We read in Luke chapter 24, beginning
in verse 50, and he led them out as far as to Bethany. This is speaking of the ascension
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he lifted up his hands and
blessed them. And it came to pass while he
blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. Now, I want you to try to put
yourself in the place of the disciples at this time. They
watched him rise through the air and descend back to the heavens. To heaven, through the heavens. Now, can you imagine this great
sight? And what does it say they did
upon seeing this? and they worshiped him." What
other response could there be? They worshiped him. That's what I've entitled this
message, They Worshiped Him. Now, what is worship? I want
to know. I don't want to take it for granted. What is worship? I want to worship
the living God. I want to truly worship him and
I know that I cannot worship unless he enables me to do so. So I would want to see what the
Bible has to say about this thing of worship. Did you know that
the Bible never gives a formal definition of worship? And I've
heard adjectives used to describe worship in this day. We hear
adjectives like traditional worship and contemporary worship. In
traditional worship, you do it the old time way, and contemporary
is more up to the times, rock and roll, skits, plays, things
of that nature. We read of formal worship, and
that's so icy. We read of or hear of casual
worship. Ouch, casual worship. Worship
the living God in a casual manner. We read, hear of reformed worship,
and we read of charismatic worship. All these different adjectives
used to describe worship. Now the only adjectives that
should be used to describe worship is true worship and false worship. All of these attempts to market
the gospel and market Worship. Well, we have traditional. Some
churches even have both. We have traditional in the morning
and contemporary at night. That is offensive. It is contrary
to what the worship of the true and living God is. You know,
the Lord warned of those who he said, in vain do they worship
me. In vain do they worship me. Teaching for doctrines, the commandments
and the traditions of men. The Lord spoke of true worshipers
as opposed to false. He said, the hour is coming and
now is when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit
and in truth for the father seeketh such to worship him. Listen to
these words from Isaiah chapter one. This is God speaking and
he's speaking to Israel and he says, hear the word of the Lord
ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our
God, ye people of Gomorrah." He calls them the equivalent
of that nation that God destroyed many years before, Sodom and
Gomorrah. He says, that's who you are.
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Now
remember the people he's speaking to are the people who claim to
be his people. He said, I am full of the burnt
offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight
not in the blood of bullocks or of goats or of lambs or of
he goats. When you come to appear before me, who hath required
this at your hand to tread my courts? And that's speaking of
the irreverence they used in treading his courts. Bring no
more vain oblations, incenses, and abomination unto me. The
new moons and the Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot
away with. It is iniquity, even the solemn
meetings. Your meetings are works of iniquity. Your new moons and your appointed
feasts, my soul hateth. They are a trouble to me. I am
weary to bear them, and when you spread forth your hands,
I'll hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers,
I will not hear, your hands are full of blood." Now, that's what
God thinks of man's attempts at worship. Now, just because
there is not a formal definition of worship in the scripture,
it doesn't mean it can't be defined. What worship there is in the
prayer, the Lord taught his disciples to pray, our Father, which art
in heaven hallowed be thy name." Now it's one thing to say that,
millions do. It's another to have some of
the fear of God in saying this. hallowed be thy name." I would
think that the fear of God and the worship of God are the same
thing. The first time the word is used
is in Genesis 22, 5, when God told Abraham to take his only
son and offer him up as a burnt offering on a mountain that he
would show him. And Abraham obeyed God with full
intention of killing his son because God commanded him to
do it. And what is beautiful about this
is Abraham knew that God would raise him from the dead. He said,
I and the lad will go yonder and worship and return to you.
