Worship from the Word, Part 1

Lord, we thank you for this night.

Lord, thank you that by grace, by your perfect plan, by your

mercy and your wisdom and your great power, you draw

worshippers to yourself. Thank you that you bring us

near. Lord, by the blood of Christ,

that you make us acceptable, that we can even offer worship

before you. God, we thank you that we can be

here, that we have the truth of your Word that is complete, that

is sufficient, that it guides us in all of life.

And we pray, Lord, that you would give us humble hearts to

submit to your word. We pray that you give us

discernment to understand what it says.

And we pray that you would give us eagerness to obey us and that

you give us conviction so that we'd be able to explain it to

others and share with others. We pray that you'd be glorified

this night, Lord, that everything we say would be true

and honoring to you. We pray that you challenge us

and refresh us, Lord, as we rejoice that we are your

worshippers in these things. We commit to you, and we pray in

your name. Amen.

No, I'm thankful for this church.

I'm thankful that it's a good church, and I'm thankful that I

don't have to explain from Ground Zero what worship is.

You guys know that, you know, worship is not limited to music,

but it's important for us to remember that in Christianity,

if we call it that at large, there's so much that is untrue

that's said about worship. So many people say, so many

bizarre and confusing and false things.

You know, some people would say, what is worship?

Worship is a group of songs. Worship was great today, or I

didn't really connect with worship.

Today people might say that worship is an experience.

I was looking through the top songs that are most popular in

the United States, worship songs sung in churches.

And one of the song says this, I'm caught up in your presence.

I just want to sit here at your feet.

I'm caught up in this holy moment.

I never want to leave. Some people see worship.

Is that as some sort of experience that they're longing

for? It's something emotional.

It's something that you have to achieve.

There's some people in some songs who claim that worship is

a weapon. Another song says, I'll praise

when I feel it and I'll praise when I don't.

I'll praise because I know you're still in control.

Not so bad so far, right? Because my praise is a weapon.

It's more than a sound. My praise is the shout that

brings Jericho down. You think, oh, that's not what

that means at all. That is not, that's not what the

scripture says. So we need to be able to

articulate it because mixed in with all these false sayings,

these false beliefs, there's little bits and Nuggets of

truth, OK. When you Google worship or

quotes about worship, there's a lot that's said that's good out

there and a lot of bad churches that teach heresy, throwing a

lot of good little things. Worship is a lifestyle.

Worship is about exalting God. Worship is coming closer to God.

And there's many things that they'll throw in there that are

true, but most of the time they're diluted.

They're connected with things that are blatantly false, and

the whole picture that they paint of worship is absolutely

untrue. So we need to be clear from what

Scripture says. We need to set aside everything

that we've heard in songs, everything that we've heard

other people say, and just go to Scripture and ask, what does God

say about worship? Is it something that we

experience or something we attain?

Is this something that we cultivate with an environment or

an atmosphere? Does it only happen here in this

building or does it only happen during music?

Is worship about my emotions and how I feel or is it only

intellectuals? It just about me understanding

something? Does worship music?

Does music have spiritual power? Does it matter if I don't really

feel like a musician and I never sing on a Sunday?

So I trust that you guys can answer a lot of those questions.

They're not a surprise. You're taught God's word and

you're grounded in God's word and you're there.

But we need to think more deeply.

We need to be prepared to discern and divide.

There's so much good that helps us in worshipping truly today,

but it's vastly outweighed by the bad Christian culture.

Books, music, radio is is mostly unusable.

OK, you, you might want to say don't throw out the baby with

the bathwater, but at this point there's, there's no baby left.

It's just dirty bathwater leftover.

And so we're looking at tonight from Scripture as our authority.

What is worship? So we're going to start from

scratch. If you have an outline, there's

some in the back that are printed just to help you.

And I hope to clarify my thoughts and to lead you through

an outline that is easily understandable.

But the thing that I hope that you take away from this at the

end of the day is a simple definition of worship.

There are many wise men, godly men, who have given better

definitions from me than than me.

But I would encourage you to think about worship, boiling it

down to 1 simple definition. OK, and we can expand beyond

that. But what is worship?

OK, if we want to define worship as simply as we can without

missing any pieces, we'll define it this way.

Worship is a right response to Revelation.

OK, it's all alliterated. It's even easier.

OK, worship is a right response to revelation.

And every one of those things are vital.

We have to remember every one of those elements in order to

please God with true worship. When we define worship, we

understand that the word itself means ascribing worth.

It means saying something is valuable, that it has

weightiness, a gravity and importance.

Someone defined as worship this as this.

It's recognizing God is unconditionally superior to

ourselves in every respect. As one whose true greatness is

beyond our poor power of expression.

He is the ultimate object of praise.

MacArthur defined worship this way.

It is our innermost being responding with praise for all

that God is through our attitudes, actions, thoughts,

and words based on the truth of God as He has revealed Himself.

That's a great definition. It's better than mine, but at

the end of the day, it's great to remember something simple.

And so I want to encourage you to remember worship is a right

response to revelation. When we look at Scripture, Psalm

29, two says, ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name

or the glory that His name already has.

Recognize the glory in the majesty of His person.

Psalm 86, verses 8 through 10 say there is no one like you

Psalms 86:8–10

among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.

