What We Need to Worship

Q: What does the Bible say about true worship?

True worship involves bowing down in the heart and acknowledging God's glory, not just a physical act. The Bible emphasizes that true worship transcends mere outward acts and is rooted in the heart's submission to God. In Luke 6:12-19, worship is depicted as a state of being that draws from intercession, the gospel, Christ’s presence, and divine power. Worship is fundamentally about giving glory to God and acknowledges that all aspects of salvation, including worship, originate from Him. Therefore, true worship is not only physical acknowledgment but a heartfelt submission to God's will, resulting in authentic expressions of praise and adoration.

Q: How do we know Christ's intercession is important?

Christ's intercession is crucial as it upholds our relationship with God and secures our salvation. Christ's intercession is pivotal for believers as it maintains our connection to God and assures us of His grace. According to Hebrews 7:24-25, Christ's unchangeable priesthood and ongoing role as our intercessor guarantee that those for whom He died will be saved to the uttermost. His presence at God's right hand signifies that He continuously pleads for us, thereby reinforcing the importance of His intercessory work in our lives. This divine intercession is fundamental as it enables us to approach God with confidence, knowing that our sins have been atoned for and that Christ is advocating on our behalf.

Q: Why is the gospel essential for true worship?

The gospel is essential for true worship because it reveals God's grace and strengthens our faith in Christ. The gospel, as revealed in scripture, is fundamental to genuine worship because it conveys the truth of our salvation and the grace God extends to us through Christ. Romans 10:13-15 illustrates the necessity of preaching the gospel, emphasizing that it is through hearing the word of God that we come to believe. This belief, in turn, leads to authentic worship that glorifies Christ. Without the gospel, our worship lacks substance and meaning, as it is the means by which we understand our relationship with God and the salvation He provides. Therefore, the proclamation of the gospel is integral for believers to worship in spirit and truth.

Q: How does Christ's presence affect worship?

Christ's presence among His people is crucial as it enables true worship and communion with Him. Christ's presence is a vital component of worship as it differentiates between mere ritual and genuine engagement with God. In Luke 6:17, when Jesus stood among the people, His presence was transformative, drawing them to Him for healing and teaching. This principle carries over into our worship today; when believers gather in His name, Christ promises to be in their midst. His presence enriches our worship experience, enabling us to worship in spirit and truth. Moreover, it underscores that worship is not a solitary act but a communal one where Christ is actively involved, empowering and sanctifying His people. Therefore, seeking His presence is essential for a faithful worship experience.

Q: Why do we need power for worship?

Divine power is necessary for sincere worship as it enables belief and fosters a genuine connection with God. Worship requires divine power because, left to our own devices, we are unable to genuinely approach God due to our sinful nature. As indicated in John 6:63, it is the Spirit that gives life, and without His empowering presence, our efforts to worship are futile. We rely on Christ to speak into our lives, enabling us to recognize our need for Him and to express authentic worship. It's only when He works in us, overcoming our distractions and faults, that we sincerely engage in worship. Thus, acknowledging our dependence on His power is essential for meaningful worship and spiritual vitality.

All right, brethren, Luke chapter 6. Now this is right before our Lord is going to preach his sermon on the mount. And we're told here in verse 12, it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God.

And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose 12. Now that's what he did. And then he comes down into the plain, it says here in verse 17, and he stood with them. He came down with them and stood in the plain. His disciples were there.

There was a great multitude of people out of Judea, Jerusalem, from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, They came to hear Him. They came to be healed of their diseases. And they that were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were healed. The whole multitude sought to touch Him, for there went virtue out of Him and healed them all. This was a worship service, what we would call a worship service. Now let me ask you this question.

What does it take to truly worship? We speak, we say that, but can we just worship on our own? The word worship actually just means to bow down. You know, when they would come to him to be healed, they would come and it said, and they worshiped him. They came and bowed down. That's what it means.

But can we spiritually worship? Is this worship just coming in and doing the form? Worship's more than that. is a heart matter. It's bowing down in the heart. It's giving him all the glory from the heart. It's more than the form. What does it take to really worship the Lord? That's my subject, what we need to worship. Worship's of the Lord just like everything else. Every bit of our salvation is of the Lord, and so is worship. If we truly worship, it will be because the Lord made us worship.

