Would you turn back to Genesis
chapter 22? I have entitled this message,
What is Worship? Have I ever worshiped? What does it mean to worship
God? Verse one, and it came to pass
after these things that God did tempt or test Abraham. Abraham is a very old man at
this time, and he'd already been through many trials. God said to him, Abraham, and I bet Abraham flinched. You know, every time God spoke
to Abraham like this, it was before a trial. And I can't imagine what all
he must have been thinking at this time. And he said, behold, here I am.
And he said, take now, thy son, thine only son. Ishmael is not regarded a son. He's a child of the flesh and
God doesn't recognize him as a son. Whom thou lovest, and get thee
into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering
upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in
the morning. He didn't delay his obedience. I kind of think he probably didn't
tell Sarah. I'm sure Sarah would have put up all kinds of objections
to this. But he rose up early in the morning, and saddled his
ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac and his
son, and claimed the wood for the burnt offering, and rose
up and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then
on the third day, three days to think about this. Can you
imagine that? Three days to think about this. I'm getting ready to put to death
the son that I love. Then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said
unto his young men, abide ye here with the ash, and I and
the lad will go yonder and worship." There's worship. You know, the Bible doesn't give
a textbook definition of worship, but there it is. This is Abraham's
response to God. And that is what worship is. It is a response to God. God always initiates it. It comes
from him. And the worship of God is the
response to God. Go take your son. Offer him up as a burnt offering
to me on a mount that I'll tell thee of. Well, Abraham says we're going
there to worship. That is our response to God. Worship. When Abel brought that blood
sacrifice. You know what it was? It was
worship. He was saying in bringing that
blood sacrifice, I can't come into this holy God's presence
on my own. The only way I can come is through
the blood of the coming Lamb of God. That's worship. You're
ascribing to God that which is due His name. That's worship.
When Cain brought the fruit of the ground, There was no worship
involved, no acknowledging of God's holiness or justice, thinking
you can come into God's presence with your works. That's dishonoring
God. There was no worship. Cain was disobedient. He brought
the wrong sacrifice. Now, some years ago, A man called
me and said he wanted to visit the church because he wanted
to experience and find out what he called reformed worship was. I want to go to a reformed worship
service. Reformed from what? Let me tell
you something about reform. The truth never needs to be reformed.
I don't like that term at all, reformed worship. There's only
one, no, there are only two adjectives that could properly be used to
describe worship. You know, we read about contemporary
worship and then there's traditional worship and all the different
things people say about worship. There's only two words that can
be used to describe worship, either false worship or true
worship. And that's the truth. false worship
or true worship. Now the word means literally
to lay prostrate upon the ground. That's your response. When God
speaks, you hit the dirt and you lay prostrate on the ground. If you're not doing it physically,
you're doing it in your heart. This is something that's done
in the heart. It's a response to who God is. The New Testament
word, worship, is literally defined to kiss like a dog licks its
master's hand. When you worship, There is a
sense that God is so glorious, so infinitely above you in holiness,
all you can do is lay prostrate on the ground before Him. Worship. Have I ever worshiped? Now, I know this about worship.
God demands exclusive worship. Listen to this scripture. Thou
shalt worship no other God. This is God speaking. Thou shalt
worship no other God. For the Lord, whose name is jealous,
is a jealous God. He is intolerant. utterly intolerant of the worship
of a false god. Idolatry is the worship of another
god. I think it's Satan's words to
Christ when he was tempting him. And he showed him in a moment
of time all the kingdoms of the world. And he said, all this
will I give you, for it is delivered unto me. You know, people talk
about Christian governments. There's no such thing. The devil's
in control of all human government. He really is, he's in control
of humanity. He's God's devil, I'm thankful
for that. And the only reason he does is because God delivered
it to him. But he said, all this will I
give you if thou wilt fall down and worship me. You can have everything. I reckon
he didn't know that it already was his. But he said, you can
have everything if you will simply fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, get thee
hence, Satan, for it's written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and him only shalt thou serve. And when someone worships
God, and I want to do that, don't you? Whatever worship means,
I want to worship the living God. I want to worship him right
now. I pray that everybody in this room will be enabled by
God's spirit to worship the living God. Now I know this, when someone
worships God, they worship him for who he is and not for what
they can get out of him. Let me repeat that. I want you
to think about this. When somebody worships God, they
worship him for who he is, as he's revealed in this book, and
not because of what they think they can get out of him. If I
worship God, I'll have better finances, a better marriage,
a better life, you know, all this. You don't worship God in
hopes of what you're going to get out of him. You worship him
for who he is. Now, let me give you some scriptural
examples. Matthew chapter 8. And behold,
there came a leper and worshipped him. Now, one thing we know about
this leper, he was worshipping. God's word said, he came and
worshipped him, saying, Lord, If thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. Now he worshipped him before
he made him clean. And he didn't know whether or
not the Lord would make him clean. He knew it was up to the Lord.
