A Reason To Sing Today - (April 30 2017) - Jason Lock

Open your Bibles today to Isaiah chapter 26.

Isaiah 26 · chapter mention

I'm very glad to be here with you today.

I'm really glad to be here to worship with you.

And I know that John and his team works hard every week to prepare a set and songs that will engage you and invite you to sing to the Lord.

And I know if there's anyone in this room who's gonna be the most excited and the most um motivated today by this message, it's gonna be John, because this message is about worship.

And though he may be the worship director, um all of us are worshipers, and you aren't his audience.

Um God is all of our audience when uh we worship God.

Christian worship is uniquely musical.

Think about any other world religions and compare it to Christianity.

We don't have rituals, we don't have um repetitive chants, we have songs to be sung.

And worship, specifically singing and music in worship, if we're not careful and we're not having uh watch over our own hearts, can be something that becomes uh tiresome or maybe too routine.

Today, we're gonna reorient ourselves to be able to enjoy singing in the same way that God does.

When I was young, I played House League hockey.

We often had this routine.

Um, when we went to hockey on Friday nights, we would go to my grandma's house in uh Scarborough, and we would have dinner there.

Um, usually like mac and cheese with hot dogs in it.

It was really delicious.

And I could eat that when I was a little kid before I played hockey, not so much today.

And then we would always drive um up McAuan Road over the 401 towards uh our rink where we would play.

And I remember this one time very distinctively, my brother and I were in the backseat, my dad was driving, and that very familiar sleep country Canada jingle came on the radio.

And my brother and I, being very young people, thought it would be hilarious to continue to sing that jingle over and over and over and over and over, and God bless my dad, because for some reason he didn't turn around and just snap at us.

But I would have been very empathetic to him and empathetic to parents like you.

If you have kids who keep singing that same song over and over, and let's change it to the next track now because I I myself, I don't know if I would have the patience for that.

I might get tired of that.

When we read the book of Revelation, we get a window into heaven and what's happening in heaven.

And what we see in heaven is that God is seated on a throne, and there are people surrounded around the throne of God, and they're singing.

They're singing the same chorus night and day without stopping.

Yet, would you think that God is the type of person that if he wants something to happen in heaven around his throne, and he if there's something happening that he doesn't want happening, God's the kind of person who's gonna who's gonna stop that.

But they keep singing, and he doesn't stop it.

So God must enjoy the praise and songs of his people.

Today is about worship.

We're in Isaiah chapter 26, and maybe you came today, and these first songs that we've sung this morning, uh, words came out of your mouth, but they weren't accompanied with joy.

Isaiah 26 · chapter mention

Maybe words came out of your mouth, but it might have as well been karaoke and not genuine worship.

Maybe you came today and you don't really feel like singing, but I want you to indulge me for a moment and I want you to make this message personal, okay?

So on your notes, I hope you do take notes when Pastor Mike preaches, on your notes that you were given in the bulletin today, the first line says, I blank have a reason to sing.

Uh, indulge me and take some ownership of this time in God's word by writing your name in that blank.

I, Jason, have a reason to sing today.

Write your name in there.

You have a reason to sing today.

Whether we feel like it or not, friends, whether you have a joyful heart or a heavy heart, you have a reason to sing today.

So before we proceed into God's word, allow me to pray and ask that he would awaken and open our hearts to be the worshipers that worship in spirit and in truth and with loud, joyful voices.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we're so thankful to be able to approach you in prayer, to approach your presence, knowing that you hear our prayers.

And even as we stand and lift our voices, God, I believe that you hear our songs.

They are not sung uh towards the worship team, they are not the the volume reverberates way beyond this room, but even to heaven, you hear it, Lord.

And you've made us that for this, you've redeemed us for this.

So, Father, God, would you awaken our hearts to worship today?

Those who are downcast and downtrodden, would you lift them up?

Those who are discouraged, would you encourage them?

Those who are motivated, give them even greater zeal, Lord.

And would you make this church a church that worships in spirit and in truth?

We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

We're in Isaiah 26.

Interestingly, actually, this passage that we will be reading is a song.

Let's read the passage together.

Isaiah 26, verse 1 to 6.

Isaiah 26:1–6

It says this in that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah.

We have a strong city.

He sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.

Open the gates that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is an everlasting rock.

For he has humbled the inhabitants of the heights, the lofty city.

He lays it low, lays it low to the ground.

He casts it to the dust.

The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.

This message today is about worship, and you have a reason to sing today.

