Last week I mentioned that I'd
like to begin a series on the church and just look at
topics relative to the church. As the Lord grows us and as He
settles our hearts, there's things that we can learn and understand
about that body of believers that our Lord has gathered together
by His grace. And so I want to begin that study
today and we're going to look at the Word of the Lord. Now today we're just going to
primarily look at one verse, that's going to be our text,
one verse, but we're interested to see what the Lord teaches. We want to see what the Lord
teaches us about the church and how he instructs us and how we
are to conduct ourselves and gather together as a body of
believers of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know that we'll have
a message on this every week, but there will be some weeks
where we do bring this message and look at these things together.
And I believe that As the Lord enables us to hear them, it's
for our understanding. It's for our edification. It's
for our good. It's for our good. And so I've
titled this message this morning, Public Worship. We're going to
look at public worship. And the title is Public Worship.
But as for me, I will come. I will come. So how important
is public worship? Is public worship important? And how important is it? I think
most of us would agree that it is important. It is needful,
and it is important, but how important is it? And I think
as we look at these things, as we do with any truth revealed
to us in scripture, it reveals our heart, because that's what
it comes down to. It's a heart issue. It reveals
to each of us where we are. we need the grace and the help
of the Lord to hear his word, to believe his word, to come
in faith. Now, as I read the scriptures
and as I look at the scriptures, I believe that the word of the
Lord teaches us that it's more important to worship publicly
than private worship is. And you might think, well, you're
the pastor. So you're saying that because
you're the pastor. You have to say that. It doesn't surprise
me that you say that as the pastor, but I believe that is what the
Lord teaches us in his word. We're not gathered here to hear
a man's opinion on that word. We want to hear what the Lord
himself says. And so my prayer is that as we
go through today's study and all of these studies is that
it's the Lord who teaches us. It's the Lord who gives us his
spirit and his grace to help us to hear that word. And when
we're looking at something like public worship, if you've been
any time in the faith. If you're a believer, a child
of God, you've heard many opinions. You've heard a lot of people
with their ideas and their opinions on what it is and the importance
of it. And so we want to be careful.
We're not looking for man's opinion. And a lot of times when people
are speaking about public worship, they're talking about their experience. And they're talking about their
feelings. their opinion on the matter. And that's why we have
such a wide variety of how people understand and see what it is
to worship publicly. And man will say a lot of things
to justify his actions. And so I want us to be led by
the spirit. I want us to be taught by the
Lord. I want us to hear this word by
the grace and power of God. and to think on these things,
because every one of us is instructed and taught in these things. There's
none of us that can stand here and say, I'm perfect in all these
things. Even as your pastor, I can't
do that. And so, as I study these things,
and as you hear these things and study these things, it moves
us to wrestle with the Lord in prayer. as it does with any new
thing that we hear, or as we're being instructed by His Word,
it causes us to wrestle with the Lord in prayer. Lord, is
this true? Is this so? Lord, help me, because
I see the iniquity in me, right? And that's what iniquity is,
it's in equality, in inequity. I'm weighed in the balance and
I'm found wanting. Lord help me to hear this word. Give me light and understanding. Turn my heart to be conformed
to the image of Christ. That's what we want in all these
things. And so as we go through this, this topic of the church
if you're thinking, well, this sounds like it's going to be
practical. And it is. There's practical application.