If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. But whether he was
made clean or whether the Lord left him to himself, he knew
this. He is the object of worship. If the Lord sends me to hell
and refuses to show me mercy, is he still worthy of worship? The Syro-Phoenician woman came
into the Lord's presence. Jesus, Thou Son of David, have
mercy on me. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. He answered her, not a word. He didn't pay attention to her.
It was like he didn't even hear her. Have you ever prayed and
it seemed like the Lord didn't hear? It seemed like your prayer just
bounced off the ceiling and came back to you? He answered her,
not a word. But you know, she continued crying. And the Lord made this reply
to his disciples. I'm not sent, but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. The Lord says to this woman,
I didn't come to save everybody. I've only come for the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. Did you know that Jesus Christ
did not come to save everybody, only the elect? You know what
the scripture says about that woman after she heard that? Then
came she and worshiped him. You see, you will only worship
the sovereign, one whom you have no control over, One whom you
can't manipulate. You can't do it. He's an absolute
control. He has all control. You have no control. That's the
only one you'll worship. As long as you can control him
or get him to respond to you, you won't worship him. You only
worship an absolute sovereign. Then came she and worshipped
him saying, Lord, help me. If you don't help me, I won't
be helped. But she worshipped him before
he gave her what she asked for. The Gadarene Demonic in Mark
chapter five, when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped
him. How is that, a demon possessed
man? I don't know, but the Bible says he worshiped him, saying,
what have I to do with thee? Jesus, thou Son of the Most High
God. What connection is there between
me and you? You're light. I'm darkness. You're holy. I'm evil. You're good. I'm bad. What connection is there between
me and you? I adjure thee by the living God
that thou torment me not. He wasn't expecting mercy. He
thought all God could do was blot him out. But the scripture
says he worshipped him. That's truly worshipping him
for who he is. Have I ever worshipped God for
who He is? When He makes Himself known,
when you see who He is, all you can do is hit the dirt. He's God. Whatever He does is
right. Whatever He does with me is right. And all there is to do is to
worship. Like Mephibosheth before David,
the scripture says he fell on his face and did reverence. No sense of entitlement here.
He fell on his face and did reverence. And when David said, I'll surely
show thee the kindness for Jonathan's sake, here was his response.
He bowed himself before David and said, who am I? that you would show such mercy
to such a dead dog as I. Now there's some people who would
never understand why Mephibosheth would think of himself that way.
