Our text this morning is found
in the New Testament, Paul's epistle to the Colossians, and
chapter 3 at verse 16. In Colossians chapter 3 at verse
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. 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. I want us to take up
then the subject of the praises of God. The Gospel Standard Articles,
of course, are really based upon a development of Dr. Gill's original 12 Articles of
Faith that were drawn up when he became pastor at Carter Lane
in London. And in the 12th of those Articles
of Dr. Gill, It is declared, we believe,
that the preaching of the words, prayer, and the singing of psalms,
hymns, and spiritual songs are ordinances of the Gospel. So the manner of our worship,
as we seek to conduct it here in this very simple form, we
recognize to be an ordinance of the gospel and part of that
worship that we render onto God is the singing of the praises
of God, the singing of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Now we know that certainly with
regards to heaven itself that the singing of God's praises
there is a very significant part of the worship that is constantly
rendered onto the Lord. The language that we find then
in the book of the Revelation indicates that quite plainly.
In chapter 15 and verse 3 of the
Revelation they sing the song of Moses the Servant of God and
the Son of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy
works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are thy ways, thou
King of saints! Who are these that are singing
the praises of the Lord? It is, of course, those who are
the election of Christ. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. And that specific number that
is spoken of, the 144,000, that perfect number, as we are told
previously there in chapter 14, verse 3, they sung, as it were,
a new song before the throne and before the four beasts, and
the elders and no man could learn that song but the hundred and
forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the earth,
no man. Only those who are the election
of grace, only such enter into heaven and worship God day and
night there in his temple and they sing that new song They
sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. They are those who
in this world have known the conviction of their sins or they
understand the significance of that solemn law that God gave
by Moses. But not only do they know the
conviction of sin, they have experienced those gracious comforts
of the Gospel. They also sing the song of the
Lamb there in glory. or the Lamb is all the glory
in Emmanuel's land. And as we come together in this
fashion, Lord's Day by Lord's Day, we trust that what we know
here is some anticipation of that that is before us, the bliss
that is heaven itself, where congregations ne'er break up
and Sabbaths have no end. Well, let us consider what the
Apostle is saying here as he writes to the church at Colossae
concerning the praises of God. 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. First of all, Why do we worship
God in this fashion? Why is it that we seek to sing
forth the praises of God? And the reason why is because
here we have the commandment of God. Here we have a precept
of the New Testament Church. It is the imperative that we
find in this particular verse. It's a command. It's an exhortation. 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. And it's not only to the Church
of the Colossians that Paul gives such instruction, such exhortation,
but we have something very similar in what he writes to the Church
of the Ephesians. There in Ephesians 5.18, 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, giving
thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have then, as it were, a repetition. As you know, the significance
of that, there's no vain repetition in the Word of God. There's an
emphasis being placed then upon the importance of our worship
of God. And observe how there, in the
words that we just referred to in Ephesians 5, we are reminded
of our complete dependence upon God in our worship. It is only
as we are filled with the Spirit of God Well, we need that gracious
ministry of the Spirit Himself. When we come to worship God,
when we come to show forth the praises of God, the Apostle says,
I will sing with the Spirit and I will sing with the understanding
also. or to be in the Spirit. Where
we're in the Spirit there will be an understanding. That understanding
that is spoken of there in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 is associated with
that decorum. and that proper order that will
be evident when we come together for the worship of God. In many
ways the Corinthian church was such a disorderly church though
it was a church that was greatly blessed with remarkable spiritual
gifts and yet there were many things that were wanting in that
church and Paul rebukes them and instructs them, as he writes,
particularly in that 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians. Verse 26 he
asks, How is it then, brethren, when ye come together, every
one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath
a revelation, hath an interpretation? Let all things be done unto any
find, he says. Let all things be done decently
and in order. Well, we are to understand then,
the manner in which we worship, it must be that that is right
and acceptable and pleasing in the sight of God. What is our
worship? What are our praises? Well, true
praise, in a sense, is an expression of our gratitude to God, and
we see that. in the context of our text this
morning, the end of the previous 15th verse, he says, And be ye
thankful. And be ye thankful. Then we have the words of the
text, verse 16, and then again in the following 17th verse,
Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks, to God and the Father by Him. Or do
we come before God today as that thankful people? We want to give
vent to that sense of our indebtedness to Him. We want to show something
of our gratitude. for all His great goodness to
us. And so we come as those who would
worship Him. All good gifts around us come
from heaven above, then thank the Lord. O thank the Lord for
all His love. But as our prizes are to be an
expression of our gratitude, so also those prizes should express
our joy. We come as those who would rejoice
in the presence of our God. Remember the words, the exhortation
that we find in the epistle of James in chapter 5 verse 13. He asks, is any married? Let
him sing Psalms. Or when we're marrying hearts,
when we're rejoicing, we should express that by singing the praises
of God, by singing Psalms unto God. In fact, we can say that
in our praises we should desire to express all sorts of emotions. Even though at times we feel
the afflictions of God, we experience something of desertions, God
hiding His face with no temptations, we feel adversities here in this
sinful world, yet whatever be our circumstances, However, we
might feel in our own souls, whether we be rejoicing or grieving,
we are to be those who would show forth the praises of God.
