Three do's and a don't. Let us sing.

Now I thought about the Ten Commandments as I saw this. There's lots of do's and don'ts in the Ten Commandments. And they're summed up in loving the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. But this is the commandment too. This is a commandment of grace. One of those blessed commandments, gospel commandments, like rejoice in the Lord always, and that's part of the singing. Notice that it's a singing of joy. Make a joyful noise when you sing. We don't sing dirges. There's no sad songs. If there is a sad song in the hymn book, I don't want to sing it to you. The gospel is good news. Our Savior reigns. He reigned this past year. He's going to reign in this coming year.

And the simple command here, oh, come, let us sing unto the Lord. You know, we think of the Ten Commandments and we say, how could I ever do that? But we hear this command and we think, how could we not do that? How could we not? If God has saved us, and you see the reasons why we should sing, verse three, for the Lord is a great God. Is that a good reason to sing with joy in our hearts? In this coming year, and I know, look, I know well that not everybody can sing very good, because I'm one of them. I don't have any illusions about that. Vicki, you know, we sound good together because she sounds good.

But that doesn't say here, let those who are talented sing. It's talking about to the Lord's people, to the Lord's people. And you don't have to sing well, you don't have to sing with talent, although there is that in the scripture which exhorts us to give it our all. Don't sing lackadaisically, don't sing with apathy, don't sing taking the words for granted and just not even hearing them. Don't sing his praises in a mindless and rote and just because it's what we're supposed to do. but do so with the heart. Let us make a joyful noise, and we're not just singing to some ethereal entity, you know, like some people talk about, oh yeah, I believe in a higher power. We're not singing to a higher power. We're singing to the rock of our salvation. You see that? We're singing to the one that saved us. and did so in such a way that he's a rock. He's a foundation upon which we stand and we cannot be moved.

We must sing with joy. We must sing with thanksgiving. We must worship as we sing, because look who we're singing to. And let me say this about it. We're not singing to one another. Maybe you're embarrassed to sing because you don't want somebody to hear how bad you are. Look, they're probably just as bad as you. I got a microphone in front of me and I can't hit the notes. So there's no excuse for anybody. And I encourage you, if you don't sing or if you just don't really give a whole lot to it, let's sing unto the Lord.

The scriptures over and over. You know, when Paul and Silas were in the prison, what did they do? They sang unto the Lord that may or may not have had them killed the next day. It doesn't make any difference. He's the rock of our salvation, whether we live or whether we die. We die in Him. We live to Him. What a beautiful commandment this is. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving. Thank God, be thankful. That's the second do. Let's be thankful this year. We tend to just go through the months and weeks and take for granted what the Lord does. I love what John Chapman said from this pulpit one time, to live in the conscious reality of who he is to us, to live in the constant conscious reality that he's on the throne, to live in the continual conscious reality that everything we have came from his hand. Can we do that? That's almost impossible. Did you know that? We're going to need his grace, because it is impossible without his grace.

But you see, thanksgiving shouldn't be something we do every once in a while when we say our prayers. We come into His presence. When are you not in His presence? But especially in the worship, let's come here thankful, thanking God. I told you recently that much of my prayer has turned to thanksgiving because much of what I used to pray for, the Lord has done it. And now, instead of saying, God, please, I'm saying, God, thank you, thank you. There's still some pleases, don't get me wrong. There's still some please. There's still some please.

And bless God, the Lord has answered one of them, hadn't he? Because this coming Sunday, we'll baptize Brother Jackson. I call him Brother Jackson now. That's one that's probably been prayed for a pretty good while, if I could guess. If I could hazard a guess, and the Lord's done it. Thank you. Thank you, God. Thank you, the rock of our salvation. Come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise. There's a good reason for it. He's a great God and a great king above all gods, above all those that this world calls high and lifted up above all those whom this world considers to be elevated or in some position of authority. He's the King of kings. He's the Lord of lords. And we come before him and say, thank you.

