All right, for Hebrews chapter
13, in this book, let's begin in verse 10 and read down through
verse 15, and the last couple of verses, really, are our text
of the morning, or the part we want to look at. Hebrews 13 and
verse 10. Now, these are the closing exhortations
of the apostle in this great epistle. And he says, we have
an altar. whereof they have no right to
eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest
for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that
he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered
without the gate. Let us go forth therefore with
him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have
no continuing city, but we seek one to come. And watch verse
15 and 16. By Him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit
of our lips giving thanks to His name. But to do good and
to communicate not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Now flipping over to 1 Peter
chapter 2, and here it is 1 through 5. just a little few pages over,
1 Peter chapter 2, 1 through 5. Wherefore, laying aside all
malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may
grow thereby. If so be ye have tasted that
the Lord is gracious. to whom coming as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Now watch verse 5. Ye also, as
lively or living stones, are built up a spiritual house and
holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. Now get that. Spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. John chapter 4. This is our Lord
and the woman at the well. Verse 23 and verse 24. But the hour comes, and now is,
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is spirit, or God a spirit,
and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. Later we're going to use Micah,
chapter 6, verse 6 through verse 8. I'll begin by saying, thus
far, we have had two studies in this little series that I
call spiritual things. Number one was spiritual blessing. Those blessings with which we
were blessed before the foundation of the world and were treasured
up and reserved for us in and through Jesus Christ. And then
our second study was the making of a spiritual man. And that
was last Lord's Day. when a natural man is spiritualized
by an internal work of God that we call regeneration and the
quickening of all of the faculty that were under before the power
of depravity and of sin. Now I want to make a point here
and make it from two sides. Get this point as we move along. And that is that man, in the
fall, lost none of his faculty, none of his human faculty. None
of them were eradicated so that they were no more in him and
operative. within him. He did not lose them,
but they became depraved. They passed under the power of
sin and corruption and depravity. Now the other side of the argument
is, even so, in regeneration, in spiritual renewal, in the
new birth, there are no new faculties that need be created to apprehend
Christ and to live unto him the Christian life. Only the original
ones that fell under depravity are renewed by a work of God. So we have a new heart. We have
a purge conscience. We have an enlightened understanding,
which before were all under the power of depravity. And then, by being renewed, they
are made capable of spiritual activity and knowing and worshiping
the God of heaven. And so this morning we come now
to consider how such are capable of worshipping God, and that
in spirit and in truth. And we want to look at the nature
of that worship, for it is not an outward thing, it is not an
external. It is not in material things
or buildings or such like that this worship of God consists. So, let's mention it here, even
though we will save a fuller discussion of it for later on
in our study. And that is the spirituality
of it as contrasted with other religions. This is a spiritual
work and a spiritual worship. And then number two, the great
transition from the Jewish worship under Christian worship, from
under the law to under the gospel, from under the Old Testament
to under the New Testament. And that's what that had to do
with in John chapter four. An hour is coming. The hour has
come, and now is, when there will be a great change in worship,
from under the types and the shadows, into the spiritual reality
of the worship of Almighty God. And perhaps the greatest distinction
is from viewing Christ in the types and the shadows of the
Old Testament as the one now having been incarnate, having
suffered, having died, having risen and ascended to the right
hand of God in the very heaven of heaven. And this we declare,
there is no proper worship of God beside Jehovah. None but Jehovah is God. None but Jehovah is the God to
be worshipped. And there is no other beside
Him and the Lord who is eternal and uncreated. I know that, as
Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, Verse 5 and 6, there are many
that are called Lords, many that are called God, but unto us there
is but one God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto
whom all things are, and we by Him. In Philippians chapter 3
and verse 3, Paul makes a statement. We don't need to misunderstand
it. He says, we are the circumcision. By that he means we are or we
have the true spiritual circumcision. Not that of the flesh, but that
of the heart. And he means that we worship
God in spirit and in truth, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh. We are the real and the true
circumcision. And in verse 4 through verse
6 of that chapter, Paul explains what he means by flesh. We have
no confidence in the flesh. by Abrahamic descent will not
save us. External privileges and rights,
the ceremonies given through Moses, just as there is no other