Nothing more than a dead dog. And let me tell you who can't
understand that. Someone who's never seen him. You ever see who God is? you'll
see who you are. And that's the only way you'll
see who you are. You see him in his holiness,
in his majesty, in his sovereignty, and you see yourself as nothing
but sin, a dead dog. You're like Job. After God spoke
to Job from the whirlwind, his conclusion, I've heard of thee
with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore, I hate myself and
repent in dust and ashes. You see, if I ever see who he
is, I will see who I am. Every time. And there's only
one direction to go. Death. True worship is a response to
revelation. Turn with me to Exodus 33. This
is Moses praying after the golden calf incident. And in the midst
of this prayer, he says in verse 18, he said, I beseech thee,
show me thy glory. And he, God said, I will make
all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now
there is God's defining of his glory. Verse 5 of the next chapter,
chapter 34. And the Lord descended in the
cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the
Lord. Now remember, Moses said, show me your glory. He said,
I'll come and proclaim my name. And here it is. Here it is. Now
look what God says regarding himself. Verse 6. This is God's
revelation of himself. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, the Lord The Lord God, the all-sufficient
One, the self-sufficient One, merciful and gracious, long-suffering
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, that will by no means,
under no situation at all, will He ever clear the guilty. visiting
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's
children unto the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses
made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. That was Moses' response to the
revelation of who God is. the one who's merciful, the one
who's gracious, and the one who will by no means whatsoever clear
the guilty. And the only way you can understand
that is if you understand the gospel. How he can be merciful
and gracious and yet by no means clear the guilty. You see, when
he saves somebody, he makes them not guilty. That's what justification
is. I think of Joshua. Turn to Joshua
chapter 5. Joshua chapter five. Beginning in verse 13. 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. And Joshua went unto him
and said, art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he said, neither. But as the captain of the host
of the Lord, am I now come. You for us are our enemies. Neither
one. I'm the captain of the Lord's
hosts. I'm the son of God. I'm the omnipotent
one. What was Joshua's response? Immediately. And Joshua fell on his face to
the earth and did worship and said unto him, what saith my
Lord unto his servant? You see, when you're worshiping,
it's not so much what you say to him. It's what he says to
you. That's what you're interested
in. You know, your words are worthless. All you can do is
hit the ground. What do you say to me? That is worship. Now, whenever the Lord reveals
his person to a man or woman, like he did Moses, like he did
Joshua, He always reveals with that the accepted sacrifice. Turn to 2 Chronicles chapter
7. This always goes along with worship. Verse 1. Now 2 Chronicles chapter 7 verse
1. Now when Solomon had made an
end of praying, the fire came down from heaven
and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. And the glory
of the Lord filled the house and the priest could not enter
into the house of the Lord because of the glory of the Lord had
filled the Lord's house. And when all the children of
Israel saw how the fire came down. You want that fire coming down
signifies the acceptance of the sacrifice. When fire came down from heaven
upon the Lord Jesus Christ in wrath, and Christ consumed that
wrath, that spoke of the acceptance of the sacrifice. When you see His person, this
is something that always goes along with it. It's never independent
of this. When you see His person, you
always see the acceptance of the sacrifice. Have you ever understood that
you are accepted in the Beloved? That God accepts you because
He accepts what His Son did as all in salvation. Now what is
somebody's response? When God reveals that to them,
verse three, and when all the children of Israel saw how that
the fire came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they
bowed themselves with their face to the ground upon the pavement
and worshiped. There's the response to the accepted
sacrifice. Only one response, worship. Turn with me for a moment to
2 Chronicles chapter 20. Beginning in verse 12, this is
Jehoshaphat speaking. And he says, O our God, wilt
thou not judge them? For we have no might against
this great company that come against us, neither know we what
to do, but our eyes are upon thee. Well, wouldn't it be a
good place for the Lord to leave us right now? We have no strength,
we don't know what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. And all Judah stood before the
Lord and their little ones, their wives and their children, Then
came this certain prophet. And here's what he said to them.
Then came Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah,
the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons
of Asaph. Came the spirit of the Lord in
the midst of the congregation. The spirit of the Lord came upon
this man. And he said, Hearken ye all Judah, and ye Habitats
of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat. Thus saith the Lord unto you,
be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude,
for the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow go ye down
against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff
of Ziz, and you shall find them at the end of the brook before
the wilderness of Jeruel. You shall not need to fight in
this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation
of the Lord. With you, O Judah and Jerusalem,
fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them,
for the Lord will be with you. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head
with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. Worship is a response to his
grace. This battle's not yours. It's
mine. I'll fight for you. And as a
matter of fact, if you look at the battle, when they went out
against this great company, they started, they just watched while
everybody turned on everybody else. The Lord made him kill
each other. And the Israelites just watched. He did it all. Now, worship is a response to
the freeness of God's grace. You know, some people will argue
with the effectual atonement of Christ and the freeness of
God's grace. But some people, all they can
do is worship, falling down on their face before the Lord. And the only way there can be
true worship is by the Spirit of God. This is something beyond
the ability of a natural man. Turn with me to John chapter
four. You know something I never say
when I'm talking to people about coming to church? I don't say,
come and worship with us. I say, come hear the gospel.