Look at what we're told concerning the Apostle Paul and Silas. There in the 16th chapter of
the Acts of the Apostles, they've been thrust into prison, into
the inner prison, their feet are fast in the stocks, they're
being cruelly persecuted, they've been whipped. And yet what do
we read concerning these men? Verse 23 of Acts 16, when they
had laid many stripes upon them. They cast them into prison, charging
the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge,
thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the
stocks and at midnight. Paul and Silas prayed and sang
praises unto God, and the prisoners heard it. or whatever be our
circumstances. We might be those who are not
necessarily joyful. Many things trouble us, disturb
us. You know, good it is to sing
praises unto God. And this is why we see such an
importance in those hymns that are really experimental. Those
hymns that do express something of the various feelings and the
experiences of the people of God. were to worship God in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs. And are not the psalms the most
experimental part of the Word of God? How there, time and again,
we see the psalmist bearing his soul before God. God would have
us worship Him. And in our worship we are to
give expression to all these things. We are to come as a thankful
people. We desire to come as a joyful
people. Rejoice, says the Apostle, and
again I say rejoice, we have much cause for rejoicing. But
even though we might be those who rather than feeling that
we're on the mountaintop, we're there in maybe in the slough
of this farm, yet surely we should desire to show forth the praises
of our God. He commands it. The language
of our text, as I said, is the imperative. It's command. It's exhortation. It's the precept
of the gospel. And we should be those who decide
to obey all of these commandments of God, which are so holy and
so righteous and so just. But then, in the second place,
what of the content? What is to be the content of
our prizes? Well, as you know, God's word
is to govern the content of our prizes. There is no place for
what Paul in a previous chapter, in chapter 4 and verse 23, refers
to as a show of wisdom in will-worship. is not to be any show of our
wisdom as if we know how we will worship, how we would worship
God. We are to worship God as God himself has shown us, as
God himself has commanded us. We're familiar with that fourth
chapter of John's Gospel where the Lord speaks to that Samaritan
woman There was a difference between the Samaritans and the
Jews. The Samaritans were those who in part were descended from
the ten tribes that had been scattered when the Northern Kingdom
of Israel had fallen to the Assyrians. and little Judah in the south
had been preserved subsequently they would be taken into captivity
in Babylon but it was the little kingdom of Judah that was preserved
but what happened in the north was that those of the ten tribes
had mingled with other people but they thought they worshipped
Jehovah and there was much bitterness between Jew and Samaritan and
here is the Lord Jesus he must needs go through Samaria and
he must needs go through because he must meet with this woman
of Samaria and she is brought to confess and to acknowledge
him to be the true Messiah who had told her all things that
ever she deemed but the Lord speaks to her concerning worship
she's a Samaritan He says at verse 22, Ye worship ye know
not what, we know what worship is, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and there
is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him. God is a spirit, and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. These two things stand forth
so clearly here concerning the true worship of God according
to the language, the teaching of the Lord Jesus that worship
must be in spirit and in truth. And that is the worship These
are the praises that are spoken of both in Ephesians 5 and here
in Colossians chapter 3. Remember what we have there at
verse 18 in Ephesians 5, to be filled with the Spirit. filled with the Spirit, speaking
to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. There's the Spirit. Now, here
in the passage in Colossians, it is the words. Now let the
words of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. We have
both the Spirit and we have the words. that word of truth that
is to govern our worship. These are the two vital aspects.
