Great Prayers of the Old Testament
Part 36: Why God Says to Sing a New Song
Psalm 96:1-13
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared November 21, 2025)
BACKGROUND:
*Today our focus is again on worship. And nothing is more important in Christian life than heartfelt worship of the LORD! God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is always worthy of our worship! He is the only true and living God, eternally perfect in every way. He created us, loves us, and has given us every good thing we have ever received. Best of all, God the Father gave His only begotten Son to become a mortal man, live a perfect life, and die on the cross for our sins. God the Holy Spirit also had a crucial part in this saving work all the way from our creation to Jesus' conception, and His resurrection.
*The LORD's great lessons for worship today come from Psalm 96. It's an almost exact copy of the song King David wrote in 1 Chronicles 16. That song was written and sung when the Ark of the Covenant was brought from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David. And this Psalm was written a thousand years before Jesus was born. But Psalm 96 surely points us to the times of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (1)
*John Phillips also gave us this helpful background. "Sing! sing! sing! That is how Psalm 96 begins. It calls us to joyful worship because all glory belongs to Him. Give! Give! Give! That is how the psalm continues. It calls us to joyful worship because all gifts belong to Him. Victory! Victory! Victory! That is how Psalm 96 ends. It calls us to joyful worship because Christ is surely coming again to judge the world with righteousness. And this is one of the great Hebrew hymns that celebrates the coming reign of Christ. (2).
*With this background in mind, let's read Psalm 96:1-13.
MESSAGE:
*Church: When it comes to worship, I love the old songs. But here God tells us to sing a new song. And God's Word speaks to us about singing a new song 9 different times . Why does He do that? Today we will search the Scripture and see 4 important reasons.
1. FIRST, IT'S BECAUSE WE HAVE NEW HEARERS.
*We see them in vs. 1-4, where Bible says:
1. Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2. Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
3. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.
4. For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
*Notice in these verses that God wants all the Earth to sing praises to the LORD. He wants all the Earth to bless His name. He wants His people to proclaim the good news of salvation. The LORD God Almighty wants His people to declare His glory among all nations and His wonders among all people. This makes Psalm 96 a truly evangelistic Psalm, especially now as we have been blessed to live on the resurrection side of the cross!
*And as the day of the Lord's return draws closer, we must do everything we can to reach people for the Lord Jesus Christ. This includes praying for more laborers to serve all around the world in the LORD'S harvest. Matthew 9:36-38 says:
36. But when He (Jesus) saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
37. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
38. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."
*Again in vs. 2 the LORD tells us to "Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. And in vs. 3 God tells us to "Declare His glory among the nations."
*These commands also include:
-Praying and supporting missionaries around the world.
-Seeking to draw closer to the LORD.
-Digging deeper into His Word.
-Asking God to help us love the people around us.
-Asking God to put people in our path who need to trust in Jesus.
-Telling people our salvation story.
-Telling people the wonderful things God has done since we got saved.
-And inviting people to church as often as we can.
*But now let's focus on singing new songs. First, the good news about Jesus Christ never changes. 1 Peter 1:18-21 tells Christians that we "were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."
*There is one Mediator and only one Redeemer: JESUS CHRIST! He was the only one who could ever pay the price for our sins. And that is exactly what Jesus did when He died on the Cross for our sins!
*But God wants this wonderful message to go to every tongue and nation. As He again said in vs 1-3, "Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples."
*So God gave us the incredible privilege of hearing the good news about JESUS CHRIST in our own language. And one of the truths I want you to see today is that he has also given us the privilege of worshiping Him in our own musical language, the kind of music that speaks to our heart.
*No one style of music is more holy than another. That must be why God never put music in the Bible. Oh, there are many songs, close to 200, but not one note of music. Did you ever wonder why? Someone could say that they didn't know how to write music back then. Don't you think God knows how to write music?
*But He didn't do it. Why? -- Because the LORD has given all of us the blessing of hearing the message in a style of music that speaks to our heart. He has given us privilege of singing the same Gospel message in our own musical language. But churches get into trouble when the members get prejudiced about it; when we think our style of music is more holy than someone else's.
