Let's open our Bibles again to
Isaiah chapter 66. The title of the message this
evening is Who Truly Worships God? I think I've said it often
enough so that you know this. One of my greatest concerns for
us here at Hurricane Road Grace Church is that every time we
meet together, that the purpose of those meetings are to worship
the Lord. I'm glad to see all of you. I
enjoy talking to you. I mean, I really look forward
to it all day long. I look forward to it. There's
nobody I'd rather be with. There's nobody I'd rather talk
to than y'all. But it is a great fear of mine
that this would ever, I'm trying to think of the right word, that
it would deteriorate into just a social gathering. My heart
would be broken over that. I want to, at all costs, avoid
just playing church. I truly desire to worship God. First of all, I desire to worship
God because God's worthy of our worshiping. Isn't He worthy of
our worship? No matter what He does with me,
no matter what He does with you, no matter what He does in this
earth, God's worthy to be worshiped. We ought to worship Him. Second
of all, I desire to worship the Lord because we need to worship
God. We need to. The only way you
and I will ever receive any spiritual blessing is if we worship God. And most people who meet together
in church buildings and have religious services are not worshiping
God. I know they're not worshiping
God because God says they're not worshiping him. But my question
for us is this. Are we worshiping God? Can I
know if I am truly worshiping God? Can I know that? Yes, we
can. In our text this evening, the
Lord tells us in His Word plainly who it is that truly worships
Him. The chapter begins, Thus saith the Lord. All of the Word of God is the
Word of God. It's what He said. But that phrase
always catches my attention. Thus saith the Lord. When I search
for a message, I always like to see that phrase, thus saith
the Lord. If I just repeat what he says after that, we'll have
the gospel, won't we? Thus saith the Lord. That ought
to always get our attention. I'm thankful for the many times
we read that in scripture. Thus saith the Lord. What follows
is always God's message to us. I want us to look at this passage
and see who it is God says truly worships Him. My first point is this. God is
worshipped in a new heart that God gives, that He creates in
the new birth. Verse 1, Thus saith the Lord,
The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where
is the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of
my rest? For all those things hath mine
hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord. Now
God's not worshipped in impressive buildings that men build. You
know, what building is it that we are going to build that will
impress God who created the entire universe? What are we going to
build to impress Him? God created all the materials
that we would use to build a building. He created them and He created
them from nothing. Now are we so foolish as to think
we're going to gather those materials together and stack them up into
a building that's going to impress God and make God dwell there
and bless us there? Of course not. God created man. Not only did he create all the
universe, the materials we would use to build a building, God
created man. Can the creature really build
something worthy of the creator? Can a man build something that's
so wonderful, so impressive that God will just have to dwell there?
Can we build a building large enough that would contain God
when the heavens can't contain Him? Look at Acts chapter 7. This is part of Stephen's message,
his last message that he preached. Acts chapter 7. We won't read
the whole message. You can go back this evening
if you want to read it. But look here at verse 41. Speaking here of how the Lord
brought the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt. In verse
41, they made a calf in those days and offered sacrifice unto
the idol and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Now
I'm sure they felt real religious. I'm sure they felt real good
about their religious activity. They were rejoicing, worshiping
the works of their own hands. God can never be worshipped that
way. God can never be worshipped through
the work of our hands. Something we build or something
we do to impress God. He can never be worshipped by
what our hands make. Look here at verse 42. This is
what he said. Then God turned and gave them up to worship the
host of heaven. They just started worshipping
the sun and the moon and the stars and the planets. As it's
written in the Book of the Prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye
offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of 40
years in the wilderness? Yea, you took up the tabernacle
of Moloch and the star of your God, Ramphan, figures which you
made to worship them, and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. See, they made up, they had a
tabernacle. It wasn't a tabernacle of God.
