There in verse 6, look at what
it says. O come, let us worship and bow
down. Let us kneel before the Lord
our maker. O come, let us worship. Let me
ask you some questions. Why did God create man? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ
come into the world? Why did our Lord Jesus die? Why was he resurrected and exalted
to the right hand of God? What's heaven for? What's heaven
for? Why does the church exist? What's
its task? The answer is very, very simple.
Very simple. The answer to all these questions
is to worship God. God created man to worship Him.
Christ came so we could worship God and worship His Son. He died
that we might worship. He was worthy of that. And when
we get to glory, the ultimate destiny for all the saints of
God, when we get to glory, we'll spend our time worshipping God. That's what the scriptures tell
us plainly. All them elders, when they fell down and worshipped
Him, they said, The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. That's the
first thing coming out of their mouth. The Lord God Omnipotent
reigneth. And salvation belongs to Him. And we say that here,
we say that here, with all this flesh, imagine what it ought
to be when we don't have this flesh to contend with. We'll
really bless His name then, won't we? Huh? You see, God created
man to worship Him and enjoy Him forever. And you certainly
can't enjoy Him there if you don't enjoy Him here. And you
can't worship Him there if you don't worship Him here. And David
said in verse 1 here, said, Oh come, Oh come, let us sing unto
the Lord let us sing unto the Lord for David for David there
was just one God and by nature by nature there can only be one
God can only be one look there in verse 3 says the Lord is a
great God and a great King above all Gods see how the difference
is in the see by nature Why would I make something out of that?
Because there are so many gods in this world. There are so many
gods in this world. People worship some of them. In fact, how many times have
I heard somebody say, my God is this way, my God is that way.
And I tell you what, for David there was only one God. Hear,
O Israel, the Lord our God is one. And by nature, There can
only be one Almighty God. Can only be one. There can't
be two. And there can't be nobody equal
with Him if there's anybody equal with Him. Then He couldn't be
Almighty God. Is that not right? And I tell
you, for the world and all the different people, there are so
many gods. When Paul went into Athens and
stood there at Mars Hill, that temple there was just full of
gods. Just full of them. And Paul said,
these gods whom you ignorantly worship, and then I see this
altar, this inscription to the unknown God, that's the one I'm
going to tell you about. You know all these others. You
know what you've made them to do. You know what you've created
them for. You know what they're going to do. But he said, I'll
tell you what I'll do. He said, the one that you don't
know, the one that you've got, you've got the God for the sun,
you've got the God for the moon, you've got the fertility God,
you've got the God for your crops, you've got the God if bad luck
comes your way, you can go to Him. I mean, you've got a God
for, if the thunderstorm is going to come, you know, you go to
that God. They have a God for everything. And Paul says there's one God
that you all don't know. And in case you missed him, there's
an author over here to the unknown God. He said, that's the one
we'll tell you about. Cause he is unknown if somebody don't
tell you about him. If he don't make himself known, nobody will
ever know him. And that's what we do. We declare the true and
worshiped and glorious God, the One Almighty. Let me tell you
something else about worship. Oh, come let us worship. Worship
is a spiritual thing. Worship is a spiritual thing.
It's something we do spiritually. Our Lord said God is a spirit
and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in
truth. Worship is a spiritual thing. The flesh don't have nothing.
In fact, the flesh hinders us in our worship. Bothers us in
our worship very bad. And an idol, let me tell you
something, an idol doesn't have to be made of wood, or stone,
or out of that golden image or anything. Paul says the very
covetousness is idolatry. When you set something up that
you desire more than anything else, and you want it and you
covet it, Paul said that's idolatry. You desire something that's not
God-honored and Christ-honored. And he said, Paul said, Covetousness
is idolatry. And how did he know that? Because
God... In fact, that's what it says
in Romans chapter 7, Thou shalt not covet. That's when God smote
him with the truth. What did he covet? Power, ambition,
to be some great leader in Israel? He coveted the highest places. And that's what our Lord said
about the men that sought the highest places. They go seek
out the highest seats that they can sit. That's covetousness,
idolatry. And that's why our Lord Jesus
Christ told that woman at the well, said, you worship, you
don't have any idea what you worship. She said, our Father
has told us to worship in this mountain. Jews worship up yonder. He said, you don't know what
you worship. You don't have a clue what you
worship. And here David was excited about the worship of God. Look
what he said again there in verse 1. Oh, come let us sing unto
the Lord. And oh, that's what we do. We
come and sing. Sing songs that honor Him. Sing
songs that magnify His grace and His power and His salvation.