And here's what we need, we see it right here. We need, number one, we need intercession. Number two, we need the gospel. Number three, we need Christ's presence. And number four, we need power. Now let's look at these four things together. We need intercession, particularly we need Christ to intercede.

It says in verse 12, it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. Now, the Lord Jesus came and accomplished the work the Father sent him to do. When he prayed his high priestly prayer in John 17, he said, I have finished the work thou gavest me to do. He finished the work God gave him to do.

What was that work? The Hebrew writer said, now in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now that's what he did. That's what he accomplished. He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Everybody he died for, their sin was put away. He put their sin away. That's what he came to do. It said, by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

That's the work he finished. He finished it. What did he do after that? After he finished the work, what did he do? He ascended to heavenly Mount Zion, and he sat down at God's right hand. The Hebrew writer said, when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

Where do we see him in this? Where does this worship service begin? He goes into a mountain and he prays, and he prays all night. He continues all night in prayer. Our Lord Jesus right now is in the mountain. He's at God's right hand. And the scripture says, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again. Whoever liveth to make intercession for his people. He's able to say, I want you to see this, go to Hebrews 7, and look at this right here. These people in our text, they came to Him. They came to Him. Why does a sinner come to Him? Why did you come here today? What made you come here today?

Look here, Hebrews 7, 24, this man, Because he continueth forever. He stayed in that mountain all night. He continued. Well, he's been in that mountain ever since he finished the work, and he's been interceding, and he will continue to. He calls every one of his people. Watch this. This man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. All those priests in the old covenant died. They had to be replaced. Not our high priests. He has an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

If any sinner comes to him, if any sinner, if you sit here today and you suddenly find yourself hearing for the first time, and you find yourself believing, and you find yourself bowed down worshiping in your heart, There's only one reason, because he interceded for you.

Everybody he intercedes for, they're gonna come to where his gospel is, and they're gonna hear by him, because he interceded for them. He said, I will pray the Father, and he'll send you the Spirit, the Comforter. He ever lives to make intercession for them. Everybody he died for, everybody whose sin he put away, he's interceding for them. for them.

And all he has to do, when he was on this earth serving God, he prayed. All he has to do now is just appear, just appear in the presence of God. Scripture says, Christ is entered into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. His presence there is intercession. He's the intercession, because he's the one that pleased God. The wounds in his body plead for his people.

And this is the truth for every believer. We preach and we urge you to believe the Lord and don't sin. Do not sin. But when you do, and that's the scripture, when you do, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, He is the propitiation. We're just saying the mercy seat. He's the mercy seat. That's what the word mean. He's the one who propitiated God for the sins of his people and put them away. And he's right there interceding for his people.

So, when we truly worship, and we have communion in our heart with him, and we enter into the blessings of this gospel and are really blessed in our heart, he gets all the glory. He gets all the glory. It's because he sent forth the spirit, he interceded, he sent the spirit, he abides with us, and he causes you to look to him and to hear and understand and believe. He gets the glory.

So that's the first thing. We need intercession. If we're gonna worship, we need intercession. Whatever you do, brethren, pray for me. I need you to pray for me. I can't get a message unless the Lord gives it. I got this computer full of notes, but you can go through those notes and look at them. And when I preached them, they were burning in my heart to preach them. But I go back, look at them, and there's nothing there. He's got to give you the message for the hour.

And I need you to pray for me, and I'll pray for you. I pray every time I'm coming here, all the way leading up to the week, I pray, and Lord, please meet with us. Please bless your people. We need him. We need him. Now secondly, in order to truly worship, we have to have the gospel. That means we're gonna have to have a preacher, and Christ gets the glory.

Look here now, Luke 6, 13, when it was day, he called unto him his disciples. And of them he chose 12, whom also he named apostles. Now, I say it every time I preach just about, it pleased God to save through the foolishness of preaching. God showed by his wisdom, he showed that sinners cannot know God by our wisdom. It pleased God to save through the foolishness of preaching. Is that the only way he saves? Find me one person in the New Testament that was saved without a preacher. You won't find one. You won't find one.

Even Paul, who the Lord had to call personally because he was an apostle, he sent Ananias to him. The Lord, this is the gospel age, and it pleased God to save through the foolishness of preaching. Why? Because it gives Christ all the glory, because he's the prophet. He's the bishop, he's the shepherd, the pastor of his people, of our souls. And he's the one that calls his preacher, he's the one that equips his preacher, and he's the one that sends his preacher. And as some of the old folks used to say, and he preaches his preacher. Christ gets all the glory, every bit. Go with me to Romans 10. Romans 10 verse 13. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Just any preacher? No. How shall they preach except they be sent.