And when you get to practical application, people get upset. People get annoyed or put off
by it. I remember in New Jersey, there
was a woman. It was just a woman and her daughter
came. And she was an underage girl. And I remember the pastor. He spoke to the mother because
this young woman was always showing up in very short shorts, very
short shorts. And he went to her and said,
you know, I don't know what he said. He didn't get into all
the details, but he asked her to please talk to her daughter
and not let her come in these short shorts. And the woman was
offended, accused him, said, you're trying to bind me with
the law. And she never came back. She never came back after that. And yet it was right for him
to say that. I don't know the details, but it was right for
him to say that. And that was that. So people
get very angry. And so the first thing to know
is, as with anything related to the Lord, We must be born
again. We need the grace of God to help
us to hear his word, to receive his word, to wrestle with the
Lord in prayer if need be, and to go to the Lord and help me
to hear what you're teaching. We must be born again. As Paul
said to the Galatians in 615, he said, in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new
creature. A new creature. We need to be
new creatures. because it's not about rites
and rituals and ceremonies and all the garb that comes with
that. It's, do I know the Lord? Has he called me by grace? Am I his child? So that we want
to hear what he says because we can all partake of religious
things. And sometimes we can memorize
and know a lot of doctrine and scriptures and do things that
we think are right. And that's not salvation. being
a new creature in the Lord Jesus Christ is, and that's something
he gives to his people. That's something he works in
his people, and a new creature means there's a new birth, and
that's a spiritual birth, and that's a birth by the Spirit
of God that I can't make myself do. I can't give myself life.
I can't give myself a new birth. We need the grace of God, and
so in public worship, is where the Lord teaches us that. That's
where the Lord meets with his people. It's in public worship
that he meets with his people. That's where he is pleased. He tells us in his word he's
pleased to meet with his people. That doesn't mean private worship
in private time with the Lord is not important. And that doesn't
mean that he can't reveal himself, and comfort you, and teach you
something in private worship, or listening to a message later
on, or reading a tract, or reading a good article in the Bolton.
That doesn't mean the Lord doesn't minister his grace to us in that
time. But it's in public worship, in
the preaching of the gospel, where the Lord has purpose to
meet with his people. and to answer the questions of
your heart and to minister his grace to you in a special peculiar
way because as you know having your own pastor and and being
together it's a it's it's a blessing it's a blessing the lord uses
that in a peculiar way because you know that man is the man
that the lord sent you and he's giving you this message for you
for you in this hour so that that's the the benefit of it
and the difference there. So let's begin, well, let's read
our text, which is Psalm 5, verse 7. Psalm 5, verse 7. And this is King David, and he's
speaking about public worship. David says, but as for me, I
will come into thy house. in the multitude of thy mercy,
and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. All right, well, how might this
verse instruct my heart regarding public worship? Well, I want
to give you three things, three things this morning, and it comes
from this verse. These three things we'll look
at. So when you return and read this verse today, throughout
the week, when you return and you meditate on this verse, you'll
hear these things and think of these things and be instructed
in this. So first, David says, but as for me, I will come into
thy house. And so when he says, but as for
me, the way we hear that is, this is what I'm going to do.
This is what I'm going to do. I'm not going to worry about
what anybody else is doing. I'm not going to conform myself
to what someone else does. This concerns me. This is between
me and the Lord. This is between me and my God.
And he says, as for me, I will come into thy house. The reason why we're concerned
with What's the Lord teaching me is because, as I said earlier,
we all have different opinions. Everybody has different opinions
and excuses and reasons for doing or not doing something, especially
when it comes to public worship. And that is, especially as the
internet has come on and with a number of factors and reasons,
there's a lot of people that don't come to public worship. and find excuses not to come
to public worship. But as a sinner saved by grace,
is this not where your heart is, to come and worship the Lord,
gather together with his people? Is there anything wrong in being
gathered together with the Lord and his people and coming to
the public worship? And that's a simple question,
but I think a very fair question. Is it wrong for me to come? and
worship the Lord with his people? Not at all. Not at all. And like
I said, we all have different reasons and different excuses.
And sometimes they're valid excuses. Sometimes we are sick. Sometimes
we are hurting and unable to come to the services. And sometimes,
especially as we get older, it can be difficult to drive in
the nighttime. Especially if you're cataracts,
you don't have cataracts or whatever it is. It can be hard to see
lights coming at you in the nighttime or you have concerns about icy
roads. I'm not here to make anybody feel guilty. I'm not trying to
push you or constrain anyone, not at all. We know. I'm not pointing out specifically,
we know when we're not here because we don't want to be here. And
that's what I'm talking about. And I can't answer that. You
have to answer that, right? That's between you and the Lord.
