Luke 24, beginning in verse number 36, the Bible reads,
And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them,
and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet.
And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them,
Have ye here any meat?
And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honeycomb, and he took it,
and it eat before them.
And this is the verse that I want to focus on, verse number 44.
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you,
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled,
which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms concerning me.
Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.
The title of the sermon this morning is The Book of Psalms.
The Book of Psalms.
Now, in this scripture, Jesus Christ expounds things about himself,
prophecies that were pointing forward to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And he used the Book of Psalms as one of the sources of showing them that great truth.
Now, the Book of Psalms is one of the most interesting books of the Bible for a lot of reasons.
First of all, it's the longest book in the Bible.
Second of all, if you let your Bible fall open just right in the middle,
you'll be in the Book of Psalms.
Thirdly, it's considered the most important book of the Old Testament.
That's why when you buy a New Testament, sometimes it'll be the New Testament and Psalms.
If they include one book from the Old Testament, that's the book that they're going to include.
Normally enough, you would flip over to John chapter 10.
John chapter number 10.
The Book of Psalms is a song book.
It is actually intended originally to be sung.
And what's interesting about the Book of Psalms is the breadth of subject matter that it covers.
Pretty much every type of scripture you can imagine is found in the Book of Psalms.
You'll find the Gospel in the Book of Psalms.
The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ being foretold.
You'll find scriptures on salvation, scriptures on heaven and hell,
scriptures on end times prophecy.
You'll find a lot of prayers and teachings on prayer,
teachings on Bible reading, Bible memorization,
teachings on the family, marriage, children, war, peace, blessings, cursings.
I mean, the Book of Psalms contains the most variety of any book in the Bible.
It covers a whole breadth of subject matter.
It tells Old Testament Bible stories about Moses and the children of Israel.
It contains so much interesting variety.
And that's interesting when you think about the fact that it's intended to be sung.
That shows that God's people should sing music that covers a variety of subject matter
and actually teaches a lot of doctrine and teaches a lot of important truths.
There's nothing shallow about the Book of Psalms.
This shows that God intended music to be sung
that had a depth of subject matter and a variety of subject matter.
You see, if people sang the Psalms, they would actually have a lot more correct doctrine
because of the fact that some of the error that we see today doctrinally in the world
that we live in amongst Christians in America in 2017,
there are many Psalms that would defeat those false doctrines.
You know, people freak out when you preach a negative sermon
and they call you a hate preacher or a hate group.
But if they read the Book of Psalms, they would never say something like that.
Because there are so many Psalms that cover righteous hatred and righteous anger.
Today, Christianity sings a lot of feel-good songs,
but they've left out all of the negative subject matter
out of the hymns and worship songs that are commonly sung.
But if we patterned our music after the Book of Psalms,
there would be positive and negative.
There would be a whole breadth of subject matter, not just sweetness and light.
This is interesting.
In John chapter 10, Jesus said in verse 34,
Jesus answered them,
Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
Now, I preached a whole sermon where I covered this in great detail
when I preached on there is only one God a few weeks ago on Sunday night.
But the thing I want to point out is that Jesus refers to the Book of Psalms here as the law,
because this is a quote from Psalm 82 and he says,
It's written in your law.
So God called the Book of Psalms, the law of God.
Jesus said, go over to Acts chapter 13.
Go to Acts chapter 13.
While you're turning there, I'll read for you from Ephesians chapter 5.
In the New Testament, in one of Paul's epistles to the Ephesians, he says,
Chapter 5 verse 19,
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
The Bible said,
Be not drunk with wine were in his 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.
So the Bible there describes three types of music.
He says that we should sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
in order to have a well-rounded worship of the Lord through song.
Colossians chapter 3 verse 16.
You don't have to turn there, but 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.
You see, if we would sing the psalms,
the word of Christ will dwell in us richly with all wisdom.
Why?
Because when you sing songs or psalms, those words really stick with you.
They really dwell in you richly, and they'll give you a lot of wisdom
because singing is one of the best ways to memorize anything.
All of us have memorized all kinds of garbage through music.
I mean, I could sing so many advertisements.
I mean, if I walked through the grocery store and just looked at the shelves,
I could pretty much sing all the different jingles as I walk.
You know, I'm walking down the grocery store,
Bring out the best foods and bring out the best, you know,
and I could sing all the different, you know,
good things from the garden, garden in the valley,
valley of the jolly green giant, you know,
and we could all just go on and on and on
and sing all the different advertisements and things,
and that's why advertising uses that,
because they know that gets stuck in your mind.
You'll remember that 20 years later, 30 years later.
Not to mention all the worldly songs that we heard as kids, teenagers,
and that we hear when we go to the store, when we're pumping gas,
when we're at the grocery store,
and we're constantly being programmed to buy certain products,
and we're constantly being programmed to believe in a certain ideology
and a certain way of thinking, and that way of thinking, that ideology,
it's not of the father, it's of the world.
So we're constantly being bombarded with the world's philosophy.
Now, I'm not suggesting that we go live in a cave somewhere
or on a plantation somewhere and never go to the grocery store
and never go to the gas station,
but what I am saying is, you know, we need to cut through all that garbage,
we need to renew our mind by getting some godly singing
and godly music into our hearts so that the word of Christ
can dwell in us richly in all wisdom, so we can be filled with the Spirit,
and so we can renew our mind and think the way God thinks,
so we can have the mind of Christ, not a mind that's conformed to this world.
Let's get our mind transformed through God's Word,
and part of that is through singing God's Word.
Now, a lot of the hymns that we have in our hymnal, Thank God,
are based on God's Word, or they quote even segments of God's Word.
