Our study through the different
books in the Bible to the Psalms. And I wondered, what psalms to
preach from this morning? When I got back from Iowa, I
landed Monday evening, and a champ picked me up at the airport.
We went immediately over to a couple's house for dinner. Afterwards,
some of the men came over, and Aaron Greenleaf was one of them. I was so glad to see him. I already
heard how it went. I already knew how it went. But
I was glad to hear from him how he felt last Sunday when he told
me how much he enjoyed preaching here. Just thoroughly enjoyed
it. And I knew he would. I mean, I knew he would. You
all are the easiest group of people to preach to. Just as
you sit there, you're so encouraging. It's easy to preach to people
who are anxious to hear about Christ. It's just enjoyable.
And Aaron made an interesting comment. He said it was obvious
the folks were there to worship. That was the reason that they
came, was to worship. And I was so glad to hear that. And as I was reading through
these Psalms, I came to Psalm 95, and I thought about what
Aaron said, and I wanted to preach from it. The title of the lesson
is True Worship. Now, worship. is very important. I don't know how to overstress
the importance of worshiping the Lord. You know, we gather
together. We want to have social interaction
and friendship with one another, but we need a whole lot more
than a social club. You can find a social club about
anywhere. And we do want to enjoy fellowship together, but we need
a whole lot more than just a lodge. We need fellowship in Christ,
fellowship as we worship Him together. The purpose of the
church is not social agendas and all these different things.
The purpose of the church is to preach Christ. The purpose
of the church is to be a place where sinners can come and worship,
worship the Lord. The chief end of man is to glorify
God in worship. Now the definition of worship
is humble reverence and honor given to God. All right, how
do we do that? How do we give humble reverence
and honor to God? Well, you know, it's not in the
way that we think of. It's not in the way that we think is best.
Well, I think this is the way we ought to do it. No, God's
to be worshipped in the way he said he's to be worshipped. God
has told us in his word how he is to be worshipped. And I want
to give you just a few, we won't turn to all these scriptures,
but you listen to them, you can jot them down if you want. But
this is what I learned from God's word about worship. God's to
be worshiped through a blood sacrifice. Genesis 22 verse 5,
Abraham said unto his young men, abide ye here with the ass, I
and the lad will go yonder and worship. And we'll come again
to you. What were they going to go up
to that mountain to do? Offer a blood sacrifice. God is to
be worshipped through a blood sacrifice. Next I learned this. Only God is to be worshipped.
God is the sole object of our worship. We're never to worship
an idol. Exodus 34 verse 14. Thou shalt
worship no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous, is
a jealous God. He only is to be worshipped.
Next, I learned this. God is to be worshipped through
our giving. Worship involves the giving of
ourselves to the Lord. Our money certainly, but our
whole self is to be given to the Lord in worship. First Chronicles
16, verse 29. Give unto the Lord the glory
due unto his name. Bring an offering and come before
him, Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. That brings
me to the next thing I learned. God can only be worshiped in
holiness. Psalm 29 verse 2. Give unto the
Lord the glory due unto his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. Now that means we can only worship
God in Christ, doesn't it? In Christ our holiness. That
brings me to the next thing I learned. If we're going to worship God,
We must worship Christ the King. Not a babe in a manger now. Christ
the King. Matthew 2 verse 2. The wise men
said, where is he who's born King of the Jews? For we've seen
a star in the east and we're come to worship him. They weren't
come to worship a babe in a manger. They came to worship Christ the
King, didn't they? Next I learned this. If we're
going to worship God, I said this earlier, we've got to worship
Him according to His Word. We've got to worship the way
God told us to worship. We've got to worship Him in the
truth of His Word, not in the ideas of men and the doctrines
of men, but in the Word of God. Matthew 15, verse 9, in vain
they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men. If you're teaching the commandments
of men, that's not worship. Our Lord said that. Now I want
you to turn to this one, John chapter 4. True worship is not
done in a place. Don't become ever married to
this building. Right now it's a place of worship.