Don't thank your boss. I guess it'd be appropriate. Thank you for giving me a job. But our thanksgiving goes higher than that. It ascends higher than that. The Lord gave us that money. The silver and the gold are His, and He just used somebody to do it. And we're to give honor where honors do in this world. I'm not saying that, but you know to whom belongs all honor and glory. Above all others, He's the King above all gods. Above all causes, He's the first cause. Above all the means, that we look at and see every day that provide what we enjoy, He's the God of the means. He's the one that put them in place. He's the one that causes us to be where we are in this world and who we are in this world and how we are in this world. And we give thanks unto His name.

You remember what Abraham said? You know, they just won a great battle and One of the kings, I forget his name now, but he said to Abraham, you take the spoils. And Abraham said, nope, I'm gonna lift my hand up to God. If I take spoils, you'll say you made me rich. And you didn't, you didn't, you can't. Only God can do that. And so I'll hold my hand up to God and look at verse four, in his hand are the deep places of the earth, the strength of the hills, is also his, the sea is his, and he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.

This is a lesson on taking things for granted. Everything we enjoy, the land and the fruit of the land is implied in this. The land, he makes it fruitful. I thought about, we were at a restaurant recently, and it was just such a crowd there, and I thought, how much food does it take to feed this many people all day? The massive amount of beef and chicken and pork and vegetables and this and that in one day. And we've been doing that all over this planet. for how many thousands of years? I don't even know, six or 7,000 years it's supposed to be. And still there's plenty. We take that for granted. And God made water one time. He made water one time and we're still drinking it. It's still abundant. And you know what he also did? He died on the cross for my sins, and I take that just as much for granted as I do a drink of water. I take that for granted. We don't live in the conscious reality all the time of what he's done for us, what we owe, how much I owe to his love divine.

And in his hand are all these things. That's why I said the other night, How can we start a year, if we're gonna celebrate it at all, I mean, we could just say it's just another day and that's fine. But if we're gonna celebrate a new year, how else would you do it? Then to look to the one in whose hand is everything. The Lord Jesus Christ said, the Father hath given me all power in heaven and earth, all of it, all authority and all ability. It's committed under the Son of God. He's the great King, and in His hand is the land and the sea and everything that it produces. In His hand, we are. in his hand is everything we'll have. His hand represents power, ability to do, to accomplish everything that happens in this coming year.

You know what we'll have to do? We'll have to sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving. Even if we end up in a prison, you reckon we could do that? You reckon we could do that? You see how all-inclusive this is? Christ is all. He really is. Do we still have some pleases when we bow before God? He's going to be the one to answer them. That's why we come to Him, because there is no other resource. There is none beside Him. That's why we sing to Him. And we're not singing again. I wanted to say a little bit more about that. We're not singing to each other. You're singing to Him. Isn't it wonderful that God likes singing? Isn't that just a beautiful thing? Maybe just sit alone in your room sometime and just sing a song to the Lord. If it's coming from a heart of worship, the Lord delights in that. Sing to me, He says. Sing to me. What an honor that is. What a privilege that is. And thank God for everything that we have, everything that we are, everything we can do, and consciously, all the time, may we do that.

And look, here's the third do, in verse 6, O come, let us worship. Let's worship. What else You know, we want to make, people like to make New Year's resolutions. You know, it's like, you know, this particular day, the slate's going to be clean now, and I'm going to start exercising. Somebody said, I saw something that said that all the gyms and the health centers are offering a two-week special this year. That would probably be enough for most people right there. It was supposed to be a joke, but y'all are a tough crowd. But that's how we are. It's the New Year's. You're not going to be any different than you were before, but maybe the Lord can give us the grace to be conscious about this to sing to Him. Let's sing to Him this year. Let's give thanks unto Him this year, and let's worship Him. May we worship Him.

And it's because this new year is not about what we're going to quit doing and what we're going to start doing. We worship Him now. We're thankful now. If you're His, you are, and you sing unto the Lord in your heart. Whether you ever make a sound or not, I understand that. This new year is not about what we're going to do and about what we're going to quit doing. It's about what's God going to do. And what has he done? You see that? Who is he? What has he done? He's the rock of our salvation. That's what he's done. He is our salvation. He is our redemption. He's our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification and our redemption before God. And so let's come worship him. Let's be conscious about that too.