A great example is the song, I Know Whom I Have Believed.
But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed, him against that day.
Now, I remember when I was memorizing the books of 1 and 2 Timothy,
I came to that verse, and that was a low-hanging fruit.
It was like, check, that verse is done, because that's an exact quote from Scripture.
I didn't even have to memorize that verse.
I just, I got to that verse, and I was like, I already know this,
but I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he's able to keep that
which I've committed unto him against that day.
Boom, next verse.
I never set out to memorize that verse of Scripture.
Why do I have it memorized?
Because I've sung that hymn since I was a little child,
and it got ingrained in my mind.
And so, singing the hymns can also ingrain a lot of good doctrine.
It can also ingrain a lot of bad doctrine if you're singing bad hymns.
This is why, when I find that hymns are doctrinally incorrect, I'll skip those hymns.
We don't sing those hymns.
You know, for example, I don't like the song Victory in Jesus.
You say, well, that's a really catchy song.
Yeah, it's a great, catchy song.
I grew up singing it.
But when it talks about salvation, and says, then I repented of my sin and won the victory,
I don't want to sing that, because I believed in Jesus Christ.
This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth it that Jesus is the Son of God?
It doesn't say, this is the victory that overcometh the world, us turning from sin.
Wrong.
The victory that overcomes the world is faith in Christ.
That's why I love the song Faith is the Victory.
See, that's a great song.
Faith, sing it out with me.
Faith is the victory.
Oh, glorious victory that overcomes the world.
Now that is scripture based, because he said, this is the victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth it that Jesus is the Son of God?
So a lot of the hymns, even though they're not Psalms, they're still hymns and spiritual songs,
and they do paraphrase scripture, or even quote scripture, or give us doctrinal truths
that are found in scripture.
Now, not every hymn in the hymnal is doctrinally correct,
which is why we make a point to choose songs that are doctrinally correct,
so we can fill our minds with good doctrine and good scriptural truths and concepts.
Also, singing the Psalms themselves is a great way to memorize God's Word.
I've set several Psalms to music.
Other people in the past have set Psalms to music,
and by singing those, you memorize scripture without even trying.
I mean, that song that we just sang, Psalm 67,
I've never set out to memorize that song, but I haven't memorized now from singing that song.
And so it's a great way to get God's Word in you,
and to let it really dwell in you richly with all wisdom.
The Bible teaches this in many different places.
Look at Acts chapter 13, where I had you turn.
It says in Acts 13, 33,
God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, and that he hath raised up Jesus again,
as it is also written in the second Psalm,
Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee,
and as concerning that he raised him up from the dead,
now no more to return to corruption.
He said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David,
wherefore he saith also in another Psalm,
Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
You see, the book of Psalms, go to Acts chapter 1,
is the book that Jesus and the apostles quote again and again and again.
They're constantly quoting it.
And I wonder if part of that could be, just because it's on their mind,
maybe they knew it better than the rest of the Bible.
Now obviously I know that Jesus Christ was the scripture, and he knew everything,
but in a human sense, he grew up and he learned the Word of God,
because the Bible does say that he grew in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God.
Obviously when Jesus was born as a baby, he wasn't born talking in complete sentences
as a newborn baby, as the Quran teaches.
The Quran does teach that weirdly enough.
But anyway, you know, Jesus, he was human.
He was God in the flesh, but he grew up and he learned things and so forth.
And then obviously the apostles were definitely human.
And so the apostles, they sometimes lacked knowledge of the scripture,
because there were times when Jesus rebuked them for not knowing the scripture well enough,
and even times where the Bible says, well, they knew not yet the scripture that said,
and it would talk about scripture that the apostles lacked knowledge in.
But one thing that they're constantly quoting is the book of Psalms.
I think it's probably because God's people at that time probably knew the book of Psalms
almost better than they knew any other book.
And even if the apostles knew all the other books as well as they knew the book of Psalms,
maybe they liked quoting Psalms a lot, or God led them to quote Psalms a lot,
because they knew that's what the people that they were talking to would know.
You know, they know, hey, the people that we're preaching to are going to know the book of Psalms.
If I quote an obscure scripture from Jeremiah or Deuteronomy, they may not know it.
But man, if I quote Psalms, they're going to be very likely to know it.
Why?
Because they've been singing it.
Because it's in the music.
So that's how they could know it so well.
Here he quotes a second Psalm, another Psalm.
Look at Acts chapter 1.
This is another place where the book of Psalms is quoted.
If we showed all the places that the New Testament quotes the book of Psalms,
it would take more than one sermon to even cover that.
So I'm just showing a few samples.
It says in verse 20,
For it is written in the book of Psalms,
Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein,
and his bishopric let another take.
And right here in this scripture, we actually see one of the curses
from the book of Psalms.
And it's being quoted here as God's word.
In fact, throughout the Gospels, the book of Acts, the epistles,
this is the wording that you'll often see.
Well spake the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David saying.
Or the Holy Ghost spake, and then it quotes the book of Psalms.
Why?
Because the book of Psalms is inspired by God.
It's the word of God.
It is just as much the word of God as any other book in the Bible.
It's just as much the word of God as the red letters in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
It all came out of the mouth of God.
All scriptures give my inspiration of God.
And not only that, it's just as much the law of God as Genesis through Deuteronomy.
Jesus said it's written in your law.
And he quoted Psalms.
Let's go back to the book of Psalms and look at some highlights here.
Go back to the book of Psalms.
The Bible also tells us in James chapter 5 verse 13.
Is any among you afflicted?
Let him pray.
Is any merry?
