savior and believed on Jesus Christ as your Savior. So the question is this morning, is that you? Because you cannot really engage in musical worship unless it is. In fact, I would say this, if you have no care for musical worship, then it's likely that the Holy Spirit is not in you. And so if there's absolutely no interest in worshiping God in song with music, Then that is a signal that there's a problem spiritually. There's a problem inside of you and a problem in your relationship with God. Maybe you're not saved. So look at that. But if you have received Christ, if you are a believer. then the next step is to allow the Holy Spirit to control your life. And as you live under His influence, you experience this communion with Him, God as your Father, Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Friend, then the outflow and the result of that includes four activities. And he gives here four results. Be filled with the Spirit is the main direction. And then he gives four results. In Greek, they are participles. And grammatically, they flow out of this command. Be filled with the Spirit. And here is the outcome of that. And the outcome starts in verse 19. Speaking to yourselves. Now, I know the English Bibles have punctuated this differently. Again, according to Greek grammar, this verse can be divided up a couple of different ways, and here's how I see it. Speaking to yourselves is one result. The parallel verse we'll look at in a while in Colossians 3 says, teaching and admonishing one another. Be filled with the word in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. I think that expands what Paul's saying here. I think it's talking about the fact that if the Holy Spirit fills you, not only in your conversation and in your communication, but also in the corporate gathering of the church and the body of Christ, there will be a communication of the word. speaking to yourselves. I think he's here talking about the teaching and challenging and encouraging ministry of the word personally as well as publicly. That's one result. The second one is, two terms together, singing and making melody. That's the second result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. The third one is giving thanks. That's in the next verse. Verse 20, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then the fourth result is in verse 21, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. So you see, there are personal effects, there are effects on our relationship with God, and there are effects on our relationships with other people. The one that we will focus on this morning is singing and making melody. Here he is talking about musical worship. If you are saved and filled with the Spirit, a result of that, an outflow in your life is that you will worship God with music. Can I say this? If you're saved and living for Jesus Christ, you're going to sing. You will. You'll praise God in that way. I think he's talking here about personal worship, and there is such a thing. Just in the quietness Of your own little soul, sometimes there's just that little melody of praise to Jesus Christ, isn't there? It may come into your mind. It may come out through your mouth, whether it's in your personal times of prayer or looking at and listening to the voice of God and the word of God or you're in your car or you have an earphone in your ear. And there's just a time when you personally, musically worship God. He's talking about that, but I think he's also talking about corporate worship when believers gather together. And that is my main focus as I talk about this. Wherever believers gather and worship God, there is musical worship taking place. It happens when you gather as a family. It may happen when you gather with friends in a living room or around a fire outside in the evening with guitars and just sing some choruses. And it happens in our Lord's Day gatherings as well. The setting for musical worship is a saved, spirit-filled believer who is both personally and publicly worshiping God with music. We recognize God's worth and we respond accordingly with our music. Now, I also see here some kinds of musical worship, and I think that's where he goes when he says in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody. Let me talk about these ideas for a few minutes here this morning. Singing means that we do this vocally and verbally. Anyone can sing. Any Christian can express himself or herself to God musically. Some are skilled, others are gifted, but we can all participate in worshiping God in this way. I think this also shows us the importance of the content of musical worship. It's not just a sound. It is singing that is singing words. So it's important what we sing and what we present to God. The word making melody is P-S-A-L-L-O, that's what the Greek word is, solo. It comes from the same word as psalm or psalms, literally psalming. And it means to play an instrument, to pluck strings or strum chords. And it also means to sing the Psalms, the Old Testament hymn book, if you will, of the Psalms. So here again, we're talking about vocal music pointing us back to those 150 songs in the Old Testament. That is the original hymn book given to us from God. And when you look at the content of those psalms and you look at the message of those psalms, you will see the basis for musical worship. What do those psalms contain? Well, when you read them, you read many descriptions of God, don't you? You also see individual experience. The Psalms give us the content of musical worship, including descriptions of God, as well as individual experience. The Psalms give us the language of musical worship. You see that lofty, exalted language, but you also see very intensely personal language. You see the psalmist describing God in exalted terms, but you also hear of their very personal experiences and their anguish as well as their joy. The Psalms give us the tone for musical worship. It is at times formal. It is also at times, again, very passionate and personal. So in the Psalms, we find a model of content and emphasis for musical worship. The content includes the descriptions of God and individual experience. The language includes language that is locked and exalted, but also intensely personal. And the tone includes formal as well as passionate. But psalming also means to use instrumental music. And I point that out because there are Christians who teach and if you search this on the Internet you will find there are websites that teach