It may not always be. Worship is not done in a place. True worship is in a person,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. John 4 verse 20. This woman at
the well, speaking to our Lord, says, our fathers worshiped in
this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, woman,
believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain,
nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship, you
know not what. We worship, we know what we worship,
for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him. Worship is not a place, worship
is a person. It's worshiping the Lord Jesus
Christ. And true worship is not the form
and the ceremony of religion. True worship is done in spirit
and in truth. And God the Holy Spirit leading
our hearts in worship. Look at verse 24. God is spirit. That word A you'll notice is
in italics. It was added by the translators. Just take an ink
pen and cross it out. They harm the meaning of the
verse by adding that. God is spirit. and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Next I learned this, true worship
has got nothing to do with the flesh and it has everything to
do with Christ. Philippians 3 verse 3, for we
are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. The flesh does
not enter into worship. Worship is a heart matter. And
then I learned this. Worship is the occupation of
the church. It's the occupation of the church
on earth and it's the occupation of the earth in heaven forever.
Revelations 4 verse 10. The four and twenty elders fall
down before him that sat on the throne and worship him that liveth
forever and ever. So I want us to look here at
Psalm 95 and see what David has to teach us about worship. Now
first I learned this. Worship, it's not a spectator
sport. Worship is something that involves
the whole being. Look at verse one, Psalm 95.
Oh come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let's make a joyful noise
to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence
with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms. Now
first of all, if you're going to worship, now you're going
to have to come. You're going to have to come
before the Lord. And it would certainly be helpful
to come to the public worship service. Now I'm certainly not
taking away anything from private devotion. We ought to have our
private devotion time of prayer and reading. But private devotion
is never a replacement for the public worship service. The Lord
didn't promise to bless our private devotion, did he? He promised
to be where two or three are gathered together in his name,
in the public worship service. That's what God promised to bless.
And I understand a person can't always be in the public worship
service. I know that. But we cannot expect to worship
God if we're not frequently in the place of public worship.
This is where God promised to meet with his people. The writers
of the Hebrews warned us, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
together, as the manner of some is, if we're going to worship
God, we've got to come, don't we? We've got to come before
his throne. And it certainly helps to be in the public worship
service. Now come, David says, that word he uses means come
with some speed and some urgency because it is important to worship
God. It's not a spectator sport. The
second thing about worship not being a spectator sport is this,
singing. That's an important part of the
public worship service. You know, Mike, very carefully,
I always email him the text that I plan to preach on well in advance
because he carefully picks out songs for us to sing in our service.
He picks out songs that have a true meaning, songs that honor
the Savior. He's doing more than just trying
to find something that might go with the message. It's something
that honors the Savior. Well, now, when he gets up here
to lead the singing, don't make the man sing a solo, you know.
Sing out. This is where to participate,
you know. And all of us can't sing. I understand
that. But it's okay. Just make a joyful
noise. That's what David tells us. You
just make a joyful noise. And if you can't sing very well,
Michael will cover you. You know, he's got a good voice.
He's got the microphone. He'll cover us. You know, just
sing out. The song surface, really now, it's not a space filler.
When we sing songs, the last song, the closing song, it's
not a space filler. You know, it's not just something
we got to do to give me time to walk to the back. It's not
a space filler. It's part of worship. When we
sing this song, don't be thinking about how fast you can get out
of here, where you can go eat or what. It's part of the worship
surface. Participate. David says, sing
with thanksgiving. Sing with thanksgiving for the
gospel you just heard. It's not everywhere. Be thankful
and sing, participate. And you all sing. I'm not getting
on you. You all sing. You sing so well. It's something
else. A number of visiting preachers
have told me they enjoy the song service here. Because this is,
I've heard, I can't tell you how many times I've heard this,
people sing from the heart. Well now don't quit that, that's
an important part of worship. Show up, participate and sing. Second, God is to be worshiped
just because of who he is. God's to be worshiped because
he's God. Look at verse three. For the Lord is a great God and
a great king above all gods. Now we talk about God. We mean
God. Now, we mean God. We're not talking
about this weak, helpless God, an idol who has to always react
to what men are doing. Now, if we're going to worship
God, we've got to worship God as he has been pleased to reveal
himself to men in his word. So when we talk about God, we
mean God who's king because that's how he's revealed in his word.