It wasn't a tabernacle of the Lord. It was a tabernacle of
Moloch. And they had this star, this star, this God Brimfan and
figures, idols that they made to worship. They were still going
through religious ceremony, weren't they? And I bet they felt real
good about it. Made them feel good. But it wasn't
worship of God. And then Stephen talked about
the tabernacle the Lord gave instruction for. He talked about
the temple that Solomon built. These buildings that these men
revered. Look at verse 48. Albeit the
most high, Dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as saith the
prophet, and here he's quoting Isaiah, heaven is my throne and
earth is my footstool. What house will you build me,
saith the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my
hand made all these things? God cannot be worshiped with
the building that we make. The most impressive building
men have made is not worthy of God. God can't be contained in
that building. And God cannot be worshipped
by anything that we do. We can't say, well, I'm going
to, you know, I'm going to keep some laws. I'm going to quit
doing some things. I'm going to be more moral than somebody
else and God will accept me. No, God can't be worshipped by
anything that we do because everything we do is mixed with sin. You
and I can never be accepted of God because of what we do. He can't accept us and he cannot
accept our worship because of what we do. God can only be worshipped
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how God's worshipped,
in Christ. You and I can only be accepted
in Christ. Now, we do have buildings, don't
we, that we need to worship in. And we ought to take care of
it. It ought to look as nice as we can make it look. It ought
to, you know, that's a reflection of the honour that we think is
bestowed upon the Lord. But God's not worshipped in a
building. And when God did give instruction
for a building, a place where he would be worshipped, a place
where God would dwell, where he would meet with men and be
worshipped, what instruction did God give? He gave the instruction
for a tabernacle, a building, quite honestly, if we saw it,
we would not be impressed by it. But what were all those instructions
given to Moses to build that tabernacle? What was all of it
for? Every stitch of it, every stick of it, Every ounce of gold
and silver in it, all of it was given as a picture of Christ.
God gave those instructions for the tabernacle to give us a picture,
how he's worshipped only in Christ. And that picture continued when
Solomon built a temple. He built a temple. This was a
permanent place with all the same types and pictures of Christ. God's worshipped in Christ. You and I can only be accepted
in Christ. We can only be accepted in the
obedience of Christ. It can never be our obedience.
It always must be the obedience of Christ. The only thing that
can ever put away our sin is the blood of the sacrifice of
Christ. Now they had all those types
and pictures. They were taught that. The gospel
was preached to them and all those things. These Jews that
Stephen's preaching to, they had all that. Then why did they
still think God could be worshipped by their hands, by the things
that they did, the buildings that they made, the laws that
they kept, the Sabbaths that they obey. Why did they still
think God could be worshipped by their hands? It's because
God had not created in them a new heart. Look at verse 51 here
in Acts 7. You stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost. As your
fathers did, so do you. You are stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart. And whenever you read in scripture
about an uncircumcised heart, that's always referring to the
natural heart, the nature of Adam that we're born with. That's
the only, they didn't have two natures. They just had one, that
old, hard, dead heart of Adam's nature. But now God, he's the
creator. When you look at this earth,
Just, I mean, you just look around. I was watching some show the
other day where they fly over some different states, you know,
and you see the spectacular things about that state. I don't even
remember what state it was, out west somewhere. The scenery was
breathtaking. It was gorgeous. There's something
wrong with you if you look at that and think that just evolved.
There's just something wrong. Only God could have created,
the only way that could have got there. The only way we could
get here is if God created this. That's just obvious to anybody.
Evolution is the most crazy thing I've ever heard of. Of course
God's the creator. And the same thing is true of
the new man, of a new heart that God gives his people that's born
in us in the new birth. Only God can create that new
man. We can't do it. Now, it is important
that we preach the gospel. It's important that we tell people
about Christ. It's important that we begin
with our children at the earliest age, teaching them the scriptures,
teaching them these things, teaching that salvation is all in Christ.
You look to Christ. Look and live. It's all in him.
We must teach that. We must preach this gospel. But
the only way we'll ever believe it is if God creates in us, if
the same one who created the heavens and the earth by speaking,
speaks and creates in us a new heart, that creates in us a new
man that does believe Christ, that does love Christ, that will
bow to King Jesus. God's got to give us, he's got
to create in us that new heart or we'll never be saved. The
Lord said you must be born again. That's the only way we can be
saved. God's got to give us a new heart before we can ever truly
worship Him. If you look back in our text,
we start to get a good idea about this new heart. Thus saith the
Lord, the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. God is so great, so immense. He's such the ruler of the universe. He sits on the throne of heaven.