And not if we let one service slip by just in a fugue state and just kind of let it happen. I've spent a lot of worship services in a fugue state. And I confess that with shame. Sometimes you're just so wore out and tired. I get it. I understand that. We're all cut out of the same cloth. But think about when we come, we come before him, this chapter said. We come before him with thanksgiving. We're not just coming to church, we're coming before him. And that's gotta mean something. That can't be taken for granted. Surely we can't. Although I know we will without his grace. I know we will. So let's pray for that.

So all of this is the Lord's doing. Why are we singing? Because of what he's done and what he's gonna do. Whatever it is. You know, we're not worried about what's God gonna do in 26. What's he gonna do? We know what he's gonna do. He's gonna reign. He's gonna rule. He's gonna bless his people. You reckon? You reckon he's gonna bless his people this year in 2026? You reckon he's gonna provide everything that we need? He said he would. He said he would. You reckon we could just not worry about the things of this earth in 2026 and look on things above? And don't ever forget, when people quote that scripture, go a little further in your mind. If they don't quote it this way, we look on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. When we look up above, we're not seeing pearly gates and streets of gold. We're seeing the king who died on a cross and was declared the king of his people on that very cross. And he reigns there as our king, the king of redemption, the king of love, the king of glory for us. He reigns for us. He intercedes for us. He runs the world for us. So let's worship and come, let us worship and bow down.

You know, I know that bowing is something that happens in the heart. You can get down on your knees and still be shaking your fist in God's face on the inside. That's what religious people are doing now. They'll kneel at an old-time altar or at an altar coated with gold, whether it's the old Baptist church, the old-time altar, or a Catholic altar of some kind, where you don't even have to get your knees dirty. They got a felt pad down there for you to kneel at. And you can sit there and shake your fist in the face of the God of Scripture. You can say you're worshiping God and despise the Christ of the Bible, despise his son and refuse to bow to his son, but it don't hurt sometimes, sometimes to bow and just get apart somewhere.

Our Lord did that. He did that, he bowed himself. Paul said, I bow my knees unto the Father for you. I bow my knees, not just my heart, but sometimes, sometimes let's get down on our knees because you know what I like about that? What else are you going to do? I know your mind can still wander, but how are you going to be distracted? If you pray driving down the street and you know, there's a deer over there, you just quit praying. You just, you know, or whatever. You see what I mean?

That's not, that's not, You know, worship means, it doesn't just happen during what we call worship services, but God has always, from the beginning, called together a holy convocation. In Exodus chapter 12, I believe it is, or 12 and 13, there's the holy convocation. Blood of the Lamb was shed, and God's people were delivered by the blood of that Lamb, and He He implemented, he ordained a holy convocation. That means a public gathering of his people. And that's the special time of worship, where two or three are gathered, where they're gathered. The word church means assembly. Same thing as gather, assemble. And that's a special time, there's no question about that.

But worship is attributing worth-ship. It's attributing worthiness to God. Who's worthy of praise when you enjoy any blessing in this life? Who's worthy of praise when somebody you love comes to know the Lord Jesus Christ? Who's worthy of praise? We're attributing worthiness to Him tonight. for everything we have, and especially for his salvation. Especially.

You know, that's one step closer to God wrapping this whole thing up. I hope Jackson's not the last one, but he could have been. He could have been. Somebody's going to be the last one. And then we're going to be with him forever. But we still got some pleases, don't we? We still got some pleases, but we got a lot of thank yous. A lot of thank yous. Thank you, God. But let's worship Him and not just have church. Let's kneel before the Lord, our Maker. You see that He's the rock of our salvation, the stronghold of our salvation. We can say, I'm saved. Paul could say, nobody can lay anything to my charge, because he was the rock of his salvation, the stronghold of our salvation.

