When you turn back to John chapter
9, while you're turning there, tonight we're going to look at
Hebrews chapter 13, verse 4, where it says, Marriage is honorable
in all. And I want us to look at that
verse of Scripture. And I thought, I've got two goals
in bringing this message. Number one, I want to preach
the gospel. Whatever the subject is, the gospel must be the subject. And also, we all need some help. We all need some help. When you
have two sinners living together, you've got some interesting dynamics.
And I hope that this will help us to have happy marriages that
glorify God. So the title of the message tonight
is Marriage Honorable in All. I've entitled this morning's
message, Worship and Doing His Will. Worship and Doing His Will. Verse 31 of John chapter 9, Now
we know that God heareth not sinners. But if any man be a worshipper
of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth." Now, this was said
by the man that the Lord had given sight to. He was born blind,
and God gave him sight. But when he said this, he did
not yet know Christ in a saving way. Look in verses 35 and 36. Then Jesus heard that they had
cast him out, and when he had found him, he said unto him,
Dost thou believe on the Son of God? And he answered and said,
Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? So at this time
he did not yet know the Lord. He knew that it was the Lord
who had given him sight. Look in verse 10 of this same
chapter. Therefore said they unto him,
How were thine eyes opened? And he answered and said, A man
that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said
unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash. And I went, and washed,
and I received my sight." And he believed that Jesus Christ
was a true prophet of God. Look in verse 17 of John chapter
9, they said unto the blind man, what sayest thou of him that
he hath opened thine eyes? He said, he's a prophet. He believed
him to be a prophet and he believed Christ was of God. Look in verse
26. Then said they to him again,
what did he to thee? How opened he thine eyes? He
answered them, I told you already and you didn't hear. Wherefore
would you hear it again? Will you also be his disciples?
Then they reviled him, and they said, Thou art his disciple,
but we are Moses' disciple. We know that God spoke unto Moses,
but as for this fellow, this nobody, we know not from whence
he is. The man answered and said unto
them, Why, herein is a marvelous thing, that you know not from
whence it is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now we know.
that God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper
of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Since the world began,
was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was
born blind? If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. They answered and said unto him,
Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?
And they excommunicated him. They cast him out. Now, he knew
that the Lord was a prophet, he knew he was a man, he knew
he was of God, but he did not yet know him as God the Son. He did not yet know him as being
equal with the Father. He did not know him as the second
person of the blessed Trinity, the creator of the universe,
the only savior of sinners. He knew some accurate information
about him, but he didn't really know him. Now what he says in
verse 31 is what everybody in the world knows intuitively.
Everybody in here knows what he's saying. He says in verse
31, We know that God heareth not sinners. But if any man be
a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he Now, there are some things that
we know intuitively. We don't need to be taught these
things. We know it's wrong to lie, don't
we? We know it's wrong to kill. We know it's wrong to steal.
We don't have to be taught that. We know it intuitively. This knowledge is in our conscience.
There is God. We know that intuitively. Now,
we may say, I don't believe in God, but deep down in our conscience,
we know that God is. And we know that God is just.
We know that intuitively. He's righteous. He's just. There is such a thing as good.
There is such a thing as evil. We know that intuitively. And
we know God is just. That's what this man meant when
he said he doesn't just up and hear sinners. God is just. God
is righteous. We know that. And then he says,
and we know That if any man be a worshipper of God, someone
who actually worships God and does His will, that's the person
that God hears. Now, everybody in this room knows
that that's so. You just know it. It's in your
conscience. You were born with that knowledge. God is just. God is righteous. Somebody that's evil is not somebody
he's going to accept. He doesn't hear sinners. But
if anybody worships him, I don't care who it is, if he worships
God and does his will, that is the person that God hears. Now, worship and doing his will. Now, just from that statement,
we know that worship has something to do with doing his will. Now, what is this thing of worship? If any man worships God and does
his will, him he hears. What does the Bible mean by worshiping
God? People talk about worship. We
had a worship service. Oh, we really had a worship service. We worship. Well, I don't know
if you did or not. What does the Bible mean by worship? I know God is to be worshiped.