All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before

You, O Lord, and they shall glorify Your name, for You are

great and do wondrous deeds. You alone are God.

So those three elements in worship, it's a right response

to revelation. It has to begin with His

revelation, OK? It has to be about God.

You don't have truth about God. There's no worship happening.

It has to be a response. OK, worship is something that

comes from me in response to God, but that response has to be

right. It has to be dictated and guided

by the revelation that we've received.

Because God has not made his worship vague.

He has not left us in the dark about what He desires, what He

commands. God is very clear, He is

gracious to us, He knows our nature, He understands that we

need things clearly and simply. And so in His word He's made it

very clear what He wants, what He desires.

Now, when you compare to worship from other religions, even some

of these cults and other religions have themselves said

that their worship is trying to sweetens God's face towards

them. They're saying everything that

we do to worship our God, false God, is to gain his favor.

It's turn his face toward me to basically make him smile upon me

so that he'll give me favor, so that he won't destroy me, so

that I can get something good from him.

But when we come to worship, we Christians know we can't do

that. We cannot gain God's favor.

We can't earn it. Romans 323 I trust you know, for

all have fallen short, for all have sinned and fallen short of

the glory of God. OK, that separates us from God.

We have no ability to earn His favor.

Isaiah 64, six says For all of us have become like one who is

unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.

Isaiah 59 two says, But your iniquities have made a

separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden

his face from you so that he does not hear.

So worship is not a matter of me just trying to do some things to

get God's approval and gain His attention.

We're automatically disqualified as worshippers.

No one can worship, OK? No one can give God worship that

is worthy of Him, that is good enough, that is pleasing and

acceptable to him. There's just no way you can do

it except because of Christ. And that's the glory of the

gospel is that God has reconciled us.

He has brought us to Himself so that we can fulfill our original

created role of being His worshippers.

So when we look at the requirements for worship, we

talked about what is worship? It's a right response to

revelation if it's just as simple as we can make it.

We understand that there are three basic requirements for

worship that are given in Scripture.

Would you turn with me to John chapter 4?

John 4 · chapter mention

John chapter 4? This is a familiar passage.

John 4 · chapter mention

I am sure you've heard this before.

I'm sure you've heard people preach on it before.

So there are three requirements for worship.

If I desire to be a true worshipper that pleases God,

that does what he commands, there are three things, three

things required, and the first of those is regeneration.

Because we're sinners, we're automatically separated.

Nothing we can do, nothing about us is in any way acceptable to

God. We, he, literally, we, we are

loathsome to Him because of our sin.

But in Christ we are reconciled. Christ died in our place,

bearing the punishment that we deserve for our sins.

And so God credits us with Christ's righteousness, making

that trade so that our sins are washed away.

They're atoned for, they're paid for in Christ.

And now God sees us as being credited with the righteousness,

with the perfection, with all of the good deeds that Christ has.

So now we may approach Him. Now we may be worshippers if we

have faith in Him, if we confess Him as Lord.

In John 3, right before the passage, we're going to look at

you're turning to John 4, verse 23.

John 4:23

In John 3, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus about this.

You must be born again. That's the starting place in

Hebrews 10. It tells us in verse 19.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to

enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, so now you can

enter to worship. You can come before God's

presence. And the author of Hebrews is, of

course, using imagery from the Old Testament.

Here there was a separation in the Old Testament worship in the

temple. OK, Worshippers could not

approach the most holy place in the center.

Only the high priest could once a year when he offered atonement

for the nation and for himself. But everybody else was blocked.

They were kept away because they were sinners.

But the author of Hebrews is saying, now you have access to

the presence of God. It says in verse 20, by a new

and living way opened for us through the curtain that is his

body. And since we have a great priest

over the House of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere

heart and with the full assurance that faith brings.

Having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty

conscience, and having our bodies washed with pure water.

So now we have a right standing. Now we have been cleansed.

Now we are brought near by Jesus so that we can be worshippers.

Hebrews 11/6 says without faith is impossible.

To please God, we have to have faith.

We have to have salvation. We have to have new life and new

heart given by God. Remember, we cannot earn God's

favor. He freely bestows us it on us in

Christ. As Ephesians 289 says, it's a

grace, it's a gift that we would have no merit or boast.

So the first requirement for worship is regeneration.

It's important for us to understand because we don't want

to give people the false impression that anybody can

worship God and that He'll accept it.

That's just not true. You have to be a believer.

You have to be regenerated and have new life.

That's the first requirement. Second requirement is in John 4,

John 4:23

verse 23 and 24. We'll read that, but an hour is

coming, and now is when the true worshippers will worship the

Father in spirit and truth. For such people, the Father

seeks to be His worshippers. Now if we back up, Jesus is

talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, and she's asking

him a the Jews say we have to worship this way at the temple.

The Samaritans have their own place.

What's the right way? What what, what is required for

worship? And Jesus said it's not about a

location, it's about worshipping in spirit and truth.

For such people, the Father seeks to be his worshippers.

Verse 24, God is spirit and those who worship him must

worship in spirit and truth. So the second requirement for

worship is that we worship in spirit.

That means from the heart. That means we must have a right

inner attitude. And Deuteronomy 6, it commands

Israel and it's an example and a principle for us.

