Matthew 21, I pray that we might
learn something this morning. We call this a Bible study. And for this particular service,
my desire is always that the word might be a blessing to us
always. But also that the Lord might
teach us something and increase our knowledge and our understanding. And I have something for us today.
that I pray the Lord will really let us enter into and really
know and really understand because we are going to look at the heart
of true worship. That's what we're going to look
at this morning. The heart of true worship. What is the heart? I'm trying to stress heart of
true worship. what the heart of the matter
is, what the heart of the matter is. Our text here this morning in
Matthew 21, this is coming off of our Lord's dealings with false
worship, false religion. Last Sunday, we looked at our
Lord's anger against false men. and their false religion and
their false worship. Look at verse 12. This is what
we looked at last Sunday morning, verses 12 and 13. It says, and
Jesus went into the temple of God and cast out all them that
sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the
money changers and the seats of them that sold dubs. and said
unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house
of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." Clearly,
ceremonies and laws and sacrifices were not the heart of true worship.
Clearly, that was not the heart of true worship. Our Lord would
not accept it. He would not have it. He went
in there and tore it up. He tore it all up. Verse 14 says, and the blind
and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. That's how salvation works. That's
how salvation works. Man does not earn anything. Man does not obey anything. Man does not offer anything. Man does not sacrifice anything. Man does not save himself. God
saves man. God saves man. Salvation is of
the Lord. The Lord does all the healing.
The last three words of verse 14 are, he healed them. It's the Lord's doing. It's the Lord's choosing of who
he will do it for. And he's chosen to do it for
those that realize that they have no ability in them to do
it for themselves. Verse 14 says the blind and lame
came to him. Those who could not see and could
not walk. Those who could not come to him
came to him. Those who could not come, that's
who came to him. The ones who could make their
own offering and could provide their own sacrifice, He cast
them out. Those who came doing it for themselves,
He cast them out. But the blind man who couldn't
even see the sacrifice, He healed him. Turn with me to John chapter
9. John 9, our Lord healed a blind
man, and the Pharisees were interrogating this man, and they didn't like
the fact that he was giving the Lord the glory for it. They kept
asking him questions and asking him questions, and he kept saying,
well, this man did it, he did it, he did it, and they didn't
like that, so they cast the blind man that was healed out of their
church. The center margin in my Bible at the end of verse
34 says they excommunicated him. They cast him out, and that means
they excommunicated him. Verse 35, Jesus heard that they
had cast him out, and when he had found him, he said unto him,
dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said,
who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said
unto him, thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh
with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. And Jesus
said, for judgment I am come into this world, that they which
see not might see. And they which see might be made
blind. And some of the Pharisees, which
were with him, heard these words and said unto him, Are we blind
also? Are you calling us blind? Watch
verse 41. Jesus said unto them, If you
were blind, you should have no sin. But now you say, We see. Therefore your sin remaineth. Our Lord said to those Pharisees,
because you say you have the ability, I'm not going to do
a thing for you. Because that's your witness,
that's your testimony. Oh yeah, we, we can see, we can
do this. I'm not going to do a thing for
you. But if you came to me in utter need, I would remove all
your sin and set you free. That's who the Lord saves. That's
who the Lord saves. It's those who are caused, and
I want to make this very clear. Salvation is not in man's hands.
No one will come in need unless they are caused to come in need.
No man or woman. If a sinner comes in need, it's
because that sinner was caused to come in need. But it's those
who are caused to come to Christ in complete and total need. It
is spiritually blind men. Spiritually blind men. What do
you claim? What ability spiritually do you
claim in your own flesh? What ability do you have in your
own flesh? None. What can you see and know about
God based on your own ability and your own flesh? I'm blind
to God. unless he opens my eyes and reveals
it to me. Spiritually blind men, that's
who God calls us to see. Not men and women who say, well,
yeah, now spiritually speaking, we see just fine on our own.
I mean, I could, you know, maybe give me a pair of bifocals or
something I can see a little more clearly, but no. Sin remains
in the soul who believes that. It's total need. It's the spiritually
lame men and women that God calls us to come to Him. Total need,
total reliance, total need. Here with me back to Matthew
21. Verse 14 says, and the blind
and the lame came to Him in the temple and He healed them. And
when the chief priest and scribes saw the wonderful things that
he did, and the children crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna
to the Son of David, they were sore displeased and said unto
him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them,
Yea, have you never read out of the mouth of babes and sucklings? Thou hast perfected praise. This multitude of people were
crying, Oh, Lord, save us. Save us. And the self-righteous
Pharisees just stood there watching them. And all of these people with
these various conditions and diseases, they came to him crying,
Lord, please heal us. Please help us. And those hard
religionists, they just stood there watching. But when the
children started crying, Lord, have mercy on us. Please save
us. Please have mercy on us. That's
when the Pharisees said, we're not putting up with this anymore.
Verse 16, they said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? Do you see what you have caused
these little children to start crying? And Jesus said unto them,
I most certainly do. Have you never read out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings, thou hast perfected praise? He said, don't you realize that
that is the heart of true worship? That is the heart of true worship.