And then he said, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of
our salvation. He was excited about it. Let's
make a joyful noise. Listen. Let's make some, you
know, let's sing, let's worship Him. He is excited about it. I wonder how long it's been since
we've been excited about coming to worship. Get excited, oh I
can't wait to get there. And I tell you something, worship
is a meaning, not only spiritual, but it's a meaningful thing.
It's an intelligent thing. It's not mindless. It's not mindless. That's why Paul says you hear
me eagerly worship. You see, worship is a meaningful
thing. It's an intelligent thing. It's not mindless like the Pentecostals
who just get in a tizzy and start speaking in tongues and running
aisles and doing all that kind of stuff. It's not like the Hare
Krishnas that go through all their cants and rants and raves
and all that until they get themselves into a frenzy. And I'll tell
you something else about worship. It's not something we do to make
ourselves feel better. It's not something we do to make
ourselves feel better and especially about ourselves. You know what
it is? This is what is meaningful about
it. We worship God because He is
worthy to be worshipped. He's worthy of it. He's worthy
of our worship, He's worthy of our admiration, He's worthy of
our praise, He's worthy of everything that we can possibly say about
Him to honor His holy name. And I'll tell you something else,
we don't worship for our sake, but for God's sake. Why do we
worship? Because God's who He is. God's
who He is. And oh, let me talk, oh come
let us worship and bow down and let us kneel before our maker.
Let me give you some reasons why we worship God and why we
do worship Him. Not should, we do. And I tell
you, look at it in verse 3. Here's the first reason. For
the Lord is a great God. And a great king, what's this? Above all gods. That's why we
worship Him. Our God is a great God. He's a great king above everybody
else. Now you keep this, and let me
show you something over in 1 Corinthians 8, verse 5. Looky here. Oh, God is, and it's not something
we just, you know, when we pray, we say, God is great, God is
good, now we thank Him for this food. No, the Lord God is great! He is a great God! Glorious God! King above all gods! And look
what He said here in 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 5. Paul's talking about idols now.
He says, for though there be that are called gods, whether
in heaven or in earth, whether people got them up there or they
got them down here, as there be gods many and lords many,
but now listen, but to us, but to us, there is but one God,
the Father, of whom are all things, and we are in Him, and one Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and by whom are all things. Paul says everybody's got gods,
lots of them out here. But for us, just one. For us,
we worship one. For us, it's just one great God. For us, it's just one Lord. For
us, it's just one person that we worship. The Lord God Himself. Now look up, won't you see this
also in Psalm 115. Other gods are worthless, they're
useless. And you hear people talk about
them. You hear people talk about them. In fact, a lot of people
don't even talk about them. All they do is talk about what
they do. You know, what they do and us. Look what he said. Why did David
say it like this? Not unto us, O Lord. Not unto
us, but unto thy name. See, we're not worshipping for
our sake. We're worshipping for God's sake. Not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and
for thy true sin. And the heathen come to us and
said, now where is your God? You see, God can't be seen. God
said, don't you make no images out of me. Don't you make nothing
in the heavens. Don't you make nothing on this
earth. Don't you make nothing in flight. Don't you make anything
image of me whatsoever. I'm a spirit. I was one God. Don't make no images. Don't make
no images. You don't know what I look like.
You don't know anything. You know I'm a spirit. Don't
make no images. And so the heathens, they had
all these images. And the Hebrews and us, we can't,
you can't see God. And they said, well, then we
got our gospel and where the world's real God at? Where's
He at? And oh, you know what he said?
He answered this, he said, our God's in heaven. In fact, he said in one place,
the heaven of heavens can't contain him. And what does he do while
he's there? Just whatever he pleases. But oh, listen. Listen to what
he says. Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of his men's hands. Now they make them with mouths.
They got mouths, they got lips. They got, but they can't say
nothing. They have eyes, they put eyes in them, you know, they
carve out little eyes and they put eyes in them, but they don't
see anything. They carve ears out on the side of their heads
and they don't hear anything. Oh, they got to put nose on their
faces and whittle them out of the nose and they don't, they
don't speak anything. He said they put hands on them,
but they can't handle nothing. He said, they put feet on, they
carve out feet, and they're standing there on their feet. But they
can't walk. And they can't talk. And listen to this, everybody
that made that are just like them. Ain't that what he says?