What does merry mean?
You're in a good mood, happy.
Is any merry?
Let him sing Psalms.
So the Bible says if you're merry, if you're joyful, if you're in a happy mood, sing Psalms.
If you're in a bad mood, if you're sad and down, he said pray.
If you're merry, sing Psalms.
Speak to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
This is a life-changing truth that I'm preaching this morning.
Because music is a part of all of our lives whether we know it or not.
Whether we like it or not.
Whether we want it to or not.
And if we can get God's Word into our minds and into our hearts through music.
And if we can sing hymns that glorify God throughout the day.
Not just on Sunday, not just on Wednesday, but I'm talking Monday, Tuesday, Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, this will cause us to have the fullness of the Spirit in our lives.
This will help us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
But of course we have to be careful what music we're singing.
I'm not saying to tune into the local Christian station
and just get all that music into your head because you know what?
A lot of that music on the Christian station, you know what it sounds like to me?
It sounds like some guy singing to his girlfriend or something.
And then they just switch it out for Jesus.
It's a lot of touchy feely, lovey dovey, sloppy agape.
It has nothing to do with the book of Psalms.
It's not the type of stuff that you'll read in the book of Psalms.
It's being put out by a lot of Charismatics or Charismaniacs we should say.
It's being put out by a lot of the Christian contemporary effeminate styled musicians of
this world who, you know, drink a beer on Friday, snort cocaine on Saturday,
and then sing in church on Sunday.
Look up the Christian music industry.
Look up the CCM.
Look up the bands.
Look up the Christian rock and the Christian rap.
You'll find that these people, they don't even believe in the Gospel.
They don't even believe in the Bible.
Years later, once they've made all the money, they come out as atheists often.
And they talk about being addicted to heroin, snorting cocaine, and committing adultery
while doing their Christian rock concerts for the love of money,
for the fame, for the glory of themselves, not for the glory of the Lord.
So we need to be careful that the music that we take in,
especially when it comes to spiritual songs, is of the right spirit,
that we make sure that it's not coming from the Charismatic movement,
that it's not coming from or patterned after the world,
but that it would be godly spiritual music that conforms to the Word of God,
the King James Bible.
But let's look at the book of Psalms because I want to show you this morning
just the great variety of subject matter in the book of Psalms.
It's such a well-rounded book because God wanted his people to have a well-rounded music
and a well-rounded understanding of him and his word.
So pretty much every type of spiritual literature,
every type of biblical literature is found in Psalms.
It's sort of like a microcosm of the entire Bible.
Look at chapter 1, for example.
Psalm 1.
Let's just go to the very beginning,
and we'll just look at some samples here to understand what the book of Psalms is like.
And again, if you want to find Psalms, it's really easy.
Usually, if you just let your Bible fall open to the dead sinner, you'll be in Psalms.
Look at Psalm 1.
It says in verse 1,
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,
but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Now, when I read those three verses, I would liken this under the book of Proverbs.
This reminds me a lot of the book of Proverbs,
giving you practical wisdom on how to live your life,
who's going to be blessed, who's not going to be blessed, and so forth.
Also notice how there's a balance between the positive and the negative.
So we start out with a very positive and uplifting portion of scripture,
but look at verse 4.
The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous,
for the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
So notice, we don't have a positive only thing going on here.
We don't just have a sweetness and light touchy feely.
No, we're talking about people perishing.
We're talking about people that don't belong in the congregation of the righteous.
We're talking about not walking in the council of the ungodly,
not standing in the way of sinners, not sitting in the seat of the squirm.
We're talking about people perishing, not just people who have everlasting life.
There's a great balance in the book of Psalms.
This is another Psalm that when I went to memorize this Psalm,
it was a piece of cake because I'd already heard it set to music my entire life.
There's a tune for this that a lot of people might know that goes back to before I was born.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly.
Who's heard that one?
Anybody?
A couple people, a few people.
So again, this scripture has been ingrained in my mind from that song since I was a child.
Now look at Psalm 2.
So Psalm 1 was sort of akin to the book of Proverbs in that it gave practical wisdom for daily life.
Psalm 2 is a great scripture on end times Bible prophecy among other things.
Look at chapter 2 verse 1.
Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord
and against his anointed saying,
let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the heaven shall laugh.
The Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure.
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
I will declare the decree the Lord had set unto me.
Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shall break them with a rod of iron.
Thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Be wise now therefore, oh ye kings.
Be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way
when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
Yeah, that's a little deeper than our God's an awesome God, isn't it?
That's a little deeper than Lord, I lift your name on high.
That right there has some pretty intense and pretty deep biblical doctrine there.
There are some things here foreshadowing the first coming of Jesus Christ
when it talks about the rulers taking counsel together.
This is a foreshadowing of King Herod and Pontius Pilate
taking counsel together against Christ.
But not only that, the main application is talking about the second coming of Christ
when all of the rulers of the world will join together
into a one world government, into a new world order
and God's going to laugh at that, he's going to destroy that,
he's going to pour out his wrath upon that
and it talks about him ruling the nations with a rod of iron,
breaking them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
This is quoted in Revelation chapter 2 and elsewhere
to talk about the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is a great scripture on end times Bible prophecy.
Many sermons that I've done on the tribulation and on God's wrath,
I've turned back to this scripture and compared it with the New Testament
and pulled out those truths.
So, so far we've seen that which is akin to the book of Proverbs.
So far we've seen Bible prophecy,
prophecies of the first and second coming of Jesus Christ.
Look at Psalm 3.
Lord, how are they increase that trouble me?
Many are they that rise up against me.
Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in God.