How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Who called these apostles? Who sent these apostles? Christ did. And the scripture says, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and he gave gifts unto men. He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers to edify his church, his body. He gets the glory. He's providing that. One more place, Jeremiah 3. He fulfills the whole law for his people, and he gets the glory of fulfilling all prophecy. And right here, our Savior, pre-incarnate Christ, promised that he would provide pastors.

He said, Jeremiah 3.15, And look what he'll do with these pastors.

He said, I will give you pastors, Jeremiah 3.15, I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. There's no maybes there, this shall happen. He said, and it shall come to pass when you be multiplied and increased in the land, In those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more the ark of the covenant of the Lord, neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be done anymore. Why not? Because Christ is that ark. He's the one it pictured, and he fulfilled it. He's the mercy seat. He's the one, the Aaron's rod that budded is a picture of him, being fruitful in the gospel, preaching the gospel.

All the commandments were in his heart, and he fulfilled them for his people, just like the law was in that ark. You know, the broken law wasn't in that ark. The broken law, Moses went back and the Lord gave him some new tablets, and this time he said, and don't you touch them, you put them in that ark. And they went in there unbroken, why? "'cause Christ came forth holy, and he said, "'Thy law is in my heart, "'and it's by his will that he sanctified us.'" And that whole ark pictured him. Now read on right here. They won't say that anymore. He said, they won't visit it, none of that'll be done. Verse 17, at that time, they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord. And all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem.

Peace, peace, that's what Jerusalem means. It means the city of peace, that's Christ. He's the prince of peace, he's the king of Salem. That's who he is. And it's the church's name. Jerusalem, which now is, Jerusalem that's over there right now is in bondage with her children. They're trying to come to God in the law. But Jerusalem, which is above, is the mother of us all. That's the church and his church in this earth, connected, united in Christ.

That's him. He's saving through this gospel. So we're gonna have to have his intercession. Have to have it. We're gonna have to have the gospel preached in truth. It's gonna have to be sent by Christ. Now, that's not all. We're dead by nature. As believers, we come in sometimes and our flesh is ruling us, we can't hear, we can't, how are we gonna hear? All right, we have to have Christ's presence.

We have to have his presence. Back in our text, in Luke 6, verse 17. And he came down with them and he stood in the plain. There was his disciples, there was this multitude of people out of Judea and Jerusalem, There was these folks from Tyre and Sidon, and they came to hear Him. Christ assembles His people. He gets the glory for doing that, too.

Everybody that's here right now, you know why you're here? Christ brought you here. Whether you're His or you're not, He brought you here. We saw last week, the Word's not gonna return void. He's accomplishing His purpose through it in everybody. And you're here because he brought you here. He assembles his church, and here's his promise.

Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Now, let me tell you what that does not mean. I come from way down south, and we used to like to hunt and fish a lot. And boy, I remember hearing fellows I don't have to go to a church building to worship the Lord, I can go out on the lake and worship him.

Me and my buddies out here, he said, where two or three are gathered in his name, he's there. That's not what he's talking about. That's not what he's talking about. When Israel decided it was too much trouble for them to go all the way to Jerusalem to worship, they made them a calf somewhere else so they didn't have to go all that way to Jerusalem. The Lord said, in all places where I record my name, I will come to thee and bless thee. It's where he put his gospel. That's where he said he'll meet with his people.

Go with me to, well, I'm not gonna have you turn here, but I do want you, when you go home tonight, today, read Revelation 1, 1 through 12 through about 18 or 19. John saw him in the midst of the golden candlesticks, He had the seven stars in his hand. That's his pastors, his angels. That's what angel means, messenger. He holds his pastor in his hand. He sent them. He don't just wind them up and let them go. He's got them in his hand. And he's in the midst of his church as well. And it's by him that we hear this gospel.

We have to have his presence. We have to have his presence. And I wanna show you this in Exodus 33. I know I've referred to this a lot lately, but I really, this, probably about six months ago, this really hit me, and I keep coming back to it. Exodus 33, in verse 12.

