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Sing the Psalms–A Free App for your Apple or Android Phone
Scripture commands: “[S]ing Psalms” (James 5:13). The Spirit-filled saint is singing “psalms” as well as hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:18-21). If you are a believer, you have the obligation to sing God’s inspired psalms. You have the blessed privilege to sing the inspired psalms. You have the glorious blessing to sing to the Father the same words that the Lord Jesus sang to His Father on earth. What a blessing this is!
I am very thankful that recently Bro David Cloud wrote a valuable article commending psalm singing. Our church has sung from the 1650 Scottish Psalter, a literal psalter, for many years. My wife and I have sung through the 1650 Psalter numbers of times in our family devotions–we sing the same psalm every day for a week, and then the next week go on to the next psalm. (We also sing hymns from the Trinity hymnal, Baptist edition–as does our church–and from the Metropolitan Tabernacle’s hymnbook.)
Unfortunately, the edition of the 1650 Psalter that our church and our family worships with–a version which includes conservative tunes, rather than being words-only, called the Comprehensive Psalter–is not in print. The people who have the copyright are planning to reprint it, I have heard, so feel free to reach out to them if you would like physical copies for your church and home. However, if you are not able to get a physical copy, I am delighted to let you know that a quality app has been designed which includes the text and tunes of the 1650 Scottish Psalter. The app also plays the tunes so people who do not know how to read music can easily learn to sing the entire psalter. I would definitely recommend that you download the app, add it to your electronic devices, and joyfully obeying God’s command to sing the songs Christ sung in worship, the inspired, infallible, inerrant Psalms.
There are other metrical psalters (versions of the psalms that can be sung), but, in my view, the 1650 Psalter is the best, because it is one of the most literal of the singable psalters. Probably, in my experience, The Book of Psalms for Singing is my second choice.
I added links to both the Apple and Android version of the 1650 Psalter app on my website here in the ecclesiology section, where you can also find other useful helps for psalm-singing. Here are direct links to the apps:
1650 Psalter App for Apple devices
1650 Psalter App for Android devices
The price is right for the apps–100% free. That also makes it a great price for people who wish to obey God’s command to sing the psalms in foreign lands. Anyone, anywhere in the world, can download the app and sing the psalms using his electronic device. Churches who want to get physical copies of the 1650 Psalter can have everyone sing from his phone until physical copies are in print again.
God commands you to sing the psalms. Why not start today?
If you do sing the psalms, how has it been a blessing in your life, in addition to glorifying the Lord? Feel free to explain in the comment section.
–TDR
Worship Is God’s Priority for Men: The Case of 2 Chronicles 26
Man isn’t going to make his way through life without sinning, but he can as a habit or lifestyle come to God by faith in worship of Him through the means and in the way prescribed by God. 2 Chronicles reiterates this. In the midst of annals of especially various battles and conflicts with other nations, worship of God surfaces again and again.
Uzziah became king of Judah. 2 Chronicles 26 says “he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord” (v. 4). He “sought God” (v. 5). Verse 15 says, “he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.” The next verse (16) says:
But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
I think we should assume that “being strong” in this sense means that he was so strong that it went to his head. It’s the opposite of 2 Corinthians 12:10, the Apostle Paul, “for when I am weak, then am I strong.” The strength comes from the acknowledgment of weakness. Uzziah’s strength came from above and he didn’t recognize that, so he was really weak, the opposite of what Paul talked about. I think you get it.
So. “His heart was lifted up to his destruction.” Destruction sounds serious. That isn’t successful, being destroyed. What caused that? The strength that didn’t come from Uzziah, but he was considering it to be his strength, lifted up his heart, so that he did something that merited destruction. Another layer is that Uzziah “transgressed against the LORD his God.” Everyone transgresses against God, and it doesn’t result in destruction. What did result in destruction? This verse states it very plain.
He “went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.” Well, is it wrong to burn incense at the altar of incense? No. It wasn’t wrong. So why did that result in destruction? Just because something isn’t wrong doesn’t mean that it is right. Worship is regulated by what God says, not by what He doesn’t say. God designated the priests to burn incense on the altar of incense. When Uzziah did it instead, this was according to God “to his destruction.” God does not want innovation in worship. He wants exactly what He said that He wants.
The next few verses read:
17 And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: 18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God.
I guess you could call this an intervention. When someone violates biblical worship, it must be stopped and other people should involve themselves in stopping it. In this case, it’s someone in authority, but the worship of God is more important than his office. They couldn’t just “agree to disagree.” They had to do something about it.
Uzziah thought he was participating in an honorable activity, something an honor for him to do, burn incense to God. He might have felt good about it. Azariah and 80 other priests brought that to his attention, probably risking their lives to do so even as verse 17 calls them “valiant men.” It took guts for them to perform this intervention and to stop Uzziah from doing this.
People offered incense to God. It was permissible for them to offer it, but it wasn’t permissible for just anyone to do this. They had to be ordained and qualified people to do it. They were consecrated to do so, or in other words, they were set apart to do so, fulfilling the scriptural requirements. Others were not permitted to do it.
Silence wasn’t permission. This is very often where worship goes off the rails. If scripture doesn’t say it’s wrong, then someone is at liberty to do it. God didn’t tell Cain he couldn’t bring fruits and vegetables. That didn’t mean that bringing fruits and vegetables was right.
Today professing Christians, including leaders, say that a church shouldn’t stress over methods. It’s not worth being strict, onerous, or intolerable over methods. That’s not how scripture reads and especially when it comes to worship. Believers through the centuries observed that all worship must be regulated by scripture, including in its methodology. This is the regulative principle of worship. This text in 2 Chronicles 26 is further evidence of this.