I can say that. You'll hear the gospel. I want
you to hear the gospel. But I can't say to somebody, come and worship
with us, as if you can just up and decide to worship. This is
a supernatural thing. In John chapter 4, the Lord has
been speaking to the woman at the well. Verse 16, 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 to whom thou now hast is not thy husband, in this saidst
thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
I perceive that thou art a prophet. And then she started 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 Jerusalem worship the
Father. You worship you know not what. Your worship is ignorant
worship. It's false 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 a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. God is spirit. He's not like
me and you. He's not bound by space and time
and ignorance. God is spirit. And the only way I can worship
Him is if I have a spiritual nature. God is spirit. And they that worship Him must
worship Him in spirit and in truth. You see, there is no worship
of God apart from the truth of the gospel, apart from the truth
of the character of God. He's revealed in the word, the
truth of the character of man, as he's revealed in the word,
dead in sins, apart from the truth of salvation. Salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation of the Father in eternal
election when He chose who would be saved. Salvation of the Son
in redemption where He redeemed those people the Father gave
Him. Salvation of the Spirit when He gives spiritual life
and these people are enabled when given spiritual life to
fall down and worship Him. God is spirit and they that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Turn to Philippians
chapter three. Verse three. Philippians chapter
three, verse three. For we are the circumcision. We're the true Jews. We're the
true worshipers, for we are the circumcision which worship God
in the Spirit. The only way you and I will ever
worship God is by the Holy Spirit of God producing that worship
in us. Well, how do I know if I'm worshiping
God in the Spirit? Well, here's what everybody who
worships God in the Spirit does. They rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now that word rejoice means to
glory, to boast. You really believe that Christ
Jesus is everything in God's salvation. And you only glory
in Him. You don't glory in yourself. You don't glory in your experience.
You don't glory in your worship. You don't glory in your knowledge.
You don't glory in your repentance. You don't glory in anything.
All you glory in is Christ Jesus. You don't have anywhere, like
Paul said, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. You wouldn't dare look anywhere
but Christ alone. Now, how do I know if I'm doing
that? How do I know if I'm glorying
in Christ Jesus? Look at the next phrase in verse
three. You'll have no confidence. Nada, zilch, zero. You have no confidence in the
flesh. Anything that comes from you,
you have no confidence in. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. It'll never be anything more
than that weak, sinful, corrupt flesh. That which is born of
the spirit is spirit. So what does somebody do who
worships God in the Spirit? They always rejoice in Christ
Jesus. And what demonstrates that they
really do rejoice in Christ Jesus? They have no confidence in the
flesh. I don't have any confidence in
my flesh. I don't have any confidence in your flesh. No confidence
in the flesh. They, God's, the worship is by
the Spirit and by truth. There's no real worship of God
apart from the truth. Now, people say, we had a worship
service. Was the truth preached? If the
truth was not preached, there was no worship. I don't know
what was going on, but it wasn't worship. The only time God's
Spirit is causing worship is when the truth is preached. preached. This scripture was already read
today, 2 Thessalonians 2.13, but we're bound to thank God
always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Wherever you have the
sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit, you have a genuine belief
of the truth. And whenever you have real belief
of the truth, the truth concerning the character of God, the character
of man and salvation, wherever you have that, it's because you
have the sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit. That is
the evidence. Turn with me to First Chronicles
chapter 16. This phrase is found over and
over again in the Psalms. First Chronicles chapter 16 verse
29. Give unto the Lord the glory
due unto His name. Bring an offering and come before
Him. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. Now, we find this phrase six
or seven times in the scripture. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. Now, I want to do that. What
does somebody do when they do that? Well, first of all, they
give God the glory due his name. That's what worship is. It's
ascribing to God that which He is. You know, the English word
worship means worth, ascribing to someone their actual worth.
And that's what true worship is. And this is what the beauty
of holiness does. It gives God the glory to do
His name. How much glory does God get in
your salvation? How much? Every believer says
he gets all the glory. And none goes to man, none goes
to me. Now, if you're worshiping the
Lord in the beauty of holiness, the first thing you're gonna
do is give him the glory. Do his name and look at the next
thing. He says, bring an offering. What's
the offering you bring? Your works? No, no. When you
give God the glory due His name, the only way you come is in that
offering, the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ. By one offering,
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, them that
are set apart by God. That's the only way you come
into His presence. You bring this offering. You
won't come any other way than except through the offering of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now when you do that, you're
worshipping the Lord in the beauty of holiness. That's the new nature,
the holy nature that He's given, that is worshipping the Lord. Turn to John 9. Both public scripture readings,
back in the back and here, scriptures were quoted that I was going
to use today, and I got excited about that. I thought, well,
the Lord's in this. John chapter 9. Jesus heard that they'd cast
him out. And you know everybody that believes the gospel, religion
always casts them out, don't they? They don't have anything
to do with somebody that believes the gospel. The Lord heard that
they'd cast him out. And when he found him, he said
unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and
said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe? He hadn't really believed
yet. 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 worshipped Him. What is it to worship? It's to believe the Gospel. It's to believe that He is the
Son of God. It's to believe everything God's
Word says regarding Him. When you believe, listen to me,
belief is not believing you're saved, it's believing He's the
Savior. It's believing He's all. It's believing He's God the Son,
the Creator, the Sovereign of the Universe, the only Savior
of sinners. Do you believe that He's the
Son of God? I do. That's worship. That's
worship. Faith. This is your response
to God, your response to the Gospel. I believe. What do you
do? You worship. Turn with me to Acts chapter
24. Paul is giving his defense before
Ananias and Felix. We read in verse 12, they made
these accusations, and he says, and they neither found me in
the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people,
neither in the synagogues nor in the city, nor can they prove
the things where have they now accused me. But this I confess
unto thee. I plead guilty to this. I'm publicly
acknowledging this. This I confess unto thee. that
after the way which they call heresy. So worship I, the God
of my fathers, believing all things which were written in
the law and in the prophets. Worship. You can't compromise the gospel
and worship. Can't be done. After the way
which they call heresy. They call it heresy. That's how I worship. And notice he said this, I confess
to thee. Worship is always confessional. If you won't confess it, you
don't really believe. I confess this to thee. Remember
that crowd in John chapter 12? It says, nevertheless, among
the chief rulers, many of the Pharisees believed on him. Nevertheless,
among the chief rulers, many believed on him, but because
of the Pharisees, they did not confess him. They believed, but
they didn't confess. And here's why. They love the
praises of men more than the praises of God. Where there is
worship, there is confession. I confess this, I plead guilty. Worship is a response to God. You'll never worship if he doesn't
first speak to you. is a response to God, it's obedience. Abraham did what God said to
do. He believed God was going to
raise that boy from the dead. Worship is worshiping him for who he
is. It's a response to revelation. Moses made haste when God revealed
to him who he was and hit the dirt. I love the way it says,
as soon as he heard that, he made haste and hit the ground. Worship is by the Spirit of God. It's with His truth. It's in
the beauty of holiness. It is what faith is. Lord, I
believe and He worshiped. And it's always confessional.
This I confess to thee. after the way they call heresy,
so worship I, the God of my fathers, believing all things which are
written in the law and in the prophets. What is worship? I go back to Joshua. I think
of, here's another example, Peter. In Luke chapter five, when the
Lord revealed himself to Peter, You know what Peter's response
was? Depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful
man. You don't want to have anything
to do with somebody like me. That's what happens when people
worship. When you see who he is, you hit the dirt. You see
who you are. And like Joshua, you're not so
much concerned about what you say to him, but what he says
to you. May God give us all the spirit
of worship. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that we might worship you just like that leopard did when he
came and worshiped you. And Lord, we come with his prayer. Lord, if you will, you can make
us clean. Lord, enable us to say with the
man who you gave sight to, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him. Lord, enable us to worship you
by your spirit, according to your truth. in response to the
revelation of yourself. Lord, reveal yourself to each
person here. And oh Lord, reveal the acceptance
of the sacrifice and the freeness of your grace. And Lord, enable
us truly to worship thee. In Christ's name we pray, amen.