and propose the fact that we should never use instrumental music in Christian worship. I think the scripture allows for this, even encourages this. That's part of what the word psalming means here, or making melody as it's translated here. So, here we have some kinds of musical worship. It is vocal, it is verbal, it is instrumental, it points us back to the Old Testament psalms for content and emphasis. And you see the word Psalms there as well in the verse. That's the noun. And he's describing those, the poems and the songs in the Old Testament Psalms. But then he uses the word hymns. Those are songs of praise to God. They are formal, poetic expressions of worship to God. And then he uses the word spiritual songs. And there's probably some overlap here, not necessarily distinct categories always, but some overlap. Spiritual songs literally is an ode It is a song of adoration and veneration in their culture directed to a God, in the Christian community directed to the God, and most often pointing to and expressing Jesus Christ as God. Not just as Savior, but as God as well. It expresses an exalted view, but also a very strong emotion. It is personal. Sometimes we will call this a song of testimony. It often begins with I or includes the word I because it's a personal testimony of worship to God. So it is a personal experience, an expression of the greatness of God and our personal experience of him. Notice he uses the word spiritual. That means it arises from spiritual life. It is about spiritual things. It is not merely about life and how good life is. When we sing about God's redemption and deliverance, we're not talking about him helping us through our problems. We're getting us out of hard circumstances, we're talking about him saving our souls and redeeming us from sin and hell. They are spiritual songs reflecting spiritual truth and spiritual experience. I think also contained in the idea of spiritual songs is that it is the opposite of what's the opposite of spiritual. sensual and fleshly and worldly. And so musical worship is not sensual, fleshly and worldly. It is spiritual in nature. And you see also in this the variety of forms that musical worship can take. So those are some words describing the kinds of musical worship. Now we get into a lot of what is my heart for this, for us. We can engage in the vocal and instrumental acts of performing or presenting or participating in music at church and still not be worshiping. We can be singing the right songs with the right words and the right instrumentation or right according to somebody's standard and say, we have the right kind of worship at our church. We're not like that church that has that kind of worship. We've got the right kind of worship. And still be so, so missing it, because look at what he goes on to say. And I put this word, I put brackets around these three words in my Bible as I marked it. Verse 19, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody. Amen, preacher. In your heart. In your heart, what does this show us? I'm going to call this the origin of musical worship. And by that, I, I know it comes from scripture and it comes from the music people, right? But I'm talking about when you participate in musical worship, what should be the origin of that in your heart? That means it originates in your inner man. It does not start when the song number is announced. It starts with the spiritual life and communion with God that you have in your inner man. It starts in that place where your thoughts begin. It starts at that wellspring of emotion deep inside of you. It means that your heart is engaged as you worship musically, not just your mouth or even your mouth and your brain. That's not enough. It means your heart is engaged. Let me ask you this. What was on your heart when you opened your mouth to sing this morning at the beginning of the service? Not just what was on your mind, but what was on your heart? Do you come having lived in communion with your Savior so closely that when you arrive, there is on your heart a desire and a passion an uncontainable expression of recognizing God's worth and wanting to respond accordingly to Him. When you mouth those words, there is a Redeemer. Well, there's something going on inside of you that those words just cause to rise out of you and say, yes, He is my Redeemer. Was that already on your heart? Now, I know we come to church with things on our minds and on our hearts. We come with burdens. We come with problems. We come with sins. And there is some struggling with sin. I'm not saying don't come to church. I'm not saying church is not designed to meet those needs and minister to those problems and proclaim God's forgiveness and invite people to respond. We do that. But, let me ask you, as a Christian, Do you come spirit filled? You can come to church and deal with those things, but most of us can come already prepared, can't we? You come with your heart burdened down with problems. Oh, we've got them. Pastor, just help me, lift me up, get me through my problems. You come with a mind that's just consumed with worry. What if this and that's going to happen? And this is going on. And folks, we have the things that that consume our minds and weigh upon us. You come in the bondage of some kind of lust as your heart is filled with lust and you come to church or greed, materialism, bitterness. What's on your heart? I'm not saying you can't deal with that at church, but deal with that so that you can come together with God's people and have Christ and his goodness on your heart when you come. Does that make sense? He's saying express yourself, recognize God's worth. Take time to gaze upon God. If you come full of self and worry and lust and the distractions of busyness, you will not be able to fully and wholly engage in musically worshiping God. Deal with those things in the right way, and then you will be able to unite with God's people in praising Him. Flip over to 1 Corinthians 14. I told you we would look at all three of these texts. I think that what Paul said here is related Paul was giving help to the Corinthian Christians. They needed lots of help. They were struggling in their Lord's Day gatherings with people who had the gift of tongues, but were practicing it for their own attention to get attention themselves. Paul was straightening that out and he was emphasizing the importance of the gift of prophecy. And that was just the simple, clear, plain declaration of the word. He's saying, sure, tongues