Oh, I see so many people bow down
to idols. But those images, those images, Those images have no life, they
have no essence. And that's why they said, oh
listen, you go ahead and watch and worship them gods. Just stand
in there. Pick them up. You remember when
Jacob left his father's house, his father-in-law's house, Laban's
house, and Rachel went with him, and Leah went with him, and Rachel
took some of Laban's gods with her, and she hid them. And boy,
I just upset Laman to no end. He didn't worry about Rachel
leaving, didn't worry about Leah leaving, and didn't care about
Jacob leaving. But boy, when he and God went
to miss him, he went to look and couldn't find them. He run
up to Al and said, now wait a minute, wait a minute. He's upset because
he lost his gods. And he was going through all
that stuff to find them. Oh boy, I tell you what, you
take a crucifix away from a Catholic, you wouldn't know what to do.
You take them bells away from a Hare Krishna, he wouldn't know
how to worship. You take them things away from
a Muslim, he wouldn't know how to do anything. You take candles
and robes away from some people, they don't know what in the world
to do. You get their preacher out of a robe, you get their
candles burnt out and blow out their candles, Take away their
wine and their wafer, and what in the world are they going to
do? If you don't get the music just
right, how are you going to worship? And that's why I said, come let
us worship. Not only is worship a spiritual thing, meaningful
thing. And oh, I'll tell you, now back
over in our text, let me go back to this. We're talking about
God. Oh God. Reasons why? Because
He's a great God. Here's another reason. Look there
in verse 4. You know, the God, the true God,
the Lord God, this great God, He's behind every mystery in
the universe. Look what it says there in verse
4. In His hand are the deep places of the earth. Now what does that
mean? The deep things of the earth?
The deep discoveries of the earth? Everything that's in this world,
this past man, God's the God who created it. In his hands
are the depths of the sea, ain't that what it said? The depths
of the sea, everything's in the hand, his hand is the depths
of the places of the earth. You know there are things that
ain't never, you know there's things that weren't discovered. And there's things yet to be
discovered. And here's the thing about it, when man discovers
something, it always existed. Because there's nothing new under
the sun. God just enabled them and blessed them to find it. You understand what I'm saying?
That man's DNA. Oh, that was, oh, what an accomplishment.
To knock out man's DNA. One of the things is how that
has blessed the human race and the body. But the DNA was always
there. Is that not right? You know mold
that existed as long as any cheese existed, bread existed, mold
would get on everything. Grain existed. But one day a
man looked at mold and he took some of that mold and he understood
that there was something in that mold that would cure infections. And do you know what it was?
It was penicillin. It always existed. The mold always existed.
But the fellow found it out. So there's always something. Somebody can come up on something
and say, oh my, do you see? Oh, this is the greatest discovery
that's ever been. No, it's always there. God just
gave you eyes to see it for that first time. Ain't that right? Ain't you grateful that that's
the way it is? Because there ain't nothing new under the sun.
There really ain't. Man just, God's got to give him
eyes to see it. And I'll tell you something else
about him. Not only is he behind every mystery in the universe,
but he's an uncreated being. He's self-existent. And our Lord
Jesus Christ, you know what he said about him? He says, the
Father hath life in himself. He is self-existent. He has the
life in himself. Nobody exists without somebody
else causing their existence. But God exists self, by Himself. He has life within Himself. Where
do we get our life? We live and move and have our
being from Him. We are not self-existent. We're
here for a little while and then we're gone. But God by Himself
exists. Life is in Him. And oh beloved,
He is independent. You know anything God, anybody
or anything God depends on? Oh listen, I heard a song years
and years ago and it really bothered me. And it was on the radio.
It was on the radio. Me and Lenny and the kids was
coming through Kentucky. And there's a song come on there
I was depending on. Paul started out with Abel and
then he went to Noah and then he went down through there and
said I was depending on him but to fail and I was depending on
this one to fail and I was depending on God and depending on this
one and on that one. Go with the whole list of people. I told
a kid, I said, God ain't never depended on nothing or nobody.
He says the heavens is not purity sight. He puts no trust in his
saints nor in his angels. And I tell you, he depends on
nothing. Paul said, do you reckon God needs anything? Look at this
great temple. God don't dwell in temples made
by hands. Look at all this gold. God don't not worship with gold. Look at these things our hands
make. God's not worshiped with our hands, Paul told him. And
I tell you, he created all matter from absolutely nothing. And
Scott used to say, if he wants to create something, he'll create
some nothing to create it again. You make more nothing and create
something, be willed. And oh, He created all matter
from nothing by the power of His Word. Look what it says there
in verse 5. The sea is His. The sea is His. You know why
they call it the Pacific Ocean? Because God said that's what
I want to call it. You know why they call it the Atlantic? That's
what God said I want to call it. The sea is His and He made
it. He made it. And His hands formed the dry
land. That's all it took. Just His
hands. Just His one hand. And oh, look
what it says in the strength. What does it say there in the
last part of verse 4? The strength of the hills. Or
the heights of the hills. The mountains is His also. And oh, listen, I'll tell you
another reason why we worship Him. Because He's true. He's the great God. And look
what else it says there now. Verse 7. This is why we worship.