True worship is spiritual in nature. We'll seek to say something
more with regards to that presently. But true worship is also governed
by the word, the word of truth, the word of God. And here we
see how that word is to be found in the praises of the people
of God. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. And then there is his reference
to Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. The Lord Jesus himself praised God We know at the end of the Passover,
it was the practice amongst the Jews to sing the Psalms 115 to
118, the great halal, the great praise. Halal simply means praise,
hallelujah, praise Jehovah, praise the Lord. the great halal was
what they would sing at the end of the Passover feast. Remember
how the Lord Jesus at his last Passover instituted the Lord's
Supper that we will presently ourselves be observing in obedience
to the Lord's command when he says this do in remembrance of
me. Now at the end of the Passover
that last Passover that the Lord observed with his disciples.
We are told in Matthew 26.30 when they had sung a hymn or
a psalm they went forth into the garden
of Gethsemane or went to Olivet. But the Lord, you see, sang He
sang the praise of God, he sang the great halal. Psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs we have mentioned. And it's interesting when we
come to observe something of the Psalter, the book of Psalms. because we find out that the
book is really made up of these psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs. Psalms 45 and 46 and 48, for
example, are all entitled songs. They're in the book of Psalms,
but they're called songs in their titles, and those titles are
the inspired words of God. Let the words of Christ, it says,
dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Doesn't this
remind us that the word of Christ is there in the book of Psalms
that's the amazing thing when we come to read the Psalms yes
so many of them are Psalms of David and we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ himself comes of that line of David, he's David's son,
he's David's greatest son but so much of what David has experienced
and what David is expressing in the Psalms and There, of course,
writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it's not
just the words of David, it's the word of the Spirit. And it's
the word of Him who is the Spirit of Christ. It's the word of Christ. And so those Psalms, they're
full of Christ. So many Messianic Psalms. And
it has been observed there in the Psalms that time and again
it's as if the veil is drawn aside. and we are permitted to
look into the very soul of Christ. That's the great beauty of the
Psalms. We have the New Testament, we have the Fourfold Gospel,
we can read so much in the New Testament concerning the birth
of the Lord Jesus, the great mystery of godliness in the Incarnation. We can read of His life, His
ministry, the sermons he preaches and so forth we can read in detail
in all of the Gospels concerning the great sacrifice that he makes
as he must needs go to Jerusalem and there he must suffer and
bleed and die we can read of his resurrection we have details
concerning all that the Lord Jesus began both to do and to
teach, as we're told in the opening words of Luke's Gospel. But the
great beauty of the Psalms, I say again, is that there it's the
soul of Christ. We see something of what was
transpiring within that human soul. as He came to fulfill all
the Father's goodwill and pleasure and to accomplish that great
work of redemption. Look at the language that we
find, for example, in such a psalm as Psalm 69, how it speaks of
the Lord's inward experiences, the reality of that human soul
and the intensity of all of those things that he had to suffer
and endure. It's a Psalm of David, but it's
the Word of Christ. Save me, O God, for the waters
are coming unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where there
is no standing. I am coming to deep waters where
the flood's overflown. I am weary of my crying, my throat
is dry, mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. This is the
experience of Christ. And those remarkable words at
verse 5, O thou knowest my foolishness and my sins, or as the margin
says, my guiltiness, are not hid from the... How can these
words be belong to the Lord Jesus, where they belong to Christ as
that One who is the substitute. All the folly of the sins of
His people, all the guilt of the sins of His people, all that
was imputed to Him. In a sense it became His, and
He suffers, as if He were the guilty man. All the wonder, you
see, that we see there in the book of Psalms. And so there
are those who would say, you're familiar with this, that if our
worship is to be right in the sight of God, we should only
ever sing from the book of Psalms. Dr. Gill himself makes the observation
that Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs here in our text, and again
in Ephesians 5, is a reference to the book of Psalms. which
is made up of songs, certainly made up of songs, and they say
also made up of hymns, as well as what we would call psalms.
So some say exclusive psalmody is the right and proper way of
praising God. That should be the content of
our praises. I don't want to enter into any
great detail, I just make one simple observation here. If the book of Psalms is to be
our only book of praises then surely if we're going to be consistent
we would have to say that the book of Psalms is our only book
of prayers because so many of the Psalms are prayers. Psalm 86 for example, a prayer
of David. the familiar Psalm 90 a prayer
of Moses the man of God. Some say well God has given us
a book of praises and we should use God's book of praises well
God has given us a book of prayers should we not just use God's
prayer book as well as God's praise book but then also we
see that When Paul is making reference here to Psalms and
hymns and songs, there are other songs of praise in the New Testament
Scriptures. There is no disputing the fact.