The Lord came to Moses and spoke with him face to face, like a man speaks with his friend. And in verse 12, Moses, listen to what he said. Moses said to the Lord, see, thou sayest unto me, bring up this people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou will send with me. Didn't he already tell him he had sent Aaron with him? He already told him that.

Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people.

And he said, my presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Christ came down and stood in that plane. He said, where my people are, I'll be with them. My presence will be with them. He said, and I will give thee rest. And he said to him, Moses said, now listen to what Moses says right here, because this is absolutely so.

This is why we need his presence to worship. If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence, for wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight. Is it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.

And the Lord said to Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I'll make all my goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

See, we need the Lord's presence. That's how his people are sanctified. He looks upon us, and we find grace in his sight. And he unites himself with his people. He said, I'll give you the spirit, and he'll abide with you forever. And he said, and lo, I'm with you always. Where you're gathered, I'm there.

And that's how we're separated. Now, some people separate themselves. And people will tell you they made their decision. They did this, that, and the other, and they separated themselves. You know what Pharisee means? Separate ones. They separated themselves. Christ separated his people. He's our sanctification. He's the one who separated us. And it's his presence abiding in us that gives us communion with him.

If you come here and all you hear is me, it's not going to do you any good. If we only hear the preacher, it won't do any good. You remember Paul said in the last days, he said, he said, the people are going to be heady and high minded and traitors and disobedient to parents and just all these ungodly things. He said, but they'll have a form of godliness. but they deny the power thereof. The power is Christ's presence. And I said this morning, the reason Moses was the meekest man on this earth is because Moses kept doing just what we just read.

He kept begging God, please go with me. Do not let me go alone. Be with me. Make your presence known. That's the only way I'm gonna be separated. I tell you what, brethren, I pray that a lot. That's really the sum of my prayers. Lord, please, please be with us. Be with me, be with your people. Because there's no other way we can worship. There's no other way we can have discernment. There's no other way we can believe.

Because we have a sin nature, we're like a car that's out of line. The front end's out of line, and you hold your hand on that steering wheel, and that car will go down the road. You take your hand off at will, and you're going in the ditch. That's us. We need his hand on us. We need his presence keeping us looking straight ahead to him, going with him.

You know, I love that scripture that's telling us that he's the son of God. And it says, while he was in this earth, it says he was in the bosom of the father while he was in this earth. Because He's God. And now that He's in glory, He's with His people. He's in you who believe. Just like when He was here, He was in the bosom of the Father. He's there now in body, but He's in you that believe. And He's in the midst of His church. Now that's so, brethren. Our Lord is present, as real as when He walked into that plain that day. where he's gathered his people. What do you base that on, Clay? His promise. That's it, his promise. He promised it. And I trust his promise.

So that's what we need. We gotta have intercession. We have to have the gospel. And we have to have the Lord's presence. But that's not all. We have to have the Lord's virtue. Go with me now to Luke 6, verse 17. Verse 17, they came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And they that were vexed with unclean spirits.

Now, this is us. This is us. When you read the scripture, if you see somebody in the scripture that's disobedient, or you see somebody in the scripture that have a disease, or you see somebody that's in a bad way, Just know that's you. Put yourself there. That's me. And anybody you see doing what's right and being faithful and true, that's Christ. That's Christ. We're the ones who have the diseases.

We're the ones who are vexed. Does your spirit vex you? My old nature vexes me. This past week, I was so vexed that I just felt like I'm the worst sinner there is. I said this morning, we don't have anything to exalt ourselves over each other with, but when the Lord gives you a heart to know you're a sinner, that's the one area that we will try to exalt ourselves over the other. I'm the worst. And that's us. That's all sinners, but that's God's people, and he's gonna make us know that's us.

But look, he drew people from Judea and Jerusalem. That was Jews. So may his elect among the Jews. Tyre and Sidon, that's Gentiles. He drew them there. But here's what they all had in common. They all had to have Christ draw them there because they were guilty sinners, every one of them.

That's us, that's us. Listen to the scripture, Isaiah 65, four. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts. We should be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. That's why they came to hear him, he draw. That's why his people come to hear him, he draws us. He draws his elect to him.

And look, verse 17, they came to be healed of their diseases. He's the physician. He's the only one that can heal us of our disease. We got a disease from the top of our head to the bottom of our foot. It's us. He's the only one that can heal us. And they were vexed with unclean spirits. That's us. Christ is the only one that can heal. He's not only the physician, he's the medicine. He's the physician and he's the medicine. He's the balm of Gilead. Now here's how he healed them.