We have several reasons that this passage is going to tell us.

The first one is this you have a reason to sing today because we have hope.

If you're taking notes, I'd like you to write that one down.

It's a good thing to remember.

We have a reason to sing today because we have hope.

Look back at verse one.

This is kind of like the prelude to the song.

It says, In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah.

What day is this passage talking about?

Well, Isaiah is talking about a future event that's even still future to us today, that many of the prophets in the Old Testament spoke of.

It's an event called the day of the Lord.

Just nod your head with me with me if you've heard of that before.

Have you heard of that day before?

The day of the Lord, yeah.

Um, there's two important aspects about that day.

Uh, first, that day is a day of judgment.

Listen closely.

This helps give us some context to the passage from Isaiah 24.

Or in Isaiah 26, 24, verse 21 and 22 says this.

On that day, the Lord will punish the host of heaven in heavens, and the kings on the earth, of earth on earth.

They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit.

They will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished.

This is the prophecy of the final judgment that the Lord speaks about in Revelation 21.

Uh, the technical theological term for it is the bemisat judgment.

The other one is the white, uh, great white throne judgment when all angelic beings and all human beings will be gathered together and stand before God's throne.

Uh, all those angelic beings who opposed God, which we call demons, they will be thrown into the lake of fire.

And all those human beings whose names are not written in the book of life, uh, they will not uh enter paradise to be with God, but go also to the place where those demonic beings will be.

Yet that day is not only a day of judgment, it's also a day of fulfillment.

A day of fulfillment for all of those whose names are written in the book of life.

Actually, in the immediate context to Isaiah 26, Isaiah 25, verse 6 to 8 speaks of this fulfillment.

Isaiah 25:6–8

And uh I'm gonna read actually another passage because this same language from Isaiah 25, verse 6 to 8, is echoed almost verbatim in Revelation 21.

Isaiah 25:6–8

Listen to this passage, Revelation 21, verse 1 to 4.

Revelation 21:1–4

This is the fulfillment.

This is what will happen when you, friends, who have believed in Jesus, go to be with the Lord in his heaven.

Isaiah 21, verse 1 to 4.

Isaiah 21:1–4

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more.

And I saw a holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.

This is the same language from Isaiah 25.

Neither shall there be mourning, neither shall there be crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

This is the great fulfillment that every Christian should bank all of their hope on.

This is the great hope of the church that Jesus Christ is coming back.

Do you believe that?

Jesus Christ is coming back, and he will take his people to be with him, and God will dwell with his people forever.

Sin will be abolished, death will be destroyed, and we will be in paradise forever.

In that day, in that day, we will sing this exact song.

And that day is a day of hope.

You have a reason to sing today, because if you have believed in Jesus Christ, you have hope.

Yet I've observed even just from my own life, um, in basic everyday language, often we can um twist this word hope and use it in a way that actually means like wish.

So when I was young, and even today, I've really enjoyed um tech products and tech reviews, specifically around like audio.

When I was really young, really young for me, probably not really young for many of you, the hottest new audio tech product was the Sony Walkman cassette player.

You guys remember that?

And if you're really young and you don't know what that is, it's a thing that Star Lord wears in Guardians of the Galaxy on his on his waist pocket and listens to that thing called the cassette.

And I had the sport edition of the Sony Walkman, and it was yellow and it was waterproof, AMFM radio.

And I could listen to those classic Christian audio dramas, um Adventures in Odyssey, and the the really old band, uh actually they're still around, Newsboys, right?

You remember them with that song Shine?

Yeah, loved it.

But then when I grew up a little bit, and I was still young, um, a new thing came out.

Not just because that's anymore, but C D ROM.

But I and it had the CD and I would carry it around, whatever.

It would skip all the time.

And then a new thing came out the Panasonic shockwave.

Yeah, she knows what it is.

The Panasonic shockwave doesn't skip.

You can shake it all day long and listen to all of your music, and I did.

But then I got into high school and I was like, oh, I w I always wanted, I I hope I get that new thing.

I hope I can get that shockwave.

Then they get to school and I'm still camering on the CD-ROM, and then I see everyone else with these white headphones that are connected into their pocket, and they're like, what is that?

And then I found out the new thing isn't CD-rom players anymore.

It's MP3 players and specifically iPods, iPod minis with all the different colors.

Oh, I want that.

I hope I'll get that for Christmas.

Okay, tell me.

Um, that desire that I had for tech products like that, is it appropriate that I called it, and you can answer out loud, church.