Selah, but thou, O Lord, art a shield for me,
my glory in the lifter up of mine head.
Now, this Psalm is very similar to a lot of other songs
in the sense that it is David praying unto the Lord for help.
And that's how a lot of the Psalms are.
They're actually prayers where someone is praying unto the Lord for forgiveness
or for deliverance or for help and talking about the fact
that they have a lot of enemies that have risen up against them
and they want the Lord to protect them and deliver them.
It says in verse 4, I cried unto the Lord with my voice.
And he heard me out of his Holy Hill.
Selah, I laid me down and slept.
I awake for the Lord sustained me.
I will not be afraid of 10 thousands of people
that have set themselves against me round about.
Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God,
for thou has smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone.
Thou has broken the teeth of the ungodly.
I never heard any lyrics like that on the Christian station.
I never heard that on K love or whatever it's called.
I didn't hear about breaking the teeth of the ungodly.
And this is why Christians have an imbalanced view of the Lord
and of his word because it's all sweetness and light.
And look, I'm all for sweetness and light.
I'm all for that which is uplifting and positive and encouraging and loving.
But wait a minute, let's get some balance in our lives.
Let's get some balance in our understanding of who God is.
Yes, God is love, but holy is the Lord.
Right, we need to get both sides of the equation there.
So that's a great sampling of what that's like
when it comes to prayers of David and prayers of others in the Bible.
So we've seen, first of all, Bible prophecy.
We've seen proverbs, we've seen prayers.
What about the gospel, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ?
It's alluded to in Psalms.
It's prophesied in Psalms.
Go to chapter 22.
This is one of the most famous Psalms, Psalm 22.
Psalm 22, we'll just look at a few verses for sake of time.
But the Bible says in Psalm 22 verse one,
my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
Does that sound familiar?
That's what Jesus cried out on the cross.
Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring?
Jump down to verse six.
But I am a worm and no man,
a reproach of man and despised of the people.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn.
They shoot out the lip.
They shake the head saying he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him.
Let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him.
And that's exactly what they said about Jesus when he was on the cross.
Look down to verse 16.
And again, well, let's go to verse 14.
It says I'm poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax.
It's melted in the midst of my bowels.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws.
And thou has brought me into the dust of death.
For dogs have compassed me.
The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.
Watch this.
They pierced my hands and my feet.
So there's a lot prophetic here about his bones being out of joint,
about him being thirsty and his tongue cleaving to the roof of his mouth,
pierced his hands and feet.
Verse 17, I may tell all my bones.
They look and stare upon me.
They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my venture.
Very prophetic of Jesus Christ dying for us on the cross.
Go back just a few pages to Psalm 16.
Psalm 16.
And look at a great prophecy of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 16.
It says in verse number 8, I've set the Lord always before me
because he is at my right hand.
I shall not be moved.
Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth.
My flesh also shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.
Neither will thou suffer thine Holy one to see corruption.
And this is quoted in Acts 2 31 when it says this spake he of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left in hell.
Neither did his flesh see corruption.
So there's your death, burial, and resurrection.
Just from glancing at a few Psalms, Psalm 22, Psalm 16, it's all in here.
You know, while you're on that page, look at Psalm 15.
Here's a great teaching that a lot of people would do well to hearken unto in 2017.
The Bible says in verse 5,
He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent,
he that doeth these things shall never be moved.
The Bible says in verse 1,
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
Who gets these wonderful promises of remaining in church, staying in the house of God,
staying in God's tabernacle, staying in his holy hill, never being moved,
not falling away in times of trial and tribulation?
You know, part of it is that you're not one that puts out your money to usury.
See, a lot of people don't even know that that's even a sin.
Usury is charging interest of any amount.
The Bible calls one percent usury in Nehemiah chapter 5.
And so charging usury is sinful.
But how many people don't know that?
Yet if they sang Psalm 15, they would know that really well.
How about verse number 4,
In whose eyes a vile person is contempt,
but he honoreth them that feareth the Lord,
he that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not.
Look at the wonderful truths in this verse.
Look, we should have contempt for those who are vile in the sight of God.
That's what contempt is, the verb of the noun contempt.
He honoreth them that fear the Lord,
he that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not.
Meaning that if we make a promise or a vow or an oath and it causes us harm,
we still stay with that vow because it's right for us to let our yea be yea and our nay to be nay.
And not to break our word, not to make a vow and then go back on it.
And by the way, that includes marriage.
That's a pretty important vow that we make.
You say, well, my marriage has been to my hurt.
Well, swear to your own hurt and change not and you'll receive the blessing of the Lord
and you'll abide in the tabernacle.
That's why it's for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health,
in poverty and in wealth.
Swear to your own hurt.
You know, hopefully your marriage doesn't hurt too much, but if it does change not.
That's what the Bible is teaching.
Wonderful doctrine here.
But I've never heard any of this in a lot of Christian songs that I've heard.
I've grown up in church my whole life.
I've never heard songs against charging interest.
I've never heard songs about not breaking your word that I can think of.
I've never heard songs about having contempt for those who are vile.
I've never heard songs like this.
Because our music today is not as good as God's music.
Now look, I'm not, and let me make this really clear because I have a very strong opinion
about this.
I have strong opinions about a lot of things, but especially about this.
Some things I don't have strong opinions about, believe it or not.
But I will say I'm not one of these people and I'm never going to be one of these people
who gets this doctrine of, oh, the only thing we should ever sing is God's word.
The only thing we should ever sing is the book of Psalms.
No, I think we should sing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Part of that is because the Bible says sing unto the Lord a new song.