It says teach your children and all of the generations to fear

the Lord as long as you live in verse 4, it's familiar hero

Israel. The Lord is our God.

The Lord is 1. You shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your

might. Psalm 211 says worship the Lord

with reverence and rejoice with trembling.

Psalm 1031 says Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within

me, bless his holy name. Revelation 15 says Great and

marvelous are your work, so God the Almighty, righteous and true

are your ways king of the nations, Who will not fear, O

Lord, and glorify your name. For you alone are holy, for all

the nations will come and worship before you, for your

righteous acts have been revealed.

So all throughout Scripture, it paints a picture of the proper

spirit, the attitude of worship. It's a fear of God.

It's a love for God. And we're going to expand that

more soon. But what's required is a spirit

of response, of humility, of fear, and of love.

The other requirement is truth. This is the one that we have to

bring people back to. When people say, I've had people

say to me when I speak to them about songs, to say what about

the songs you choose on Sunday mornings or or whenever you lead

worship? Your songs don't have much

substance. They don't say a lot and they

say, but it doesn't really matter because we know the God

that we're worshipping, OK? And it's about our expression,

OK? It is about a spirit or

response, but it's about truth. It's about God's truth.

Whenever there's worship in the Bible, which is the whole Bible,

it always starts with revelation about God.

It starts with truth. Psalm 14518 says the Lord is

near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in

truth. John 1717 says Your word is

truth, and so worship requires truth.

It requires the word of God because that's how we know God.

That's not how we know what He has done.

That's how we know what He has commanded.

Second Timothy 316 says that all Scripture is inspired by God.

It's breathed out by God. It is guided by God.

So that is exactly what He wants to communicate.

In Second Peter chapter 1, verses 19 through 21.

2 Peter 1:19–21

This is a great passage. Peter's talking, he talks about

his experience on the mountaintop when he saw Christ's

glory, He saw his flesh unveiled on the transfiguration and Peter

talks about that. All right, we were witnesses of

this. We saw who Jesus was.

But in verse 19 of second Peter chapter 1, he says so we have

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

the prophetic word more sure. Now in your translation it might

be confusing there might have the word made there, but it's

going to be italicized because the proper translation is we

have the prophetic word more sure if you had made it confuses

it. The experience of seeing the

transfiguration is not more sure than the word of God.

The Word of God is more reliable, more sure than any

experience that a man can have. So it says you have this word

more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp

shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning

star rises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that

no prophecy, no divine truth of Scripture is a matter of 1's own

interpretation. It's not about in its source or

in its end interpretation, what we think.

It's not about that, but oh sorry I skipped a phrase.

It's not of our own interpretation.

For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men

moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

So when we look at God's word, verse 21 says no prophecy was

ever moved directed as if you were a person sailing on a ship,

you are carried along by that ship.

You are born along. So no prophecy was ever carried,

born along by a human will, by human choice.

OK, but it says but men moved. It's the exact same word.

Moved along, born along, carried by the Holy Spirit, spoke from

God. And remember, this brings us

back to truth. Truth is the requirement for

worship, and God's word is exactly what He wants us to

cling to. So we need the truth of God's

Word. It must be central.

It must be in everything. It must dictate everything.

Those are the three requirements for worship.

We have to be clear on that. And again, we're not talking

about music. We're expanding out our gaze to

what the Scripture says. When you look at the Bible, it

is a handbook for worship. It explains to us who God is.

It explains us to us what he desires from us.

It explains to us what he commands and how we should live.

And so the requirements are that we're saved, we're regenerated.

The requirement is that we have a proper spirit she'll talk

about soon and we'll have the proper truth of God's Word at

the center of everything. And it's interesting if you, you

can turn to Romans chapter 1 if you like, or if you're familiar,

Romans 1 · chapter mention

we'll just be there a minute or so.

But in Romans chapter 1, Paul says that in all unbelievers,

Romans 1 · chapter mention

what's indicative, what is true of all them is that in verse 19,

excuse me, 18 of Romans chapter one, men who suppress the truth

in unrighteousness, they suppress the truth.

They push back on the truth that is true of all humanity, of

unsaved humanity. And so as believers, as the

Church of God, it is our job to exalt that truth.

Unbelievers will always suppress it.

And we have to be careful because there are many

unbelievers involved in Christian culture, Christian

worship, Christian music. There are many unbelievers

involved in that and they desire to suppress the truth.

They desire to limit what we talk about God.

Unbelievers suppress the truth in unrighteousness, and they

choose to worship something else that says they're futile.

In their thoughts, in their hearts are darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools and they exchanged

the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of

corruptible man and of birds and four footed animals and crawling

creatures. And this highlights what is

really happening. What's really happening in those

who write bad music, untrue music, who, those who are in

false churches and who lead it, What's happening is that they're

actually committing idolatry. They are suppressing the truth

that is known about God and they're committing idolatry and

they are twisting everything in Christianity in their churches

to be idolatrous, to worship themselves or to worship

something else. Here's the reality.

Those who do not worship according to God's truth, His

character and commands as revealed in His Word, are

committing idolatry. They are actually worshipping

another God. And this can be true in the

meetings of churches. This can be true in the music of

churches is that they're not worshipping God at all.