Is it appropriate that I called that a hope, or is it more appropriate that I would call that a wish?

Tell me.

Yeah, I I would say it's a wish.

And there's a big difference.

You see, a hope is the certain expectation of receiving what God promised.

Yet on the other hand, a wish is the uncertain expectation of receiving what I want.

Listen, church, maybe you have not been worshiping, or maybe your singing has felt so flat because you have putting been putting your heart's desires in wishes of this world rather than the only hope that comes from God.

And listen to this verse, Luke chapter 12.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

Anything in this world that you might want, that one person you think you want to marry, and that you can only marry them, that university that you think you have to get into, that mortgage that you think you deserve, or that pension that you are building into and putting all of your expectations into, your child's approval.

All of those things are wishes, and none of them are guaranteed.

And when we treat wishes like hopes, our desire to worship God will be sucked out like a vacuum.

None of those things are certain, but this is certain.

Luke chapter 12.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

This is a promise that you can bank on, church.

Luke chapter 12 says, fear not, little flock, fear not, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

You see, the kingdom of God is not just a future expectation, but it is a present realization.

See, in the future expectation, God will be with man forever, and sin will be discarded, and all of our sorrow and mourning will be gone.

Future realization, but it there is a present realization of this as well.

That when we put our hope in God, when we follow Jesus, when we acknowledge that Christ is Lord, I will follow his way, we can now enjoy the close presence of God and the kingdom of God.

And when we have that, and it's promised to us, your desire will be satisfied.

If we put our desire in the hope, it will yield to joy.

But if we put our desires in wishes, it will yield to sorrow.

Because if you've believed in Jesus Christ, you have the hope of the kingdom.

You can bank on that.

We have a reason to sing today.

Not only do we have hope, but we have salvation.

If you're taking notes, write that one down.

We have a reason to sing today because we have salvation.

Let's get into the song, chapter uh 26, verse 1 and verse 2.

It says, In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah.

We have a strong city.

He sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.

Open the gates that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

Alright, more participation.

You can answer out loud to this question, okay?

Tell me, can you name a city in the Bible that was known for having massive walls?

Jericho, yeah.

I don't know if is there any other one that we can think of?

That's the one that we always go to, right?

Um Jericho.

Their city was so secure that it took a miraculous intervention from God for the walls to fall down.

This passage says that we have a strong city.

Look at chapter uh 26, verse 1 again.

It says, we have a strong city.

He sets up salvation as walls.

It took a supernatural intervention of God to break down the walls of Jericho.

But the impenetrable protection that we have is in our unshakable salvation through Jesus Christ.

We have a reason to sing because we have salvation.

It's unshakable, it's secure.

There is more security in our salvation than the strongest bodyguard, the longest password, the thickest vault, or the largest army.

Yet, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, though we have security in our salvation, some of us today may lack assurance of our salvation.

There's a difference between the two.

Security is that in God's books, you're forgiven by faith in Jesus Christ.

In God's books, you are no longer in the red, but you're in the black, and that's not changing.

That's security.

Assurance is different.

Assurance is the way that I have confidence in that salvation today.

Assurance is my emotional confidence in that, and I don't know about you, but that can waver from time to time for me.

This isn't the last time I'm gonna say this in this message, and I think this is a word that many of you uh need to hear today.

Whether positively or negatively, the way that you feel about your faith does not affect the validity of your faith.

Whether positively or negatively, what we feel about our faith doesn't determine the validity of our faith.

You may lack assurance of salvation today.

That in itself does not mean that you lack security in your salvation.

If you've repented of your sins and believe that Jesus Christ died in your place, then in God's books, you're no longer in the red, you're in the black.

You're no longer an object of wrath, you're an object of God's mercy.

You're no longer looked at as an orphan anymore, you're looked at as a child.

You're looked at by your father in heaven with the same eyes and the same affection that he looks at his only beloved son, Jesus Christ.

And that doesn't change, regardless of how you feel.

Our salvation is an impenetrable, unshakable, unassailified, fortif unassailable, fortified wall that will keep you secure.

It's unshakable.

It's secure, but not only this.

Salvation is accessible.

Get your eyes back in the book.

Look in verse 2.

After saying that we have strong walls, verse 2 says, open the gates.

Open the gates that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

Walls provide security, but gates provide accessibility.

Walls provide fortification, but gates offer invitation.

This salvation, forgiveness of sins, peace and a relationship with God, the hope of eternal life in paradise, the kingdom.