*Most all of us are tempted to do that, because the message means much more to us in our own musical language. But it's not right for us to think that our favorite style of music is the only musical language God can use to reach people. It would be like expecting that preaching only be done in English, Spanish, or Japanese.
*God wants us to hear the awesome Gospel in our own language. He also gives us the privilege of worshiping Him in our own musical language. He wants all the earth to sing to the LORD! So, God tells us to sing a new song because of the new hearers.
*This also includes new songs for a new generation. But one of the biggest controversies in Baptist life 30 to 40 years ago centered on music, especially Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). Let's talk about this as we focus on new hearers. And it will help to look into our past.
*I am almost 75 years old, and I know that the older we get, the more change annoys us. But people in general don't like change. As Mark Twain famously said, "The only person who likes change is a wet baby." -- There's a lot of truth to that statement. (3)
*Many times, we think of change as being a bad thing, and we older people have seen a lot of bad changes over the years. But changes can also be good, -- especially when they are changes made by God. All of us need more godly changes. And Jesus Christ can give us the greatest changes of all!
*But sometimes we want to go back to the "good old days". The question is, how far do we really want to go? Almost all of the controversy over old Hymns versus Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) is decades behind us. Thank the LORD! But it still helps to hear something about our history as Baptists. The old hymns that people still love today were somebody else's Contemporary Christian Music.
*One story told of a young man who complained to his father that most of the church hymns were boring and old-fashioned, with tiresome tunes and words that meant little to his generation. His father challenged him with these words: "If you think you can write better hymns, why don't you?"
*So the son went to his room and wrote his first hymn. But that wasn't in 1990. It was in 1690! -- And the young man was Isaac Watts. He wrote 350 new hymns, including favorites like, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross." And our Christmas favorite, "Joy to the World." But everybody didn't like Isaac Watts' CCM, especially in Baptist churches. There was a great controversy, and many churches split, because people didn't want to sing those new-fangled hymns. (4)
*The Baptist churches of that day would be horrified to hear kind of traditional hymns most churches used to sing every Sunday. (We still sing them in our church's Traditional Service.) But back around 1700, Baptist Churches would never think of having a hymnbook or an order of service, because they thought that hindered the Holy Spirit. They certainly wouldn't have had an organ or piano, and congregational singing was out of the question.
*Thomas Grantham was a leader of the day and here's a summary of his feelings: "There were of course no musical instruments; any singing had to be done by a man (women were to keep silent); any singing had to be strictly solo, with no mixed voices or "promiscuous singing" by a multitude; only biblical texts, preferably psalms, could be sung; no songs of "human composure" could be allowed; any singing had to be done in a loud, clear voice, with 'no warbling.'"
*Grantham also said "that a multitude of Christians, or a whole Congregation ought to sing together at the same time, is not at all warranted" from the Scripture. That seems silly to us, but they believed it with all their hearts. Singing was not allowed in a Baptist church until 1673. The Pastor was Benjamin Keach. And a "grueling controversy" arose when he tried to introduce singing congregational hymns in his church at Horsley Down.
*With biblical evidence, he first got them to agree in 1673 to a hymn after the Lord's Supper. However, he allowed those who objected to leave before the hymn. Six years later the church agreed to sing a hymn on "public thanksgiving days." Another fourteen years passed before the church could agree that singing was appropriate in worship. A full twenty years passed before one church could agree that singing was good, appropriate, and worshipful.
*This incident was costly, however, for 22 members of Keach's church withdrew to join a non-singing church. However, singing had caught on, and this non-singing church soon called a pastor who made hymn singing a condition of his coming. (5)
*Bible-believing Christians have been misguided about all kinds of things. Elizabeth Elliot wrote about a conversation that would have taken place in the second century. A newer Christian might have said, "I am in earnest about forsaking the world and following Christ. But I am puzzled about worldly things. What is it I must forsake?"