You know, I think that God wants to hear expressions of joy and worship and expressions
of preaching and teaching that are coming from our own heart of man.
Okay, see our heart, and I'm not talking about the unregenerate, unsaved heart that's
deceitful above all things.
I'm talking about the new heart that God created in us when we got saved.
The new man, the new Steven Anderson.
You know, God wants to hear expressions of worship and joy and love and teaching and
so forth to come out of the heart of his creation.
So I do believe that we should sing man-made songs of praise to the Lord as well as the
Psalms.
But what I'm saying is that if we write songs, we should use the book of Psalms as a guideline
and this is the standard of the ultimate music that God himself wrote and that God inspired
people to write.
So therefore, when we write music, we should keep this pattern in mind.
That's what I'm saying.
And I love a lot of the hymns in the hymnal because they do pattern themselves after scripture.
They do teach wonderful scriptural truths and a lot of the songs in the hymnal, they
do contain both positive and negative teachings.
They are very balanced.
It's more the CCM and the worldly music that goes way off the mark as far as patterning
itself after Psalms whatsoever.
A lot of great songs in the hymnal.
Unfortunately, some of them have fallen out of popularity, but hopefully we can bring
some of them back that are some of the best songs that there are.
And so we see the gospel, salvation, heaven and hell, end times prophecy, prayers.
Go to Psalm 119, if you would.
Psalm 119, we'll see some great teachings on Bible reading and Bible memorization, admonitions
for us to study God's word, to meditate in God's law day and night are found throughout
the book of Psalms.
Go, if you would, to Psalm 119.
This is the longest chapter in the book of Psalms.
It's interesting because the shortest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 117.
The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119 and the central chapter of the Bible,
meaning that there are 594 chapters before it and 594 chapters after it is Psalm 118.
Isn't that interesting?
So the central chapter of the Bible, the dead center of your Bible from a chapter standpoint
is Psalm 118 and it's bookended by the shortest chapter and the longest chapter.
Psalm 119 contains 176 verses in 22 sections of eight verses each, and they all have to
do with the word of God.
Every verse mentions the word of God in some way, whether it calls it God's law or God's
word or God's testimonies or God's statutes or God's ordinances.
And what's interesting is that the first seven verses of Psalm 119 give you those seven different
words that he's going to use throughout the passage.
But let's just look at a sampling.
We could look at any verses in this whole chapter because they all have to do with the
word of God.
Let's start in verse number 97 just to take one of my favorite portions of this scripture.
Verse number 97, the section that's labeled by the Hebrew letter Mem.
It says in Psalm 119 verse 97,
Oh, how love I thy law.
It is my meditation all the day.
Thou through thy commandments has made me wiser than mine enemies for they are ever
with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the ancients because I keep thy precepts.
I've refrained my foot from every evil way that I might keep thy word.
I've not departed from thy judgments for thou has taught me.
How sweet are thy words unto my taste.
Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth through thy precepts.
I get understanding.
Therefore, I hate every false way.
You know, the scripture talks about meditating on God's word day and night.
The only way to do that is to have it memorized.
You know, unless you're laying in bed with a flashlight and trying to meditate on God's
word.
It's from memory.
It's from memorizing.
That's why the Bible says in the same chapter thy word have I hid in my heart.
That I might not sin against thee.
God's word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
According to Psalm 119.
Go back if you would to Psalm 105.
Not only does the book of Psalms cover proverbs and wisdom for our lives.
Prayers that we can pray in times of trouble.
The gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
Teachings on salvation, teachings on heaven and hell.
End times prophecy, Bible reading, Bible memorization.
But Psalms actually tells us Bible stories as well.
It will actually give us stories.
Psalm 105 is like that.
Look at verse number 7 where the Bible says,
Oh ye seed of Abraham his servant.
Ye children of Jacob is chosen.
He's the Lord our God.
His judgments are in all the earth.
He hath remembered his covenant forever.
The word which he commanded for a thousand generations.
Which covenant he made with Abraham and his oath unto Isaac.
And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law.
And to Israel for an everlasting covenant.
Saying unto thee will I give the land of Canaan the lot of your inheritance.
When they were but a few men in number.
Ye very few and strangers in it.
When they went from one nation to another.
From one kingdom to another people.
He suffered no man to do them wrong.
Ye he reproved kings for their sakes.
Saying touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm.
Moreover he called for a famine upon the land.
He braked the whole staff of bread.
He sent a man before them even Joseph who was sold for a servant.
Whose feet they hurt with fetters.
He was laid in iron until the time that his word came.
The word of the Lord tried him.
The king sinned and loosed him.
Even the ruler of the people and let him go free.
He made him Lord of his house and ruler of all his substance.
And we can go on and on and on and read this story.
What is this?
This is a retelling of the book of Genesis.
It's going through the story of the book of Genesis.
And telling a short version that just gives you the gist.
And a different angle, a retelling.
Go to Psalm 106 and you'll see stories about Moses.
Being in the wilderness with the children of Israel.
It talks about them crossing the Red Sea in verses 7 through 9.
And then it talks about them lusting in the wilderness in verse 14.
They lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert.
And he gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul.
They envied Moses also in the camp and Aaron the saint of the Lord.
The earth opened up and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram.
And a fire was kindled in their company.
The flame burned up the wicked.
They made a calf in Horeb.
Look, it's going through the story of them being in the wilderness.
The rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
Them being swallowed up by the earth.
It talks about all kinds of different aspects of that story and gives us a different angle of that.
It talks about Phinehas slaughtering the fornicator that was bringing God's wrath upon the camp.
And so, I mean, it's really interesting Psalm 106.