What does it mean to worship God? Turn to John chapter four. Now, let me repeat, I want us
to see what the Bible has to say about worship. What does
it mean to worship God according to the scriptures? Verse 16 of
John chapter 4. The Lord is speaking to that
woman at the well at Samaria. 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 whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that said
Saul truly, the woman said unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou
art a prophet. Obviously, if he knew all that
about her. And then she proceeds into her
religious mumbo-jumbo. Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain. And you say that in Jerusalem
is the place which men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto
her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither
in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship
you know not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews, but the hour cometh and now is when
the true worshipers. Now, did you get that? They are
false worshippers and they are true worshippers. I want to be
one of these true worshippers, don't you? I don't want to participate
in false worship. I want to be a true worshipper
of God. Now the hour cometh and now is
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him God is spirit. And they that worship him, look
at that next word, what is it? Must. It's of absolute necessity. They that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth. Now here's what's necessary to
worship God. Number one, spirit. God, the
Holy Spirit. Number two, the truth. There
is no worship of God without the spirit of God. There is no
worship of God without the truth. Now, I've said this on numerous
occasions in the past. I don't invite people. Why don't
you come and worship with us? Well, I want you, I'll invite
you to come hear the gospel. But you can't worship without
God, the Holy Spirit. That's not something you can
just up and decide to do. You must have the spirit of God in
order to worship. Let me show you that in Philippians
chapter three. Philippians chapter three. Verse three. For we. are the circumcision. We are the true Jews. We are
the ones who have had our hearts circumcised. And here's the mark
of the true circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Now, first, for me to worship
God, I can only worship Him in the Spirit. I have to be given
a new nature. I must be born again by the Spirit
and be given a spiritual nature, one that I did not have before.
God's got to do something for me. He's got to create in me
a new heart, one that was not there before. I cannot worship
him without the supernatural work of God, the Holy Spirit. We're in the circumcision, which
worship God in the Spirit. Now somebody says, how can I
know whether or not I have the Holy Spirit? How can I know whether
or not I personally have this new nature that worships God
in the Spirit? Well, Paul gives us two marks
of somebody who worships God in the Spirit. In Philippians
chapter 3 verse 3, here's the twofold proof as to whether or
not you have the Spirit. If you have the Spirit, that
means you rejoice. You glory in Christ Jesus. That's the first mark. And the
second mark is you have no confidence in the flesh. And those are the
two marks of having the Spirit of God. First, I rejoice. in Christ Jesus. That same word
rejoice is translated glory by Paul in Galatians chapter 6 verse
14 when he said God forbid that I said glory save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you rejoice in Christ Jesus
that means you actually have confidence that in him there
is salvation. You really believe that His precious
blood actually washed away sin. You have confidence in who He
is and what He did. You have confidence that if you
have His righteousness, you have righteousness before God, and
His righteousness is the only righteousness there is. You have
confidence in that. You rejoice in Christ Jesus. And if you rejoice in Christ
Jesus, you know what else is going to be said about you? You'll
have no confidence in the flesh. None. Zero. You don't have any confidence
in your flesh. You don't have any confidence in the works of
the flesh. You don't have any confidence in the worth of the
flesh. You don't have any confidence in the will of the flesh. You
have no confidence in the flesh. You know that if salvation is
dependent upon you, you won't be saved. You are totally convinced
that Christ himself is salvation. You rejoice in Christ Jesus and
you have no confidence at all in the flesh. And what do you
measure up there? This is what is necessary for
worship. This is what I must have. God,
the Holy Spirit. They that worship God must worship
him in spirit. What do you say next? And in
truth, in truth, there is no worship without the truth. You don't worship God in error.
You don't worship God in false doctrine. You don't worship God
in any other way but the truth. The truth of the Scriptures. The truth concerning the true
character of God. as he's revealed in this word,
the holy God, the sovereign God, the just God, the all-powerful
God, the God who reigns and is in control. That's the God you
worship. There must be truth concerning
the true character of man. You know the truth about yourself.
There's no worship of God without this. And let me say also, there's
no salvation without this. You know the truth about yourself,
that by nature you're dead in sins, that you can't save yourself,
that you're utterly in God's hands and there's nothing you
can do to save yourself or to contribute to your own salvation.
You know something about sin. You know the truth about yourself.