*The answer was, "Colored clothes, for one thing. Get rid of everything in your wardrobe that is not white. Stop sleeping on a soft pillow. Sell your musical instruments and don't eat any more white bread. You cannot, if you are sincere about obeying Christ, take warm baths or shave your beard. To shave is to lie against Him who created us, to attempt to improve on His Work." (6)
*Church: Those teachings came from some of the most famous Christian schools of the second century! Did any of that come from Jesus? -- Of course not. And we must beware of misguided convictions today. Ever wonder what CCM songs be old favorites in 100 years?
2. GOD TELLS US TO SING NEW SONGS BECAUSE WE HAVE NEW HEARERS. BUT ALSO BECAUSE WE HAVE NEW HARMONIES.
*And we can hear new harmonies only because our God is a creative God. Verses 4-6 remind us of this great truth:
4. For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
5. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens.
6. Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
*One of the other "new song" Scriptures talks about this creative ability of the LORD. It's Psalm 33:1-9 titled "The Steadfast Love of the Lord."
1. Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful.
2. Praise the LORD with the harp; Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
3. Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
4. For the word of the LORD is right, And all His work is done in truth.
5. He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
6. By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
7. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.
8. Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
9. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.
*The LORD God is creative! And we are especially reminded of this truth as the camelia bushes are in full bloom, oaks are turning fall colors, and the holly berries are turning bright red. So much natural beauty! But our God of all creation loved us so much that He made us in His image.
*The Creation story makes that clear. Genesis 1:26-27 tells us that God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."
*This means God has given us the ability to create new things. Of course, each one of us has our own set of skills, many times passed down from the generations before us. So when it comes to music, we might think, "How could anybody ever come up with something new?" -- But they do it all the time! And it's inspiring to think how God has blessed us with the ability to create new things.
*I am one of many people who loves to worship the LORD with Hymns and CCM. I love the old songs! -- Too many to mention. But one the old songs that has a special place in my heart is "Just As I Am."
*They were singing "Just As I Am" the morning I made my public profession of faith in Jesus Christ 50 years ago. They were also singing this song 8 years later when I publicly accepted God's call to preach.
*"Just As I Am" was written in 1835 by an English woman named Charlotte Elliott. Charlotte was visiting some friends in London, and there she met Pastor Cesar Malan. While seated at supper, the preacher said he hoped that she was a Christian. Charlotte was offended by that and told him she would rather not discuss that question.
*Dr. Malan said that he was sorry if he had offended her, that he always liked to speak a word for his Master, and that he hoped that someday she would become a worker for Christ.
*They met again 3 weeks later at the home of a mutual friend. Charlotte told the preacher that ever since he had spoken to her, she had been trying to find her Savior. And she asked him to tell her how to come to Christ.
*Dr. Malan answered, "JUST COME TO HIM AS YOU ARE." Charlotte did right then! And she went away rejoicing. Shortly after that, she wrote the hymn that includes these wonderful words:
"Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Just as I am, and waiting not To rid my soul of one dark blot; To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind; Sight, riches, healing of the mind, Yea, all I need in Thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; Because Thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!" (7)
*When Jesus finds us, He calls us to come to Him just as we are! And I love the old songs. But again, God tells us to sing new songs 9 different times. Why does He do that? (8)
3. BECAUSE WE HAVE NEW HARMONIES. ALSO CHRISTIANS BECAUSE WE HAVE NEW HEARTS.
*We see this truth back up in vs. 1-3 where God's Word says, "Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples."
*We also see echoes of this truth in vs. 7-8 where God's Word says, "Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Give to the LORD glory and strength. Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts."
*Now, most lost people couldn't care less about Christian music. If hard-hearted unbelievers happen to hear a Christian song on the radio, they will usually change channels. I know because that's what I did until I got saved at age 24.
*CHRISTIANS, WE SING ABOUT SALVATION, BECAUSE WE HAVE SALVATION THOUGH THE CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST! And our salvation puts new songs in our new hearts! But the only way to get this new spiritual heart is to receive JESUS CHRIST as our Lord and Savior. When we believe in Jesus, we are literally, spiritually born again into God's family by the Holy Spirit of God. This miraculous gift of new life is absolutely essential for salvation.