He knew that God had promised the Messiah was going to come
through his son, and he knew that God would raise him from
the dead. So when they finally got to that mountain after three
days journey, we read in Genesis 22, 5, he said, I and the lad
will go yonder and worship. Now, worship is a response to
God's revelation. God spoke to Abraham. And Abraham responded in worship. Worship is a response to God. When the Gadarene demonic in
Mark chapter five saw Jesus afar off, the scripture says he ran
and worshiped him. Now if you and I ever see who
the Lord Jesus really is, like that demon possessed man did,
We will run instantly, we'll make haste, and we will worship. When the Lord proclaimed his
name to Moses in Exodus chapter 34 and revealed to him who he
is in answer to Moses' prayer, show me thy glory, he demonstrated
his glory to Moses. He proclaimed his name, his attributes,
his characteristics to Moses. And what did Moses do? He made
haste, fell to the earth, and worshiped." Worship is a response
to the revelation of God. I'd like to read you a passage
of scripture from Joshua chapter 5, when Joshua saw the Lord. Look in verse 13 of Joshua chapter
5, and it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted
up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against
him. with his sword drawn in his hand. Now this man was the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Joshua went unto him and
said, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? Are you on our
side or are you on their side? Now listen real carefully. God
doesn't take sides. God doesn't take sides. Christ
doesn't take sides. He's the Lord. He doesn't take
somebody's side. Somebody once said to Abraham
Lincoln, is God on our side? He replied, I hope we're on his
side. That's all that counts. Now look
how the Lord replied to Joshua. And he said, Nay, neither. But
as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua
fell on his face to the earth and did worship. And said unto
him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? Now when you worship,
you won't hear what he has to say. You know, religious people
love to talk and pop off, but if you ever worship, you're not
going to be popping off. You're going to want to know
what he has to say. What he has to say to you is
infinitely more important than what you have to say to him.
Now, that is worship. Now, I believe that we can best
see what the Bible means by worship by seeing people who are said
in the Bible to worship, how they conducted themselves, what
they had to say, how they responded. Now, the first time the word
is used in the New Testament was the three wise men. It says,
here's what they said, where is he that's born King of the
Jews? For we have seen his star in
the east and are come to worship him. Now we have nativity scenes
around Christmas and people like those. They like to see the baby
in the manger and so on. And our Lord was born in a stable. And there's no question about
that. But they didn't come merely to
see the baby born in the stable. They came to see him that was
born king. And you'll only worship when
you see that he is the king of kings. When you see his kingship,
not just this one lying in a manger, but when you see his kingship.
And everyone who ever sees him sees his kingship. Why the thief
on the cross? What did he say? Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. You're not going to stay on this
cross. You're not going to stay dead. You must be raised from
the dead as a mighty conquering victor. Remember me when you
come into your kingdom and you will worship when you see he's
the king of kings and the Lord of lords. Now, the next time
the word worship is used was by Herod. He said to these men,
go and search diligently for the young child. And when you
found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship him
also. Now this was counterfeit worship.
He didn't intend to worship him at all. He intended to kill him
if he was brought to him because he was afraid of him that was
born king and he wanted to get rid of him. So he used the word,
but there was no worship. Now, in Matthew chapter 8, we
have one of my favorite passages of scripture that'll teach us
something about what real worship is. In Matthew chapter 8, beginning
in verse 1, when he was come down from the mountains, great
multitudes followed him, and behold, there came a leper. We
know from Luke's account he was full of leprosy. You couldn't
see any healthy flesh representing his sinfulness. That's what leprosy
is, always a type of sin. And behold, there came a leper,
and worshipped him. Now, there's no question that
he worshipped him. The Bible says he did. And look
what he said. And we can see what true worship
is in what this leper said. There came a leper and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Now this leper had not yet been
made clean, and he didn't know if the Lord would make him clean.