Down in the last part of verse 6. It says there, The Lord let
us kneel before the Lord our Maker. It's God that made us. It's God that made us. The Lord
our Maker. He's the one that made us. We
are who we are, we are what we are, everything about us. That's why David said in Psalm
39, I was fearfully and wonderfully made. I was in the secret place
when you put me in my mother's womb and I was in that secret
place. You formed me, I didn't have any members, I didn't have
nothing, no existence, no subsistence, but yet you created me and made
me there. And oh, listen, he said everything
about me. was already written down in the
book. I wrote down everything about you. I wrote down how many
hairs you'd have. I wrote down how long you'd live. I wrote down how much you'd be
like your father, like your mother. I wrote down everything about
you before you ever existed. Ain't that something? Listen, how can two People's
got blue eyes have a brown eyed baby because God said it. I wrote
it in the book. Oh listen, God made us. God made
us. Look what else he says there.
Down in verse 7. For he is our God. He is our
God. And listen to what he says now.
And we are the people of his pasture. We are the people of
his pasture. Oh, He made us to be the people
of His pasture. Put us out, you know, said, boy,
folks, get some rest. Time for me to get put out to
pasture again. And I tell you, that's what God done, put you
out to pasture. He put you out to pasture when He saved you,
when He made you. You're out, you're out, what are you doing?
He maketh me to lie down. Besides the still waters. He
lead us many. Oh my, makes us lay down there
in that green grass. Puts us in his pasture. Takes
care of us. Got us fenced in. Nothing's going
to get us. And then look what else he says
about it. And we're the sheep of his hands. You know it should
say we're the sheep of his pasture and the people of his hands.
But that's not the way he said it. He said we're the people
of his pasture and the sheep of his hands. See, we were people before we
were sheep. Though he made us sheep, to him
we were both. We were people and he was sheep. And that's what he's talking
about. We're the people of his pasture. And let me show you
some things here now, quickly. I don't know how long I'm taking.
But let me show you some things about worshiping God. Now God,
you know, worshiping God has some responsibility. I said it's
meaningful. It's just not in my eyes. It's just not mindless,
you know. And we should never, ever say
to an unbeliever, come worship with us. An unbeliever can't
worship God. He can't do it. But worshiping God has some responsibilities
to it. Has some meaning to it. Has some
responsibility. David said in verse 2, let us
come before His presence. That's the first thing we need
to understand. We're coming into His presence. Right now, when
we pray, we're coming into His presence. We're not just talking to anybody.
We're not talking to one another. We're not talking to the president.
We're not talking to a senator. We're not talking to some president
of some great big company or nothing. Somebody that makes
millions. We're talking to God. Coming
into His presence. And He's holy. He's holy. And since we're his people and
the people of his passion, his sheep. And oh, look what he says
now. He says there in the last part
of verse 8, 7, excuse me. Today, if you'll hear his voice,
don't you hearten your heart. You know, that's why Paul told
the Hebrews, he says, you know, let there be no evil unbelief
in your heart whereby you depart from the living God. And see,
we can't come carelessly into the presence of God. And that's
why He says, harden not your heart. Like those folks did in
the wilderness. They provoked me. They provoked
Him. They said, why did God bring
us out here? We ain't got no food, we ain't
got no water. And then when He gave them food, He gave them
water. Then they start saying, I loathe what God gave me. I
despise the food that He gave me. Give us something else. And
just always, always after Moses. Always after God. Always. Nothing
satisfied. And that's what he said. Don't
you provoke me. And that day of temptation in
the wilderness. And we're certainly in the wilderness
here. And you know, let me tell you about some folks who came
the wrong way. The wrong way. You remember when Dothan Dathan
and Cora and Abram came and they told Moses, Moses, he said, listen,
we are holy And we're going to do this. We're going to start
leading the worship. We're going to start taking care. We're going
to take things in our own hand. I know that you're so called
of God. I know that you can. But listen, we're going to take
this thing into our own hand. We're going to run this show
like we want to. We're going to worship the way
we want to. We're going to sing the songs we want to sing. We're
going to do it our way. You know what God said? Moses,
God told Moses, Moses, you get everybody from the side of the
cave. Everybody's on God's side, get
over here. Everybody's on Korah's side,
get over there. Boy, there was over 250 got over there,
that much. And they took their children
with them. By the time they got over there. There was the old
governor. This old barman said, God sent
them to hell without a suitcase. Without giving them a chest pack
suitcase. Oh, and I remember Aaron's two sons. Aaron had two sons. They dabbled in the bayou. And
there was one place you got fired. Only one place you got fired.