When you read what they sing and you listen to what they say,

what is it that distinguishes them as being Christian?

So much of what they do and what they say could pass as worship

for any God. It could probably be directed to

Allah or whoever else, because there's no truth in it.

And we as believers have to have discernment and we have to look

deeper because sometimes things can look OK, sometimes the song

can look OK. But you don't only ask what is

it saying? You need to ask what is it not

saying? What is the truth that's being

suppressed? What is being left out in

worship, in songs, in preaching? Of course we know Exodus 20, the

10 commandments, the primaries shall have no other God before

me. God created us to be

worshippers. There's no way around that.

There's nothing that we can do to change that.

Every person is a worshipper because we were created by God

to be that. The problem is that in our

sinfulness now, we suppress the truth and we worship anything

except the true God. And when I do something other

than what God has commanded and prescribed, I am setting myself

up as God. I'm setting myself up as the

authority on what true worship is.

And I am worshipping something else, often ultimately myself.

Worship my desires, my thoughts, what I think is best.

The world has such a strong emphasis on autonomy, and you

hear this everywhere. People should be free to make

their own decisions about their own body, make their own

decisions about the day of their death.

There's so many issues that are connected to worship when we

understand what's behind it all. OK, the issue behind abortion is

that God gives life and that we don't have the right to

determine the life that God has given.

We don't have the right to take that away.

The the issue beside behind euthanasia, which is more and

more common, especially in European countries and other

parts of the world, is that people are saying I want to feel

like I'm in control, I want to have autonomy, I want to take

the place of God. I want to determine how I die in

the circumstances of my life and everything in between, birth and

death. People suppress the truth about

God and they want to reject any limits.

They want to reject any accountability, any truth, any

of God's commands, and they want to determine themselves in every

way. So the challenge is great for

us, as it has always been. It's no different now from the

beginning when Adam and Eve first sinned.

We must be true worshippers who worship regenerated, saved by

God and worshipping in spirit and in truth.

And we have to exalt our God in a hold to true worship in the

face of a world that rejects God and will mock us.

And we'll do everything it can to distract us, to confuse us,

to take us away from the truth that God has given us.

These requirements for worship are not just limited to John for

these other Scriptures. All of Scripture echoes in

harmony, right? Has one author ultimately the

living God? And so all of Scripture says the

same thing. These two requirements, spirit

and truth for believers, are echoed and intertwined in

Scripture. If I have a right spirit and

attitude of worship, then I willingly and gladly submit to

all that God's Word contains. And that word leads me.

It shapes my mind, my attitude, and my actions to be more

pleasing to God. OK, if I reject the truth, His

commands, or I try to add to them because it seems good to

me, I reveal a wrong heart. I'm not fearing, I'm not loving,

I'm not submitting. So that defines worship and

simply sums up what God requires of us in worship.

What does worship look like? OK, those are simple principles,

but we want to flesh Him out a little bit.

What is a right response? Because remember, God's word is

not lacking in detail. What does worship look like?

Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 10.

Deuteronomy 10 · chapter mention

Deuteronomy chapter 10. There are 5 principles here in 2

Deuteronomy 10 · chapter mention

verses that help concisely illuminate what worship looks

like. And for myself, I was a lot more

familiar with Deuteronomy chapter 6, the great Shema hero.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is 1 You shall love the

Lord with all your heart and your soul and strength.

I was more familiar with that passage than with this one.

In Deuteronomy chapter 10 verses 12 and 13 it says this.

Deuteronomy 10:12

Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you?

But 5 things, to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His

ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your

heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord's commands

and His statutes, which I am commanding you today for your

good. OK, we flesh out the

requirements of worship. God was very clear to Israel.

He was so clear and He repeated it to them over and over.

There are five things, OK, And if we want to alliterate them,

we can put them this way. In Deuteronomy 10, a response is

summed up in five ways. First is awe of God.

OK, It says fear the Lord your God.

A right response is awe. It's a fear.

It's a reverence. It's understanding his holy

character, the fact that he has all knowledge, nothing is hidden

from his sight, the fact that he has all authority and power,

there's nothing outside his control, and that he is

perfectly holy and cannot tolerate any sin.

We look at his character in every believer, in every true

worshipper. It will produce a response of

awe, of fear, of reverence for God's characters.

That's the first one, awe. Second is allegiance to God's

ways. This is a life of submission and

commitment. It says to walk in all his ways.

We have an awe of God and an allegiance to God.

These are the right responses. It's a life that is committed to

saying I am his, I will walk in his way.

It is a commitment. You could say it's a, it's a,

it's broader than obedience, which is one of the other ones,

but we'll get to that. It's a life of overall

submission, all allegiance, third affection for God.

It says love him. We love because he's graciously

bestowed his favor. We love because He first loved

us. We love because He has not cast

us away in our sin, but instead has drawn us near.

He has reconciled us by the blood of Christ and made us new,

new people that are able to worship and able to find the

greatest satisfaction possible in His worship.

All allegiance, affection #4 activity for God's worship.

It says to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with

all your soul. This activity, this service is

through the duties that God decrees.