God to worship except Jehovah, even so there is no proper or
spiritual way to worship the one true God of heaven, apart
from Jesus Christ. We will notice today that it
always makes the connection that it is by, through, and of Jesus
Christ. Christ cannot be excluded and
there be a real and a true worship. None are saved apart from Christ
and so there is no worship of God apart from him. Peter once
said to a Jewish audience found in Acts chapter 4 and verse 12,
neither is there salvation in any other for there's none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And he clearly is referring to
Jesus Christ and from a Jewish perspective, that they must be
brought off of the external ceremonies and types and shattered into
the reality of Christ. Now, let's go to John chapter
4 and the Lord's encounter with the Samaritan woman. According
to the providence of God, he met this woman upon that certain
day. Back in chapter 3, it was Nicodemus
who came to him and who came unto him by night, a ruler of
the Jew, a teacher of them, chapter 3 and verse 10, and told that
he or anyone must be born again before they can see or enter
into the kingdom of God. But when we come to chapter 4,
the scene is altogether different. It is not a Jew and it's not
a religious man and a teacher, but it is a woman of Samaria
in John chapter 4. Now this woman had been a serial
marrier, as we learn from the scripture here. After thinking
Jesus to be a prophet, in verse 19, and it is now evident that
to her, the one speaking is a man of spiritual things, and he's
talking about spiritual matters. So she brings up that long-standing
dispute between the Jew and the Samaritan about a proper place
that men ought to worship. Now the Samaritans had broken
away and they worshipped and built a temple in Mount Gerizim. and had done so for a long, long
time, and even built a temple there in the time of Sanballat
to please his father-in-law. Now, the Jews were commanded
to worship in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the center of their
worship. It was where the temple was,
and you read about that in 1 Kings 8 at great length. So in John
4, And verse 21, the Lord tells her an hour, a time, a moment
would arrive. It is coming and would arrive
when worship would not be confined to either place, Jerusalem or
Mount Gerizim. In verse 23, 24 that we read,
the time had arrived when worship would not be determined by place,
but by spirit and by truth. No one place more holy than another
when it comes to worshiping God. George Hutchinson wrote in his
commentary on John here that the lawful and public worship
of God should not be restricted to any certain place. And that's what the Lord is saying
unto him. Now both worshipers, both places
of worship, both kinds of worship would give way to a special and
a heart worship when the Lord had come. Not outward ceremony,
not outward and external, not material thing. the Samaritan,
because it was a mongrel religion, if we may call it that, must
abandon Mount Gerizim and worship the Lord through Christ in spirit
and in truth. And the Jew must abandon the
Mosaic ceremony because it was only outward and temporary and
was to be done away. Now the time of this transition
in worship, to be temporary, the time must correspond to the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was signified when the veil
in the temple was rent from top to bottom as our Lord was on
the cross and as he died there and gave up the ghost. At the
exact time that Christ died on the cross the veil in the temple
was rent from top on the bottom that Christ is dead Matthew chapter
27 50 and 51 and that the Jewish ceremonial order of worship had
come to an end and that Judaism had died with the Lord upon the
cross and their temple would be destroyed and and even their
city." Now, does this mean that the worship of God would be no
more because there had been put an end under that? What shall
come then in the place of Judaism and the ceremonial law? How shall
they accustomed to walk and worship in that way now be converted
to walk in spirit and in truth? And if not Jerusalem, then where? If not in the temple, what other
place might God be worshiped? If not in rites and rituals and
such like, then how is it expressed? How is it manifested? How is
worship to be performed if all of these things are to be taken
away? With what visible tokens May
they have of their religion and of their worship. And if not
a bleeding sacrifice, slain by a priest upon an altar, then
what for sacrifice for their sin? If not special days, then
what will we worship and how will we worship? Now, there would
be a termination point in all of this. And in John 4, 23 again,
now is the hour when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. Let's catch that and focus on
those two words True worshiper. The time has come when true worshiper,
true, T-R-U-E, this is a favorite word of the Lord and recorded
often by John in his gospel to quote the Lord using that word
true. Here are some examples of our
Lord and the use of the word true in His public teaching under
them. Here in John 4.23, true worshipers,
He says, under them. John 6 and verse 32. The true bread. I'm that true
bread that came down out of heaven. John 15 and 1, I am the true
vine. Not just vine, but the true vine. The one and only vine in which
there is life. John 17 and verse 3, as he prayed,
there he spoke of the only true God. and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent." Now we think of the word true as being manifest,
as being actual, true to the fact, conforming to the reality
of the matter. It is real, it is ideal, it is
genuine. That's what we mean by true.