God forbid that we boast in anybody or anything, but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the saving power of God's Son. For he's our God. Isn't this beautifully simple? Why do we come here? Why would we spend New Year's Eve like this? Why would we do that? Because He's our God. Is that a good enough reason? Because He's our God. Because Christ is our Lord and our God. And we are the people of His pasture. Isn't that glorious? We're the people of His pasture. We're not, you know, the Lord, Jesus needs a few good men. I understand that the scripture talks about us being warriors and all that, but you know what we're doing? We're laying in his pasture, resting with everything we need provided, spiritually and earthly. We're laying in his pasture beside the still waters. We're the people of his pasture and the sheep of his power.

the sheep of his ability, the sheep of his hand. We're his sheep because of what he did, you see, of his hand, that's what that is. Today, if you'll hear his voice, here's a don't. Harden not your heart. Don't harden your heart. You say, well, that's what lost people do. No, that's what saved people do too. We're still as stubborn as an old mule. We were born into this world as a wild asses cult, and that wild asses cult ain't dead yet. Harden not your heart. Don't resist God. Don't bow up against God. What God has said, what God teaches in his word, and what comes along in your life and your preferences and your want-tos and your way and your desires are going to conflict with one another. Don't harden your heart. Don't harden your heart. May God knock all the stuffing out of every one of us. Knock the stuffing out of us. As in the provocation, we know when they murmured against God, God had delivered them from bondage, centuries of bondage, and they murmured against him because they didn't like the food. You know what that's a picture of? God has delivered us from the bondage of the law, from the bondage of Satan, from the bondage of our own works from the bondage of his justice. He's delivered us. And we're still complaining, aren't we, though? Still complaining. You know why? Because of this flesh. Because we don't like the food. And you know who the food is?

The only reason we ever murmur about anything You think about this, and we'll close with this thought. I just want this to be a simple, hopefully, us just worshiping God because He's our God. every bit of our murmuring, every bit of our complaining, every bit of our bitterness. And I know there's reasons for sorrow. I'm not saying that. There's reasons for heartache. You know, heartaches don't just bounce off of us. That's not scriptural. But our complaints, our discontent, our pride, our lack of forgiveness, just our self-righteous, everything. You know why that is? Because Christ is not enough. If Christ was enough, we would never complain again.

The flesh is weak, isn't it? The flesh is weak. And so may God strengthen our spirit. in this coming year that we might come before Him with singing. And again, we can just say the words, that's one thing, but in the heart, joy, joy. There's no sad songs in the gospel. It's all joy and happiness and gladness. Come before Him with gladness, thanking Him, with thanksgiving unto Him for all that He is. All that He does is according to all that He is for us. He's everything. He's our all and in all. And so thankful.

And then, God give us the grace to look into His Word and to worship Him. Remember we were studying, I guess we were in 2 Corinthians, that's where we are. And yeah, it had to do with the giving, didn't it? It had to do with God bestowed grace upon some people, and put it on their hearts by His grace that was clearly spelled out. He had grace, He bestowed grace upon them to look at the need of others. And even in their poverty, you would think that they wouldn't be able to do anything. And maybe we think that way sometimes. But look, even in their poverty, their generosity abounded. And they gave to that need. And you remember what Paul said was the result of all that? It redounded unto many thanksgivings unto God. And it was so clear in that at the time and now, tonight, that that's why this world is still turning. God gets glory.

Wouldn't He get more glory if He just took us all to heaven? No, because if He would, He would do that. I don't know what it is. We could praise Him better. We could praise Him without sin. We'd see Him as He is. We'd be like Him. But He said, don't take them out of this world. And here we are, we might have another year on this earth. Maybe. If we do, may many thanksgivings redound unto our God. And may we worship Him, because that's why He has a world. He has a world because He has a people. And His people, the fruit. Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much love, much joy, much longsuffering, much gentleness, goodness, Faith, God increase our faith.

May he give us a year somehow more wonderful than all that he's given before and cause us to see him more clearly, to rejoice in him more robustly, to worship him more sincerely, to bow to him. with all of our hearts and give him the praise that he's worthy of. Amen.