You know, that makes fighting and fussing over who can get
in the seat in the Oval Office just look like a very petty thing,
doesn't it? God sits on the throne of heaven. And that throne is so great. You know where his footstool
is? The earth. The earth that we
think is so wonderful, it's just a place for God to rest his feet.
It's his footstool. God is the sovereign who sits
upon the throne. That's where worship's gotta
start. Worship must start with God being king. God being the
sovereign. True worship starts with this
knowledge. God can do with me whatever he
pleases. Whatever he pleases. Whatever
he does is right because he's God. If he saves me, it's right. And if he damns me, it's right. God's king. Salvation is not
up to you and me to decide if we'll accept Jesus or not. Salvation
is a decision that God makes. Is he going to save me or not?
Is he going to have mercy on me or not? I'm in his hands to do
with whatever he pleases, and I don't have the first say in
the matter. Not the first say. God's the sovereign. Nebuchadnezzar
finally learned that, didn't he? None can stay his hand or
say unto him, what are you doing? God, don't do it that way. Now
do it this way. I've got rights. No, you don't. No, you don't. Nobody can say
that because God's the sovereign. So if God's going to be worshipped,
we must bow to him as king. And like I said to open the message,
we should bow. We should honour God, worship
him just because of who God is. God's character is worthy to
be worshipped. It's worthy to be honoured. And
that's the heart of true worship. I'm going to worship God no matter
what He does with me. In Matthew chapter 8, isn't that
the attitude of the leper that the Lord healed? He heard that
sermon. He probably snuck up somewhere.
He heard that sermon on the mat. He heard the Master speak. He
heard the Savior speak. And he was so compelled, this
man who was full of leprosy, the pain and the fever that wracked
his body, It's unimaginable. It's just unimaginable. How grouchy
do I get when I get a cold? I mean, I'm not coming to service.
I got a cold. This man was full of leprosy
and he ran to the Savior and fell at his feet and worshipped
him. He worshipped him before the
Lord ever did anything for him. He didn't worship the Lord after
the Lord touched him and healed him. No, he worshipped God. He
worshiped the Lord Jesus Christ because he's worthy to be worshiped. No matter what he does with me.
Now I'm going to bow. I'm going to beg him for mercy.
But that's where worship's got to start. It's got to start bowing
to him. The heart of true worship is
the heart of a mercy beggar. God doesn't have to give me anything.
But he's the only one who can. So I'm going to bow and worship.
I'm gonna bow and beg him to do for me what I cannot do for
myself. So God can only be worshipped
in Christ. He can only be worshipped in
this new heart that God creates in the new birth. And God will
always be worshipped. He'll always accept worship from
that new heart he creates. Look here at verse two, in the
middle of verse two. The Lord says, but to this man will I
look. Now that word look, it means
to regard with pleasure and to regard with respect. Now that's
important because we can't worship God unless he looks on us, can
we? We can't worship God unless he hears us. And God says he
will look upon, he will regard with pleasure. He will look with
respect on those who come to him in prayer. He looks with respect and regard
to those who come to him and his sons. God will always regard
with pleasure those who come to him in that new heart that
he creates in his people. But now here's a warning. Everybody
that worship God, everybody who meets together in a building
and reads the Bible and goes through religious ceremonies
is not worshiping God. God cannot be worshiped with
religious ceremonies that impress us. Just because something impresses
us, don't think that automatically impresses God. Many people go
through the motions of religion, but they're not worshiping God.
They use terms like grace and mercy and sovereignty and forgiveness,
but they're not worshiping God. Look at verse three. He that
killeth an ox is as if he slew a man. He that sacrifices a lamb
as if he cut off a dog's neck. He that offereth an oblation
as if he offered swine's blood. He that burneth incense as if
he blessed an idol, yea, they have chosen their own ways, and
their soul delighteth in their abominations. See, these things,
these religious ceremonies are so impressive to us. God says
that's an abomination. Trying to impress God with anything
other than Christ alone is offensive to God. Trying to worship God
with our own hands as opposed to that new heart God creates
is offensive to God. God said the sacrifice of the
wicked is an abomination. They have these religious ideas,
but they're their own ways. They're not the way of the Lord.