This is available and accessible to anyone.

You may be here and you're just curious about the Christian faith.

You wouldn't consider yourself to be a born-again follower of Jesus Christ.

You may have grown up in church your whole life, and people have always told you, Jesus died for my sins.

I need to believe in him, but you live the same way that your friends do at school.

Salvation changes you, doesn't it, friends?

Salvation changes you.

And it actually, if we're going to enter the gates, it demands a change.

That change is called repentance.

Anyone who would repent with faith will be saved.

The change in repentance is the change of mind.

Acknowledging that God is holy, and I am an unworthy, lawless sinner that deserves to be punished.

God is holy.

I'm a sinner.

Repentance with faith.

Faith believes that Jesus Christ died in my place, suffered in my place, so that I could be saved.

And friends, if you today have yet to believe in Jesus, have yet to repent of your sins, but you would even now, even today, those gates will fling open.

And you'll be welcomed into the security, forgiven, no longer in the red, but the black.

Peace with God, knowing that the Lord is with you.

Hope of eternal life.

No longer having to fear the grave and death.

We have a reason to sing because we have salvation.

Other circumstances of life may cause your attitude to change.

Though you may lack assurance of your salvation, that does not mean you lack security in your salvation.

Bank on this.

What determines the validity of our faith isn't our feelings, it's the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the proof-positive, historically verifiable evidence that everything we believe is true and real, though we may not be able to see it with our own eyes.

And if you need to turn anywhere today because you doubt, if you need to turn anywhere today because you lack assurance, turn to the cross and turn to the empty tomb and put your faith there.

Bank on it.

You have a reason to sing because you have salvation.

There's more though.

Let's continue.

Chapter 26, verse 1.

I'm gonna read to verse 4.

It says, In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah.

We have a strong city.

He sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.

Open the gates that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts you.

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

We have a reason to sing because we have hope, because we have salvation, but then also this we have a reason to sing because we can have perfect peace.

We have a reason to sing because we have, because we can have perfect peace.

Look back at your Bible.

See that word, how it says in chapter verse 3, you keep him in perfect peace?

Do you see that?

Yeah?

Perfect peace is actually the same word in the original language repeated twice.

You might have heard of this word, shalom.

It's repeated twice in the original language, shalom shalom.

This shalom piece is a peace that's more than just the absence of conflict.

You can find that in like a graveyard, right?

But that's not the type of peace that we want or that God offers.

The shalom piece carries the idea of a blessing from God that produces complete wholeness and harmony experienced practically in three ways.

This wholeness and harmony that's experienced with God Himself, that's experienced with others, and that's experienced through peace of mind.

This peace is a supernatural experience.

It's more than mindfulness meditation, it's more than mental health practices, it's Holy Spirit power.

Now, I'll go first though, and maybe you would be honest with me by raising your hand if this is true for you.

How many of us would say that this type of peace is hard to come by?

I would say so.

This harp type of peace is so hard to come by.

Uh, along with peace, there's other um attributes of the uh Holy Spirit, Christian life that Galatians 6 describes as fruits of the Spirit.

Uh love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and the like.

You've heard of these?

I wonder if we had tried to associate each of these attributes to an actual fruit.

What type of fruit would that be?

Uh what kind of fruit would the kindness uh fruit be?

What kind of fruit would the love fruit be?

Personally, I think that the kind of fruit that peace would be is the uh is the avocado fruit.

Um because peace is just like avocado.

You buy it and it's not ripe, and it's not ripe, and it's not ripe, and eat it now, and now it's spoiled.

And that's just like peace.

It's so hard to get, and so hard to get, and so hard to get, and once you finally have something happens and it's gone.

And more often than not, um peace is crushed under the weight of anxiety.

A grieving person can still sing.

A suffering person in physical pain can still sing.

I know from my own experience, and I'm sure you do too, the anxious person cannot sing.

More than anything else, anxiety will spoil the fruit of peace.

Yet I want us to notice something.

Look back at the passage with me.

Verse three and verse four says, You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts you.

Tell me, and again, you can answer out loud.

Who is it that sets up our salvation?

Who does that?

God, that's right.

Again, you can answer out loud.

It's okay to do this in church.

I do a little speaking, but I'd like to hear from you as well.

Okay, so God sets up salvation.

Let me ask you this question.

Um, based on this passage, who's the one who keeps us in perfect peace?

Tell me.

God, it says that you keep him in perfect peace.