And that's what David said, but as for, for me, you know, Joshua
said it this way, when Israel was faced with idolatry, he said,
but as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua,
David, these men, did what they had to do. They did what they
had to do in coming to worship the Lord. And when Joshua said
that, it's not just about private worship, it's about public worship
and all things involved with that. Because when you come publicly,
you're bearing a public witness to the world. You're assembling
with God's people. You're assembling to worship
this God, the true and living God, the God of heaven and earth.
You're coming to worship Him and so you're bearing witness,
you're bearing testimony to the world that this is your God and
these are my people. And there's something special
in that. And so, as I said, we see our
own shortcomings. We see where we come short, and
we pray and ask, Lord, conform me, conform me to your son. When
we look at Christ, we see he, if anybody would seem, didn't
have to come to public worship, you would think, well, it would
be the son of God, who was sinless, and holy, and perfect, and did
not sin, and yet he came to public worship. didn't he? And he brought
his disciples. And that's special because when
we come to worship the Lord, we're counting, we're expecting
the Lord to meet with us. We're expecting him to be here.
And so we come looking for Him, and we'll see that in a moment.
And then there's the other hand. Sometimes people can be here
physically all the time, and yet their heart be far, far from
the Lord. And so we always need His grace.
Lord, even when I'm present, keep me present in heart. Turn
my heart towards You. Yeah, we can, if it can be messed
up and done in sin, we can do it. We're certainly capable of
doing it. And so it's a matter of the heart. It's a matter of grace. It's
a matter of, Lord, I need you. All right, that's the first point
there. As for me, I will come. I will come into thy house. Second,
David adds, I will come into thy house in the multitude of
thy mercy. Well, to understand this, what
is the house of God? Is it this building? Is this
building the house of God? When we all leave from here,
is this building the house of God? No, it's the house of God
because it is the people of God. So this isn't the house of God,
it's the people of the Lord, the saints of the Lord who are
gathered together in his name to worship him. This is the house
of God, this is the body of Christ. This is the temple which he raised
up in three days when he rose from the dead. This is his people
whom he's gathered together. And so it's wherever the congregation
meets. When we had a baptism a few months
ago, when we weren't meeting here and we were meeting in the
barn, that's where the congregation, that's where the house of God
was in that barn. And here it is this morning when
we are gathered together in the name of the Lord to hear him,
to worship our Lord. Now he says, David says, I come
in the multitude of thy mercy. What that speaks of is when we
come, being led of the spirit, we're coming in faith. We're
coming in faith to worship the Lord. We want to know the Lord
and we want to hear Him. We want to come before the presence
of our God and we come in faith trusting His mercy. We don't
come here because we've been good this week and now I can
show up because I can come in good conscience, so to speak.
