We learn more and more by experience. What he just sang, you will cry
out to the Lord when there's nowhere else to go. You will turn to him in faith
when he fixes it, that you realize you have nowhere else to go.
And you who believe, thank God he arranges things so that every
refuge, every trust, every supply to which we would naturally look,
he shuts it up, tears it down, and takes it away and gives us
nowhere else to go, graciously, sweetly forcing us to come to
the throne of grace and obtain mercy and grace to help in time
of need. Turn with me, if you will, to
Leviticus 22. My text will be the last three
verses of this blessed chapter, verses 31 through 33. I would encourage you as I preach
to you through the book of Leviticus, frequently to read the book of
Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews draws a
clear and inspired contrast between the Mosaic dispensation and this
day of grace. A clear and decisive contrast
between ceremonial legal worship and the worship of God in spirit
and in truth in Christ Jesus the Lord. We've come here tonight
to worship our God. I put on our bulletins and notices
about announcing times of service. We have a morning worship service,
an evening worship service, and a midweek worship service. I
do that deliberately to try to draw attention to you and to
others a distinction. In this place, we only have one
purpose for gathering, and that is the worship of God. I endeavor
in my preaching and everything I say from this pulpit In my
conversations with you personally, I endeavor always to inspire
in our hearts a sense of awe concerning our God, declaring
the greatness of our God. Only when you find something
overwhelming about God will you worship him. We come here to
worship, not to just go through the motions of religious activity,
but to worship God. God, the Holy Spirit tells us
bodily exercise profiteth little. And when he says that in 1 Timothy,
he's not talking about going to the gymnasium, working out
with weights or riding a bicycle or doing calisthenics. The bodily
exercise he's talking about is the practice of religious service. The mere exercise of religious
activity, religious ceremonies, the mere performance of religious
duty is of little, if any benefit to anyone's soul. What we must
have is godliness, vital godliness. And I want by the grace and power
of God the Holy Ghost tonight, to inspire you to worship. The title of my message is Inspiration
to Worship. Worship is the duty of all. Every man and woman in this world
ought to worship God. God testifies of his being, his
character, his might, his power, his infinite superiority to all
his creatures, both in creation and in your conscience. It's
the duty of all who have life and breath to worship God. It
is the great, great privilege of a few. Oh, what a privilege. to have
a place to come and worship God. I was glad when they said unto
me, let us go unto the house of the Lord. I cannot imagine,
I cannot imagine, I cannot imagine having the opportunity to gather
with God's people in his house and worship God and willfully
absent myself from it. I cannot imagine that. You explain
it best you can for yourself. I cannot imagine it. But if we
would worship God, there are some things God requires. We
find this written throughout the scriptures, but right here
in this 22nd chapter of Leviticus, the Lord God tells us very plainly
that there are some things he requires, things revealed in
this chapter that if we would worship God, the infinite, omnipotent,
infallibly glorious, holy, sovereign Lord God, We're told in verse
four, we must stand before him in perfect cleanness. You can't come to God unclean. You must come to God in perfect
cleanness. We cannot eat the holy things
of the altar until we're clean. We're told in verse four. Christ
is our altar. Christ is our sacrifice. but
none can feast upon the things of Christ. None can enjoy and
partake of the boundless mercy, grace, and love of God in Christ
until he be clean. And there's only one way for
sinners to be made clean before God. If you would be clean before
God, you must plunge into that fountain which he has opened
for uncleanness and for sin. There is a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunge beneath
that flood, lose all their guilty stains. The Apostle Paul writes
to the Corinthians and says, no ye not, the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And such were some of you. And such were some of you, but
ye are washed. but ye are sanctified, but ye
are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God, washed from all your sins, justified by God Almighty,
made just before Him, sanctified, made holy by Him, by the Lord
Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. That makes our bodies
the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in us. We're bought
with a price. We're not our own. Let us then
glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits, which are God's.
In verses 19 and 29, not only must we be clean if we would
worship God, if we would worship God, we must do so willingly. All of God's servants are volunteers. All of God's servants worship
and serve Him with willing hearts. Anything we offer to God, we
must offer because we want to, willingly. Now I fully recognize
no sinner will ever want to worship God until he's made willing by
the work of God's omnipotent grace. Thy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. We're made willing
by God. And no one will ever willingly
worship God until God graciously forces him to do so. But when
God conquers you by his grace, he makes you willing to worship
him. Once God puts his grace in us,
we worship him because we want to worship him. Oh, how I want to worship Him
in the totality of my life, to worship Him. You can mark this
down and take it to the bank. God Almighty will never receive
and He will never honor anything done for Him or given in His
name that does not arise from a willing heart. If there be
first a willing mind, it is accepted. According to that a man hath,
and not according to that which he hath not. Here's the third
thing. We can only worship God with
our best. We can only worship God with
our best. Look at verse 24. You shall not
offer unto the Lord that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken,
or cut, neither shall you make any offering thereof in your
land. The Lord God speaks plainly concerning
these matters. I want you to turn over to Malachi
chapter one for a minute. Hold your hands in Leviticus.
Look at Malachi one. See how God speaks. Verse six. A son honoreth his father, and
a servant his master. If I then be a father, where
is mine honor? If I be a master, where is my
fear, saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priest that despise
my name? And you say, wherein have we
despised thy name? And God says, I'll tell you.
You offer polluted bread upon mine altar. And you say, wherein
have we polluted thee? In that you say the table of
the Lord is contemptible. Contemptible. Contemptible. Something to be despised. Something
I can take at a whim. Something I can take or leave.
It really doesn't matter. The table of the Lord is contemptible.
And if you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if you offer the lame and
sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor.
Will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person, saith the
Lord of hosts? Look at verse 12. But ye have
profaned it, in that ye say the table of the Lord is polluted,
and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. He said
also, behold, what a weariness it is. And you have snuffed at
it, saith the Lord of hosts. And you brought that which was
torn, and the lame, and the sick. Thus you brought an offering.
Should I accept this of your hands, saith the Lord? But cursed
be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and boweth
and sacrifices unto the Lord a corrupt thing. For I am a great
king, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among
the heathen. God will not be worshiped except
as we bring him our best. Now, I'm one of those fellas,
I don't mind at all eating leftovers. If I like them to start with,
I like them second time. I don't mind my wife serving
me leftover biscuits and gravy and leftover macaroni and cheese
and leftover mashed potatoes. It doesn't bother me a bit. Doesn't
bother me a bit. Her leftovers are better than what you buy
about anywhere. But God Almighty won't take your leftovers. He won't have your leftovers.
Some years ago, I was talking to a man, and I had a good bit
of respect for him before he said this. He said, once I take
my retirement, I plan to start preaching. And I thought, you
what? In fact, in fact, I said to him,
you what? Once I get my retirement in,
I plan to take my retirement and start preaching. And I didn't
say what I was thinking I probably should have. I thought, I sure
wish you wouldn't do that. God won't have your leftovers
in anything. He won't have seconds. He will
not honor that which does not honor him. If we would worship
God, we must worship him with our best. The best of our time. the best of our efforts, the
best of our gifts, the best of our service. I cannot preach as well as many
men. I can't do anything about that.
I can't do the things that I do as well as many who do the same
things. I can't do anything about that.
But I'll tell you what I do as a preacher. I've done this as
your pastor all these years. Three times every week. Every
time I go up to Wasilla, doesn't matter whether we're meeting
with six or a dozen or two dozen, I tell you what I do. I don't
ever preach except I do the best I can do. The best I can do. I've said to many young preachers,
if that means you stay up all night, you stay up all night.
If that means you can't get the rest you need, you just can't
get the rest you need. If that means you have trouble with this
or trouble with that, that doesn't matter. That doesn't matter. To stand in this place, oh, faithful
men who would worship God do their best. And that's the only
way you'll worship God in the totality of your life, is with
your best. Here's the fourth thing. The
worship of our God deserves and requires personal sacrifice. Verse 25. Neither from a stranger's
hand shall you offer the bread of your God of any of these,
because their corruption is in them. and blemishes be in them,
they shall not be accepted for you. You remember what David
said to Aaron, when Aaron offered to give him his threshing floor,
David said, nay, but I will surely buy of thee at a price, neither
will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that
which doth cost me nothing. of that which doth cost me nothing. I won't give that to God. I wouldn't
give it to you. I wouldn't think about giving
you a birthday gift or an anniversary gift or just a hello gift that
cost me nothing. I wouldn't do that to anybody.
Not to God for sure. We will not worship God without
sacrifice. happen. It won't happen. If we would worship the Lord
our God, we must do so by feasting upon His sacrifice in His house. That is by living upon Christ
Jesus by faith. Worship requires the feast of
faith. Look at verse 30, On the same
day it shall be eaten up, You shall leave none of it until
tomorrow. I am the Lord. The sacrifice
had to be eaten. And the sacrifice had to be eaten,
the whole of it at one time. The whole of it at one time.
It's talking about Christ Jesus, our Lord. He's called the bread
of God. Turn back to John chapter six
again. John the sixth chapter. hear what our Lord says about
faith in Him. The just shall live by faith. We talk about walking in the
Spirit, it's living by faith. It's not a charismatic, deeper
life, kezik, superficial, put on a show nonsense. And that's
all that stuff is, it's just put on a show. No, no, no, no.
The worship of God is a continual feast of faith. John 6, 48. The
Lord Jesus says, I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat
manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which
cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not
die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The
Jews therefore stove among themselves, that's what religious people
do when they're confused, saying, how can this man give us his
flesh to eat? Oh, he must be talking about
cannibalism. Isn't it amazing how brilliantly dumb religious
people are when they start talking about religious things they don't
understand? How can he give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat
the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have
no life in you. Boy, that didn't help him any,
did it? He spoke to them in such a way as to deliberately confuse
them while giving light to folks who were called by His grace.
Who sweeteth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and
I will raise him up at the last day for my flesh, my obedience
to God as a man, my righteousness, My holiness, my substitution,
my representation, my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood, my
sacrifice, my atonement, my satisfaction of justice, my propitiation is
drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood, he that takes my righteous, And he that takes my sacrifice
dwelleth in me, and I in him. And the living Father, as the
living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that
eateth me, even he shall live by me. In a little bit, we're
gonna take the bread and wine of the Lord's table together
again. And while this is not eating his flesh and drinking
his blood, this is done in remembrance of him. But this is a picture
of faith. We take Christ's His holy humanity represented
in that unleavened bread with our hands and eat His flesh. And everything of value in that
bread is mine forever. Everything of value, once it
goes in my mouth, everything of value in that bread is mine
forever. We'll take that cup of wine,
representing Christ's blood of the new covenant shed for our
sins, and we drink it. What a picture of faith. We take
Christ's blood atonement for ourselves. And as I take that
cup of wine and drink it, everything of value in that wine is mine
forever. It becomes a part of me. It becomes
a part of me. We don't stand here like papist
pretenders and give you the bread and give you the wine. Here,
you take a sip, I'll put it in your mouth. You take a bite,
I'll stick it in your mouth. No, no, no, no, no, no. I can't
believe God for you. Your mom and daddy can't believe
God for you. Your brother and sister can't
believe God for you. You must eat his flesh and drink
his blood. And as soon as you take his obedience
for your obedience, his satisfaction for your satisfaction, the life
of God abides in you forever. That's called a life of faith.
Back in Leviticus. Chapter 22, verse 31. God requires also in our worship
that we worship him after the divine order. Therefore shall
you keep my commandments and do them. I am the Lord. If we would worship God, if we
would worship God, who must worship him in precisely the way he prescribes
in his word, adding nothing to it, taking nothing from it. I was talking to a preacher,
Brother Marvin Stoniker, the other day, and we're talking
about a difficulty we're both aware of. And he said, Brother
Don, you said something to me probably 30, 35 years ago, I
never forgot. You said to me, Marvin, I'm never
hesitant to address from the pulpit any subject God addresses
in his word. That's exactly right. If God
deals with it here, I'll deal with it right here. No matter
who is offended or who receives it. No matter how well it's liked
or how hard it's disliked. We worship God as God prescribes
in his word, or we don't worship him. We're just playing games.
We're just faking it. We're just pretending. And this
religious generation knows nothing about the worship of God. We
observe his ordinances precisely as he gave us word. Baptism,
we often say baptism is by immersion. That's not accurate. Baptism
is immersion. Anything else is not baptism.
It's just a pretense. Baptism performed upon a believer's
profession of faith. It is believer's baptism. We
won't have it any other way. We won't receive it any other
way. We won't acknowledge it any other way. We observe the
Lord's table in simplicity. with bread and wine, unleavened
bread and wine, because that's the way the Lord did it. Because
of what the elements represent, his holy humanity and his shed
blood as the God-man, our Savior, who had no sin and did no sin. We worship him as he has ordained,
and we won't have it any other way. We won't practice it any
other way. We won't approve of it any other
way. We preach the doctrine he sets forth in his word. We preach
his doctrine with plainness, with simplicity, with clarity,
with boldness and demand. We demand that you either bow
to God or you perish in your sins. There is no option. You
will either worship God his way or you won't worship him. The
Lord our God, David said, made a breach upon us because we sought
him not after the due order. Our worship must be guided by
this book and by God's spirit. And God's spirit never guides
contrary to this book. I don't suggest that you go there,
but if you want to talk to your family and friends and neighbors
about what they experienced today at church. You will find out that they did
just about everything imaginable except worship God. Just about
everything imaginable except hear a man expound the word of
God. Just about everything imaginable
except honor God. We worship God as he prescribes. And number seven, God requires
that we honor him in the purpose of our hearts and in the exercise
of our worship in verse 32. He says, I will be hallowed,
profane not my holy name. Let us take care that we honor
God in what we do here this hour. In attitude, in doctrine, in
song, in praise, let nothing be done here to gratify the flesh. Let nothing be done here to impress
men. Let nothing be done here to gratify
self. Rather, let us honor God. Now,
let's look at these last three verses together for just a minute.
Here the Lord God inspires us to worship Him with these five
great motives He gives us. Therefore shall you keep my commandments
and do them. I am the Lord. Neither shall
you profane my holy name, but I will be hallowed among the
children of Israel. I am the Lord which hallow you,
that brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord. All men ought
to worship God. None can worship Him except those
who do so of their own will with a willing heart. Let no one then
induce you, let no one induce you to do something. to please
them, or to please other men, or to impress people, or to give
yourself a good reputation among certain men. Let no one induce
you to make a profession of faith, take up a profession of faith
in any of those things, but rather, I bid you give yourself to God
our Savior in worship, because you want to. And when God makes you want him,
the work is done. When God gives you a willing
heart, the work is done. Now, how are we inspired as believers
to worship him? First, the Lord God inspires
us to worship him because of who he is. I am the Lord. He who alone is God, alone is
worthy of worship and praise. He alone is worthy of confidence
and faith. That one who is God is the Lord,
Jehovah. He's the sovereign monarch of
the universe. Now hear me. No man worships
God who doesn't worship at the footstool of an absolute sovereign. No man worships God who does
not worship at the footstool of an absolute sovereign. I often
hear people say, concerning a preacher particularly, well, he's coming
around, he's beginning to see the sovereignty of God. No, no. The sovereignty of God,
His sovereign majesty as God, is not something that you learn
down the road somewhere. This is the very first thing
you learn. This is the very first vision
you're given of Him. John said, I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's day, and a door was opened in heaven. Do you
remember the next words? Behold a throne. Behold a throne. The place where you get grace
is at the throne of grace. We worship God only when we worship
him as God. Men bargain with an equal. Men
trample on an inferior. Men bribe a superior. That's
what goes on in the religious world all the time. Folks bargaining
with God. folks trampling on God, folks
trying to bribe God with their good works or their gifts. We
worship God who is sovereign because he says, I am the Lord. Oh, thank God he is. Thank God
he is. He rules everything, all the
time, everywhere. exactly as he will for the everlasting
good of all his people. He is the Lord. Here's another
motive to inspire us to worship him. This great, glorious, omnipotent,
sovereign God, Lord Almighty, inspires us to worship him by
stooping to be worshiped. Look at what it says. I will
be hallowed among the children of Israel. I will be sanctified,
worshiped, honored, set apart, hallowed among the children of
Israel. What majestic condescending grace. Yes, he demands that we profane
not his name. Yes, he demands that we worship
him precisely as he prescribes. But what a wonder, the God of
heaven wills to be worshiped by me. The God of heaven wills
to be worshiped by us. Our Lord Jesus in his conversation
with the woman at Samaria, He was talking to her about worship.
And she said, our fathers worshiped here, your fathers worshiped
yonder. And the master said, the hour cometh and now is, when
true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth. For the father seeketh such to
worship him. What a marvel, what a marvel. God is spirit. And they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And God seeks people to worship
him in spirit and in truth. As the shepherd seeks his sheep,
God seeks a people to worship him in spirit and in truth. And these, these are the true
worshipers. We are the circumcision which
worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. That's what it is to worship
God in spirit and in truth. We worship God in the spirit,
in the spirit of God, in the life of the spirit. We worship
God in our spirits, with our spirits. We worship him spiritually. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. That is, we trust Christ alone
for everything. And we have no confidence in
the flesh. Number three. Now watch this. The Lord God inspires us to hallow
and sanctify him as the Lord God by reminding us that it is
he alone who has sanctified us by his grace. He said, I will
be sanctified of you. I am the Lord which hallow you. We have many names given of our
God and Savior, the Lord Jesus, Jehovah revealed, God incarnate,
God in the flesh. There are at least 14 compound
usages of the word Jehovah, that name by which God first revealed
himself to Moses. And those 14 compound names of
our God are intended both to show us who he is and to assure
us of his great works of mercy and grace. He is called Jehovah
Hosinu, the Lord, our maker. Abraham called him Jehovah Jireh,
the Lord will provide. We're told in Exodus that his
name is Jehovah Rafika, the Lord that healeth thee. He is called
Jehovah Nisse, the Lord our banner. This one who is God, this one
who is God our healer, this one who is God who provides, he is
our banner, the one around whom we rally. His name is Jehovah
Elohimu, the Lord our God. And his name is Jehovah Elohike,
the Lord thy God. He gets more and more personal.
He is Jehovah, our God. That's good. He's our God. That's
wonderful. We possess him together, mutually. He is the Lord, your God. As much your God, as if he was
no one else's God. As fully your God, as if he was
no one else's God. Now watch this. His name is Jehovah
Elohei, the Lord, my God. He who is God has made himself
my God. He said, I will be their God
and they shall be my people. His name is Jehovah Shalom, the
Lord our peace, for there's peace only in Christ. His name is Jehovah
Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts is God, Lord
over all the hosts of heaven. all the host of the earth, even
all the host of hell. He is Jehovah Ra'ah, the Lord
is my shepherd. I shall not want. His name is
Jehovah Elyon, the Lord Most High. infinitely above all that
are called gods, infinitely above all that you imagine him to be.