He's king. Whatever it is he's pleased to
do, that's what he's doing. He's not begging men to do anything.
He's king. When we come to worship, we bow
before the king who's on the throne. No one can compare to
him. He's on the throne. Isaiah got
a view of him, didn't he? Isaiah got a view of the majesty
of God as he sat upon his throne. Well, it's only right that we
bow before His throne in the dust and humble reverence. He's
King. He deserves to be worshipped.
That's who He is. Second, God's to be worshipped
for who He is because He's the Creator. He's the Creator and
He's holding all this creation together by the power of His
Word. Look at verse 4. In his hand are the deep places
of the earth. The strength of the hills is
his also. The sea is his. He made it and his hands formed
the dry land. Now, you know, we read this in
Genesis. At one time, this whole globe was covered with water,
wasn't it? Well, why is there dry land for us to live on now?
Because God said, let the water under the heaven be gathered
together in one place and let the dry land appear. And it was
so. It happened just because God
said for it to happen. God's the creator of everything.
He took nothing and created something from it. God didn't take things
that are already here and form them and fashion them, you know,
into something else. No, there was nothing. And God
took nothing and made it something by the word of His power. And
you and I are living on God's creation. We're walking on His
land. We're eating the bounty of His
land. Dale just prayed about it. We're breathing God's air,
we're drinking God's water, we're eating God's food. It's just
reasonable that we worship God, the creator and sustainer of
everything that we see. It really does amaze me. I see
pictures of the globe, Earth, from outer space. And it's amazing. I mean, there's this ball just
hanging there in space. It doesn't have foundations under
it. It's not hanging from a string
or sticking on a stick. It's just nothing. It just hangs
there, you know? And how does all the water not
fly off the earth? You know, how does the dust not...
I mean, how does everything just stay right here in this compact
little ball? Because God's holding everything
together. That's why. And there can be scientific explanation,
but God's holding it together. I'm telling you. It's in his
hand. The seas don't overflow the earth
again. You know why? Because God told
the oceans just go right there and go no further. Tomorrow,
Lord willing, Jay and I are going to go to the beach. I know exactly
where the ocean is going to be. I don't even have to wonder.
I know exactly where it's going to be. It's going to be right
where God told it to stay. That's where it is. And the ocean,
all the water of the globe, David describes it as in God's palm. He's just holding it. I can hold
one or two drops of water in my hand and not for very long.
God just holds it all in the palm of His hand. That's how
immense God is. Isn't He worthy to be worshipped?
He's so much greater than us. We ought to worship Him. All
the mountains and hills, God's holding them in place by His
power. I see pictures of Mount Everest and people trying to
climb that thing and occasionally there's avalanches and stuff.
I wonder how come the whole mountain doesn't just fall down? because
God's holding it in place by His power. Oh, He deserves to
be worshiped in a humble reverence. You think of the difference between
Him and us? We ought to worship Him. It's just right. Next, God's
to be worshiped because who He is. He's our maker. Look here at verse six. O come,
let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord,
our maker. God's our maker. Everybody here
at this moment has physical life. Why do you have it? God gave
it, he's your maker. He began it in your mother's
womb and he sustains it right up until this moment. He's our
maker. You know, the least we can do
is worship the one who gave us life. The least we can do is
worship the one who sustains that life. We couldn't sustain
it for one second if it wasn't for Him. It's the least we can
do. God's given us life. He's given us faculties. The
least we can do is use those things to worship Him. God's
given you a mind. Use it to think on Him. Paul
said about all, he named all those things, those good things.