If we turn to the opening chapters of Luke's Gospel, what do we
find there in Luke 1 verse 46 following? We have the Magnificat. And that is Mary's great song
of praise to God. And then again at the end of
that first chapter of Luke, at verse 68 following, we have what
is called the Benedictus, the song of Zacharias, when his tongue
is on loose. and coming into the 2nd chapter
there in Luke 2.29 following we have Simeon and what is called
the non dimittis these are all spiritual Psalms these are all
spiritual Psalms if we are permitted to compose our own prayers as
we come to God and express our great need before him and give
thanks for his goodness to us. If we can compose our own prayers
so we can also I believe compose our own prizes. We wouldn't say
exclusive psalmody, but inclusive psalmody. It's right to sing
the psalms, but also we can sing hymns and our spiritual songs,
the content then of our worship. All is to be that we can relate
back to what God himself has commanded us. God in his word
is the one who governs us in the matter and in the manner
of our worship. But then, in the third place,
to whom is it that we are to sing these praises? Who is the
object? Who is the object of our worship? Well, the answer is really so
obvious. It is the Lord God Himself. And we see that at the end of
the text. 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. All our worship is addressed
to the Lord God Himself. He is the one who is to be worshipped. Remember what the angel says
to John at the end of the book of the Revelation. He says there,
Worship God. In that last chapter, Revelation
22 verse 8, I, John, saw these things and heard them.
And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before
the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith he
unto me, See thou do it not? For I am thy fellow servant,
and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings
of the book, worship God. All we are to worship God. And
we are to worship God only. And we are to worship God in
three persons. We are to worship God in all
the glorious fullness of His triune being. He is Father, He
is Son and He is Holy Spirit. Our worship is to be Trinitarian
and we see it in a wonderful fashion in that portion in Ephesians
chapter 5. Look at what it actually says
there. Verse 18 of Ephesians 5. 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, giving
thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ submitting yourselves one to
another in the fear of God. Here we have the Spirit be filled
with the Spirit. Here we have that that is addressed
unto God the Father giving thanks always for all sins unto the
Father and it's all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? By Him, by Christ, we have access
through one Spirit unto the Father. All our worship, our prayers,
our praises in that sense is Trinitarian. We address ourselves
to our Father and we come by and through Him who is the only
mediator and how we feel to need constantly that gracious ministry,
those quickenings that come by the Holy Spirit. All we are to
worship the great triune Jehovah. All true Christians, this may
boast a truth from nature, never learn that Father, Son and Holy
Ghost to save our souls we're all concerned. All we praise
Him who is our Savior God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And it's interesting to observe
when we go back into the Old Testament, think of the of the
Ten Commandments. There in Exodus chapter 20, again
in Deuteronomy chapter 5 and we normally say that there are
two tables to the Lord, the first Four commandments concern principally
our duties towards God and the final six speak of our duty to
our fellow men. But that first table, what do
we see? Well, it instructs us with regards
to our worship. First of all, again, there in
the first commandment we have the object. What is the first
commandment? Thou shalt have no other gods
before me. God's only is the object of worship
and this is where we fundamentally disagree with the Romish Church
of course because it venerates Mary and the saints and offers
a form of worship to these and we say no worship God only no
other gods before me God is the object. But then also the second
commandment speaks of the manner of our worship. Thou shalt not
make unto thee any graven images. Our worship is to be simple.
We're not to make any likeness. We're not to bow down to any
images. And then in the third commandment
we're reminded of God's name, Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain and now that comes very close with
regards to the manner of our worship when we come to worship
we're calling upon the name of God Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain doesn't just have to do with blasphemies
or it governs our worship, how we are to be careful how we address
God God is in heaven, we are upon the earth, why our word
should be few? How careful we must be, how we
must reverence that name. Even when we come to pray, and
the Lord in his patterned prayer reminds us. We are to say, Our
Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Oh that name is
so holy. The name of God. The name upon
which we call in our worship. and then the fourth commandment
it speaks of the time of our worship remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy doesn't mean we're not to worship God on other
days why our lives should be an expression of worship but
God has instituted a day in his wisdom he has granted us a day
and we're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together
Oh, we're together to worship this great God. We're to heed
then the instruction, the exhortation of the Apostle. We're to worship
God. With grace in your hearts, it
says, to the Lord. worship is addressed to God and
yet we have to observe this there's also a sense in which when we
come to our praises we're mindful of one another let the word of
Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom it says teaching and
admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. There are those Psalms in the
Old Testament which are didactic in other words are teaching Psalms Psalm 42 in the title we read
it's a masculine and the margin tells us that means it's a psalm
giving instruction it's a psalm giving instruction there's teaching
in it And so, when we sing these praises,
we're instructing one another. We're exhorting one another.