So that a true worshipper is a worshipper indeed, or really,
or truly. Consider this. Under the mosaic
economy, one did not, and I want you to catch this, one did not
have to be renewed. One did not have to be born again. or to be regenerated, to perform
the ceremonies, to make the sacrifices, to celebrate the day, to receive
circumcision, or to keep the Sabbath, or any of the other
things. A carnal, unregenerate Jew could do that and did it
all the time. This could be done by a carnal
person, and they could even be done by hypocrites, and they
were time and time again. so that there was no need to
be spiritual to participate in them even though their heart
was not right in the sight of God. I think we see this in the
practice of the Pharisees in the days of our Lord. We see
it in the works in words. Their heart is far from me. The prophet Isaiah said, 29,
13, this people draw near me with their mouth or with their
lip, but their lips do honor me, but with their heart it is
far removed from me. So with the lips, yes, they gave
service, with their activity they gave service, but their
heart was far from the Lord. And this is quoted in Matthew
chapter 15 and verse 8 and 9. Another, the prophet Ezekiel
chapter 33 And verse 31, with their mouth they do show much
love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. They talk
a good game, but their actions did not match their talk. And in John chapter 4, could
it be that the words true worshipers is a contrast to the Lord's evaluation
of the Samaritan worship? in the context. In verse 21 and
verse 22, the Lord said to her as a Samaritan who worshiped
in Mount Gerizim, you know not what you worship, or you worship
what you do not know. This too has a contract, as some
have rendered it. You, that is the Samaritan, worship
what you know not. But we, that is the Jew, worship
what we know. For the Samaritans worshiped
in ignorance, as did those in Acts 17 and verse 23. Paul said, you ignorantly worship
him whom to you is the unknown God. So there was that religion
and is yet that puts more emphasis on the place, on the location,
than on the nature and the object of the worship. Done today too. Nothing can be acceptable worship
of God, of course, which is contrary unto the scripture. And so, if
that is brought in, That is the tradition and the teaching of
men and is not according to scripture. It is simply expressed in empty
words and misguided zeal, which some go by, nor magnificent temples
as some look at the building. and feel so close to God in a
pretty building. It's not gold-trimmed robes that
come out into the pulpit. It's not chanted prayers one
after another. It is not the multiplication
of rites and ceremonies and outward things and such as that. Now, I have waited for the proper
time that we might introduce into the record that passage
found in Micah chapter 6. And if you'd like to turn there,
it's pretty interesting indeed. It is in Micah chapter 6, and
it is in verse 6 through verse 8. And if you'll notice, it opens
with a question. Wherefore shall I come before
the Lord and bow myself before the Most High? Now, if one takes
up a thought of religion, that's usually the first thing that
enters their mind. What must I do? What's it about? What does God require? And so
the prophet raises the question, as he comes before it. Wherewith
shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the Most
High. That is to worship Him and to
be accepted of Him and to find grace and to find favor. Now,
this is very important because, number one, it raised the question,
how should one approach God or what will he accept? Or how will he accept one as
a worshiper of him? Number two, It regards worshippers
first under the old economy, as seen by the means of appeasement
that are brought forth as a possibility. So let's read that in Micah chapter
6, 6 through 8. Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord, and bow myself before the Most High God? Then he begins to surmise. Shall
I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year
old? Will the Lord be pleased with
thousands of ram or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall
I give my firstborn for my transgression the fruit of my body for the
sin of my soul? Here's the answer. He has showed
thee, O man, what is good. What doth the Lord require of
thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God? None of those things mentioned
that are brought out earlier. Now the thoughts of a carnal
person often is, as Calvin wrote, and I quote, that God can be
pacified by outward rights and frivolous performances, unquote,
the words of Calvin. They might bribe the Lord into
receiving them and forgiving them of their sin. Now, no doubt
the prophet uses what we might call an hyperbole or an exaggeration
in this text, he overstates the thing that will please God, pacify
him, and gain his favor. And so we read, calves of a year
old, by that he means in the prime of life, and rams by the
thousands. not one or two, but rams by the
thousand, for oil of anointing, ten thousand rivers of oil, or
my firstborn, the fruit of my body, mine own Isha, mine own
child. The question in verse 7, will
the Lord be pleased with these? Now consider verse 8. The prophet
plainly tells them, God has shown what is good and what is required
of men, and it involves the inward spiritual, not primarily the
external. Verse 8, to do justly, to love
mercy, to walk humbly with thy God. Way back in Deuteronomy,
in chapter 10 and verse 12, Now Israel, what does the Lord thy
God require of thee but to fear God, to walk in His ways, to
love Him, and to serve Him with all of your soul? In 1 Samuel
chapter 15, In verse 22, remember what the prophet Samuel said
to Saul when he returned again on his mission with a king in
tow and blading lambs behind him. He asked, the prophet asked
Saul, listen, Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offering
and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Saul was
told to slay all of that. He comes back with it and Samuel
says, what meaneth it? Oh, we've saved the best for
sacrifice. But the prophet asked him this,
behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than
the fat of lambs. To obey God is much better than
to offer many lambs upon an altar. Solomon concludes his book. in Ecclesiastes 12 and 13, after
he had gone through all those things that he had tried and
experimented and found no real lasting peace or fellowship or
comfort in them. Here's what he said, 12-13, let
us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, keep
his commandment, for this is the whole duty of man, spiritual
things rather than external. I think one of the greatest penitential
confession to be found anywhere in the scripture is that one
of David in Psalm chapter 51 and verse 16 and verse 17. You remember David had sinned
with Bathsheba and Samuel had reproved him and he had come
unto repentance and here's what David said under the sense of
the great sin of adultery and murder that he had committed
as the king. He says as he prays to God, you
desire not sacrifice, else would I give it. I could go to my flocks
and herds and give sacrifices in abundance. You desire not
sacrifice it, else would I give it. You delight not. in blazing or burnt offering,
the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite
heart, O Lord, thou will not despise." David's prayer. Now let's go back to the New
Testament and consider that worship that is in spirit and in truth. It's spiritual. It does not consist
in external, not in do's and don'ts, and not for pomp and
for show, not to feed the flesh, not to be seen of men. It is not legal righteousness,
it is not self-righteousness, for God despises them both. Especially
the two passages, 1 Peter 2 and verse 5, Hebrews 13, 15 and 16. Now, it seems very clear that
both of these passages are phrased to Christian, some of them being
converted, being Jews as well, but using Old Testament imagery
to get the message across under them, showing type and anti-type. As Peter speaks of a spiritual
house, and spiritual sacrifices. In verse 5. We want to come there
now. Spiritual sacrifices and a spiritual
house. And he called them living stones
or living rocks. He also called them a holy priesthood,
an allusion to the Jewish temple and the priesthood which the
Jews much gloried in. They thought this was the great
part of their worship. It was here at this magnificent
temple that the priest made sacrifices. But these all lost their use
when Christ died as the great high priest by offering himself
without spot and without blemish as the great sacrifice for sin. And in verse 4 and 5, and the
words in verse 4 of 1 Peter 2, to whom having come, you have