is good and helpful in its place, but but let me tell you something. And by tongues, I believe he was talking about the use of actual languages and speaking so that people who spoke different languages could hear it and understand it in their own language. But he's saying that the best thing is the clear, plain declaration of God's word. And notice what he says in verse 14, first Corinthians chapter 14, verse 14, for if I pray, in an unknown tongue. My spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? Verse 15, I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also. So he says it's best if I can pray with my heart, but also in a way that my mind understands. I will sing with the spirit. And I will sing with the understanding. Also, would you love to see Paul standing there with a group of Christians singing? He says, I'm going to do. I'm going to sing. I'll be there. I'm going to worship God with music, with you or with whoever I'm with as a believer, which is what I do. I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding. Also, I think he's here talking about that inner man. What is the origin? of musical worship. It is the heart, but it is also the spirit, if you will, that spiritual part of man, the part of you that engages in spiritual communion with God. And then with the understanding, the Greek word is nous, it means your mind. In verse 14, he says, he says, I don't want to sing or pray in a way that I don't know what I'm saying. I want to understand it. I want to think about it. I want to be engaged in it. And shouldn't the same be true of us as we sing to the Lord? It comes from our heart. It engages our mind and we understand and we are thinking about. What we are singing as we praise God together, we'll talk some more about that tonight, but let me try to illustrate it this way. I was counseling a married couple one time. And as they described their issues, the husband talked about how his wife cooked and presented their meals. And there was nothing wrong with the food. Food was fine. She was an excellent cook. He was happy with that. But here's what he said. He said when she cooks it and when she presents it, it just doesn't have love in it. You know what I mean? I mean, you know, it's one thing to cook a nice meal, and here it is, tastes fine, but you know the difference when the person who has prepared it is doing it because they care about you, it's in a caring way, and somehow it just tastes better, doesn't it? It just goes down better if it's given in love. Isn't it possible for us as Christians to present, perform, and present our music in church? And folks, we can walk away from here saying, that was awesome, that was great, what a great offertory, what a great solo, what a great choir number. Man, just the congregational thing was great, man. We rattled the chandeliers and raised the roof and rattled the windows. That was great! And at Calvary, don't misunderstand me, I love that. I love that. And I think you do too. But isn't it possible that we can be patting ourselves on the back and walk away saying, man, we're just we're the singing church. And they're not be loving it. Maybe we love good music. What's wrong with that? Maybe we love the experience, just, you know, that that vibrancy and all that all that it does for us. But is there love for Jesus Christ in your heart? And is that really the major motivation that you have for singing and for our musical worship? I think that's something for us to consider. If you worship in your heart, your heart will be in your worship, won't it? Let's move on and go to Colossians chapter 3. I want us to look now at the motivation for musical worship. This is the other text I mentioned. that is prescriptive and tells us what to do. It's almost exactly the same as what Paul wrote in Ephesians. In fact, Ephesians and Colossians are very similar. They were written to two different groups of people, but contain a lot of similarities, a little different emphasis. And Paul says in 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, again, there are different ways of breaking up this verse. And here's how I see it. Let me kind of give you my idea of the translation of this verse. Let the word of Christ be at home in you. In fact, it could be among you. You plural. Let the Word of Christ be at home. Let it dwell. Not be a stranger, not be a visitor. Let it be at home in you individually, but also among you as Christians in the gathering. It should not be strange to introduce the Bible into the gathering of Christians. It should be at home here. And let it be at home in you abundantly, profusely, plentifully, richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. I think all that goes together. I think here he's detailing, again, the conversations we have that are centered in the Word. Teaching is instructing, admonishing is challenging, it's that edge, it's that point, it's that conviction that we hear, that we have when we hear the word of God. So I think there he's talking about that ministry of the word. And then with songs and hymns and spiritual songs, in grace, singing in your hearts to God, that's following the order of the original language, in grace, singing in your hearts to God. So now he's here again talking about results. What's the condition in Ephesians? He was talking about being filled with the spirit here. He says, let the word of Christ dwell among you. So the two really go together, don't they? Because if you're filled with the word, you're going to be filled with the spirit. So they aren't contradictory. They are complementary. And the results he gives are speaking that teaching and admonishing. in wisdom and then again, singing, singing. So he's talking about an outgrowth, the outflow, the fruit of being filled with the spirit and filled with the word. I want to focus on one part of this verse that's a little bit different from Ephesians 5, 18. You see it? It's the two words, in grace. In grace, or what he says here, or what's translated here is with grace. And that can mean a couple of things. It can mean to be in a state of grace. That is, you have experienced God's saving grace. I've been born again, forgiven. I'm a child of God. I have new life by the grace of God. I did not earn it. It was given to me freely. I could never deserve it. I simply accepted it. We know we are objects of God's grace. Also, His sustaining grace. It means you're conscious of God's special favor that you experience day by day. I'm blessed. God