No, we come even though we are sinners. We come seeking his
mercy and grace, trusting in his mercy and grace given freely
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And our God promises his people
a multitude of blessings in his grace in Christ. Doesn't he say
in Ephesians 1 verse 3, blessed be the God and father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. And so we are assembling here
as Believers coming expectantly in faith that my God has given
me His word in His Son and all the blessings He's promised,
Lord, I come looking, expecting you to bless me with all these
blessings that you've promised to me in Christ so that we who
come to God in Christ have these promises of life. Think of that
when you're coming here. Think, Lord, Receive me, Lord,
bring me into your presence. Lord, bless me this day. Lord,
help me. Lord, heal me. Lord, comfort
me. I need your grace. Lord, you
know what I need better than I know what I need myself. Lord,
meet with me today, just as you promised to meet with your people
in your son. I'm coming in faith, Lord. And
that's how we come. When I'm praying for you, brethren,
that's what I'm asking for, the presence of the Lord. help me
not only to bring forth that which He's shown me, to preach
from my heart to your heart, but to bless that word by His
Spirit to the hearts of His people. That's what I'm looking for because
I know, I know what it is to come in the flesh. I know what
it is to come in the deadness and corruption of this flesh
and so I need His grace And so I know my brethren need the grace
of the Lord always, that we would be gathered together in faith. We're sinners in need of mercy. And so when we come to worship
God, we come as sinners seeking the mercy of God. That's how
we come. If we don't come as sinners seeking
God's mercy, we're not worshiping God. If we don't come as sinners
seeking mercy, we're not worshiping God. And I can show you that
in scripture. Turn over to Luke 18. Luke 18. And I put an article
in the bulletin so that we can all read this again, because
I think this is a blessing to remember. Luke 18. And we're
going to look at the passage of verses 10 through 14. Let's read these. Luke 18.10 Our Lord says, this
is the parable, two men went up into the temple to pray, the
one a Pharisee and the other a publican. He is a sinful man
in the eyes of the people of Israel. Both came to worship
God publicly. They came where the saints were
assembled in the temple of the Lord. Verse 11 The Pharisees
stood and prayed thus with themselves. God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. Now, this man, the Pharisee,
had the appearance of one who worshiped God. He looked good. He was in a nice suit and a tie,
and his hair was combed, and he He showed up like he was worshiping
the Lord and received of the Lord. But when you hear his prayer,
did he ever confess that he was a sinner? No, he didn't show
up there as a sinner. He showed up there very confident
in his works. He was happy to be there because
he was confident in the things that he did, and he looked at
those things as his righteousness, and he assumed, God's as pleased
with me as I am with myself. And the Lord tells us that when
he prayed, there was only one person who heard him, himself.
He addressed God, he addressed it to God, but God did not hear
his prayer because he's not a sinner. He's not a sinner and he's not
seeking mercy. He has no need of God and so
God didn't hear him. And then verse 13, the publican,
that sinful man, the publican, that tax collector of the people
working for Rome, standing afar off. would not lift up so much
as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner." This man had no works. This man
had nothing to boast him. This man hadn't even quit his
job of being a publican. This man was still doing it.
He was a sinner, a sinful man, a sinner seeking mercy. And the Lord tells us who worshipped
the Lord that day, who was heard by God that day, and it was the
sinner. The sinner seeking mercy was
heard by God. Verse 14, I tell you, this man
went down to the house justified rather than the other. For everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. Only sinners seeking mercy worship
God. And so that's how we come, brethren.
Sinner, look to Christ. Believe Him. He is the salvation
whom the Father has sent to save His people from their sins. He and he alone is the one who
came and faithfully fulfilled all the law of God and who fulfilled
the will and purpose of God to be gracious to his people. He
not only fulfilled the law of God and showed himself to be
perfect and without sin, but he then went to the cross willingly
as the Lamb of God to sacrifice himself to pay for the sins of
his people, to put them away forever and obtain forgiveness
for the sins of his people and to bring us into the presence
of God accepted in Christ. covered in His blood and received
by the Father in Christ and Christ alone. And so Christ bought us
with His own blood, and therefore we are His people. You that believe
Him this day, Christ redeemed you. Christ gave you that faith.
Christ turned your heart to Him. Christ is our Savior, our God
and our Savior. Turn over to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter
1. Now we're gonna pick up in verse
18 and read down to verse 21, but you can read down to verse
25 when you're at home, reading this again later, the rest of
the chapter there. But we're gonna read 18 through
21. Peter, speaking of the redemption,
the blood redemption, the blood purchase of Jesus Christ for
his people, said, For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed
with corruptible things, as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious
blood of Christ, as of a lamb, without blemish and without spot,
who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world but
was manifested in these last times for you, who by him do
believe in God, that raised him up from the dead and gave him
glory, that your faith and hope might be in God." What's he talking
about? He's saying all of God's children
are sinners seeking the mercy of God in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we've found it. We found Him, of whom Moses and
all the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Christ
of God. He's our salvation, our justification,
our everlasting hope and glory. It's all the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so, now when we come to worship God, it's not in dead things.