Look at the language in Psalm 34, verse 11, Come ye children,
hearken unto me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Or
we're teaching one another the fear of God. why that fear of
God is the beginning of wisdom let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom if we would be wise all we must
be those who do fear God that fear your fear not that not that
dread not that fear that genders bondage but that true fear of
God should be in our hearts and we should encourage one another
this is why things are to be done decently and in order come
ye children hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of the Lord
this is what we desire to encourage others in this fear of God this
reverence for the name of God again Psalm 66 and verse 16 come
and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath
done for my soul all we We worship God in experimental
hymns as well. We speak of what God has done
in our souls, for our souls. Why we sang it just now, did
we not? In our second hymn, that lovely
hymn of hearts, that familiar hymn, probably the most familiar
of all these hymns. Here we are addressing one another, we're
worshipping God, yes, but we're encouraging one another, exhorting
one another. Calm your sinners. Poor and wretched,
weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus ready stands to save you. Full of pity, joined with power,
He is able, He is willing. Don't know more. Isn't this what
our text is speaking of? Teaching and admonishing one
another in Psalms. and hymns and spiritual songs. Yes, God is the proper, the only
object of our worship. Our praises are addressed to
God and yet in our praises we want to be those who are seeking
to exhort and to encourage and to admonish one another. And then, finally this morning,
the manner of our praise. Why? What is it? It is a spiritual
sacrifice that we seek to present unto God. It's a spiritual sacrifice. 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. Oh, that's a vital thing. Grace
in your hearts. True praise is not a performance
by trained voices. True praise is not a performance
by beautiful voices in a choir. But true worship is from the
heart. It is a spiritual sacrifice.
And it is that that is rendered by those who have that grace
of God in their hearts. We cannot worship God without
the grace of God. In Ephesians 5 it says, making
malady in your heart to the Lord. It's heart malady. It's spiritual
in its very nature. In fact such worship is really
a spiritual sacrifice. not the sacrifice of lambs and
of calves we have that in the Old Testament that Old Testament
worship was very different to the worship of the New Testament
in the New Testament we have the simplicity that is in Christ
there in the Old Testament we have a worship that is more sensual
it appeals to the senses there is all that we read of concerning
the tabernacle, the furnishings, the garments of the High Priest.
There's much that appeals to the senses there. It's a glorious
display, but the worship of the New Testament is essentially
spiritual, not only in its true nature, but also in
its form. There's that simplicity. It's
spiritual sacrifice. not bringing lambs and calves
as I said but what is it? it's the calves of the lips the
calves of the lips Hosea 14.2 take with you words and turn
to the Lord and say take away all iniquity and receive us graciously
and we will render the calves of our lips oh what is that? it's the fruit of our lips the
fruit of our lips. Hebrews 13, by Him therefore
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that
is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. It's spiritual. It's a spiritual
sacrifice. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, God will not despise or
God grant that we might be those who desire to bring such worship
broken hearts hearts grieving over our many sins coming with
that spirit of true penitence those words the sacrifices of
God are a broken spirit the broken and the contrite heart that will
not despise are found of course in Psalm 51 David's great penitential
son, broken because of his sins. Or do we come as those who feel
that we are sinners yet? Come you sinners, poor and needy. This is how we come and we offer
to God a sacrifice, a prize, because we not only have cause
to grieve over our sins, we have reason also to rejoice. in that
great salvation that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. O God, grant
then that we might worship even as we sang just now there in
our opening praise this morning, that lovely hymn of Beritch,
where he contrasts the formalists with solemn weekly state, the
world entreads thy court, content to see thy gate, and such as
there is aught that are, What is the house to me except the
master I can see? And then that spiritual sacrifice
that he speaks of in the last verse. For thee my soul would
cry and tender laboring groan. For thee my heart would sigh
and make a pensive moan. And each for thee would daily
pine and would be always only thine. Oh the Lord, bless to
us his word. Amen.