They're their own ways. And they think this really impresses
me. So this must be the way to worship
God. But God says he's not worshiped in that. God says he will not
accept that sacrifice. Trying to put away sin by the
sacrifice of an animal, that's an offense to God. I don't think
that's anybody's problem here. Does anybody here want to kill
a bullock or a lamb or a goat and hope that puts your sin away?
I don't think that's our problem. But I'll tell you what is our
problem. Here's this thing, I really enjoy
it, and I know it's wrong, it's a sin, but I enjoy it. I'm going
to quit doing it so God will be happy with me. That's a sacrifice. That's giving up something that
we think will make God happy with us. God says that's not
worship. That's an abomination. Matter
of fact, not only does that sacrifice not put sin away, it makes us
more guilty. It's like the Lord says, as if
you killed a man. As if we were guilty of murder.
Actually, what it does, it makes us guilty of the murder of the
Lord Jesus Christ. What Paul says in 1 Corinthians
11 makes us guilty of the body and blood of Christ, trying to
come to God through any other sacrifice other than Christ alone.
Someone who tries to worship God through the sacrifice of
a lamb that's not Christ, the lamb of God, their worship is
not accepted. That's so offensive to God. God
says it's like they offered a dog's head to God. Just like they cut
off the head of a dog and brought that dead head to God to worship
Him. That's offensive to God. That
worship's not accepted. That's how precious the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God is to the Father. Trying to worship
God in any way other than in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
is such an abomination to God. God says it's like you're trying
to worship me through the blood of pigs, through swine's blood.
That blood can never cleanse sin. The swine is the most unclean
animal in the whole Jewish world. God says it's just like trying
to, the best thing your hand can produce is like bringing
swine's blood to me to cleanse your sin. And then trying to
create a very religious atmosphere. Whoa, we're so impressed by this
religious atmosphere we've created. We think surely God's gonna be
worshiped here, because we got the incense burning. We got all
the trinkets, you know, the religious trinkets that make people feel
so religious. God says it's no better than
if you bow down to an idol made of stone. It might make us feel
warm and fuzzy. It might make me feel all close
to God. but that's the time I'm the furthest from God. It really
is. That is worship from man's hands,
not worship in Christ. It's the worship by what we've
created, what we do, rather than worshiping God in the new heart
that God creates in his people. And my next three points are
all descriptions of this new heart that God creates in his
people. My second point is this. First,
God can only be worshiped in the new heart he creates. Second,
God's worship by a poor heart. Verse two. But to this man will
I look, even to him that is poor. Now that word poor means depressed. I don't think there's anything
more sad than genuine, true depression. Someone who is truly depressed. I mean, they're not just having
a bad day. I mean, someone who's truly depressed. You know why
they're so depressed? They don't see any hope of their
situation ever getting any better. That's depression. That's you
and me by nature. There's no hope for salvation
in ourselves. We're lost in Adam. We're dead
in Adam. We're ruined in Adam. And there's
no hope of our situation improving by anything that we do. Then
that person that's depressed, that doesn't see any hope in
themselves, It ought to be easy for them to put all of their
hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a good hope through grace.
Just put all your hope in Him. He's the only one who can help
us. This word poor also means needy. You know, a person who's
needy is needy because they don't have anything that they need.
And they don't have any way to go out and earn it. They're poor. Again, that's you and me by nature.
We're poor. poor in spirit, we don't have
anything that God requires. We don't have any obedience.
We don't have any righteousness. We don't have any goodness. We
don't have any life. We don't have any of those things by nature,
and we don't have any way to earn them by the works of our
hands either. That person who's poor, God shows them they're
poor. It ought to be easy for that person to put all of their
trust in Christ, not just to give them everything that they
need, but to be everything that they need, to be everything that
God requires. See, that's the heart of true
worship. It's depending on Christ to do just what he said he did.
Christ said, I came to save sinners. The needy person says, Lord,
save me. You're my only hope. That's honoring and worshiping
the Savior. A needy person is an empty person.