Such a variety of subject matter can only be found in the book of Psalms.
Covers everything.
Not only that, it has teachings on the family.
Go to Psalm 127.
It teaches us about the family.
Psalm 127.
The Bible says in verse 1,
Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows.
For so he giveth his beloved sleep.
Lo, children are in heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As harrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.
They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
The Bible here is talking about the blessings of having many children.
Having your quiver full of them.
Children are a blessing from the Lord.
The fruit of the womb is his reward.
Look at the very next Psalm.
Psalm 128.
Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways.
For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands.
Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house.
Thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
So again, the Bible teaches you, hey, it's a blessing if your wife is a fruitful vine.
It's a blessing if you have all these children all around the table like olive plants.
Bunch of children lined up.
Your wife being a fruitful vine.
This scripture does not teach, hey, take a drug that would make your wife become unfruitful.
Alter your physical body so that you will cease to be fruitful with your wife.
That's not what the Bible says.
Psalm 127.
Psalm 128 are great teachings on children and the family.
Teachings on humility in Psalm 131.
There are teachings on warfare where David says that the Lord God is his strength and
he said he teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight.
Bible says that he teaches his hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
But then the Bible also talks about peace in the book of Psalms.
The most famous Psalm of all is what?
Psalm 23, right?
A very peaceful Psalm.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He may get me to lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil for thou art with me.
Those are very peaceful thoughts, right?
And peace is brought up over and over again in Psalms.
But war is also brought up.
So this book has it all.
This book covers everything.
It has great blessings upon those who would serve the Lord and do right by him.
It also has great cursings upon those who would ignore and disregard his word.
Psalms is one of the greatest books in the Bible.
It's one of the most important books in the Bible.
I mean, hands down I would say it's the most important book of the Old Testament.
It's the most key, most quoted, most referred to.
You know, that's why I think it's great that New Testaments will tag that on.
As something that you can carry with you in a smaller format.
That you can have with you all the time.
You know, and have it in your purse and have it in your pocket.
New Testament plus Psalms is a great thing to take with you everywhere you go.
Singing Psalms is great.
Reading the book of Psalms.
Meditating on the book of Psalms.
Memorizing the book of Psalms is a blessing.
Plus, one good thing about the book of Psalms is that many of them are short enough
to where if you only have a little bit of time you could whip out that New Testament
and just get a short teaching from the book of Psalms.
Just a short meditation if you only have a moment.
It's easy to get that into your heart and study that.
All throughout the book of Psalms we have such a variety of teaching.
It has a balanced diet of what we need in the Christian life.
We would do well to spend a lot of time in the book of Psalms.
That's why even a lot of Bible reading programs will even have it set up.
To where you read a little bit of Old Testament every day,
little New Testament, and a little bit of Psalms every single day.
Some people have suggested reading the Proverb of the Day.
Who does that?
Are you a Proverb of the Day person?
Several people.
The Proverb of the Day where you say, okay, today's the 19th.
I'm going to read Proverbs 19.
If it's the 23rd, I'll read Proverbs 23.
And people will sometimes read through the book of Proverbs every month.
The Proverb of the Day.
Sometimes people will even do the same thing with the book of Psalms.
They'll read the Psalm of the Day.
Actually what they'll do to get through it in a month is they'll read five Psalms a day.
Because they'll do 131, 61, 91, and 121.
And read through the Psalm of the Day also.
And get through the book of Psalms on a monthly basis.
This is a key book.
And we need to make this a part of our lives both through reading and also through singing.
And not only just the book of Psalms.
But also the hymns and spiritual songs as well should be a part of our life.
It will help you in your Christian life if you begin to sing songs throughout the week.
And just every chance you get.
And I can honestly say that every single day I sing hymns.
Every day of my life.
Not a day goes by that I don't sing hymns.
And it's not even necessarily because I'm trying to.
It just happens.
Because they, you know, they pop into your head and you start singing them.
And it'll really lift your spirits.
It'll really get you in the right frame of mind.
It really gets you the right attitude when you sing the hymn.
And people, I believe, spend far too much time listening to music.
They should spend less time listening to music and more time singing.
The Bible said speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns.
It didn't just say let someone else speak to you in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
It said speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
And you say, well, I'm a bad singer.
That's because you don't sing.
You see, let me just explain this to you really quickly.
There are people who are born with a really good singing voice.
I'm not one of them.
You're probably not one of them either.
Some people just are born where the equipment in their throat and voice box is just perfect.
And they just have a great natural singing voice.
Most people, that's not the case.
OK.
That's one issue of quality of voice box, OK, that you're born with.
But then there's another issue of just your ability to sing,
which is a skill that is a learned skill.
How well you can sing is 90% your skill and ability,
and 10% the equipment that you were handed by God when you were born.
OK.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
So your ability to sing is 90% skill and 10% natural born ability.
OK.
So people that can sing well, people...
And I'm not talking about some professional singer.
Who cares about that?
I'm not trying to be a professional singer.
I don't want you to be a professional singer.
I don't want my children to be professional singers.
OK.
I'm saying people that can sing well enough, meaning that they can carry a tune
and make a joyful noise unto the Lord and to sing Psalms unto Him.
You know, it's just people who sing more often than people who don't.
People who know how to sing are people who sing a lot,
and especially they sang a lot when they were kids.
Because a lot of this does need to happen when you're young.
OK.
But you can still make up for some of it.
There's still hope for some of you.
But don't worry about the talent.
The talent is almost nothing.
And you know, when people talk about musical talent,
you know what they're really doing?
They're trying to ignore the hard work of other people.