You know the truth regarding salvation. You know salvation
is of the Lord. You know it's His work. It's
not a cooperative joint effort between you and Him. It's what
He does. You know that. You know the truth. There's no salvation apart from
knowing the truth and believing the truth. And there's certainly
no worship of God apart from knowing the truth and believing
the truth. There's no worship without knowing
the truth about who man is, who I am completely unable to save
myself. There's no worship apart from
knowing the truth concerning the true character of God and
how he saves. This is absolutely necessary
for true worship. They that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth. Now, here's my second statement
regarding scriptural worship. Where there is true worship,
there is a worshiping of God for who He is without reference
to any personal benefit. Let me repeat that. When we worship,
and this is that worship that comes from the Spirit of God,
When we truly worship God, we worship him. We worship Jesus
Christ for who he is without any reference at all to any personal
benefit to us in that. Let me show you what I mean by
that. Turn with me to Matthew, Chapter eight. Remember, it's that man
who worships God and does his will that God hears. And I want
to be one of these people. Matthew, Chapter eight. Verse 1, And when he was come down from
the mountains, great multitudes followed him, and, behold, there
came a leper, and worshipped him. Now, I know this fellow God's Word said He did. There
came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean. Now, he came knowing this. I'm not clean. And as to whether
or not I will be cleansed, it's all up to the Lord. It's in His
hands. If He wills, He can make me clean. He knew that, didn't He? But
notice, He worshipped the Lord before the Lord ever said, I
will be thou clean. He worshipped the Lord for who
He is. Without reference to what He
did. Now, He wanted to be cleansed.
But the Lord is to be worshipped whether He cleanses you or not.
Do you believe that? If God didn't save you, if Christ
didn't do anything for you at all and let you drop into hell
as an act of His justice, would He still be worthy of worship? You see, you've never worshipped
the Lord unless you've worshipped Him for who He is. Look at Matthew chapter 15. Verse 21, Then Jesus went thence, and departed
into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan
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. He ignored her. He answered her, Not a word. He didn't respond. She came with
this great need and he didn't respond. And his disciples came, verse
23, and besought him, saying, Send her away. She cries after
us. But he answered and said, I'm not sent. But unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Now the Lord says, I didn't come
to save everybody. Here this woman comes asking
for mercy. I didn't come to save everybody.
Look at her response. Verse 25. Then came she and worshiped
him. He hadn't done anything for her.
Not yet. Oh, he really had. She didn't
know it yet. She didn't realize that she was an object of his
grace. He'd done something for her. She wouldn't be talking
this way, but she didn't know it yet. As far as she knew, he hadn't
done anything for her. And he said, I've not come for
everybody. I've only come for the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. Then she came and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, help me. Now, there's two things I see
about worship in these two scriptures. One is Christ is to be worshipped
for who he is without reference to what he does or does not do
for me. Do you believe that? I do. You know, you'll only worship
a sovereign. one in whose hands you are, and
He can do with you whatever He's pleased to do. If you think you
have any control over God and you can manipulate Him, there's
no worship. You only worship a sovereign. And there's no salvation
apart from that being settled. You know, when the Lord made
Himself known to this woman, after she worshipped Him, for
who He is. So, worship according to the
Scriptures. I have to have the spirit of
God, I have to have the truth of the gospel, and I have to
worship God for who He is, without respect to how I benefit out
of it. He's to be worshipped. He's the
Lord. Worship thou Him. Now third,
turn to Acts chapter 24. This is always involved in true
worship. Now this is Paul standing before Felix being tried. There's been accusations
made against him, and he says they can't prove them. Verse
13, neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse
me. But, he says in verse 14, this I confess. confess unto thee, that after
the way which they call heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers,
believing all things which are written in the law and in the
prophets." Now, there's no worship of God without confession. This I confess to thee. Turn to Romans 10. Let me show
you what I mean by that. Verse 9. Then if thou shalt confess. You plead guilty. That's what
confession is. Guilty as charged. If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. That's what I believe,
the Lord Jesus, the dictator of Jesus. And shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. But there is no salvation apart
from this, this thing of confessing him. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. And there is no salvation apart
from this thing of confessing him. What you believe is what
you confess. If you won't confess it, you
don't really believe it. There's no salvation. There's
no true worship apart from this thing of confessing this. I confess
to be that after the way which they call heresy, so worship
by the God of my father's. I turned to Deuteronomy chapter
26. Deuteronomy 26, I remember always hearing Brother
Mahan say that giving was an act of worship. And I always
believed that, but I never had a scripture for it. But look
here in Deuteronomy, chapter 26, verse 10, I do now, because
what I did, I just looked up everywhere worship was in the
Bible so I could find out what worship is. And look at this
verse of scripture, Deuteronomy, chapter 26, verse 10. And now,
behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O Lord,
hast given me. And thou shalt set those firstfruits
before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God. Now, giving the firstfruits. What's giving the firstfruits? It's giving the first. It's not waiting until the bills
are paid, the entertainment's taken care of, and if I have
anything left over, whatever I have left over, I'll give.