Why are so many men, 81 of them, needed to stop one man from practicing false worship? I have noticed through the years, that when men are not functioning based on scripture, they are operating based on something else mostly related to their feelings. What they are doing is closely related to their own personal opinions. It’s pride. When someone crosses someone in a personal way and against their emotions or feelings, they react in an emotional way and even a violent way. It’s not an easy reaction. It can be difficult to deal with.
Consider what occurs in the next two verses:
19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. 20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him.
“Come as you are” or “sanctify yourselves”?
Today we hear a great deal about how we should come to church just as we are. I recall a life-size ad that was posted for many weeks at a local mall in Wisconsin. It had a picture of a guy in a T-shirt holding a Bible, a big tattoo visible on his arm, wearing jeans. The ad asked, “Would Jesus wear jeans to church?” There was no gospel on the ad anywhere, although the religious organization claims to be evangelical. Even if someone were to (wrongly) think that the answer to that question is, “Yes,” unless wearing the jeans and the tattoo were an idol, one could answer “Yes, but who cares? Why aren’t you giving these lost people the gospel instead of asking them a silly question about clothing?” On the other hand, if the casual clothes are an idol that one is not willing to forsake to take up the cross and follow Christ, then the ad makes sense; we can “put down the cross and serve ourselves,” can keep everything in the world that the jeans and tattoo represent, instead of taking up the cross and following Christ.
But is the answer really “yes”? Are we supposed to come to church as we are?
Scripture regularly contains the following phrase when people were entering the presence of the infinitely holy Jehovah (in each case the Hithpael of the verb qds, “holy”):
Ex. 19:22 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.
Lev. 11:44 For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Lev. 20:7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.
Num. 11:18 And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat.
Josh. 3:5 And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.
Josh. 7:13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.
1Sam. 16:5 And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.
1Chr. 15:12 And said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it.
1Chr. 15:14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel.
2Chr. 29:5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.
2Chr. 29:15 And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.
2Chr. 29:34 But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.
2Chr. 30:3 For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
2Chr. 30:15 Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the LORD.
2Chr. 30:24 For Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
2Chr. 31:18 And to the genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation: for in their set office they sanctified themselves in holiness:
2Chr. 35:6 So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
So the world, and most of evangelicalism, says to come to church just as you are, the same way you come to any worldly event. Indeed, making no difference between the common or profane and the holy temple of God in this age is important enough to many evangelicals that they will refrain from giving people the gospel to instead focus upon the importance of coming to church in your T-shirt and jeans sporting your tattoo with your modern Bible version. Come as you are, sing to God the tunes of the world, and add a little religion to your life–your life which is all about you. By contrast, Scripture affirms, over and over again, that one is to sanctify himself before coming into the presence of the holy, holy, holy God.
So, in a true church, where the special presence of God is found in a manner comparable to the holy of holies in the Old Testament tabernacle (Gk. naos), you should not come just as you are. You should sanctify yourself–you should come in a way that is distinctly different, that is not common, not profane, but set apart to the righteous Lord and God who dwells in a special way in His true church. Jesus Christ walks in the midst of His churches, and He still hates any profanation of God’s worship the way He did when he took a whip and drove out the moneychangers and merchants from the Temple (John 2) and when He sent fire from heaven to burn up those who failed to sanctify Him in their worship (Leviticus 10).
Nor should true churches set up special meetings where the people of God specifically fail to sanctify themselves in their appearance and come into the presence of God in an informal, casual, common way so that lost people who visit feel more comfortable. There is no model for this in Scripture, and when in the New Testament a lost person comes under conviction after visiting church, it is because of the truth of the Word he has heard from the godly example and speech of the church members, not because they decided not to sanctify themselves. That is not the way to get the lost to confess “God is in you of a truth” (1 Corinthians 14:25), but to get them to confess: “There is nothing special here.” Much less should church services be turned into carnivals with give-aways to attract children who would not come for Christ but will come for candy.
On the other hand, if you are going to a religious organization that does not fit the Biblical criteria for one of Christ’s true churches, you might as well come as you are and make no difference between the holy and the common, since Christ is not there anyway. Go for it! But don’t deceive yourself and think that you are doing anything that is for the glory and honor of God when you are there. It’s about you. Be honest.
So, considered Biblically, a religious organization with a “seeker-sensitive, come as you are” philosophy of ministry is saying “God is not here. This is about us and what we want. No to Immanuel, yes to ourselves. The Bible says ‘sanctify yourselves’ before coming into God’s presence–but we say exactly the opposite.”
On a side note, the Keswick / Higher Life idea that “You cannot sanctify yourself” is the opposite of what the passages of Scripture above teach. The sons of God, enabled by grace, do indeed sanctify themselves; that is one of the ways that God sanctifies them.
Please do not draw the conclusion from this article that the lost need to make themselves worthy before they can come to Christ. This post is about God’s people and how they should come into the presence of God in His church, not about how the lost should come to Christ as empty-handed sinners with nothing but their sin. Please also do not conclude that we should discourage lost people who know nothing about God’s Word from hearing preaching or attending services if they do not dress nicely enough. That is not what the post is about either. Nor did the post say anything to the effect that the outside is more important than the inside; that is not the case. God does care about sanctifying all of who we are, inside and outside. Do not take the post for what it does not say, but what it does say.
Let’s just be honest with these passages of Scripture and recognize that the saints should sanctify themselves in their hearts, minds, and appearance before they come into the special presence of the God who commanded, “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16; Leviticus 11:44). Not soli mihi gloria, but soli Deo gloria.
–TDR
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