OK, not only do I have a reverence for him, I'm committed

to his ways. I have a love for him, but a

right response of worship means that I have a, a visible

activity. You can see the way that I'm

serving God because he's told me to do certain things with his

people in his gathered worship. And the fifth one is adherence

to God's will and it says verse 13 to keep the Lord's

commandments in his statutes, which I am commanding you today

for your good. So it's obedience to a specific

commands. Remember we have an allegiance

that overall he's our king, He's our authority, but also there is

an adherence to specifically everything that he commands, the

details and all the things that he has told us and we know it's

for our good. So Deuteronomy 10, verses 12

Deuteronomy 10:12–13

through 13 gives us 5 aspects of a right response of worship.

What God tells us. This is what I require of you.

When we look at worship throughout the Scriptures, it's

helpful to define some of the language.

And as we think about those five principles, we see that there

are three groups of words all throughout Scripture that are

connected to worship or that are translated worship or that

describe worship. OK, the first group of words is

used. One of some of them is used

right here in Deuteronomy 10. It's also used in Psalm 2223.

It says you who fear the Lord, praise Him.

OK, so that attitude of fear of reverence is a word translated

and connected with worship. So the first group of words in

Scripture is attitude. Worship involves an attitude

saying the same thing. We already know that spirit,

spirit and truth, right? An awe of God, an affection for

God. And so we see in Scripture

worship is connected to an attitude.

There's a lot of words that talk about our inner heart attitude.

Second, in the Bible there a specific language used connected

with worship that talks about gesture.

It talks about our posture. It talks about the way we

express and hold ourselves In Psalm 95, verse 7, it has three

Psalms 95:7

of them, all in a row. Oh, it was verse 6, sorry.

Psalm 95, verse 6. Come, let us worship and bow

Psalms 95:6

down. Let us kneel before the Lord our

Maker. OK, so those 3 verbs for worship

there, OK, there is worship. OK, there's that attitude of

reverence, OK, there's bow down, which is the physical gesture of

worshipping. And then it has kneeling.

And so these are some of the words that are used, connected

to and translated as worship in the Scripture.

So when Scripture, the very words talk about worship, it

speaks of attitude of gesture and it speaks of activity all

throughout the Bible. It talks about service.

It talks about ministering, OK. In both the Old and New

Testament, it uses words that were used in ceremonial worship,

OK. In religious tasks, in sacred

services, a priest would serve and minister, OK.

A spiritual leader would do this.

The same word is used throughout the Scripture for us that we

serve and that we minister and that we carry out duties in the

worship of God ourselves, OK. And again, all of these are

inseparably linked. They're intertwined.

They're used together in Scripture.

You can't have outward worship without a right inner

disposition, and an inner attitude of worship will

manifest itself in outward actions.

So I hope that's not confusing, but basically I'm trying to

explain in the different way the the Scripture speaks.

It's saying the same thing. It requires spirit and truth,

OK? It requires a right response,

awe, allegiance, affection, activity and obedience.

OK, in the very words it uses, it speaks of fearing and

attitude. It speaks of bowing down and

kneeling, the gesture. It speaks of religious service,

of duties. All these things are part of

worship. Which leads us to the

conclusion, when we say, what does worship look like?

What is the right response? How do we, how do we sum it up?

We have some principles. We looked at Deuteronomy 10, but

we can sum it up as this My right response is my entire life

given to the love, fear, obedience, and service of God.

My right response of worship is my entire life given to the

love, fear, obedience, and service of God.

Turn to Romans chapter 12. I'm sure you knew we were going

Romans 12 · chapter mention

to end up there. We're talking about worship.

We're going to end up in Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Wonderful verse. And remember, in Romans, what

has Paul been talking about? He's been explaining the gospel.

He's been taking us through God's holiness, man's sinfulness

and unworthiness. OK, the sacrifice, the

substitution of Christ, the atonements, OK, the work of God

in all things, the great plan of God.

And so he says in light of all this, God's plan, God's

salvation, in light of all that we've been talking about for 11

chapters in Romans, he says in Romans 12, verse one.

Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to

present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to

God, which is your spiritual service of worship, your

spiritual service of worship. That word spiritual means

rational, it means informed, it means having an understanding.

So what Romans 12/1 is saying is that your response when you

understand the mercies of God, when you understand all that He

has done and who he is in his worthiness and greatness, the

only rational, the only thing that you can do is to give

yourself everything that you are as a living sacrifice, something

that is continually given, never consumed.

OK, that's the significance of living, but continually offered

to God in the Old Testament, sacrifices were consumed, right?

They were burned up. They're done.

But you give yourself continually as a sacrifice in

the service of God. OK, right response, is my entire

life given to the love, fear, obedience and service of God?

And it says in the next verse, it says do not be conformed to

this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so

that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good

and acceptable and perfect. So he just said, this is your

attitude. I give myself to God,

everything, all of me. That's my service.

That's my worship. That word service is the word

minister. OK, so this is your priestly

ministry before God. Just like the priest each day

would offer sacrifices to God. That was their job.

You have a similar rule, except it's not something else.

You're giving, you're giving you you're offering yourself, all of

you completely given over for God's glory and floor is

pleasure. And the next verse, verse 2, it

says be transformed by the renewing of your mind so you can

know so that you can discern what the will of God is.