Don't you realize that the issues of life are not out of the mind? They're out of the heart. Out of the heart, that's where
the issues of life are found. Now, I pray the Lord will teach
us something about this today. Our Lord just quoted to these
Pharisees a verse from Psalm 8. Have you never read? He just quoted Psalm 8. Turn
with me over there to Psalm chapter 8. Psalm 8, as I was studying this,
when I saw that this was the verse that our Lord quoted. I
turned over here and I read these nine verses in Psalm 8. And at the end of reading this,
I saw something from it. Let's read these verses and then
I'll tell you what it is. Verse one says, Oh Lord, our
Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. Who has set
thy glory above the heavens? Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings thou hast ordained strength, because of thine enemies,
that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I
consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful
of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast
made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned
him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under
his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beast of the field.
the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth
through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is thy name in all the earth." As soon as I read that, I thought,
that is love. That is love and affection and
adoration. That is love for God. That's
what that is right there. That is love for God. A baby, okay? A suckling. That's what our Lord said. A
baby doesn't know much. It doesn't know much. But it
definitely knows these two things. Love and need. You say, how do you know a baby
knows love? Well, take that little baby away from its mother. Just
do that. And if that baby is away long
enough, and I recognize some are a little more passable than
others. I get that. You mind if I hold
him? Mind if I hold her? I understand
that. But if that baby is away long enough, that baby will start crying.
Once that baby starts crying, just pass that baby from person
to person who is not the baby's mother and see what happens. That baby will keep crying. That
baby will keep crying. That baby will keep crying. Then
give that baby back to its mother and see what happens. That baby will stop crying. That
baby will be satisfied. That baby will be happy. Why?
Love. Love, love and need for one particular
person. That is the heart of true worship. That is the heart of true worship. Love and need for the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the heart of true worship. God's people, no matter how old
they are, okay, no matter how old they are, God's people are
referred to as babes. God refers to them that way.
We refer to ourselves that way. Turn with me over to Matthew
chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11, and look
with me at verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast
revealed them unto babes. Babes. That's who we are. That's what we are. That's what
we want to be, because that's who God reveals these things
to. Babes, look with me at Matthew
18. Matthew 18 verse 1, it says, At the same time came the disciples
unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the
midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except you be
converted and become as little children, you shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven. He said, unless God gives you
the faith and the love and the need of a little child, there
is no acceptance with me. Unless you are caused to look
unto me as a child looks to his father and mother for everything,
there's no acceptance. No acceptance. Our girls have
finally reached an age like so many of our kids have that They've
started doing some little jobs here and there. They're earning
a little bit of their own money. They've started buying, you know,
some of their own things. They want something. And we say,
well, you have money. If that's what you want, you get it. You
know, they bought a few things. But until this point, they have
been completely dependent on me and Hannah for everything.
Everything from the food they eat to the clothes they wear
to the roof over their head. Completely dependent. That's
what all of God's people are toward the Lord Jesus Christ. We are completely dependent on
Him for everything from the food we eat to that robe of righteousness
that we wear. to that covering, that blood
atonement covering over our head. We are completely dependent on
Him for everything. And seeing Him in that way, and
needing Him in that way, and loving Him for everything that
He is to us and for us, that's worship. When I have conversations with
people, if I find out that the person I'm talking to knows everything
that there is to know about the subject of election, I can't
settle down. When I find out that they have
limited atonement, I mean, buddy, they are the authority on limited
atonement. I can't calm down. I just can't. I'm not. Doctrine. Doctrine. Doctrine. Doctrine. Doctrine. I don't know. I don't know. We'll see. I don't
know. We'll see. The moment I find out that a soul is a sinful,
wretched, miserable, in-need soul of a Savior, and all their
hope is in that Savior, and everything they need is in that Savior,
And He's everything to them. And why would He do this for
them? Because they're so unworthy. They just hope in Him and hope,
that's my brother. That's my sister. A person like that knows God
chose them. Because they know without Him,
they would never choose Him. They're so sinful. A person like
that understands the particular redemption of Christ for His
people. Loving Him, needing Him for everything. That is the heart of worship. He is everything to us and everything
for us. Everything. And we see that, and we've been
caused to know that, and we thank Him for that, and we worship
Him for that. We do. Now very quickly, go with me
to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 26, it says, for you see your calling brethren,
you see it, you know it, you thank God for it. That's why
we worship and praise him. Verse 26, you see your calling
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. And base things of the world
and things which are despised hath God chosen. Yea, and things
which are not to bring to nothing things that are. That no flesh
should glory in his presence. And we don't because we know
that verse 30 says of him. Are you in Christ Jesus who of
God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. We know that Christ is our wisdom. We don't glory in anything. We
know that Christ is our wisdom. We're not our own wisdom. We
know that Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our spotless robe of
goodness. Christ is our covering of goodness.
We're not our own goodness. Let me just tell you this. I
want to do good deeds rather than bad deeds. I want to be
kind rather than mean. I want to obey rather than disobey. God, the laws of the land, I
want to be a good neighbor. I want this and I want that.
But that is not my righteousness before God. That'll never stand up before
God. Christ is my righteousness. He's
the only righteousness I have. He's the only goodness I plead.
Christ is not our sanctification. He, Christ is our sanctification. We are not our own sanctification. Christ is my inner purity. Well,
in order to go to heaven, don't you have to be a better person?
Yes. And Christ is that better person. My only hope is Christ
in me. That's my hope of glory. I'm not holy in myself. I'm only
holy in Christ. Christ is our redemption. He's
the price paid to deliver our souls. We need him. We can't
make that payment. We cannot make the payment. We
need him. We're looking to him. We're trusting
in him because he said he would provide everything we need to
have provided for us. And we thank him for that and
we love him for that. That's worship. That is worship. That is the heart of true worship. Verse 31 right here says that
according as it is written, he that glorious, let him glory
in the Lord. That's worship. I pray the Lord
will teach that to us. I pray he'll give us that heart.
I pray he will give us that heart. If we're gonna glory, it's gonna
be in him alone. Him alone. All right, you're
dismissed.