It's not in dead letter, rituals and rites and ceremonies. We
come in Christ with living faith and a living hope and love in
our hearts to our God for what He has done for us. And so we want to come and publicly
worship. We want to come with the people
of God and publicly declare, this is my God and my Savior
and this is what He's done for me. We do confess that Jesus
Christ is all and all my salvation. We come here because this is
where he visits his people and meets with his people. Just as
he said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Now, it's not in the public coming
that he does that. It's in grace and mercy, but
we come here because this is where he promises to meet with
his people, gathered together in his name, expectantly looking
to him for that grace and mercy, to cleanse our guilty hearts,
to cleanse us of our sin, and to set our minds upon our God
who loved us. Now third and finally, David
adds, and in the fear, and in thy fear, will I worship toward
thy holy temple. And so when we come, we come
with godly fear. And we come with reverence to
our God to worship him who loved us. To worship him who abundantly
provided for me. And as we come, our Lord teaches
us and is very gracious to us to show us more and more of what
he's done and the depths of that mercy. To know and understand
he did this for me while as yet I didn't know him. He did this
for me while as yet I was his enemy, fighting and warring against
the truth of God. God did this for me graciously,
not because I've earned it, not because I deserve it, because
I don't. but because he would be gracious to me in Christ Jesus,
to show what a great and mighty and wonderful Savior our Lord
is. And so he sent his darling son
to establish this covenant of grace for me, and he meets with
us in that covenant. It pleases him to do so. So when
we come to worship God in his house, in the body of believers
assembled together through Jesus Christ our Lord, we're coming
to see our God. Our Lord, we speak of Christ,
because Christ said, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. When we come to the house of
God, we're coming to hear our God. And God said, this is my
beloved son, hear ye him. In Him I am well pleased, hear
Him." When we come to worship God, we're coming to adore Him,
to praise Him, to sing hymns together, to pray, to read scripture,
to hear His Word preached. For of Him and through Him and
to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. Romans 11.36
And when we come to worship the Lord, we are coming to obey Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ said to
His disciples in John 15, 9-12, He said, As the Father hath loved
Me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in My love. If ye
keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, even as I have
kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love. These
things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you,
and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that
ye love one another as I have loved you. And brethren, I can
think of no greater demonstration of love for my brethren than
to come together and to worship our God who loved us and gave
himself for us. To come together, that's love.
And when we come together, we're loving one another. It's an encouragement
to see you. It's a blessing to see you. When
we missed that one Sunday, and the next Sunday we came back,
there was such a joy to be here. And everyone was talking and
spending time and extra time. And it's a real joy because there's
love in that. There's love in coming together
to worship our God as sinners, seeking and finding that grace
and mercy in himself. And so I pray. Let the Lord give
us grace to hear this word, and each time we come together, and
especially in this series of the church, because it's good.
It's good to see what our God has done, and how he calls us
together to worship him with a heart, a true heart full of
faith and love for our God. Amen. All right, let's go to
the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we do thank
you for this word. Lord, we thank you for your instruction
to us in the scriptures. Lord, open our ear and our hearts
to hear your word and to receive it and to believe your word and
to hear it rightly by your spirit in grace, Lord, because the flesh
is so evil and it gets in the way and it makes us to hear it
not in truth, but in flesh, Lord. And we want to hear it in truth
and in love and by your spirit, Lord, that we may walk in faith
and love, not under guilt, not under the law, not under constraint,
but if any constraint, being constrained by the love of Christ,
Lord, that we would walk before you. And each time we come together,
looking to you expectantly for your grace and mercy Because
we need it as sinners, Lord. We come looking for that grace
and mercy which is in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank
you for our Savior. Thank you for his blood. Thank
you for our salvation in him, Lord, and what he did for us.
It's in Christ's name that we pray and give thanks. Amen.