And excuse their own laziness and lack of effort by just saying,
oh, it's just a God-given talent.
Who here thinks our piano player is talented?
I don't.
I think she's just the most amazing, hard-working piano player I've ever seen.
It's not talent.
Yeah, you know why you think it's talent?
Because you're not here every day listening to her play for three or four hours a day.
She plays.
She's down here for hours and hours.
You know, I got here like an hour and a half early for church.
She was already here playing the piano.
I get here on Monday morning.
She's playing the piano.
Tuesday morning, playing the piano.
Wednesday morning, playing the piano.
For hours.
That's why she's so good at piano.
It's easy for somebody who just doesn't want to practice,
doesn't want to put forth any effort,
doesn't want to put forth any work,
to just say, oh, she's really talented.
Well, that's why, you know what, I like to say,
instead of saying that someone's talented,
I like to say they're very skilled.
I think that's a better word.
She is a very skilled pianist.
That's a biblical word.
She plays skillfully.
Why?
Because that implies that she worked to get there.
And that's the truth.
That's the reality.
Now, I grew up playing piano myself,
and I'll just be honest with you,
don't tell anybody who buys my piano course online,
but I'm a very mediocre piano player at best.
That's being generous to call me a mediocre piano player.
But look, the piano course is great, all right?
Now, again, and of course,
I would never sell things in the house of God.
And so we have boxes of the piano course,
and it's totally free.
We give away, I've given away more of them
than I've sold over the years.
And so if you want to learn how to play the piano,
come see me, I'll give you a free piano book
on how to learn how to play piano.
But let me say this.
You know, I am not a great piano player.
I think the book is a great book,
but I'm not a great piano player at all.
Now, the reason why I'm not a great piano player is simple,
because I have not put forth the effort
that Catherine has put forth,
and that Matt Adams has put forth
to become a great piano player.
And if I would have put forth the effort,
I could have gotten there.
So I'm not just going to say,
oh, they're just way more talented than I am.
No, they work harder than me.
They put more effort into it.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
See, I made other priorities and other things with my time,
where I didn't spend as much time practicing.
And you know, I learned a lot as a kid,
but then I went for years and years and I never played.
And it wasn't until I started pastoring the church
that I took up piano playing again.
And then obviously, you know,
pastoring and family and work and busy.
And you know, I love playing the piano,
but frankly, I'm just not that great of a piano player.
See, if you want to become good at playing the piano,
you actually have to put in a lot of work and effort.
A lot, it takes a lot of practice.
To become a virtuoso pianist takes 10,000 hours.
So just to put that in perspective of 10,000 hours,
if you wanted to become a piano player of say,
our piano players level,
if you wanted to become at Catherine's level of piano playing,
you'd have to play piano for about 10,000 hours.
And just to put that in perspective,
let's say that would mean that if you five days a week
practice for four hours a day, right?
Then that's what, 20 hours a week?
Okay, do that for like 10 years
and you'll be at that level.
Think about that.
And if you look, if you study music,
if you look it up, that's what they say.
It takes about 10,000 hours to become an expert
musician in any instrument, 10,000.
Well, is my math right?
Four hours a day, five days a week,
that's 20 hours times 52 weeks a year.
Let's say, let's give you a two-week vacation.
You know, because I, you know,
back when I used to play piano a lot,
sometimes I felt that if I just didn't play
for a couple of weeks, I would come back better
if I just took a break and let it all kind of sink in
for a little while.
So that would be like what?
A thousand hours a year.
Okay, so do that for 10 years,
10 years and you'll be an expert at playing piano.
See, that's why people become really good at their job
because they do their job eight hours a day,
five days a week.
So in five years of doing that job,
they've got 10,000 hours in it,
laying tile or bending electrical conduit
or, you know, whatever they do, right?
Think about that.
Carpet work, tile, landscaping, whatever it is,
you know, computer programming.
By working 40 hours a week, five years in,
they've got 10,000 hours into that.
Okay, well, guess what?
Playing piano, playing guitar, playing a trumpet
to become very highly skilled takes a lot of practice.
Now, I'm not trying to scare you
to where you don't want to learn how to play the piano
because I'm not saying it takes 10,000 hours
to learn how to play the piano.
I'm saying it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert.
You know, you can learn how to play the piano
just by practicing 15 minutes a day
to play at a basic level, okay?
But the point that I'm making is that singing
is the same way as playing the piano or playing it.
This is an instrument in a sense.
It's a wind instrument, amen?
Right, it's not a woodwind.
It's a flesh wind instrument, okay?
Now, I didn't say flesh wound.
I said flesh wind instrument.
This is a wind instrument.
These pipes right here, if you will sing every day,
you'll get good at singing.
And if you don't sing, you're not going to be good at singing.
Just like the kid who doesn't practice his piano
is not going to be a good piano player.
And the more you sing, the better you get at singing.
Your range will increase.
You'll be able to hit the right notes.
You'll be able to hear the notes and get better at it.
Listen, I'm encouraging you to make singing
a part of your life because God commands it.
And because it is edifying to you and the people around you
if you learn to sing.
Look, Paul and Silas, what did they do when they were in jail?
What are you going to do when you're in jail?
I know what I'm going to do.
I'm going to be singing.
And that's why I'm learning how to play harmonica too,
because that's the only instrument
you're allowed to have in federal prison.
I'm getting ready so that when I get there,
I'm going to have a head start on how to play the harmonica.
Hopefully I never go there, amen?
But if I do, I've already got a lot of songs in my repertoire.
I'm ready to go.
So I'm going to be singing.
But Paul and Silas, they sang and it says
that the prisoners heard them.
