Well, before we come to our text
this evening, singing that version of the Psalm, that metrical version
of Psalm 84, reminded me of what I was hearing earlier today at
Edge End where our brother Peter Wilkins was preaching and he
was expounding Psalm 84. And he just made a reference
there to that 9th verse, Behold O God our shield, and look upon
the face of thine Anointed." The remark that stuck with me
really was what he said concerning Wycliffe's translation of that
verse where he renders the latter part of it, and look upon the
face of thy Christ. Of course the Anointed is the
Christ, the Messiah of God, and as we come together We do desire
that the Lord God will behold us in His only begotten and His
well-beloved Son. Well, let us turn to the Scripture
that I want to dwell on for a little while tonight. It's in that portion
of Scripture that we read in Isaiah 66 and verse 23. Isaiah
66, 23. and it shall come to pass that
from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another
shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And in particular, the latter
part of the verse, from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come
to worship before me, saith the Lord. We come then to worship. We have
had our church privileges restored to us today as we assemble in
this fashion, gathering together. We have that promise of the Lord
Jesus, where two or three are met together in mine eye, there
am I in the midst of them. And as we look at this portion
of scripture, the subject matter that I want to take up is that
of gospel worship. One Sabbath to another shall
all flesh come to worship before me, says the Lord. Now, here we are reminded of
the breadth of the gospel. because the chapter in many ways
is speaking of the calling of the Gentiles. We have Zion travailing
there at verse 7, following and bringing forth children. And it goes on to speak of the
calling of the Gentiles. For example, at the end of verse
19 we have that expression they shall declare my glory among
the Gentiles and here in the text we read of all flesh that
is the Gentile as well as the Jew coming to worship before
the Lord God. There is a wonderful breadth
in the Gospel and how different of course it was in the Old Testament. We remember there with regards
to the worship of God The tabernacle and then the temple was very
much the domain of just one tribe in Israel. In Numbers chapter
1 and verse 50, they shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle. tribe of Levi had no inheritance
anywhere in the promised land. When the land was divided it
was divided amongst the other tribes but Levi's portion was
to be those suburbs around about Jerusalem and they were to be
such a tribe as would serve God in the tabernacle and then in
the temple and of course it was just one family in the tribe
of Levi, the family of Aaron, that were to fulfill the office
of the priesthood. As we see back in Exodus 28, verse 1, Take thou unto the Aaron
thy brother, and his sons with him from among the children of
Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office,
even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Itamar, Aaron's
sons." And so it was the descendants of Aaron and his sons who filled
the office of the priesthood. But now we know that the priesthood
is changed. because the law has been changed
as the Apostle says in Hebrews chapter 7. Christ has come. And Christ is one of the tribe
of Judah, that tribe that we were thinking about this morning,
the blessing pronounced upon Judah there in Genesis 49. Christ comes of that tribe, and
he is a priest, and he is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. As we read in Hebrews 6.20, High
Priest forever, it says. An unending priesthood, an eternal
priesthood. High Priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. And all that believe in Him. All His people constitutes a
kingdom of priests, as we see in Revelation chapter 5. We believe
in the priesthood of all believers, not sacrificing priests. Christ
is that one great sacrificing priest. He is the fulfillment
of the Aaronic priesthood. He has made one sacrifice for
sins forever. But all His people are worshipping
priests. And holy priesthood, says Peter,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ Jesus. Spiritual sacrifices. The sacrifice of praise, the
fruit of the lips, giving thanks to God. That is the activity
of those who are the priests of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what do we read here? in
verses 20 and 21 we have a mention of the those who shall be brought
an offering unto the Lord out of all nations it says upon horses,
in chariots, in litters, upon mules, upon swift beasts to my
holy mount in Jerusalem As the children of Israel bring an offering
in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord, and I will take
of them. For priests and for Levites,
saith the Lord." Not as it was in the Old Testament, although
it speaks of priests and Levites, we're to understand it in a spiritual
sense, it's speaking of those who are called from amongst the
Gentiles. who shall be these true priests
unto God under the gospel." There is a great breadth then when
we think of the gospel in contrast with what pertained in the Old
Testament under the law. There it was just one tribe in
Israel and just one family in that tribe. But now God takes
for himself Levites and priests from all the nations of the earth. And then we have the ministry
of that gospel. As I said, under the law, they
were taken from just one family in Levi, but now converted Gentiles. are to minister in these holy
things of God. That's the significance. That's
the significance of what is being said there at verse 21. I will also take of them for
priests and for Levites, saith the Lord. And as we will presently
sing in the hymn, that 365th hymn of Isaac Watts, girded with truth
and full of grace, my priest, my minister shall shine, not
Aaron in his costly dress made an appearance so divine." Oh,