Yet, while God sets up salvation and God keeps us in perfect peace, we have a part to play in it as well.

It says you keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you.

Why?

Because he trusts you.

While salvation is something that God sets up himself, perfect peace, which is available, requires my participation.

It requires my trust in God.

Yet this requirement is the same way that an eagle might fly if it was taking off from heights.

All it needs to do when an eagle takes off from heights is spread out its wings and let the air currents do its job.

It requires the same kind of effort that a captain might take to keep his ship secure.

All a captain has to do is drop down his anchor and let the anchor do its job.

In the same way, all we must do is turn our minds to the Lord and trust in him and let him do his job to keep us in perfect peace.

Trust is such a simple thing, isn't it?

Yet it's so hard, isn't it?

I think trust really demands three attitudes.

Trust first demands that I acknowledge I'm not in control.

I'm not in control.

As much as I want to be in control, as much as I try to be in control, I'm I'm I'm not.

And some of you, even hearing that might now, your mind goes to the things that you're trying to control.

It's tax season, and I want to control my finances, or I'm trying to get into this university, and I want to get here, or my kids aren't doing the things that I want, and I want to control that.

I'm not in control.

And the second attitude that we have to acknowledge is God is in control.

God, though I cannot see him with my own eyes, though I don't see the beginning or the end, he is the beginning and the end.

I'm not in control, but God is in control.

Then here's the third attitude trust requires.

I'm not in control, God is in control, and I believe he's working for my good.

I don't see it, I don't know the end, but I believe I have the kingdom, I have salvation.

Romans chapter 8 says he works all things together for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purposes.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Do you trust God?

I think most of us are still stuck in step one.

We're not willing to give up control.

And I've seen from my own life when we're unwilling to give up control and we see things crumbling around us, we just try and uh we just try and numb ourselves from the consequences.

We know we should deal with it, but we we we want to hold on control, but we don't want to deal with it, so we just distract ourselves.

And I found that there are four common ways that we actually often distract ourselves and keep ourselves from trusting in God.

Four ways that we forfeit perfect peace.

We distract ourselves with busyness.

I don't have to think about it if I stop, if we just keep going and keep going, sorry, honey, I can't come home today.

I gotta work way late in the office when it's just like I don't want to go home and deal with it.

We distract ourselves with busyness, we distract ourselves with laziness.

If I keep sleeping, maybe I don't have to deal with it, maybe it'll go away.

We distract ourselves with entertainment.

As long as Netflix keeps pumping out the hits, I can keep binge watching and I don't have to think about it.

All of these things, by the way, I'm able to list because these are things that I've struggled with.

And finally, we distract ourselves with pleasure.

Numbing ourselves with whatever food I can eat, with whatever substance I can put in my body.

Which one are you prone to?

Well, we we must get to step one.

I'm not in control.

Jesus told us, can you make one hair gray and one hair black?

Can you say for one day to start and one day to end?

We can't control a thing.

You have a reason to sing because you can have perfect peace.

But if you don't have peace of mind today and you feel unable to praise God, not just today, maybe for weeks, maybe for months, maybe this has been your story of church participation for years.

You may lack peace of mind today, you may feel unable to sing today, but remember I said I would say this again in the sermon.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, whether positively or negatively, what you feel about your faith does not determine the validity of your faith.

You may lack assurance of salvation, that itself does not mean that you lack security in your salvation.

You may lack peace of mind, that in itself does not mean that you lack peace with God.

Some of us who may be here, you you're just you on the other hand, maybe just like singing out real loud every week, and you actually have like rows of people that don't sit by you because you are so loud and you can't keep a tune, but that's okay.

And maybe people like you might be like me, who are you're one of those people who like wear your emotions out on your sleeve more, and just because of your disposition and personality, you're more expressive in your songs and listen, far be it from uh people like me, who would demand some legalistic form of self-righteousness that forces you to sing my tune in the way that I sing it, and forces you to sing the same song in the way that I say it, on the same day that I sing it.

In Psalm 42, uh David wants to sing, but he can't.

And if you feel downcast, you need to read that psalm this afternoon.

Psalm 42, David sang, like I want to be at like the front of a parade and where we're all going to the temple of God to sing, but why are you downcast, oh my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?

That might been be your story right now.

Yet the next thing David says to himself is, Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my God, and my salvation.

We have a reason to sing because we can have perfect peace.

Anxiety can squash our peace right away.

And though you may not feel it today, though you may have been distracting yourself for weeks and months and years, God can keep you in perfect peace.