They're empty of all spiritual goodness. Well, it's easy for
that person who's empty to look to Christ for help. A poor, needy
sinner doesn't have anything to be proud of. And that poor,
needy person knows there's no reason for God to have mercy
on me. But that's the person who will
bow at God's throne and worship Him. I want to give you a couple
of scriptures. Look first at Psalm 72. I hope there's some needy people,
there's some poor people here this evening. When we feel poor
and empty, we see no hope for our situation to get better by
anything we do. If you're poor, I've got good
news for you. God will have mercy on the poor. Psalm 72 verse 12. For he shall deliver the needy
when he crieth. The poor also, and him that hath
no helper, he will spare the poor and needy. He shall save
the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from
deceit and violence, and precious shall be their blood in his sight. That person who's poor that calls
on him, God says, I'll hear, and I'll save them. Look at Psalm
102. Psalm 102. Verse 16. When the Lord shall build up
Zion, he shall appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer
of the destitute and not despise their prayer. This should be
written for the generation to come and the people which shall
be created shall praise the Lord. See, there's those that the Lord's
created a new heart in them. Those people which he's created,
they shall praise the Lord. For he hath looked down from
the height of his sanctuary, from heaven did the Lord behold
the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoners, to loose those
that are appointed to death, to declare the name of the Lord
in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem. He, this people, he will regard
the prayer of the destitute, the poor. David said in Psalm
34 verse six, this poor man cried, the Lord heard me and saved me
of all my troubles. Are you poor? You call to him.
David said, this poor man cried, Lord heard me. If you're poor,
you cry, he'll hear you. David said in Psalm 40, verse
17, I am poor and needy. I don't see any hope for my situation
to ever get any better. I'm poor and needy, but here's
some hope. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverance.
That's how God's worship through the heart of the poor. Look one
more scripture, Matthew chapter 11. As a matter of fact, the Lord
himself told us this. The gospel is only sent to the
poor. He only comes and preaches the gospel to those who are poor
in heart. Matthew 11 verse two. Now, when John heard in the prison
the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said
unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again
those things which you do hear and see. The blind receive their
sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear,
the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached
unto them. That's the person who truly worships
the Lord, those who have a heart that's poor, that's depressed
and empty. Third, God is worshiped by a
contrite heart. It says here in verse two in
our text, but to this man will I look even to him that is poor
and of a contrite spirit. Now that word contrite, I read
that and I think about a person who's sad or sorry. That's not
what the word means. It actually means maimed or lame. It means disabled. The person
who has a contrite heart has no ability to do anything for
himself. You know the story of David and
Mephibosheth. David took the throne. He says,
is there yet any of the house of Saul? I might show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake. And Ziba came to him and told
David, he said, Jonathan has yet a son, Mephibosheth. But
David, you don't want him. He's lame on both his feet. That word translated lame to
describe Mephibosheth, it's the exact same word translated here,
contrite. Those who are disabled, who cannot
do anything for themselves. That's what we are by nature.
We're spiritually disabled. We don't have any ability to
do anything that God requires because we died in Adam. A dead
man has no ability to do anything but stink. We don't have any
ability to be holy. And what's worse, by nature,
we don't want to be holy either. We'd rather drink iniquity like
water. We don't have any ability to be righteous, to obey God's
law, And what's worse, by nature, we don't want to. We love our
sin. We love our own way. We don't
want to be holy. We hate righteousness. But when God shows that person,
when he shows one of his children, they're disabled. They have no
ability to please him, that they are completely dependent on God
to do something for them. They don't have the ability to
do for themselves. That person ought to be able
to depend wholly on Christ. to do everything that God requires
of us, to be everything that we need. A contrite person knows
this. I don't even have any ability
to contribute something to my salvation. You can't tell a disabled
person, a contrite person, well, take the first step and God will
meet you the rest of the way. No, he won't either. But if you
stay right where you're at, you're dead. You can't do anything.
You can't do anything to please God. You can't do anything to
get Him to save you, but you just have to depend on Christ
to be all of your salvation. That's the person God will save.
A contrite person knows salvation has to be by grace. It can't
come any other way. It can't come any other way but
by grace. I can't contribute anything to
God. I can't do anything to get God to save me. If God saves
me, it's got to be because of His sovereign grace. A contrite
person, a person who's got a contrite heart will say with Mephibosheth,
Lord, why do you want a dead dog like me? I can't do anything
for you. The only explanation is grace,
isn't it? The only explanation. A contrite person knows I can't
even call on God. I can't even beg God for mercy
unless God creates in me a new heart. I can't even know I'm
dead in sin unless God creates a new heart in me. I can't seek
God unless he seeks me first. That's a contrite person, a person
who's disabled. It's easy for that person to
depend on Christ to be all my salvation. A contrite person
knows I need to worship God. God should be worshiped. I need
to worship him, but I can't worship God unless God gives me a contrite
heart of worship. Look at Psalm 51. God's given you a contrite heart.