Again, verse one talking about spirit, my right attitude,

offering myself. Verse 2, it says don't be

conformed to this world. Don't think like the world

thinks, but instead have your your mind changed by the God's

Word so you can know exactly what he wants.

Truth, right? It's the same thing.

It's the same refrain. How many different ways can God

say it? Thankfully, he says it so many

different ways for us to understand, but he says the same

thing over and over. Offer yourself, have the right

spirit of worship, and do it in truth.

Don't do it the way you think. Do it the way that God has

already commanded and made clear.

In first Samuel 1224 it says only fear the Lord and serve him

in truth with all your heart, for consider what great things

he has done for you. Colossians 317 says whatever you

do in Word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

They do all for him under His authority because of him giving

thanks to through Him to God the Father. 1st Corinthians 1031.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for

the glory of God. Sorry if I was, I don't know if

that came across as fast or anything.

I've been studying it a long time trying to put put together

how to articulate it. So I hope that's concise and

clear. But God is so clear in His word

as we look, it says the same thing.

Worship is a right response. Worship is the right response of

my heart from my spirit. Inwardly.

It's saying, yes, Lord. It's saying I understand what

you've done, Lord. It's saying I fear you and I

love you, Lord. It's saying I give myself to

you, Lord. And the right response is always

shaped and guided and controlled by truth.

It always has God's word as it as its authority and it knows

that it cannot do anything outside of what God has

commanded and decreed. It just reiterates the fact that

God cares about proper worship. God has made it clear He's the

one who allowed us to be worshippers in the 1st place.

But God is very clear about what He wants and so scripture also

gives us warnings. God cares about proper worship,

and He illustrates for us in Scripture how important proper

worship is to him. Turn to Leviticus chapter 10.

Leviticus 10 · chapter mention

Leviticus chapter 10. I don't know how often you read

Leviticus 10 · chapter mention

Leviticus. It's probably not the most

popular book of the Bible if we were to take a survey, but it's

great. It's a wonderful book.

This is a tragic passage in Leviticus 10.

It's so sad. If we look at the context in

chapters 8:00 and 9:00, what's happening is that God is giving

the law through Moses and the Old Testament sacrificial

system. The system of worship is being

set up. It's being initiated.

This is the beginning. This is where the priests are

beginning their service. They're starting to put into

practice what God has commanded them.

They've been brought out of Egypt.

They've been protected by the hand of God.

They've been guided by God himself, shown in a pillar fire

at night, pillar cloud by day. He was doing wondrous things and

he says, OK Israel, these are your regulations for worship.

And the priests began their service.

They're set apart, they're consecrated.

They begin from Moses direction, from the commands that God has

given, practicing for the first day, the sacrifices, the

offerings that God says, this is what I desire.

So they do it. They do everything that God has

commanded. You look at the end of Chapter 9

of Leviticus and it says then fire came out from before the

Lord. It consumed the burnt offering

and the portions of fat on the altar.

And when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their

faces. OK, if you're looking for a

worship experience, this is it. OK, The priests are all in their

priestly garb. Everything's brand new and

fresh. Everybody's watching.

There's an altar. They're starting the sacrifices.

They do everything OK. Everybody's learning.

Oh, this is this is neat. This is what God desires.

And at the end, what happens? The sacrifices are there.

Fire comes down from heaven and incinerates everything.

And what does everybody go, whoa, this is incredible.

God accepted the worship, but wait for the tragedy immediately

after. Immediately after Leviticus 10,

verse one. Now Nadav and Abai, who the sons

of Aaron took their respective fire pans, and after putting

fire in them, placed incense on it, and offered strange fire

before the Lord, which he had not commanded them.

And fire came out from the presence of the Lord, and

consumed them, and they died before the Lord.

Then Moses said to Aaron, It is what the Lord spoke, saying, By

those who come near me, I will be treated as holy, and before

all the people I will be honored.

So Aaron therefore kept silent. So immediately after this great

mountaintop experience, this momentous occasion, on the very

same day, after fulfilling what God had expressly commanded, 2

of Aaron's four sons go rogue. It says they offered strange

fire, which he had not commanded them, so they offered some sort

of worship that was alien. It was different.

It was not what God had commanded.

OK, I don't know what was going on their heads.

Maybe they thought, wow, this is really great.

We get to be priests. We call down fire from heaven.

This is really impressive. Let's do this again.

The implication a little bit later is that they were probably

drunk when they did this. But the result of them offering

their own worship, not according to what God has had prescribed,

is that they were consumed with fire just as moments, minutes,

an hour before the sacrifices had been.

And the result was their death. And the true tragedy in all this

is the disregard of God's commands and the offense to God.

The fact that he said this is exactly how I want you to

worship me. I've made it clear, OK, I've

made it memorable. I will respond.

I will bless. And yet, what do they do?

They offer strange fire. They do what they want.

I can only imagine being Moses. I'm trying to think I'll know if

there would be anybody who with the more potential to be

frustrated in Scripture than Moses.

Except for maybe Jesus, right. But Moses is saying I received

these from God. Do this exactly.

OK, I'm supervising. Do it exactly.