come to one, C-O-M-H, having come to him, meaning Christ,
of course, none other, approaching him, believing on him, if you
will, coming to the one called a living stone. a foundation
stone chosen of God and of precious. The builders rejected it, but
it is made the head of the corner. And then in verse 5 he said,
and are built up a spiritual house. This is another way of
expressing the union and the near relation of the children
of God unto Christ. Now the Jewish Temple had a magnificent
foundation to bear it up, 1 Kings 6 and 37. And it was made of
stones, made ready before they were brought. to the place to where they were
to be put. There was not the sound of a
saw or a hammer in the making of this temple. They were prepared,
apart, and brought and set in the temple. And when it was finished,
God put his typical present therein. Quote, A settled place for thee
to abide forever. 1 Kings 8 and 13 is how Solomon
referred to that temple. A settled place as opposed to
the tabernacle moved here and there and yonder during their
journey. A settled place for God to abide
forever. So the figure used by Peter Christ
the living foundation stone, the children of the church are
the living stone, and twice the apostle uses the word spiritual,
are built up a spiritual house. living stones on a living foundation
stone, a spiritual sacrifice to offer up, acceptable by Jesus
Christ or through him, who is the high priest and the apostle
of our profession, Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 1. Now the word spiritual
distinguishes the spiritual temple, house, or palace from the literal
and material temple which the Jews much glory in as the dwelling
place of God. And it amazes Solomon at what
he was doing and what God had commanded him. In 1 Samuel 8
27, 2 Chronicles 2 and verse 6, It amazed Solomon that God would
dwell in a house made with hands upon the earth. Paul tells the
Athenians in Acts 17, 24, 25, God dwells not in temples made
with hand, neither is worshipped by men's hands. He is not served
by the hands of men. He is not cared for by the hands
of men. He can't be shut up in a man-made
shrine and be confined there and no other place. And there
is no need that God has that any person might be able to supply. He's not served by the hands
of men. That's what Peter portrays here
is a living God in a living temple. But it is not material rock. It is spiritual temple for the
God who is spiritual. God is spirit, and they that
worship must worship him in a spiritual way. Its foundation is the living
Christ. The children of God are living
stones set. in that temple or dwelling place
of God. Now consider the spiritual sacrifices. Look at that. To offer up spiritual
sacrifices. Now that involves a spiritual
priesthood as well. For priests offer sacrifices,
do they not? And only the priests offer. Now
here's the word offer. Offer. We look at it. How often
we meet that in the Old Testament. It is the same word for the making
of a Levitical sacrifice. And you have that same word in
Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 27. And to offer means to bring up
or take up to bring, to carry, to bear up. And so that's what
it is. A spiritual sacrifice, these
spiritual sacrifices that we offer up are not expiatory in
their nature. That is, they're not meant, they're
not intended to take away sin. They are not sin sacrifices that
we offer up as spiritual sacrifices. By the sacrifice of himself the
Lord put away sin, Hebrews 9 and verse 26. By his one offering
are we perfected and sanctified forever, Hebrews 10 and verse
14. Peter does not identify the sacrifices. He does not tell us the nature
and the individual sacrifices except to call them spiritual. But, when we flip to Hebrews
13, if you'd like to, in Hebrews chapter 13, the apostle writes,
By Him, therefore, meaning Jesus the Lord, let us offer the sacrifice
of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to His name. Now see or hear the three things
that are strung together here in this verse. Number one, the
sacrifice of praise. Maybe word, maybe song. Number
two, the fruit of our lips, much the same. And number three, giving
thanks unto his name. This is a sacrifice. These are sacrifices offered
up unto God. Now, let's not forget. along
that line, some sacrifices, not all, but some, under the Mosaic
economy, were sacrifices not for sin, but of thanksgiving.