And, well, I had a bad month this month. I had a lot of bills,
therefore I wasn't able to give. No, when you give the firstfruits,
giving comes first. It comes before anything else. It comes before the house payment.
It comes before any other. Giving comes first. That's the giving the firstfruits. Now, How is that an act of worship? Well, giving is a love issue. If you love somebody, you give.
And if you don't give, you do not love. When you love somebody,
you give. And giving is a trust issue. When I give the first fruits,
I'm saying to the Lord, I'm trusting you to take care of me. You gave
me this in the first place that I'm giving, and I'm trusting
you to take care of everything. So in this sense, giving is worship. And that passage of scripture
says that you give the first fruits and you worship the Lord. Now, back to John chapter nine. Worship has something to do with
doing his will. Let me read that verse of Scripture
again in John chapter 9 verse 31. Now we know that God hear
not sinners, but if any man be a worshiper of God and doeth
his will. Him he heareth. Now, whatever worship is, It
has something to do with the actual doing of his will. Let me show you the first time
worship is mentioned in the scriptures. Turn to Genesis 22. Verse five. And Abraham said unto his young
men, abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. Now, that's the first time
the word worship is used in the scriptures. Now, what took place?
Look in verse 1. And it came to pass after these
things that God did tempt, or test, Abraham. And said unto
him, Abraham? And he said, behold, here I am. You know, every time the Lord
called Abraham's name, it was right before some kind of big
trial he was going to put him through. I bet he winced when
he heard it. What's going to happen now? What's
going to happen now? Verse 2, And he said, Take now
thy son, thine only son, Isaac, 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." Now put
yourself in Abraham's place. Kill your son and burn him as
an offering to me. And what did Abraham do? And
Abraham rose up early in the morning. If the Lord told me to do that,
I think I'd wait as long as possible. I'd hope something would happen
that would make him say something else to me. But Abraham didn't
do that. He rose up early in the morning.
I kind of suspect he didn't tell Sarah anything about this. And
he saddled his ass. And he took two of his young
men with him, and Isaac his son, and claimed the wood for the
burnt offering. He got everything ready. He rose up and went into
the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off, and how that
must have ripped his guts out when he saw that place. And Abraham
said to his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and
the lad will go yonder and what? Worship. You know what worship
is? Obedience. That's what worship
is. Obedience. It's an actual doing
of His will. You know, the Lord said, Why
call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say? Worship
is obedience. Obedience to the gospel. Turn
to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. Verse 21. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But here's
the only ones who are going to enter the kingdom of heaven.
But he that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven.
That's who's going to enter the kingdom of heaven. That person
who does the will of his father, which is in heaven. Now, he says
in verse 22, many, not just a few, this covers the majority of religious
people. This covers the majority of professing
Christians. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, Have we not preached in your name? And in your name,
have we not cast out devils? And in your name done many wonderful
works that they said the right thing. Lord, Lord, that's who
he is. You call me Master Lord. You say, well, for so I am. Look
at their evaluation of their own works. Many and wonderful. You feel that way about your
works? Oh, I've got many good works, many wonderful works. And I've done these in your name.
They're even partially giving the Lord the credit. I did this
in your name. I didn't do this on my own. I did this through
you, through you. Many wonderful works. Oh, now let's look at the Lord's
evaluation of their works. Verse 23. And then will I profess
unto them, I never do you. Now, he knew who they were and
he knew all about their works. But when he says, I never knew
you, he's saying, I never knew you. I never loved you. I never
knew you to be one who relied on me. I never knew you to be
one who loved me. I never knew you. Depart. Oh, I can't even stand to think
of those words. Depart from me. Ye that work iniquity. Well, I don't want to be one
of those people, do you? Now, I want to be somebody who does
His will. Now, what does it mean to be
a doer of His will? This is what these people lacked,
that He says, Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity. I never
knew you. These people never did the will
of God. What does it mean to do His will? God has a will. And God's will
is supreme. What's that mean? That means
His will's done. You see, if God wills something,
nobody has the power to thwart it, do they? He doeth according to His will. In the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, those folks down here, He doeth
according to His will. in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand. None
can stop him from doing his will. None can say to him, what doest
thou? Give an account of your manners. He's God. His will must
be done. Now, when we speak of the will
of God, first there's his will of decree. That's what he purposes. He says, I've purposed it. I
also will do it. His will of decree cannot be
thwarted. His will of decree must be done. And then there is his will of
command. You know, it's God's will for nobody to lie. For nobody
to steal, for nobody to kill. That's his will of command that
is broken. Now, salvation is experienced. When we have some understanding
of his will. Now, let me repeat that. And
I'm talking about the will of God. I'm not talking about God.