He said, Lord, if you will, you can. He knew he had the ability
to, but he worshiped him before he was cleansed. Point being,
you will only worship a sovereign, one in whose hands you are. He
can make you clean or he can pass you by. You're in his hands,
he's not in yours. You'll only worship a sovereign,
someone who thinks that they have some sense of entitlement
on God's mercy. I asked him for mercy, he should
give it to me. They have not really worshiped. You'll only
worship an absolute sovereign who can do with you whatsoever
he's pleased to do. He can save you or he can damn
you, but whatever he does is right. That is worship. And then we read in Matthew chapter
nine, verse 18, while he spake these things unto them, behold,
there came a certain ruler and worshiped him saying, My daughter
is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her and she
shall live. Now this man worshipped and you'll
only worship him when you see he has life and death in his
hands. You really have not worshipped
until you've seen. that you're dead in sins. It
takes life to see that. And you see that life and death
is in his hands. He can give you life. My daughter even now is dead,
but if you're... He worshipped. He worshipped,
scripture says. My daughter is even now dead,
but if you come and lay your hands on her, She shall live. Now, let me read a verse of scripture
from Matthew chapter 14. This is after the disciples had
witnessed the Lord walking on the water. We read in verse 33,
then they that were in the ship came and worshiped Him, saying
of a truth, thou art the Son of God. Now, what is the setting
of this worship? The Lord demonstrated to them
that he had complete control of all things. He walked on the
water. He suspended the law of physics and walked on the water. And when the storms were raging,
he said, peace, be still. And there was a great calm. And
they saw that this one did what only God could do. Suspend the
laws of physics. He controlled the weather. He
created. He brought matter into existence
that was not there before when he fed the 5,000 with the five
loaves and two fishes. He demonstrated what only God
could do by giving life to the dead, healing the sick, on and
on. Now, when you find out who he
is, you will worship. There's no one who's ever really
seen him that did not worship. That's the only response there
is to a sight of the living God. What manner of man is this that
even the winds and sea obey him? I can tell you what manner of
man he is. He's the God-man. Now in Matthew chapter 15, we
read where true worship never stops worshiping. We read in
Matthew chapter 15, beginning verse 21, then Jesus came thence
and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a
woman of Canaan, a Gentile, came out of the same coast and cried
unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David,
my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. And he answered
her, not a word. He ignored her. She came with
this great need, and she came the right way, and he refused
to answer her. Now, did she give up? No. You see, she knew that only he
could help her. And his disciples came and besought
him, saying, send her away, for she crieth after us. She keeps
crying. Send her away. But he answered,
and he was speaking to his disciples. It was in the hearing of this
woman. But he answered and said, I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Now, this woman was a Gentile.
And all she could see was that he was saying, I only came for
Israel. I didn't come for the Gentiles.
And really what the Lord is talking about is that I've only come
for the elect. I didn't come to save everybody. I've only
come for the elect. And all that woman could conclude
from that is perhaps he's saying, he didn't come for me and he's
not going to help me. Now, did she give up? Did she
stop? Did she say, well, nothing I
can do. Might as well give up. Might as well leave. No, it says,
then came she and worshiped him. Then came she and worshipped
him. You see, she saw she was in the
hands of a sovereign God who could do what he wanted to with
her. He could give her what she wants or he could pass her by.
Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. Help me. If you don't help me,
I will not be helped. She came and worshipped him,
saying, Lord, help me. And then the Lord makes this
remarkable statement in verse 26. But he answered and said,
it's not neat. It's not appropriate. It's not
right to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. Now, here's what this woman heard. It's not right for me to take
my grace and throw it out to dogs. Did she get mad? Did she leave? No. Look what
she said. She said, truth, Lord. That's
the truth. I'm not claiming a place at your
table. I see myself to be nothing more than a dog. waiting for
crumbs to fall from the master's table. Truth, Lord, it's the
truth. I am nothing but a dog. She saw herself that way. Yet
the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the master's table.