the ministry of the Gospel is much more glorious than anything
that occurred under that Old Testament dispensation. There
was much there of course it was appealing to the senses when
we read of the worship of God as God gives commandment in the
book of Exodus there were to be costly garments, there was
to be incense, it was all that would appeal to the senses but
none of that under the gospel but a glory that is far greater,
a spiritual glory in the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
What does Paul say? We preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block,
unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them that believe, Jews
and Greeks, Christ. The power of God and the wisdom
of God. Oh, the glory then of the the
glories of the of the gospel and that's what we come to say
something of this this evening from this 23rd verse it shall
come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one
Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before
me saith the Lord And first of all I want us to consider how
this gospel worship is something that is settled and constant
in this day of grace. It is settled, it is constant,
it is what God himself has appointed. Now, of course, believers in
the Gospel are not bound by Jewish Sabbaths and Jewish observances. And how Paul has to bring this
out, there were those legalists who had crept in, certainly amongst
those Gentile churches that had been established by Paul's preaching,
And what do they want to do with these Gentile converts? They
want to bring them under the law. They want them to receive
circumcision. As if Christianity is just another
expression of some sort of Judaism. And how Paul deals with these
matters and deals with them very directly right into the Galatians.
And there in Galatians chapter 4 verse 9 he says, After that
ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye
again to the weak and beggary elements, whereunto ye desire
again to be in bondage? He observed days, and months,
and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have
bestowed upon you labor in vain. You know, something of the content
of that epistle. He is dealing with these legalists,
these Judaizers, who have crept in amongst the believers at Galatia. But also when he writes to the
Church of Colossae, He addresses the same problem. There in Colossians
2.16, "...let no man therefore judge you," he says, "...in meat,
or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon,
or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come,
but the body is of Christ." Those were Old Testament shadows. Or
there was that that was very earthly, about their worship. It appealed to the senses, as
I've said, but the true worship, of course, there in the Old Testament
was also spiritual in its very substance, although in its form
it was outward. But when we come to the New Testament,
the shadows are done away, the body is of Christ, the worship
is spiritual in both substance and also in form. That's what
he is saying. But because Paul writes in that
fashion against those who wanted to bring Christian believers
under various observances from the Old Testament, it doesn't
mean that God no longer has set times that are to be observed
for his worship. No, it is still necessary that
God is worshipped. And we see how in the Gospel
that worship of God is much more extensive than ever it was in
the Old Testament. In a sense we might say it's
more extensive with regards to times. Now under the Old Testament
there were many Sabbaths not just the weekly Sabbath, there
were other Sabbaths, there were monthly new moons to be observed,
there were a whole variety of feasts. But we remember that
it was only on three times in the year that the males were
to come and to appear before God. Only three times were they
required to come and to appear before God. Deuteronomy 16 and
verse 16 speaks of those three great feasts Passover and then
the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles
and the command is very explicit what God required of his ancient
people there. Deuteronomy 16 and verse 16. Three times in a year shall all
thy males appear before the Lord thy God, in the place which he
shall choose, in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the
feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles, and they shall
not appear before the Lord empty. Now mark what it says, this is
command to appear before the Lord, appearing before the Lord
in the place which God chooses. In other words, three times a
year all the males are to go up to Well it would have been Shiloh
initially when they first went into the Promised Land that's
where they established the worship of God at the tabernacle and
then subsequently of course under David it's removed to Jerusalem.
Three times a year they must go and worship God there at the
tabernacle then subsequently at the temple. But what do we have here? We
have all flesh is to come, says God, to worship before me. All
flesh is to come to worship before me. It's that same expression,
before me, before God. And then what is mentioned? Well,
it is the two most frequent of all the Jewish feasts. It says,
from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another.
appearing before God. And they did observe the worship
of God, of course, new moon by new moon, Sabbath by Sabbath
they worshipped Him, but they never on those occasions had
to come to the place where God had established His worship.
It's so centered upon the tabernacle and the temple, but they would
worship God in their localities, and of course in time there was
the establishment of synagogue worship and so forth. but to
come before God. Now think of the weekly Sabbath
in particular. We have all flesh coming to worship
before God from one Sabbath to another it says. And of course
we know that the Sabbath was more than a Jewish ordinance. The Sabbath is so clearly a creation
ordinance. We go right back to the beginning.
These things are so elemental, so basic, we're aware of these
things. What God did after six days of
creation. The heavens and the earth were
finished, and all the host of them, and on the seventh day
God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh
day from all his work which he had made, and God blessed the
seventh day and sanctified it, God set it apart, because in
it He addressed it from all His work which God created and made.
It becomes a day of rest, one day in seven. And that was very much observed
by the Jews there under the Old Testament. Religiously it was
to be kept. And even here in Isaiah, God
promises great blessing upon the proper observance of it.
The end of chapter 58, If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,
from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath
a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shalt honour
him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure,
nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself
in the Lord. and I will cause it to ride upon
the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage
of Jacob thy father for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."
Every blessing you see, the heritage of Jacob will be there as they
are careful to rightly observe the Sabbath that is the seventh
day Sabbath under the Old Testament. But here we're thinking of that
gospel worship, all flesh. from one Sabbath to another,
shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." What
is that day that we see believers in the New Testament coming before
God to worship Him? Well, look at what we're told
for example in Acts 20 verse 7. It says, "...upon the first
day of the week When the disciples came together to break bread,
Paul preached unto them. It was the first day of the week,
not the seventh day, the first day of the week the disciples
come together to break bread and Paul is there preaching to
them. What was that first day of the
week? It was that day upon which the Lord Jesus Christ rose again
from the dead, and immediately He shows Himself to His disciples. Immediately He shows Himself
to His disciples. We see it in the Gospels, in
John chapter 20, verse 19, then the same day at evening. What is this day? Well, we're
told in verse 1, the first day of the week. Cometh Mary Magdalene
early when it was yet dark unto the sepulcher. And the stone
is taken away, the Lord is risen. That same day at evening, being
the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the
disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus
and stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace be unto you. Verse 26, after 8 days again
his disciples were within. This is the next first day of
the week, the following first day of the week, 8 days later. And again the disciples are within
and Thomas is present, he was not present previously. Then
came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said,
Peace be unto you. Well, this is that day, the first
of the week, the day of the resurrection, it becomes the Christian Sabbath.
It becomes the Christian Sabbath during the course of the apostolic
ministry. And then when we come to the
end of the New Testament, as you know, we find John there
in the book of the Revelation, receiving this remarkable revelation
from the Lord God and where is he? He is on the Isle of Patmos.
Exiled, cut off from all fellowship with his fellow believers, but
there the Lord comes and meets with John and what do we read
concerning John? Well, he tells us in that 10th
verse of the opening chapter, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
day. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
Day. And being in the Spirit, he is
favoured to see this remarkable sight, and what is it? It's Christ
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, the seven churches
of Asia Minor, and there is Christ in the midst of his people. And
is he not that one who is pleased to be in the midst of his people,
Lord's Day by Lord's Day? Isn't that the thing that is
truly being indicated there? Where two or three are met together
he says, there am I in the midst. He's always in the midst of his
churches. And so we're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves
together. Or there is that that is extensive
then really with regards to this worship under the gospel. It
was only three times in the year that the men had to go and appear
before God. And you will have observed of
course at that opening hymn that we sang, that lovely hymn of
Isaac Watts, 366. It's really a paraphrase of Psalm
132. But it speaks, you see, of what
was required under the Old Testament. The Lord in Zion placed His name,
His ark was settled there. To Zion the whole nation came
to worship thrice a year. It wasn't the whole nation. I
suppose that's some poetic license on the part of what it was just
the men. But we have no such lens to go,
nor wonder far abroad, where'er thy saints assemble now. There
is a house of God. or that tabernacle, that temple,
it's all typical, it's a type of Christ, but where his saints
meet, that's where Christ appears now. Arise, O King of grace,
arise, enter to thy rest. Lo, thy church waits with longing
eyes, thus to be owned and blessed. This is how we're to come to
worship God then under the gospel. What a difference. As I say,
The worship in the Old Testament, it's stated, it's three times
a year appearing before God. What is it now? From one Sabbath
to another shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the
Lord. We are to gather Sabbath by Sabbath. That's the Christian Sabbath,
the Lord's Day, that we might engage in the worship of our
God. And what a difference! Oh, it's
also more extensive, this gospel worship, in terms of the worshippers. There are more worshippers. What
does it say back in Deuteronomy 16? All thy males. All thy males. What does it say
here in Isaiah 66? All flesh. All flesh. You see things are different
under the Gospel. Remember the preaching of Paul. He's there at Athens in Acts
chapter 17 and he preaches. And what does he say? Well he
speaks of God's dealings with the Gentile nations and their
great ignorance and he's overwhelmed really by the superstition that
he's witnessing. They have an altar to the unknown
gods. There is a multitude of gods, you see. Maybe there's
one god they've forgotten all about, so they erect an altar
to this unknown god. But what does Paul say? He speaks
of the times of this ignorance. You see, God had given his word
in the Old Testament only to the Jews, that typical people. How God had favoured them and
bless them. He showeth His word unto Jacob,
His statutes and His judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt
so with any nation. As for His judgments, they have
not known them. They were left in ignorance.
But listen to the preaching of Paul. The time of this ignorance
God winked at. But now commandeth all men everywhere
to repent. All men then are to repent. In
that sense, all men are to worship God. It is what God requires
of His creatures. They are to worship Him. Again,
look at what we are told in the Acts of the Apostles. They're
there in the 14th chapter of Acts at verse 15. We're at Lystra now. And he is Paul and Barnabas. And because of mighty works and
miracles the people want to worship them. And what do they say? Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions
with you and preach unto you that ye should turn from these
vanities unto the living God. which made heaven and earth and
the sea and all things that are therein, who in times past suffered
all nations to walk in their own ways." He had left them in
their own ways, to their own devices, in their ignorance,
but that was gone now. All the time of that ignorance
he went at, but now it's different. God requires men to worship Him
under the Gospel, and I say every man, all flesh, every man, every
woman, under an obligation to worship God. And yet, we know
that the unbeliever cannot. The unbeliever cannot worship
God, he's under an obligation. The fact that he has not the
ability in no way excuses him, he's still God's creature. And
God's not winking at that ignorance anymore. But the true worshippers,
says the Lord Jesus Christ, shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.
God is a spirit. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth. To whom do the commandments belong? They belong to all men. Yes, they are given to the children
of Israel. But Paul says whatever things
the law says, it says to them who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before
God. And what does the law say? The
third, the fourth commandment, so shall not take the name of
the Lord thy God in vain. That doesn't just refer to blasphemies,
does it? God's name is to be reverence. God's name is to be worshipped.
Men are under an obligation to worship God. To remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy in that sense. To worship God.
That is what is required. Gospel worship is so extensive
it is that that is to take place Lord's Day by Lord's Day and
men are to worship God and men are culpable when they fail to
do that that God requires of them. And what of that worship? Well that worship is under the
Gospel it's sacred, it's solemn it's before me these are the
significant words here you see when they went up on those three
occasions in Israel it was to worship before God in the place
where he had put his name and how solemn it is to come before
God All the Lord Jesus Christ is present. He said it. He's
present in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. His promise
is there where two or three are met together in my name in the
midst with them. And so this expression before
me it emphasizes something of the solemnity of the worship
of God. You think of the Old Testament
and God's special presence was there in the Holy of Holies as
we're told in Exodus 25-22 that was beyond the second veil
the Holy of Holies there was the holy place beyond the first
veil in the second veil the Holy of Holies and who could go into
that place? only the high priest and he could
only venture there one day in the year as we're told in Hebrews
9.7 it was the great day of atonement Yom Kippur the day of atonement
and he goes and he takes sacrifice and he he sprinkles the blood
in that place where the Ark of the Covenant was the throne of
God he sprinkles blood before the Mercy Seat and upon the mercy
seat. Oh, it was a most solemn day
and the people would be there listening. Remember the bells
around the high priest garments, they could hear the bells tinkling
and they knew that the high priest had not been struck dead in the
presence of God. He was about that great business
of presenting the atoning sacrifice, making atonement for the sins
of the people. So solemn. so very solemn it
was. Ah, but now! You know, it's a
greater privilege that we have under the Gospel. It is a greater
privilege that we know as we come together under the Gospel. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is present. We sometimes sing those words
of John Berridge, but ah, what is the house to murry? except
the Master I can see." Do we really believe that when we gather
in this fashion the Lord Jesus Christ is in the midst? Now,
we've had our stream services all these weeks, sixteen, I think
sixteen, well no, fifteen Lord's Days. This is the sixteenth.
Fifteen Lord's Days. And yet you know, that was never
real corporate worship. The Lord Jesus Christ was not
in the midst. Because real worship is corporate.
It's bodily, it's coming together as we do today. Why does the Lord deny that to
us? Shall we pray about these things?
Why? Do we not value what the Lord has given to us? As we ought
to value these things. Such a privileged people we are
to gather to worship God under the Gospel. From one Sabbath
to another shall all flesh come to worship before me saith the
Lord." How great then is the accountability of the Lord's
people if this is such a great privilege far greater than anything
they ever knew in the Old Testament. Look at the language of the Apostle
there in Hebrews 12 where he draws a contrast between Mount
Sinai and Mount Zion. And he says this,
verse 22, Hebrews 12, 22, But ye are come unto Mount Zion,
unto the city of the living God, the heaven of Jerusalem, to an
innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church
of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and to God, the judge
of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to
Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel, see
that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escape, not you refused
him that spake on earth, Much more shall not we escape if we
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then
shook the earth. But now hath he promised saying,
Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
He's referring them back, you see, to what he had been saying
about Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai, where they heard the voice. But
we don't hear a voice upon the earth, but we hear the Word of
God, as God speaks to us here in Holy Scripture, a voice from
heaven. Or do we recognize the privilege,
but also the solemn accountability that comes along with the privilege
of gathering together for worship, gospel worship. Well, as we conclude,
I just want to mention some aspects of our worship ordinances of God's house what
do we have here? well we come together to worship
we come together to praise our God as we said this morning the
very name Judah means praise and our Shiloh is of the house
or the tribe of Judah Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lord
Jesus, we come together to praise and our praises, our worship
very much centers in Christ. And what of our worship? Well,
we have the record of all the disorder that was occurring amongst
the believers in Corinth. It was a church that was so favored
in many ways, it was greatly gifted, there were remarkable
gifts in that church But he was so disorderly. And what does
Paul say? He reminds them there in 1 Corinthians
14 that all is to be done decently and in order. Our worship is
to be an ordered worship. It's a sacred, it's a solemn
thing to worship God, is it not? And what is one of the principal
part of that worship? It is our calling upon God. now
prayer is such an important part when we come together in this
fashion that verse at the end of Genesis 4 remember after Enos
is born to Seth Enos the grandson of Adam and Eve then began men
to call upon the name of the Lord oh then there was a godly
sagacy the line of Seth Abel was the godly seed. The Cain
killed Abel, but then another son is born, Seth, and here is
the godly seed. And what do the godly seed do?
They call upon the name of the Lord. Oh, that's what we come
to do, to call upon God. All flesh shall come to worship
before me, saith the Lord. We oft quote those words from
Ecclesiastes 5, keep thy foot when they go as to the house
of God be more ready to hear them to give the sacrifice of
fools for they consider not what they do let not thy heart be hasty to
utter anything before God for God is in heaven thou upon the
earth therefore let thy words be few or what can we say to
this great God What can we say to this great God? We have nothing
to present of ourselves, no works of righteousness that we've done.
We can only come and Sabbath by Sabbath beg and beg and beg
again that God will deal with us in the way of mercy. All but
the abundance, the abundance of God's mercies. Thou, O the
Psalmist, were so, so very, very much aware of that Remember how
David comes in his great penitential psalm, Have mercy upon me, O
God, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions, wash
me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for
I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before thee. and we have to come to make our
confessions and yet all we come to worship and we rejoice in
the Lord Jesus Christ it's not all gloom it might be solemn
worship but it's not gloomy worship it's rejoicing in another we're
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ and all that He is and all that
He has done and He is the one who has all that preeminence
all we pray is God we pray to God we have the word of God 1 Timothy 4.13 it says till I come
give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine or literally
the word doctrine is teaching it really says give attendance
to reading to exhortation to teaching and all of those are
part of public worship the exhorting is part of public worship the
teaching is part of public worship the reading the public reading
of the word of God is a very vital part of our worship as
well as our singing praises to God and uttering prayers it's
the word of God and that word it's so central to the whole
act of our worship and not just the reading there's also the
preaching the preaching of the word and now the Apostle you
know brings out the significance of that in that 10th chapter
of the epistle to the Romans verse 14 now then shall they
call on him in whom they have not believed And how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For as I have said, Lord, you
have believed our report. So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Oh, we come before God, we come
that we might hear God, that He might come and speak to us. What does He say in this chapter? Previous verse 5, Hear the word
of the Lord, ye that tremble at His word. Oh, do we tremble
at His word. well he says in verse 2 to this
man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit
and trembles at my word or that we might be those in to whom
the Lord does look as we come with all due reverence and we
come desiring only to worship him and to worship him in spirit
and in truth from one Sabbath to another Shall all flesh come
to worship before Mary, saith the Lord. May the Lord be pleased
to bless this word to us. Amen.