I just want to know what God's will for my life is. I want to
know what he wants me to do tomorrow. I want to know where he wants
me to work or what he wants me to do. I'm not saying that stuff's
unimportant, but who knows? I don't know what God's will
for me is in that sense. I know this. I'm up to my neck
in the will of God. I know that. Because his will is being done.
But when he's talking about, when I'm talking about knowing his
will, first thing Paul heard when Ananias came to him, he
said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. First thing
he heard was election. I think that's neat, don't you? First
thing he heard. The God of our fathers hath chosen thee that
thou mightest know his will. Not just try to flounder around
trying to figure out what God's will for my life is, but that
you might know his will. and see that just one and hear
the voice of His mouth. Now, I don't have to speculate
on this thing of knowing His will. I know God's will. The Lord said in John chapter
6, verse 38 through 40, and this is how I know, because He tells
me what it is. He said in John chapter 6, verse 38, and this
is the will of Him that sent me. He said, I came not down
from heaven to do my own will. But the will of Him that sent
me, and this is the will of Him that sent me, that of all which
He has given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day." Now, it's the will of God for all the elect
to be saved. It's the will of God that every
person that Christ gave Himself for be saved. That's the will
of God. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will
of him that sent me, he said in the 41st, that everyone that
seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. And I'll raise him up again at
the last day. Now there's God's will. It's
God's will. for everybody that Christ died
for to be saved. And it's God's will that everyone
who sees the Son and believes on Him be saved. Now remember, it's not enough
to admire His will. It's not enough to know His will. I must do His will. Or He won't hear me. He won't
have anything to do with me. Now, what is this thing of doing
His will? Now, let's go back to John chapter
9. John chapter 9. Verse 31. This man says, Now we know that
God hears not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God,
And doeth his will, him he heareth. Since the world began, was it
not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born
blind? If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. They,
these religious fellows, answered and said unto him, Thou wast
altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? Where did
you go to seminary? Where did you learn what you
have learned? And they cast him out. They excommunicated him. Jesus heard that they cast him
out, and when he found him, the Lord always goes after the
cast-outs, doesn't he? And when he found him, he said
unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? And 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 worshipped him. I'm not asking you if you know
that you're one of the elect. I'm not asking you if you know
that Jesus Christ died for you. I'm not asking you if you know
you're saved. I'm not asking you if you know
you'll go to heaven if you die today. I'm not asking any of
those questions. I'm asking you this. Do you believe
that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is God? God the Son, the Second Person
of the Blessed Trinity, the One whose will must be done, the
One who, if He died for you, you must be saved. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the eternal Son of God? That's the question I'm asking. When Philip had preached the
gospel to that Ethiopian eunuch, and he heard that message, he
said, see, here's water. Now, what hinders me from being
baptized? I want to know if there's a reason
why I shouldn't be. What hinders me from being baptized? And Philip
said, if you believe with all your heart, you may. You know how that eunuch answered? Let me tell you how he didn't
answer. He didn't say, I believe that I'm one of the elect. He
didn't say, I have full assurance that Jesus Christ died for me.
And I know I'll go to heaven when I die. He didn't say, I
believe I'm a Christian. Here's what he said. I believe
that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Do you believe he's the son of
God equal to the father? the creator of the universe,
the one who, if he died for you, you must be saved because of
who he is. Do you believe that? My dear
friend, that is the doing of his will. That is the worship of God. Where you have that, You have
worship. You have the actual doing of
His will. That's the only thing I'm asking
you. Do you believe that He's God the Son, the Christ, the
only Savior of sinners? Somebody says, that's just too
simple. You need to give me something
else. You didn't hear anything then? You didn't hear. May God give me and you the grace
to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. You believe
that? You're one of those people who
are doing His will. If you believe that, you're doing
His will right now. And He hears you. You have the ear of God. Now, this is a fact. We know
that God heareth not sinners. He's just. He's holy. But if
any man worships Him, for who He is, and there's an actual
doing of His will, that man has the ear of the God of Heaven. Let's pray.