I've got good news. God will always look with favor
and accept the worship of a contrite heart. Psalm 51. Verse 15. O Lord, open thou my lips, and
my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not
sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Oh, the person who has a contrite
heart, they worship God. God will never despise their
worship. And then fourthly, God's worshiped from a heart that has
reverence for God's word. Verse two, but to this man will
I look, even to him that's poured of a contrite spirit and trembleth
at my word. That word trembleth, it means
to have respect or reverence. The heart that trembles at God's
Word is not just a heart that fears God's Word, it's a heart
that respects God's Word and has a desire for God's Word. The heart that references God's
Word hungers and thirsts to hear God's Word preached, to hear
it read, to hear the Word expounded upon. And if we know anything
about ourselves, this is what we know. If I've got a heart,
that references God's Word, that longs to hear God's Word, that
had to be a heart God created in me, because that wasn't a
heart I was born with. I was talking to Brother Todd
Nyberg a couple weeks ago, and we actually started talking about
this a couple years ago. He started having his services
at his conference, Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday night,
and Sunday morning. And he had that Sunday night
service. He said, well, I know a lot of the The children won't
be happy with me. He said, you remember we had
those conferences, we had those services all. I said, oh yeah,
I remember. It was just awful. Now I'm excited
and I'm trying to figure a way that I can be there Saturday
night and be here Sunday morning. Why don't I hate that now? Why
do I long to hear God's word now? God created a new heart,
a heart that reverences his word. That old heart, this is a good
note for you children to remember. You can't satisfy it. I mean
all the things your natural heart desires, you just keep it all
to yourself. You never be satisfied. But that new heart can be satisfied. In this life, it's satisfied
with the word of God. The Word of God that declares
to us the Lord Jesus Christ and how we'll be satisfied when we
awaken His likeness. See that new heart that God creates
in the new birth? That's a heart of faith. It's
a heart of faith that believes God's Word. The foundation of
all of our faith is the Word of God. It is if you've got a
new heart. If you've got a heart that references
God's Word, you read that. And you think, well, I believe
that. I can't explain to you why I
believe it. I just do. I can't explain to you why I
breathe. I just do. That's the nature of this flesh.
That new heart God creates just believes because that's its nature. It's its nature to believe the
word of God. Even when I don't understand it. Bob, I don't have
to understand it. I do not have to understand how
God does what He does. I don't have to understand how
all I can see of myself is sin, yet I know there is in me a new
man that can never sin. I don't have to understand how
that can be. I don't have to understand how God can do that.
I just believe. I don't have to understand why
God does what He does. God's Word says He knows what
He's doing. then I can rest in that, I can
believe that. All I'm called upon to do is
believe. Eric, that's what you read in
the study. What must I do to be saved? Believe. Believe on
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's
the heart of faith, that trust Christ, that rest in him. And
that's easy to do for a person that's got a heart that references
God's word. We read it, we hear it preached,
And by God's grace, we believe that's the heart that he gave
us. Now I pray that before we, every one of us leaves here this
evening, God would give us a heart of true worship. A heart that
he has created in us. A poor, empty, needy heart. A contrite, helpless heart that
only depends upon Christ. And a heart that references and
believes God's word. If God's given us that heart,
that's the person, that's the man, that's the woman, the boy
or girl who truly worships God. May God make that so with us.
Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, we thank You for
Your Word and how we pray that You would create in us a heart
that references Your Word, believes your word, that rejoices in your
word, which reveals to us the Lord Jesus Christ, who is everything
that we need. Father, we freely confess that
we are nothing, we have nothing, we're empty of anything you require.
We don't have any ability to produce anything that you require.
But our cry is be merciful to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let Christ become all of our
salvation. And let us worship you. Father,
give us a heart of worship. As we gather together week after
week, let this be a house of worship. A house that's a building
that you've filled with people that you've given a heart of
true worship for our Lord Jesus Christ. He is worthy of all of
our worship, all of our