Aren't with me, if you would,
to Colossians chapter three. Colossians chapter three. This morning, I read verse 16
along with verse 17, but we only looked at verse 17. I wanted
to look at verse 16 tonight. This is a very lovely verse of
scripture. Such a precious verse of scripture. This is so happy to me. It's
so encouraging. I hope it'll be very happy and
encouraging to all of us. Every time I think on this verse
or we look at it together, this does my heart good. It does my
soul good. Verse 16, it says, 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. Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly. Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly. In all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another, exhorting one another, in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. I love
singing. I love music. I always have. I've always, for whatever reason,
been drawn to it. I just love music. I love singing. I love knowing that our Lord
loves singing. I love knowing that. I love knowing
that he loves music. Look with me, if you would, at
Matthew 26. Matthew 26, verse 26. Think about this, okay? As we
read this, think about this. Matthew 26, verse 26. As they
were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and
gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. This represents my body. And
he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink
ye all of it. For this is my blood of the New
Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when
I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. Now watch verse
30. It says, and when they had sung in him, they went out into
the Mount of Olives. When they had sung in him after
the Lord's table, Here is the Lord and His disciples. See if
you can just vision this scene, okay? The Lord and His disciples,
they partook of His table and this handful of men sung a hymn together. It's just holy. Could you imagine standing in
an intimate circle with the Lord Jesus Christ, singing a hymn
with Him. Could you imagine that? Wouldn't
you have loved to have been in that company in that moment?
Wouldn't you have loved to have heard the voice of the Lord singing? You know, they said, no man spake
like this man. I'm sure it could be said no
man sang like this man. After the Lord ascended, I wonder how often the disciples
thought back on that moment, being with him, hearing his voice. After he ascended, how often
do you think in their private time, in their mind, in their
heart, how often do you think they thought about what it was
like to be with him and to hear his voice? I'm sure every time they observed
His table, they remembered Him. They did it in remembrance of
Him, but they remembered Him. They remembered being there,
singing praises to God with Him. Our Lord sang. Our Lord sings. If He sang then, He sings now. He doesn't change. Our Lord was
the creator of singing. He was the creator of all music.
He's the one who created the heart for it. He's the one who
created the voice for it. Singing is of God. Everything
that is of God sings. Everything. The song Marching
to Zion says, let those refuse to sing who never knew our God. Singing is of God and everything
that's of God sings. Everything. Let me show you a
little bit of that. Go with me to First Chronicles
chapter 16. First Chronicles 16. First Chronicle 16, verse nine,
it says, sing unto him, sing psalms unto
him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. Sing unto him, sing unto
the Lord. Who is He telling to sing unto
the Lord? Who is He saying that to? Look
at verse 23. Saying unto the Lord, all the
earth show forth from day to day His salvation. All the earth. What does He mean, all the earth?
Look at verse 31. Let the heavens be glad And let
the earth rejoice, and let men say among the nations, the Lord
reigneth. Let the sea roar, and the fullness
thereof. Let the fields rejoice, and all
that is therein. Then shall the trees of the wood
sing out at the presence of the Lord, because he cometh to judge
the earth. He means all the earth. All the
earth, everything that is of God, let it sing. Everything. Turn with me over to Isaiah 44. Isaiah 44 verse 23 says, Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord
hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, ye
mountains, O forest, and every tree therein. For the Lord hath
redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel. He said, everything
sing because the Lord has redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in
Israel. Everything that God has created
sings, everything. Everything that God has done
sings because of everything that God has done. Sings. His glorious works cause singing. He redeemed Jacob. That's reason
for singing. He glorified Himself. That's
reason for singing. Let everything that has breath
and everything that doesn't have breath, let it start singing. Look at Isaiah 49. Isaiah 49,
verse 13. Sing, O heavens, and be joyful,
O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains, for the
Lord hath comforted his people and will have mercy upon his
afflicted. What a reason to start singing.
I love, you know, we said, who is he telling this to? He's telling
this to all the earth. That's what I want to get a hold
of. He's telling this to all the
earth. Talking to mountains. He's talking to trees. He's talking
to everything in this earth. Sing. Why? Because the Lord has
comforted his people. The Lord has redeemed his people.
We sing on this earth right now because of the goodness and the
mercy of God toward his people. That's why we sing. Why do we
sing in a worship service? It's because of the goodness
and mercy of God toward his people. This singing because of his goodness
and mercy is never gonna stop. It is never gonna stop. Now I
love this, go to Isaiah 55. We were just there this morning. Isaiah 55, I just don't get tired
of seeing this. when the Lord comes back to gather
all of His saints to Himself, and we all, all of God's chosen
people, we all rise to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall
we ever be with the Lord. Okay, He's gonna come back to
get His people. As we are going up, this is what's
gonna happen. Isaiah 55, verse 12. It says, for you shall go out
with joy. It's going to be a very joyful
moment. When the Lord comes back and all eyes see Him and He calls
His saints up, you shall go out with joy and be led forth with
peace. It's going to be a very peaceful
moment. It's going to be a peace-filled
moment. And it goes on to say, the mountains
and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and
all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. And then as
God's people go on up to be with Him, forever in glory with Him,
verse 13 says, instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree,
and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and
it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that
shall not be cut off." When the Lord comes back to gather all
of his people and they rise to be with him, creation is going
to start singing. it's gonna start singing. The
creation right now is groaning, waiting for the redemption of
God's people. And the moment that that final
redemption comes, creation is gonna start singing. The mountains
and the hills are gonna break forth before you into singing.