Virtue went out of him It says their virtue went out of him there went virtue out of him and healed them all That word virtue now listen carefully Does not mean moral goodness That's not what that word means. That's what you know. Normally we Apply that in that way. That's what the word virtue means And no doubt, he is the preeminent morally good one. But that's not what the word means. The word means simply power. Power. Power went out of him and healed him. That's what we need. We need his power. Now go with me to John 6. John 6.

Now this is that chapter where he had fed the multitude And then they followed him. And they came over there, asked him, what must we do that we might work the works of God? And this is what he said here. He said in verse 29, this is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent. You know, I was reading some articles this week, and I believe it was Brother Scott Richardson. He's with the Lord now, but he was a pastor, and he said men would walk 100 miles if you told them that's what they had to do. He said men, if you tell them they gotta have their backs beat, he said they'd take a shirt off and let you beat their back. And he gave all these other things.

He said, but what a man will not do is simply trust Christ to do the saving. They couldn't do it. He kept telling them, believe on him. He said, unless you eat my blood, drink, eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. He said, I'm the true bread. That's, I'm the one, the man I pictured. And he said, and they started murmuring. And he said, don't murmur. He said, no man can come to me except my father and draw him. And he will. He said, my father will. He said, everyone that's of my father, he will draw them.

Look here, verse 44. No man can come to me except the father which has sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It's written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. You think God's gonna bring that to pass? Sure he is, it's in his word. Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, he comes to me. He comes to him.

And they walked off. They said, we can't, who wants to hear that? We can't, he's not giving us anything to do. We can't hear that, and they left. That's what everybody will do unless Christ speaks power into their heart. They'll hear, and they'll listen, and they'll murmur, and then they'll say, that's a hard saying, who can hear it? And they'll walk away.

Why do we need him? Look at John 6, 63. He said, it is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit. and they are life. That's the only way we're gonna believe. We don't have life unless he speaks.

You see, it's not just enough that he sends his preacher, he's got to be the one speaking through the preacher. And I'm gonna tell you this, when he speaks, when our Lord speaks, he's the one that has that two-edged sword. He intercedes for his people, he sends the preacher, and then he, He sends the Spirit, He speaks to the preacher, and He speaks in power.

And He makes His presence known. He enters in. And when He does, He subdues that fleshly man in us, and He's the life in us. He's the new man in His people. And it's all by His power. It's all by His power. And that's the first time that we'll believe That's the first time we'll have communion with him. That's the first time we will cast all our care into his hand. And then we will see what he's done, that he's the righteousness of his people, that he's the holiness of his people, that he's the one who's finished the work of redemption. And for the first time, we will hear him say, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he sent. And for the first time, you'll believe him. Up until that point, you know what happens?

You have to work not to hear him. You have to try, you have to stop up your ears not to hear him. But when he speaks in power and he makes you, and he enters in, you don't have to do a thing to believe. It's just, you believe. You can't help believe. You can't, that's all you can do is believe him.

Because it's by his power. And that's how we worship, brethren. That's how we worship. It's the only way we worship is by him. That's all I have to say about it. We're going to start going through this Sermon on the Mount. And man, listen to that whole Sermon on the Mount. And it gets to the end. And he said, those that are blessed are those that do what I say. And you know what he's saying, dude, through that whole sermon? Believe on him. Believe on him. Trust him. I said, I pray he'd make us worship him.

You know, I don't even know, did I finish my thought? Folks have a form of godliness. They come in, they go through the form, they bow outwardly, they sing, they hear a message, they go out. And the Lord said, through Paul, he said, and they deny the power thereof. They don't have the power. They hadn't bowed down in their heart at all. Nothing has happened in the heart. Only the Lord can do that. That's what I pray you do. Pray do it in me, do it in you, and keep us worshiping him only. All right, Brother Adam.

What We Need to Worship

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about true worship?

How do we know Christ's intercession is important?

Why is the gospel essential for true worship?

How does Christ's presence affect worship?

Why do we need power for worship?

Sermon Transcript

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What We Need to Worship

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about true worship?

How do we know Christ's intercession is important?

Why is the gospel essential for true worship?

How does Christ's presence affect worship?

Why do we need power for worship?

Sermon Transcript

About Clay Curtis

Comments

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