He turns away for a minute. They do what God has not

commanded and they're burned up. Like you got to be Moses saying,

what are you guys doing? It's the first day you just

started this thing. But God is has this in Scripture

to warn us. He has it to warn US against two

things. And if you have an outline,

there's two blanks you can fill in.

God is warning us about unauthorized worship, which is

neglecting His truth, and about unclean worship, which is

neglecting the proper attitude, the proper reverence, OK.

And the two, of course, go hand in hand.

In verse one it says that they offered strange fire before the

Lord which He had not commanded them, so they're neglecting the

truth that they would be given. In verse 3 it says I will be

treated as holy before all the people.

I will be honored. Worship happens on God's terms.

It is. He's weighty.

It has great importance. And the priests, in disregarding

His commands, showed a disregard for His authority.

They showed a carelessness and irreverence in worship and in

their example of worship to the nation of Israel.

So they offered unauthorized worship, and that's a warning

for us. Second, they offered unclean

worship. OK, they were neglecting the

spirit, the proper attitude of fear and reverence.

In verse 9, God tells Aaron, don't drink wine or strong

drink, neither you nor your sons with you when you come into the

tent of meeting so that you will not die.

It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations.

And so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane

and between the unclean and the clean.

So in their attitude, in their carelessness, in their

drunkenness, the sons of Aaron were offering unclean worship.

They didn't treat God as holy. They didn't realize that there's

a distinction between what is holy and not.

They didn't realize there's a distinction between what is

clean and acceptable and what is not.

They didn't honor that. A disregard of holiness for any

of us is at its root a heart issue.

God is set apart from us. He is not like us.

And if we, in any part of our worship, treat him as trivial or

like a person, or as something that we can choose or that we

can be in control of, we are participating in unclean

worship. And if we have a life that is

not set apart, that is not clean, that is not confessed,

that is not walking in obedience, then we are offering

unclean worship. Scripture has many other

examples, warnings for US against unauthorized worship,

which is neglecting truth and unclean worship, neglecting

spirit and reverence for the holiness of God.

In Genesis 4, Cain and Abel gave offerings.

You know, God accepted Abel's and rejected Cain's.

OK. It's not about what they were

offering. One offered animals, one offered

fruit and grain. The point was that Cain had a

wrong attitude. He had a wrong heart.

It also says that Abel gave his first lings the best part of his

flock. It doesn't say that about Cain.

But again, that comes back to a heart issue.

And God did not accept Cain's offering because he did not have

a heart that fear the Lord. And he just proved that point

afterwards when he became angry at God and jealous of his

brother and he murdered him, murdered him.

It's a warning to us. In First Samuel, chapters 2

1 Samuel 2 · chapter mention

through 4, it says that the sons of the priest Eli despise the

offering of the Lord. They took the best parts of the

offerings that people brought, the best parts that were

intended for the Lord, and they committed immorality openly.

They showed no reverence for God's glory or his directions

for sacrifices. They both did things that were

unauthorized and they lived unclean.

And so they died for it. And Eli died for it because he

did not deal with their sin and remove them from service.

In Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira died because they lied

Acts 5 · chapter mention

about their offering, their worship through giving.

They wanted to appear generous, all right?

They wanted to appear impressive rather than giving to please God

and to to help believers. So they offered unclean worship

and God killed them. And in Psalm 50, God condemns

His people, Israel, for the same thing.

They could offer all the right sacrifices, they could do all

the right things, but internally they were unclean, they were

rebellious, they were steeped in sin.

And at the end of Psalm 50, verses 23 to 23, he gives this

Psalms 50:23

warning. Now consider this, you who

forget God or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be none

to deliver. He who offers a sacrifice of

Thanksgiving honors me. And to him who orders his way a

right, I shall show the salvation of God.

So the people who are truly saved, the people who are truly

worshippers, are going to do both things.

They're going to honor, they're going to give a sacrifice of

Thanksgiving. They're going to do what God has

commanded in His truth. They're going to do those

outward things and they're also going to order their way a

Right. They're going to choose

obedience. They're going to live in the

fear of the Lord, and that's going to affect the way they

live. Again, Scripture says the same

thing over and over. It's clear for us.

We're almost done with our time tonight.

Again, summing up, worship is a right response to revelation,

and we want to remember the revelation determines the

response. The revelation shows us what is

right. When we look at these warnings

from Scripture, how do we heed them?

What is the way of worship? And there are two principles to

lead us in the way of worship. If we want to not offer

unauthorized worship, if we don't want to offer unclean

worship, then there are two things, two principles.

The first is we must have regulated worship.

We have to cling to the authority in the Word of God.

We do what he decrees. We don't have self designated,

self invented worship, do we? Follow carefully all that he has

commanded. John Calvin was the first one

who articulated something called the regulative principle.

OK. And he said this God disapproves

of all modes of worship not expressly sanctioned by his

word. So basically God doesn't accept

anything he doesn't command. That's called the regulative

principle and it's a, it's a godly, it's a biblical

principle. Scripture says, behold, to obey

is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of a ram.

OK, God doesn't say don't sacrifice, don't serve, don't do

those outward obedience. But he says to obey, to have a

right heart is better. Matthew 59 says, But in vain do

they worship me, teaching his doctrines, the precepts of men.