I don't know what it's gonna sound like, but it'll be beautiful.
And all the trees of the field are just gonna start clapping
their hands. Clapping their hands, applauding the glorious victory
of Christ in the redemption of His people. And once all of God's
saints are there with Him in glory, the singing is never going
to end. Once we're there, it's never
going to end. Go with me to Isaiah 26. Isaiah 26 verse 1 says, In that day shall this song be sung in the
land of Judah. We have a strong city. This is the song we're going
to sing. We have a strong city. Salvation will God appoint for
walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates that the righteous
nation, which keepeth the truth, may enter in. Thou wilt keep
him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he
trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. That's gonna be our
song. We're going to sing that all the days of our life in the
house of the Lord. We're going to sing. And we're
not going to sing acapella. That means voices only. We're
going to be playing instruments too. Look at Isaiah 38. Isaiah 38, verse 20. It says, the Lord was ready to
save me. Therefore, we will sing my songs
to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house
of the Lord. It is a good thing to sing. It's a good thing to sing. Singing
is of the Lord. And we're going to enjoy doing
it forever. Forever. We can enjoy doing it right now.
Go with me back to Colossians chapter 3. Colossians 3 verse 16, it says, 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, who are we singing to? We're
singing to the Lord. What are we singing to the Lord? Verse 16 says, we are singing
the Word of Christ. Let the Word of Christ dwell
in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. What is the
Word of Christ? Here's the Word of Christ. Grace. Grace is the Word of Christ,
the grace of God. Grace be to you. Verse 16 says,
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. What is grace? What is grace? Grace is the opposite
of works. That's what grace is. It's the
opposite of working for it. Not working for it is grace. What are we richly admonishing
one another in through psalms and hymns and spiritual songs?
What are we richly admonishing each other in? The free grace
of God, the free grace of God to us in the gift of our Lord
and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Not have I gotten, but what I
received. Grace hath bestowed it, and I
have believed. Boasting excluded, pride I base,
I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. Years I spent, and I'm speaking
from experience, I'm being honest, I'm telling you my story here.
Years I spent in vanity and pride. Caring not, my Lord was crucified. Knowing not, it was for me He
died on Calvary. Mercy there was great. Grace
was free. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse
within. Grace, grace, God's grace. Thank God grace was greater than
all my sin. Oh, the love that sought me.
Oh, the blood that bought me. Oh, the grace that brought me
to the fold. Wondrous grace that brought me
to the fold. Children of God, oh, glorious
calling. Surely His grace will keep you
from falling. Passing from death to life at
His call. blessed salvation once for all. Oh, what wonderful grace of Jesus,
greater than all my sin. How shall my tongue describe
it? Where shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free for the wonderful
grace of the Lord Jesus reaches even me. Now that's the word
of our Lord. That is the word of our Lord.
This is what he said. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. That's grace. He said, you have
not chosen me, but I have chosen you. That's grace. That's good news. He said, I
have redeemed you. You're mine. It's grace. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. I will never let you go. That's
grace. That's grace. Lord, what is all
this going to cost me for you to do all this for me? What's
all this going to cost me? He said, I've already paid it
all. All the debt you owed. Your sin had left a crimson stain,
but I washed it white as snow, freely. That's grace. That's grace. Romans 3 says,
this is verses 23 and 24, it says, all of God's chosen people
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Isn't it amazing that those two
verses are back to back? Think about that. Isn't it so
wonderful that those two verses are back to back? All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by
His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. We quote
the one, we quote the two. How glorious is it to quote them
together? There's no hope outside of Christ. Christ did it all. Such immediate comfort, such
immediate joy, immediate peace, just like the end of John 13
going into John 14. I never forget the first time
a pastor pointed out to me that whenever John was pinning that. He didn't put chapter divisions
in his writing. He was writing one letter and
the last verse of chapter 13 goes right with the first verse
of chapter 14. And this is what it says. The
Lord said to Peter, verily, verily, I say unto you, Peter, before
the rooster crows in the morning, you're going to deny me three
times. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God? Believe in me. Why, Lord? Because of my grace. It's all
grace. It's all grace. He said, In my
father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Thank God for grace. The message is a message of grace. We don't tame it by adding any
works to the end of it. It's grace, grace, grace, grace. Period. Done. Sit down. Shut up. Grace. That's what it is. Grace. Thank
God for grace. Thank God for the loving kindness
and tender mercy of God's grace. It is something worth singing
about. Honestly, if a sinner ever gets a hold of God's grace,
he'll start singing. I woke up early the other morning.
And, uh, it was the middle of the night and it was dark outside. And every time I wake up, I wonder
what time is it? Is it time to get up yet? You
know, I look at my clock, no, three 37 in the morning or something
like that. But anyway, I woke up, it was
dark and, um, I went back to sleep. It was just silent and
went back to sleep. The next time I woke up, I was
in the same condition. What time is it? Is it time to
get up? But I could tell that there was
a little light in the windows. And the second time, the birds
were singing. First time, there was no singing.
In that darkness, there was no singing. But when I woke up and
the sun was rising with healing in its wings, all the birds started
singing. And I thought, what an example,
what an illustration. I said, amen, birds, preach,
sing to the glory of Christ our righteousness, Christ our son.
Colossians 3 verse 16 says, 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 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. And we do, don't we? We do. How
we thank God for His grace. It's all to the praise of the
glory of His grace. All right. Come, brothers.