But we must trust in him.

Today, let today be the day where you relinquish control, admit that God's in control, and believe that he's working for your good.

In that way, at that time, he will keep you in perfect peace.

And there's this one final way, fun one final reason that we can sing.

We have a reason to sing today because we will triumph with God.

Let's finish this song, verse 5 and verse 6.

It says this for he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city.

He lays it low, low to the ground, cast it to the dust.

The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.

Okay, this is an interesting way that the psalm turns.

So he's talking about this city that's going to be humbled, a city that's going to be destroyed.

In the context of this passage in chapter 25, um, Isaiah refers to this city of Moab, the city that is arrogantly mocking God and that is oppressing the people of God.

And Moab throughout the scriptures is representative of any individual, any government, any leader that would oppress the people of God and that would arrogantly mock God.

But what God is saying is that on that day, that day of judgment and that day of fulfillment, anyone, anyone who has mocked God and refused to come to him, or anyone who was oppressed, the people of God, they will be humbled like Jericho was humbled.

We have a reason to sing because we will triumph with God, we will triumph over the arrogant, we will triumph over the arrogant with the poor.

This is very interesting.

Look back at verse uh six.

It says, Who tramples over the arrogant city?

The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy, all those who are oppressed.

Uh you might have heard of the story of this pastor from Mississauga.

His name is Pastor Hayun Soo-Kim.

He's a pastor from the Light Presbyterian Church in Mississauga, but he actually hasn't been pastoring his church for a couple of years.

Because as a South Korean man, he had a heart for his kinsmen in North Korea who were being oppressed.

And he went there.

And this is what happened.

He was arrested.

This is from McLean's magazine.

Lim, who was in his 60s, has been held by the North Korean government since February 2015.

He was convicted by Pyongyang's Supreme Court for allegedly trying to use religion to destroy the North Korean system.

How insecure is your government system when you think one man with a Bible is trying to destroy your government?

And helping US and South Korean authorities to lure and abduct North Korean citizens.

North Korea is the worst place for Christians to be today.

This is an excerpt from something called the World Watch Organization.

It's uh a um tells about all of the places in the world where Christians are being persecuted.

And North Korea, as of 2016, was number one.

Listen to what it says here.

Once again, North Korea is ranked as the most oppressive place in the world for Christians.

Number one on the world watch list.

Not a good list to be number one on for another year.

In this totalitarian communist state, Christians are forced to hide their faith completely from government authorities, neighbors, and often even their own spouses and children.

Entire Christian families are imprisoned in hard labor camps where unknown numbers die each year from torture, beatings, executions, and starvation.

You know what's happening in the news.

You know how there's tension between one superpower and North Korea.

But it's not a ship stationed off the Korean peninsula that is gonna lay this oppressive country down.

It's not going to be a powerhouse that tramples over the oppressive people who mock God.

Those who will triumph over the oppressive people who mock God are the poor and the needy and the martyrs and the Oppressed, and you can behead as many people as you want in this life, but on that day, those martyrs clothed in white will trample over those people's ashes.

It's inappropriate to try and compare our cultural circumstances to what's happening in North Korea.

But nonetheless, whether it's passive-aggressive or the minor antagonism, we can stand back and fear whenever we find opposition.

And we can feel like we need to hide our worship.

But we don't have to.

We have a reason to sing and no reason to fear, because the church will triumph in God over all the arrogant with those poor and needy who were oppressed.

Listen to the hope, listen to this promise, Matthew 5, 11 to 12.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and other utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, even in persecution, even in antagonism, even in the most minor passive-aggressive attitudes that you find in your school or your workplace.

Rejoice, rejoice and be glad.

For your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

No matter what the circumstances, church, we have a reason to sing.

So consider your attitude this past week today.

Are you joining into this song?

Have you been adding your voice to this chorus?

We do have a reason to sing.

We have a reason to sing because of hope.

The certain hope of the kingdom, secure in the salvation of Christ.

The certain hope of the kingdom, secure in the salvation of Christ, kept in perfect peace.

With the expectation that no matter what opposition we may find, we will triumph over anyone who would seek to oppress us.

Because God will triumph over them.

Christian worship is uniquely musical.

The Bible isn't filled with chants or rituals, but songs to be sung.

It happens 247 in heaven because God enjoys it.

And if you may have felt downcast or unable to sing, today is the day where you throw your voice into the chorus, into the choir, and worship God, for he alone is worthy.