was good to me today. And then looking back to Calvary, look at what Jesus did for me. Look at that wonderful picture of the grace of God. You're in a state of grace. He has saved you. He helps you. He blesses you. He communes with you. That can be what it means to be with grace or in grace. Also, it can mean to be thankful. To be thankful. In fact, look at the context, look at verse 15, the verse right before that, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which you are also called in one body and be ye thankful. Look at verse 17 right after it. And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. In Ephesians 5 20, one of those results was giving thanks always for all things to God. The Greek word giving thanks is eukaristeo. The Greek word for grace is karas. You can hear them together, can't you? Thanksgiving is related to grace. In fact, we might say it's because you're in a state of grace that you give thanks. So what's the motivation for musical worship? It is that you recognize what God has done for you and you can't help but sing. I mean, you just have to, because it's a way of expressing your thanks to Him. Again, I ask you this morning, as you opened your mouth to sing, there is a Redeemer, Jesus, God's own Son. Was there that immediate thought? Yes, and I am so thankful. I never could deserve that redemption. I am overwhelmed that God's Son would give Himself for me. And I'm going to open my mouth and lift my voice. I'm going to worship God for that. Or was it? Here we go again. What was on your mind? Is there gratitude in your heart? If so, you will express yourself in musical worship to the Lord. Then I see in this verse, it's also in the verse in Ephesians that we looked at the object of musical worship. And that's pretty obvious, isn't it? To the Lord. We do not primarily sing for each other. We're not here to impress each other. This is not a performance or a way of getting attention. We must all examine our motives and remember that he is our primary audience. There is mutual benefit and blessing and we enjoy that. I'm not discounting that, but it is primarily directed to God. And that is true whether you are all by yourself. Whether you are in choir rehearsal or preparing to play an instrument, learning your notes. It's true when someone is playing or we are listening to the music during the offering. We are not the primary audience, there is benefit and blessing to us, but it's for him. It's for the Lord. And we must be careful about our motivations. Well, I didn't like that. Well, that's not the point, is it? We all have our preferences. We all have our tastes. But saying, I don't I didn't like that might be a selfish focus. Stop and think, is this something that would please God? And if so, I can be blessed by that as well. Musical worship is primarily about God. Musical worship is primarily for God. I want to end up this way. Would you go to Revelation five? Revelation chapter five. And we're going back now to one of the descriptive passages. What we find here is a hymn in heaven. Can you imagine? Who wrote this? The Apostle John. God let him have a glimpse of the future. And here is part of what he described. Let me start reading with verse one, Revelation chapter five, verse one, John says, and I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals. Literally, that would be a scroll. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. And no man in heaven nor on earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon." Stop just for a second. What's he talking about here? Is he just talking about the act of opening a volume or unrolling the scroll? No, he's talking about someone who can initiate and enact the events that will be the end of history and the consummation and fulfillment of God's eternal purpose. Because the scroll represents the unfolding events that will take place at the end of time. And the question is, who has the authority? Who has the sovereignty to enact and initiate all of that? And John says, no man was found worthy. But here comes the answer, verse five, and one of the elders saith unto me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, The root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. So the answer is there is one. And these terms he uses to describe him, describe the one who is prophesied in the Old Testament as the coming Messiah. We know him as the Lord Jesus Christ. And I beheld, John says, And low in the midst of the throne, central point, and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. The lamb is our substitute and savior. And the fact that he is represented as the one who had been slain shows the significance of his crucifixion forever and ever. Then those other descriptions speak of his the fact that he is all powerful, he is all knowing and he is everywhere. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and has made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth." There's the hymn of heaven. What do you see there? Who is worthy? There is One who is worthy. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, and here is why. Because He is the Lamb who gave Himself for our sins, and because He is the One who prevails, and because He is the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present One. We recognize His worth. He is worthy. But then what was their response? Worthy is the Lamb who has what? Redeemed us. You see how personal it was? It was not just lofty language and concepts and ideas. That was definitely part of, that will be definitely part of the worship in heaven. But it is also very personal and very passionate. He saved us and he gave us life and we will live with him and we will reign with him forever. They have a reason to sing and so do we. And so do we. So the question is this morning, what is the condition of your heart and your life? Are you in a condition to worship God? Are you saved? If not, you can trust Jesus Christ today. Come to him. Bow before him. Cry out to him. Believe on Jesus Christ as the one who was killed. And as he was being crucified, he took upon himself your sins, who died and rose again to prevail and now lives to give you eternal life. Submit yourself to Him. Allow the Holy Spirit to control you. Relinquish your love of self and living for self. And say, I want the Spirit of God to own me, to have me, to rule me, to direct how I live. And then you'll be in a condition to worship Him. And if you are, you will sing your thanks and your praise to Him.