I would be grateful for any crumb of mercy that fell my way. And
Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. Now, true worship continues to
worship. It doesn't stop. It doesn't give
up. It continues to worship because
it knows it has nowhere else to go. Now, the next passage
of scripture I'd like to read of is in Matthew 28. Verse 16,
then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee into a mountain
where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they do
what everybody does who sees him in his glory. They worshipped
him, but some doubted." Now, I'm not real sure why the translators
have translated it in this way, some doubted, because some is
not in the original. This reads literally, they saw
him, they worshipped, and they doubted. Now, what in the world
is that all about? They're looking at him in the
flesh and doubting while they looked at him? Here's what this
is a reminder to us of. True worship is always aware
of a sinful nature. You can't see the Lord and not
be aware of your sinful nature, that doubting evil nature. Even while you're looking at
him, you're aware of that sinful nature. Our cry is continually,
Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. And then there's the classic
passage on worship in John chapter four. I love this passage of
scripture, when the Lord appeared to the woman at the well. Now
he was at a well at noon, very hot. And a woman came to the
well to draw water. And we know as we go on reading
in this passage of scripture that this woman had certain issues.
She'd already been married five times and the man that she was
now with, she was living outside the bonds of marriage in a sinful
relationship. So this woman obviously had issues
and I believe the reason she was there at the well at 12 o'clock
at noon when it's hottest is because she didn't want to be
around the other women early in the morning when they came
to draw water because they would be talking about her and judging
her, and she would just feel condemned around them, and she
thought, I just don't want to be around that. You understand
that. So she meets the Lord, and the Lord tells her of living
water. Beginning in verse 13, Jesus
answered and said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall
thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall
be in him a well of water springing up. into everlasting life. The
woman said unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not
neither come hither to draw. She didn't understand what he
was talking about. Jesus saith unto her, Go call thy husband,
and come hither. The woman answered and said,
I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said,
I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom
thou now hast is not thy husband. In this thou saidst truly. The
woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet, and
then she starts her religious mumbo-jumbo. Our fathers worshipped
in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place
where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her woman, Believe
me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain
nor yet at the mount at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship
you know not what. Your worship is ignorant worship.
We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews, but
the hour cometh. And now is when the true worshipers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father
seeketh such to worship him. God is spirit. That means he's invisible. You
can't see him. That means he's omnipresent.
He's not shackled by a physical presence. He's everywhere at
once. You can't go anywhere where he's
not. He's indivisible. All of God
is everywhere God is. Not in parts. God is spirit. And they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth. Now listen very carefully.
You and I can't worship without spirit. And the only way you'll
have a spirit is if God the Holy Spirit gives you life. You see, the spirit of Adam died
in the fall. That's the part that died. And
a natural man has a body and a soul, but he doesn't have a
spirit. He doesn't have a truly spiritual nature that can commune
with God and that can worship God. And in order to worship
God, God's going to have to give me a spirit. being born of the
Spirit of God, being born of God. They that worship Him must
worship Him in spirit and in truth. There's no worship of
God apart from the truth of the Gospel. If you don't have the
truth of how God saves sinners, if you don't have the truth of
the Word of God, you may go through the form of worship, but it's
not worship. Paul put it this way in Philippians 3.8, We are
the circumcision which worship God in the spirit. rejoice in
Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Now we are the
true Jews. which worship God. We worship
God for who he is in the spirit. And here's what someone who worships
God in the spirit does. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now that word rejoice is not
so much talking about joy, but it's talking about having confidence
in. It's the same word Paul used when he said, God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ to Worship
God in the spirit and to rejoice in Christ Jesus is to have confidence
only in Christ. To know that all God requires
of me, he looks to Christ for, and my only hope is being found
in him. Now, everyone who rejoices in
Christ, Paul says next, what do people do who worship God
in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus? They have no confidence
in the flesh. They have no confidence in fleshly
religion. They have no confidence in the natural man. I have no
confidence in my flesh or your flesh. I have no confidence in
anything I do. All I have confidence in is what
he has done. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in him so that all God sees when he sees me, he sees
me in Christ. And then in John chapter nine,
the Lord asked the man who had been blind and he gave him sight. Does thou believe on the son
of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might
believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen
him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord,
I believe. And he worshiped him. Where there
is belief, where there is faith in Christ, there will always
be true worship. May God enable us to be true
worshipers. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen.