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“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalms 100:1-5 ESV)
This psalm is an appeal to the people of all the earth to come to genuine God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (God the Son). For He is God, our creator God who made us. And God the Father sent him to the earth to die for us on a cross so that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. By faith in Jesus Christ we therefore are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, not as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness.
But this is not just about singing and making a joyful noise, for we are to serve the Lord with gladness. And in order to serve the Lord we must first of all believe in Jesus Christ in truth and in righteousness. We must die with him to sin so that we can be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him. We must deny self, die daily to sin, and walk in obedience to his commands if we are to be of the faith which saves us from our bondage to sin and which empowers us to live godly and holy lives pleasing to God.
Now God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – is our creator God. So in that sense he owns us and he can do with us as he chooses. But only those who listen to (heed, regard, follow) our Lord Jesus, and who walk with him in obedience to his commands, are his true sheep (followers). And they only are the ones who are promised eternal life with God, that they will never perish, and that no one can snatch them out of the hands of God. For if we do not obey God, but we continue in sin, we will not have life in Him.
Now if we are to enter the gates of the Lord, we can only do that via dying with Christ to sin and by his grace now walk in fellowship with him in walks of obedience to his commands in holy living. Verbal professions of faith in Jesus Christ alone do not bring us into genuine relationship with our Lord. And they do not assure us of forgiveness of all sins and the hope of heaven when we die. For we can’t really know God if we do not obey him, and we can’t be in fellowship with him if we are still deliberately walking in sin.
So, if we truly want to enter into the gates of our Lord, it is not just with singing and verbally praising the Lord and verbally speaking or singing words of praise, adoration, and thanksgiving. For there are many who give lip service to the Lord whose hearts are far from him. Their worship of God is in formality only, as taught by other humans, but there is no substance behind what is verbally coming from their lips. And so they will die in their sins. They will not enter into God’s heavenly gates at the end of it all.
For the Lord is good, and he is completely faithful to all that he said that he would do. And so we cannot just verbalize worship and praise of God with our lips only and think that assures us forgiveness of all sins and heaven as our eternal destiny. Many who profess the name of Jesus are still walking in sin, still doing what their evil hearts desire, hiding what they do in secret, thinking that no one knows. But God knows. And he said if we walk in sin and do not obey him that we will not inherit eternal life with God.
And that is a very sad reality, and one that grieves me regularly. So many people giving lip service to the Lord, singing their praise and worship songs, convinced that all their sins are forgiven, and that heaven is their eternal destiny, but who are dying and going to hell because they would not surrender their lives to Jesus Christ. They would not deny self, die daily to sin, and walk in obedience to God’s commands. But they continued in their deliberate and habitual sin and would not submit to Christ as Lord.
So, don’t take God’s grace for granted. Don’t assume that just because you made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, and/or that you got baptized, and/or that you attend weekly “church” gatherings where you lift your hands and verbally sing songs of worship and praise of God, that God is now pleased with you and that heaven is guaranteed you. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven.
[Is 29:13-16; Is 53:1-12; Matt 7:21-23; Matt 26:26-29; Lu 9:23-26; Lu 17:25; Jn 1:1-36; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 8:24,58; Jn 10:27-33; Jn 20:28-29; Rom 5:8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 9:5; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 11:23-32; 1 Co 15:1-8; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Eph 4:17-24; Php 2:5-11; Col 2:9; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 1:8-9; Heb 2:14-15; Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Pet 1:1; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
Songwriters: L. David Lewis / Kim Williams / Edward Monroe Hill
There's a grief that can't be spoken
There's a pain goes on and on
Empty chairs at empty tables
Now my friends are dead and gone
Here they talked of revolution
Here it was they lit the flame
Here they sang about tomorrow
And tomorrow never came
From the table in the corner
They could see a world reborn
And they rose with voices ringing
And I can hear them now!
The very words that they had sung
Became their last communion
On this lonely barricade
At dawn
Phantom faces at the window
Phantom shadows on the floor
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will meet no more
Oh my friends, my friends
Don't ask me what your sacrifice was for
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will sing no more
Caution: This link may contain ads
Empty Voices Singing Empty Praise
An Original Work / December 16, 2024
Reposted December 16, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