They were a testimony.
Everybody else is whining and complaining and down.
And they're in there singing out praises to God.
That made an impact.
You know, people saw that and they glorified God
when they saw those good works.
So I encourage you to make singing a part of your life.
Look, if you don't have a hymnal,
take one home with you.
All the hymnals that are on the chairs,
we give everything away free here.
Take it home.
We'll buy more.
Who already has a hymnal in your home
that you took from the church?
Yeah, look at that.
Look at all these people.
They just, if it's not bolted down, they'll take it.
But look, who's going to look?
And the reason why you saw those hands go up
is because I encourage people.
Look, take the hymnal home,
bring that hymnal into your home
so that you can sing these songs.
Look, I remember when my son Solomon was first born,
he would be soothed as a baby by singing of hymns.
So I would come home from work,
want to give my wife a break from the baby.
And I would literally just sit him down
in his little bouncy chair.
And I would just be turning the pages in the hymnal,
just singing to him straight out of the hymnal,
just turning the pages, singing the hymns.
And he would just stare at me and just listen to the hymns.
And he loved it.
He enjoyed that.
You know, I think that's probably why Solomon
is one of my most musical children.
And he plays piano, he plays guitar, he plays bass.
He has an ear for music that's unbelievable.
Part of it is because I sang to him when he was a child.
And my other children, even to this day,
I usually take the baby for a walk
and I'm singing, walking down the street, singing hymns
and singing spiritual songs to the baby.
Okay, this is something that you should bring into your home
and bring the hymnal, bring it with you, sing the songs
and get out of this spectator culture
where we just listen to music, right?
Get onto a program where you're doing the singing.
Today, everybody just wants to watch everything, right?
You watch sports, you know, you're totally out of shape.
You're not physically fit at all,
but man, you watch sports and then say, we won.
We made a touchdown.
You couldn't even run the length of a football field
without having a heart attack.
But you won the big game.
We did it, we did it, we won.
But that spectator culture has carried over into church
where people show up for church now in most churches
and the congregational singing is either minimized
or it's been completely done away with
and they basically come and they watch a lot of performers.
You know what you'll never see at Faithful Word Baptist Church?
Soloists up here singing,
unless it's during a sermon when I bust out,
but you feel free to jump in anytime.
I'm telling you, we don't have a bunch of soloists up here.
The reason why we don't bring quartets and choirs
and I'm not against people who do, but you know what?
I want to teach the flock here that we participate.
We don't spectate.
That's why we all turn in our hymnal.
We all sing every song.
And I don't know about you, it's a lot more boring
to go to church and just sit and watch people sing.
I want to pull out a songbook and sing along.
Be a part of the service.
Participate.
Get involved in the service.
Get involved in the singing.
And by singing you learn.
And here's one last thing I want to say
because I realize I'm out of time
and there's a lot that could be said.
But I'll tell you another thing that makes the hymns
and that hymn book superior to the CCM,
Christian Contemporary Music,
down at the Rock and Roll Fun Center Church
is that the songs in the hymnal are easier to sing.
They are written purposely to be easy, to be simple.
Now when you turn on your CCM radio station
or when you go to the Barstool Purple Light Skinny Jeans
Fun Center Church,
you'll notice that the songs are very difficult to sing
because they're designed for performance.
Okay.
They're designed for somebody to really wow you with just
wooooo, wooooo, wooooo, wooooo.
You know.
It's just all over the place.
Difficult.
Hard to learn.
Hard to follow.
Hard to sing.
I remember when I used to go,
because I spent five years in liberal churches
like that as a teenager.
And I remember the singing part of the service
always made me feel uncomfortable.
I always felt, I'm just being honest,
I felt uncomfortable because the songs were so weird.
I felt like I was like a rock star in my pew or something.
Like, because they were,
you feel like you're given this performance.
Like, does anybody know what I'm talking about?
And I noticed that everybody around me seemed
kind of uncomfortable.
The worship leader up there, he was real comfortable.
You know, doing his thing.
But where we were at, I felt like it was embarrassing.
People didn't really want to sing
because the songs were so hard.
And they were so, they were so performance based
that you kind of felt, I don't know,
pretensions or arrogant, like,
belting them out from your seat.
It just felt weird.
I don't, I'm not explaining it very well,
but hopefully you understand what I'm saying.
Whereas the hymns on the other hand,
they're pretty easy to sing.
You know, look at a song like Jesus Loves Me.
Look at a song like To God Be the Glory.
I mean, these songs are pretty simple.
They're pretty easy.
You could learn them in a few minutes
and they don't have anything crazy going on
that really throws you off.
They're pretty simple to learn.
And it's that way by design.
And the Psalms that I like,
where it's a Psalm put to music,
I like the ones that are easy to learn.
Not one that goes all crazy and I can't figure it out.
You know, but you go to these worship type services
and it's really not about worshiping the Lord
or involving the congregation
as much as just wowing you with their worship band's ability
to do a performance that you can sit back and,
oh, you know, and just think it's so great.
As opposed to making something a little simpler,
a little easier so that everybody could get involved
and participate, which is superior.
So my admonition to you is take home a hymn book,
sing the praises to God, both Psalms, hymns,
and spiritual songs at all times in your life
and be filled with the Spirit.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the book of Psalms,
one of the greatest books that you've given us, Lord,
and probably the greatest book of the Old Testament, Lord.
And we pray that every single person that's here, Lord,
would be filled with the Spirit
and would speak to themselves in Psalms, hymns,
and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
in their hearts to the Lord.
And thank you so much for a church
where we could come together with your people
and sing praises to you.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.