Think on those things. Whatever's good and right, think
on those things. God gave you a voice. Use it
to sing of Him. Use it to tell others about Him.
You know, when you're at home, you go home this week, make your
home a place. Where Christ is discussed, He's
talked about. Talk about it. God gave you a
voice. Talk about Him. You'll encourage one another.
God gave you abilities to do things. Well, use them. For the
good of others, use them. And God's our maker. He's the
maker of the new man, too. God gives birth to spiritual
life in all of His people. Now, that natural man, he's dead. I don't care what you do, how
you twist his arm, how you prod him and poke him, he'll never
worship God. He'll never use what he has to
worship God. He'll never be thankful. But
God gives life in the new birth and that new man, he's life. That new man will worship God.
He'll use everything he is to worship God. That new man will
worship God out of love and thanksgiving because he loves God. He's thankful
to him. and worship and bowing down. Now this is not so much
physical acts as it is the bowing of the heart. You know, the Apostle
Paul said bodily exercise profiteth little. He means the bodily motions
of religion. There's no profit in that. But
now heart godliness, now that's profitable in all things. Worship
is a matter of the heart. I know a lot of religious people
in our day, they like to make a big show, a bodily show of
worship, don't they? You know, they wave their arms
around and they bow, and then they raise their hands and bow
their heads, you know. Some of them bow clear down on
the ground, and I'm glad we don't do that. Somebody had to help
me up. You know, they sing, their eyes rolling back in their heads,
you know. That's not worship. Now, I'm
not making fun. I'm just telling you, that's
not worship. You and I would be in the same
ignorance if it wasn't for God's grace. All that is is a show
of the flesh. That's all it is. It's not worship
from the heart. And then some religious people go the opposite
direction. They're not going to have any
sign of the flesh. So they're very somber. They're
very stoic. They chant like a monk or something.
And they just won't show any emotion. Well, now, that's not
worship either. I mean, that's just dry, dead
whatever. When there's true worship from
the heart, it'll show on you. It'll show on your face, it'll
show on your action, it'll show on your singing, it'll show on
your amens. You know, you'd be amazed what you can see up here
while you're preaching. I mean, I can tell when you're
enjoying it. I can tell when you're worshiping. You ladies,
you cook a good meal and your family sits down to eat, you
can tell when they're enjoying it. The same thing applies to
preaching the gospel. You can tell. And that reaction is good. You
want me to tell you the difference between this thing that's out
here in left field and true worship? True worship has a reaction that
will not take away from Christ being preached. True worship,
there's a reaction to it and it won't take attention away
from Christ to you, but rather it'll help you worship the Lord.
It's a heart matter. Fourth, God's to be worshipped
for who He is. Because only God would have chosen
the people to save. God's merciful to sinners. He
deserves our worship. Look at verse 7. For He is our
God. He's our God. And we are the
people of His pasture, the sheep of His hand. Now, God chose people
to save. They're His elect. God chose
those people and He put them in His Son. He put those people
in the pasture of His Word so they could feed. He gave them
pastors to lead them in the Word, to feed them the Word. And those
people worship God. Now they worship God just for
who He is, not because of what He's done for them. They worship
God because of who He is. Because for reasons known only
to Him, He chose to be merciful to His people. God chose to be merciful to me. I believe I worship Him. I believe
He's worthy. And those elect are God's sheep.
They're held safe. Those sheep are secure in the
hand of Almighty God. Our Lord said, no man can pluck
them out of my hand. So despite who I am by nature,
despite all my failings, all my shortcomings, despite the
fact that at this moment, I'm preaching the gospel. And at
this very moment, if God lead me to myself, I'd lead him right
now. Despite all that, I'm safe in
his hand. I believe in thanksgiving, I
can worship God. Don't you? Where is sheep? And sheep need a shepherd. God's
own son became the great shepherd of his sheep. He became a man
so he could be the shepherd of God's elect. All those sheep,
the sheep of God, they have life. You know why? The good shepherd
gave his life for them. He died for them so they could
live. He deserves to be worshipped.