For the altar. And you went into the tabernacle
and you got the fire off the altar. And that's the only fire
you was ever allowed to use in the worship of God to burn sacrifices
here. What these fellas done, they
went out here and they built them a fire. And they was going
to take the fire and ashes and the cinders of their own making.
And God called it Strange Fire. Instead of getting the fire out
here, they built in their own fire to offer the sacrifice.
God already had the fire. He said, take a censure. They
went out and built their own fire. And you know what God did? Killed them both just like that.
And you know what the scripture says about Aaron? He held his
peace. God said, I ain't gonna take
no stranger's fire, you're gonna worship my way, or you're gonna
die. And Ananias and Sapphira said, oh listen, everybody's
so generous here, everybody's giving their money, they're bringing
things and lending down to the apostles' feet to help the poor
saints and to start the church and to meet the needs of the
church. And Ananias and Sapphira, they went out and sold a piece
of ground. And they said, now I tell you, we're going to give,
we're going to give, but he said, and they told him they were going
to give everything that they got from that. That's what they
told him. And he said, but now listen, what we're going to do,
we're going to keep back us a pretty good portion of that for our
sake. And he said, we'll take the rest of it up there and they'll
think we're giving it all. And you know what Simon Peter
said to him? He said, was it not all yours
to start with? You could have kept all of it.
You could have kept what you want to and told him, I'm going
to keep half of this and give the other half to him. But they
wanted to do it sneaky, they wanted to do it. Oh, that and
I fell over dead. And then his wife came in and
said, did you sell this for 7 cents? He said, yeah. She fell over
dead. He said, take her out and take
her with us. That's why I'm saying God We
can't worship him careless, let's go provoke him vividly. Look
what he says there in verse 10. Oh, he says there, 40 long years
was I grieved with this generation. Oh, I tell you, it would take
some sorry, sorry people, wouldn't it Brad, to grieve the Lord God
Himself. It would take some kind of people
that would grieve God. And he said, I was grieved with
them. And look what he said, this people do, it is a people
that do err in their heart. They have not known my ways.
Not known my ways. That's the first thing you know
of the Corinthians. I know I'm taking too long. Let me see.
The Corinthians, when they would take the Lord's table, they did
not discern, they did not make the right judgment about the
body of Christ. And they'd get together, and they would have
a great big feast, and they'd drink wine, and they'd get drunk,
and they'd just have a great big party. Didn't reverence it,
didn't come quietly, didn't come softly, didn't examine themselves. And they would just have a great
big, poor folks sitting around here watching, and they would
just have a big party and get drunk. And the scripture says,
and Paul said, that's why some are weak, that's why some are
sick, and that's why some of you even died. He said, I'm going
to tell you how the Lord's Supper works, and how you're to take
it, and the way it's supposed to be done. And that's why you
all are fellows are sweet. That's why you're sick too, and
that's why you die. And I'll tell you what, that's why I said
if we judge ourselves, we should not be judged with the world.
And that's why David said, search me, O God. And I'll tell you
what else he said here now. He said, he told us that they
are in their heart and have not known my ways. Oh, let's make
sure, oh, I want to know the ways of God. That's why I love
that song, teach me thy way, teach me thy way, teach me thy
way, teach me thy way. And that's what he says. And
he's swearing his wrath. He got angry and he said, I swear
in my wrath that them people are not going to enter in. And
you know what else he says, though? He says, come unto me. That's
where I'm coming. I'm coming to heal. And the word
of worship will do one of two things to us. It will either
melt our hearts or harden our hearts. And one thing we should
never ever do is take our worship take our meeting together, take
our prayer, when you are by yourself, when you are by yourself, wherever
you are, I know every one of you call on the Lord, I know
every one of you worship the Lord, publicly, privately, wherever
you are, you call out to the Lord, you worship God and you
feel His presence, I know you do. But listen, God says, draw
near to Me, and I'll draw near to you. And I tell you, I just,
When you hear my voice, when you hear my voice, come
on. Don't harden your heart. Come
on. Come on. That's what he says. Just come on. Just come on.