*Jesus talked about this new spiritual birth in John 3:5-7. There the Lord told Nicodemus:
5. "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'"
*When we trust in Jesus we are born again spiritually, and we have two birthdays!. Years ago, I bumped into Trish Barmore and her little boy at Walmart. They were some of our friends from McClendon. And the first thing out of that little boy's mouth was, "I got saved on my birthday!"
*I told him, "That's great. Now you have two birthdays on the same day." And he can always remember when he was born again, because when we believe in Jesus Christ, we receive God's gift of eternal life through a new, spiritual birth and we have a new spiritual heart.
[1] NOTICE THAT HAVING NEW HEARTS MEANS HAVING NEW HOPE.
*And vs. 11-12 give us a glimpse of our new hope. Here God's Word says, "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness; Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the LORD."
*Believers: We can rejoice in that future hope because we will take part in it, and we already have it through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! He cared enough us to give us an everlasting home and hope in Heaven.
*Paul reminds us of this great truth in Ephesians 2:12-13, where he describes our lives before we trusted in Jesus as our Lord and Savior:
12. . . at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
13. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ.
*Believers: Without Jesus, we had no hope. And I care enough about you to tell you that if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are without hope right now. But Jesus Christ can give you real hope. And Jesus will give you real hope, if you will trust in Him.
*But what is real hope? Pastor James Chandler helped us understand with a story from his early childhood. One Thanksgiving James was asked to say the family prayer at the big meal. And in that prayer he said, "Dear God, I sure hope the Oakland Raiders make it to the Super Bowl!" James remembers that prayer, because he found out real fast that it "wasn't really appropriate." And James said, "As I grew, I also learned that real hope is not the kind of hope I mentioned in my prayer. Real hope is not a wish, but confidence in a certainty." (9)
*I like that definition: "Real hope is confidence in a certainty." Real hope, godly hope, biblical hope, is joyful confidence in something that is certain. That is the kind of hope Paul was talking about in Ephesians 2. Real hope is confidence in the certainty of everything we gain when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior: The forgiveness of our sins, a place in the family of God, future perfection, a perfect home forever in Heaven, and much more.
[2] HAVING NEW HEARTS MEANS HAVING NEW HOPE. IT ALSO MEANS HAVING NEW HOLINESS.
*We see this truth in vs. 9-13 where God's Word says:
9. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.
10. Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously."
11. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
12. Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the LORD.
13. For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.
*"Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!" Church, for us this means the holiness, righteousness and goodness of Jesus Christ. So Romans 6:22 speaks of this godly fruit by saying, "Now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life." Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Ephesians 5:9 says, "The fruit of the Spirit is in all (believers) goodness, righteousness and truth." God's holy standard is perfection. That's why in 1 Peter 1:16, God says, "Be holy, for I am holy."
*Think about God's holiness. Bruce Goettsche explained, "Of all the attributes of God, holiness is the one that seems to take center stage. In the Hebrew language the way you emphasized a word was to repeat it.
*For example if you said a rock was big it would mean one thing. If you said the rock was big, big, you would mean it was a really big stone. But if it was big, big, big, it would mean that it was a gigantic boulder.
*In Isaiah 6 and in Revelation 4 the angels declare that God is "holy, holy, holy". This is the only attribute of God that is emphasized in this way. God is never called "love, love, love," or "mercy, mercy, mercy". But He is called "holy, holy, holy." -- And He tells us to be holy. (10)
*Without Jesus Christ we could never measure up to God's absolute holiness. But remember Philippians 2:12-13 where Paul wrote, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."
CONCLUSION:
*Believers, we know that there are times of sadness and sorrow in Christian life, times of discouragement, and disappointment. Some of you are there right now, but God wants to put another new song in our hearts.
*Psalm 40 reminds us of this great truth. There vs. 1-3 say:
1. To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry.
2. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.
3. He has put a new song in my mouth --Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.
*Weary, sick, discouraged, grieving, betrayed believers, DON'T GIVE UP! God will put a new song in your heart. If nobody else cared for us, the LORD would still care. He cared enough us to give us an everlasting home and hope in Heaven.