You know, we honor men in our military who've given their lives
in protecting this country. Christ gave his life for his
sheep. Oh, he's to be worshiped. And the sheep are with the shepherd. You know why? Because Christ
the good shepherd came to seek and to save that which was lost. Christ the Shepherd, He finds
every one of His sheep. Now, they're lost. They think
they're lost. He knows right where they're
at. And He finds them. And He brings them home. He carries
them safely all the way home. How He deserves our worship. Oh, He's the Good Shepherd. Christ
our Shepherd brings His sheep to the lush grass of His Word. He leads His sheep beside the
still water so we can drink, so we can be cleansed. Christ
our shepherd uses his rod and his staff to keep the sheep from
falling off the cliff. If he didn't use that rod and
that staff, we'd fall in the ditch, we'd fall off the cliff,
and we'd be gone. He uses his rod and his staff
to keep his sheep safe, to protect us from ourselves. Oh, I can
worship the Lord because he's merciful, because of who he is.
I'm thankful God the King is a merciful God. And then third,
here's a warning. God cannot be worshipped by us
just going through the motions. Look at the end of verse 7. He
starts to give us a warning here. Now, today, if you'll hear his
voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, as in
the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers
tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was
I grieved with this generation. And said, it's a people that
do err in their heart. See, it's a heart matter. And
they've not known my ways. Unto whom I swear in my wrath
that they should not enter into my rest. Now, worship is a heart
matter. Now, you may notice one of the
first things Brother Dale prayed for is God give us a spirit of
worship. Because worship's a heart matter.
And God cannot be worshipped from a hard, dead heart. If we're
going to worship God, God's got to give us a new heart. God can
only be worshiped through faith in Christ. Faith that comes from
that new heart God gives. Now those Jews in the wilderness,
God brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And somehow
after spending all those years in slavery and thinking they'd
never go free from Egypt, God miraculously brought them out
and they just thought God owed it to them to bring them to Canaan,
didn't they? And instead of being thankful,
they just went through the motions. And they went through the motions
so long, they weren't thankful. I hope God helped me to never
be ungrateful and unthankful for His mercy. They tempted God
by complaining about His provision for them. God gave them manna
and quail and water and they complained. And see, their error
was heart error. And because of that heart error,
God said, they won't enter into my rest. Because there can't
be any rest to an unbelieving heart. That old, hard, natural
heart we're born with can never find rest. The only rest that
we'll ever have is from the new heart that looks to Christ, that
depends upon Christ. Their error was a heart error.
Physically, they were going through the motions. Physically, they
were doing most all the same things those people who looked
to Christ were doing. They went out and went through
the Red Sea. They took that act and they walked out in the middle
of that ocean and went through the Red Sea. But it was just
going through the motions. They complained about it, but
they would not gather manna and ate it every day. They drank
from that smitten rock every day, but they're just going through
the motions. They didn't do those things looking
to Christ, who is the manna, looking to Christ, who is the
Red Sea for us, looking to Christ, who is the smitten rock. See,
salvation is not going through the motions. Salvation, worship,
is not being in the right church. True worship is not having the
right doctrine. True worship is not knowing all
the right facts. Salvation and worship is Christ. Salvation is a vital living union
with Christ. It's not the motions. It's union
with Him. And how I pray, This place will
long be known for a place where God's worshipped because he is
absolutely worthy. Oh God deliver us from just going
through the motions. And that's a good prayer that
gotta keep us from doing that because you gotta admit Many
of you have never known anything but the gospel. When I was growing up, from the
time I understood language, I was taught the scriptures. I heard
the gospel. And Brother Henry was the most
faithful, gifted pastor And you just show up four times a week
and he preaches this message. Oh my, that's so wonderful. He
made it look so easy. And it's easy to take for granted. Don't take it for granted. Don't
just go through the motions. Come here seeking a word from
God. Come here seeking to worship
Him from a heart of worship. Because He's worthy. Alright,
Lord bless you.