Some of those sacrifices that were offered, the meal offerings
and such like, were thanksgiving offerings made up unto the Lord. In other words, they were expressions
of gratitude and of thanksgiving. when God had done some great
or special work, some great blessing had been poured out upon them,
some help, some deliverance, some guidance, and they would
offer an offering of thanksgiving. And you can also read Psalm 27
and verse 6. Leviticus 7 and verse 12 also
speaks about that. Psalm 50 and verse 23. Whosoever offers praise, glorifies God. The offering, the sacrifice of
praise, and what does David say, whosoever offers it, glorifies
me. I was reading in Psalm 107, and
there the psalmist said no less than three times, let's see if
I have them down, verse 8, 15 and 21 Psalm 107 he said this
oh That men would praise the Lord for his goodness and his
wonderful works to the children of men Three times at least he
says it in that one chapter. Oh that men would praise the
Lord for his wonderful works Psalm 150 and verse 6 that everything
that hath breath praise the Lord However, even their thanksgiving
and praise offerings in the Old Testament involved a material
or animal offering administered through the priest of God's appointing. But the Christian sacrifices
are spiritual. The sacrifice of praise, the
fruit of our lips giving thanks, Hosea 14 and 2 called it the
caves of our lips. Not caves for sacrifice on an
altar, but the caves of our lips. Not the fruit of the earth, but
the fruit of our lips. and for what we ought to offer
the sacrifice of praise. For what ought do we praise God
and offer up that sacrifice unto Him? First or foremost, is it
life? Is it our health, our home, our
car, our job, our children, our family? Or is it the redemption
that is in Jesus Christ? even as Israel's chief blessing
of God was for the deliverance out of the land of Egypt. Now
they had a high priest to offer for their sin. So Christians
have a greater great high priest, and his name is Jesus. He has
given an everlasting sacrifice and will be an everlasting and
perpetual priest. And by him or through him, we
offer up the sacrifice of praise, it is acceptable to God by Him. Look at and consider a statement
in Hebrews 13 and verse 10. We have an altar. Boy, the light went on when I
read across that this week. We have an altar. Now, the Jews
could not imagine a system of worship or an approach unto God
without an altar on which a sacrifice was made. Says the apostle, we
Christian, we believers in Christ, we have an altar. a vital and a fit place for the
offering up of our sacrifice. I'd like to pass over that quickly
because, God willing, I'll preach on it real soon. We have an altar. Now concerning spiritual sacrifices,
in Hebrews 13 and verse 16, he names more of them. But to do
good and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices
God is well pleased. He calls Christian works and
charity sacrifices. Sacrifices unto Him. With Him,
God is well pleased. Good works. Look at that word,
communicate, in the King James Bible, literally means to share. And you have it again in 1 Timothy
6 and verse 18. And Paul in Philippians 4 and
verse 15 included financially and especially the poor. They shared with Paul. They communicated
with him. In other words, they supported
him. They shared their earthly material things with him. And
he in turn communicated or shared with them the gospel. The Word
of God. And Paul in Philippians 4.8,
here's what I meant to say, calls their offering and their support
of him. They sent him money to sustain
him as he preached and exercised the ministry of the gospel. And
here's what he called it, their offering, their financial offering.
When he wrote back to them, he called them this. Philippians
4.18, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing
unto God, their offering and support of Him. I'll close with
two in Revelation, Revelation 5 and 8, 8 and 3 and 4. where it's amazing to me that
the prayers of the saints are bottled up before the Lord. The prayers of the saints. In some way, I can't explain,
it's inscrutable to me, but the prayers of the saints are bottled
up before the Lord God because they're uttered through the Spirit
and through Christ, and they are precious unto Him. But true
religion is inward and ethical. It's out of the heart, it's out
of the inner man, and it concerns morals and ethics and such like. And so the sacrifices that are
made are spiritual and not material. We'd never think of slaying an
animal, but praise God, praising, praising for his good works and
for that great redemption that is in Jesus Christ. And he called
that a sacrifice well-pleasing unto God.