*And again, I care enough about you to tell you that if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are without hope right now. But Jesus Christ can give you real hope. And Jesus will give you real hope, if you will put your trust in Him.
*Brian Bill told the story of a shipwreck many years ago Only one man survived. He was washed up on small uninhabited island. He cried out for God to save him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but he only got more depressed. Eventually he was able to build a little hut to protect himself and his only possessions.
*But one day when he was out hunting for food, he came back to find that his little hut had gone up in flames. The smoke was billowing up to the sky, and the shipwrecked man devastated. The worst had happened! Everything was lost! Stung with grief and anger he cried out, "God! How could you do this to me!"
*Exhausted, he drifted off to sleep. But he was awakened early the next day by the sound of a ship coming toward the island. It had come to rescue him! He couldn't believe it. When he got on board he asked the crew, "How did you know I was here?" And the sailors answered, "We saw your smoke signal yesterday" (11)
*Don't give up Christians! God will put a new song in your heart! But if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, please hear His voice today speaking through God's Word and God's Holy Spirit. Jesus loves you! He died on the Cross for you too. But three days later our crucified Lord rose again from the dead, forever in glorious victory over sin and death!
*Now our Risen Savior will save your soul! He will give you His gift of eternal life, if you will put your trust in Him. Receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today. Call on the Lord to save now as we go back to God in prayer. He will put the Song of Salvation in your heart. And that is the greatest new song of all!
(1) Sources:
-JOHN GILL'S EXPOSITION OF THE BIBLE by Dr. John Gill, D. D. - 1697-1771 - Published in 1746-1766, 1816 - "Introduction to Psalm 96" - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
-Charles H. Spurgeon, THE TREASURY OF DAVID, Psalm 96, Published in 1869-1885; public domain - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
(2) Adapted from JOHN PHILLIPS COMMENTARY, "Psalm 96: Let Us Sing" - Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - Downloaded to "Bible Study 6" from Olive Tree Bible Software, Inc.
(3) Original source for Mark Twain quotation unknown
(4) Sources:
-Bible Illustrator for windows Topic: Fatherhood / Subtopic: Of God / Index: 1246-1247 - Date: 12/1997.1874 / Title: A Psalm of Praise
-Bible Illustrator for windows - Topic: Worship - Subtopic: True Attitude in - Index: 3923 - Date: 2/1989.3 Title: unknown
(5) Adapted from "The Baptist Heritage" by H. Leon McBeth, Broadman Press, Nashville, TN, 1987, pp. 92-95
(6) Elizabeth Elliot, "The Liberty of Obedience", Nashville, Abingdon, 1968, pp. 45-46 - Source: SermonCentral sermon "Judging Those Who Judge" by James May - Romans 2:1-11
(7) "Just As I Am, Without One Plea" - Words by Charlotte Elliott, 1835. These words first appeared in "The Christian Remembrancer", whose editor Elliott became in 1836. The last verse is from Elliott's "Hours of Sorrow Cheered and Comforted", 1836 - Music: Woodworth William B. Bradbury, Mendelssohn Collection, or Third Book of Psalmody (New York: 1849).
(8) New Song Scriptures:
-Psalm 33:3 - Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
-Psalm 40:3 - He has put a new song in my mouth -- Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.
-Psalm 96:1 - Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth.
-Psalm 98:1 - A Psalm. Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! For He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
-Psalm 144:9 - I will sing a new song to You, O God; On a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You,
-Psalm 149:1 - Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise in the assembly of saints.
-Isaiah 42:10 - Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise from the ends of the earth, You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, You coastlands and you inhabitants of them!
-Revelation 5:9 - And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
-Revelation 14:3 - They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth.
(9) Sermon Central illustration contributed by James Chandler
(10) "The Holiness of God" by Bruce Goettsche - Isaiah 6:1-8 - 6/25/2000
(11) SermonCentral sermon: "Ruth: A Loyal Love Story" by Brian Bill - Ruth 1 1 - 4 22