His name is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness,
our Savior's name. I like this. I like this. I like
them all, but certain times you like things better. This is real
good when the days are dark and trouble is great and confusion
abounds. His name is Jehovah Shema. The
Lord is there. The Lord is there. Wherever you
are, the Lord is there. The Lord is there. Rejoice in
all things. The Lord's at hand. The Lord's
at hand. His name is called here, Jehovah
Imkadish, the Lord that doth sanctify you. It is the Lord
our God who from eternity set us apart from all creatures,
set us apart from the angels, set us apart from all other men
and said, these are my people. He chose us for Himself, sanctified
us in Christ Jesus. It is God, our Savior, who back
yonder at Calvary 2,000 years ago, took on Him the seed of
Abraham and redeemed us with His precious blood, sanctifying
us from all other creatures, from all angels and all other
men. He sanctified us with His blood,
made us perfect. And it is God the Holy Ghost
who at the appointed time of love called us by his grace,
called us out from the crowd, called us out of darkness, called
us out by his marvelous, omnipotent grace and sweetly forced us to
our knees at the throne of grace, giving us life and faith in Christ
and putting Christ in us, sanctifying us. Look back at our text again,
verse 33. Our great God and Savior here
inspires us to worship Him as God our Savior by reminding us
of His great deliverance of our souls. He says, I'll be sanctified
of you. You shall hallow my name because
I'm the Lord that brought you up out of the land of Egypt. The Lord Jesus has saved us from
our sins. He did it by divine decree. He did it by blood atonement. He did it by the power of his
omnipotent grace. He is doing it by his wondrous
providence. does it take to save a sinner? What does it take to bring us
at last to glory? Are you listening? I'll tell
you what it's going to take to get you to Heaven. Everything
that has been, everything that is, and everything that shall
be. God never does anything without
necessity. The necessity of his will to
save his people. And soon, the day will come when
he will save us by that thing we call the resurrection. Resurrection glory. These bodies
must be sown corruptible bodies. They're going to the earth, as
God intended. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes,
that's where we're going. But those bodies sown in corruption
shall be raised in incorruption. They're sown in the earth a natural
body, but raised a spiritual body. I said to Amy this morning,
I haven't begun to get any idea what that means. Who can imagine
a spiritual body? A spiritual body. Our Lord Jesus
sits on the throne of glory in a physical, spiritual body. His real flesh. He said to his
disciples, come touch me. Put your hand right here. Touch
me. Feel me. A real physical body. And with
that body, when they were assembled together, he walked through the
wall. Now you explain what a spiritual
body is. We haven't got any idea what to anticipate. Oh, resurrection
glory, what shall that be? One more reason. We're inspired here, motivated
here to worship our God, to give ourselves to him in relentless
devotion. In our homes, in our lives, every
hour of the day, when we come together to worship in his name.
We're inspired to worship him by him reminding us of the great
reason he has for everything he's done. saying, Why did He love me so? Why did He die for me? Why did
He choose me? Why did God do this? Here's God's
reason for everything He has done, to be your God, to be your God. I've done all this. I am God. I have redeemed you. I've saved
you. I've called you. I've delivered
you. I've ransomed you. I've made
you holy. I sanctified you. I delivered
you to be your God. To be your God. About 52 years ago, I made up
my mind that I wanted to be her husband. I don't pretend there was a lot
of demand for me, but I made up my mind I wanted to be her
husband. And she was the queen of the
campus. She was the sweetheart of the campus. Everybody wanted
to be her husband. You know what I did? I started
to show her every good thing I could about Don Fortner. I
mean, I quoted her best I knew how. We'd go to McDonald's and
I'd buy her any flavor of milkshake she wanted. Sometimes she'd get
fries with it. But I did the best I could do.
I'd drive across town to carry her books a half a block. Just,
well, why? I made up my mind. I wanted to
be her husband. And just about everything I did
for nearly two years was just to be her husband. That's so
insignificant. The God of glory is who he is. and performs everything he performs
just to be my God. Just to be your God. If that doesn't inspire worship,
worship can't be inspired, amen.