It's true then, it's true now. So much called worship is vain,

empty, and false because it's not according to what God's Word

says. It's according to traditions or

teachings of men. It's according to some sort of

invention that we have come up with because we enjoy it,

because we're entertained by it, because it makes us feel

something. But we must have regulated

worship. It must be an exact compliance

with what God has already said. The second thing, the second

principle, is that we must have reverent worship.

Do we regard the holiness of God?

Do we daily love and fear Him? Does that produce in us an

attitude that wants to please Him, that wants to do exactly

what He says? Scripture over and over says, be

holy yourselves because it is written, You shall be holy, for

I am holy. First.

Peter 2 says You are a holy priesthood.

You offer sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

That's the first thing that we should be concerned with because

that's what God is is first concerned with.

Lance has written a great booklet called The Fear of God.

The fear of God is missing from the lives of too many people who

call themselves Christians, and many people don't understand it,

even true Christians. There's so much emphasis today

on the love of God, and we don't lose that.

God is love, but you must hold both.

You must have these intertwined. Is love for God and reverence

for God a fear of him, Right? Not a fear of judgement if

you're a Christian because your sin has been judged already, but

you have a reverence for his power, his authority and

understanding of his greatness and a respect for his

discipline. So we heed the warnings in

Scripture by having regulated worship and reverent worship,

and that leads us in the right way.

As we close briefly, I just want to sum up, everything in

Scripture about worship is in a chord.

It is in harmony. Old Testament worship does look

very different from New Testament worship and there are

many reasons for that. The primary of which is that

Christ supersedes and replaces everything that happened in the

Old Testament. Everything in the laws and the

ceremonies and the sacrifices of the Old Testament pointed to

Christ. They set up for Christ.

They pointed to the need for Messiah.

They primed and prepared God's people to know there was a great

sacrifice coming. There was 1 great atonement.

There was one person who would bring them close to God, and

that was God himself. But when we look at Old

Testament worship, even though it is superseded now, it is done

with, as Hebrews 9 and 10 talks about, it says, we don't have to

obey all those laws anymore because we have something

better. We have Christ.

Even though we don't practice all those things, they're still

valuable for us to understand because everything about

Israel's worship taught true principles that ring true today

about God and about our worship in our response to Him, right?

And so as we close just a few of those things, Old Testament

worship showed us principles like we should be motivated.

Our worship is motivated by knowing God's character and

experiencing his grace. Old Testament worship taught

that holiness is not a burdensome, burdensome legal

imposition, but a privilege involving a grateful response to

a gracious God. It teaches us that commitment to

holiness effects every area of life.

There's a great book called For the Glory of God talks about

worship by Daniel Block. And a lot of these things he

helped me draw out because there's so much in Old Testament

worship to understand, but he really helped me draw out some

of these principles. Old times of worship show the

character and work of God, even in visual reminders, in the way

was built, in the images that were used.

It emphasized the transcendence and holiness of God.

You can't just approach God's presence.

There was a place you physically were not allowed to go in the

holy of Holies. It also taught the gracious

presence of God, the fact that He was there.

He inhabited the Tabernacle, He inhabited the temple, He was

with his people. The sacrifices taught the

sinfulness of man that we are separated from God and that we

need atonement. The rituals and commands and the

rules about all the eating and the way they dressed showed

God's absolute authority over every detail of life.

It showed His intention and His care for his people in every

command. And it showed that he wanted his

people to be separate. Separate in culture, separate in

conduct, separate even in the way they ate and the things they

wore in order to represent Him and to be clean and kept away

from sin. The Old Testament ceremonial

worship showed us the need for reminders of truth, and we have

that same need today. That's why we have communion.

That's why we celebrate Christmas, Great Friday,

Resurrection Sunday. Ceremonial worship in the Old

Testament taught that there is a continual focus on and study of

God's Word. It taught that there's a

responsibility of individuals and there was a responsibility

corporately. Above all, it taught that

worship and access to God is only on His terms.

His followers must acknowledge his kingship, they must be

distinct from other people and religions, and they must show a

spirit of worship through the observance of truth in every

area of life. And all those things are true

today for us in worship. And so we need to be instructed

by the full breadth of scripture and understand that both are

consistent. And I've used scripture from

both to hopefully illustrate that.

When we come back next week, we'll talk about individual

corporate worship and then we'll talk about music.

We'll spend some time talking about why is singing part of

music. We didn't even talk about

singing tonight. We just talked about worship is

life. It's a life given in the right

response to God. But singing is important.

Music is important. And so we'll talk about that

next week and we'll dive into some of the issues, some of the

things we have to discern, some of the things we have to be wary

of. But again, at the end of the

day, if you remember anything, I encourage you to remember that

worship is a right response to revelation.

That's what Scripture says. And if we remember that, that

will help us when we deal with other people from other

churches. So we deal with people who are

confused or we see various teachings and read books and

hear songs about worship. It will guide us and will bring

us back to Scripture, to its authority, and to its truth.

And so I encourage you if you have any questions about any of

that or if you have anything specific next week as we brought

into music and to corporate meeting, if you have any

specific things that you'd like me to talk about and to address,

I would love to hear those. But I'm thankful for this time

tonight and I will close in prayer.

Lord, thank you that you make us worshippers.

Help us to be people who are concerned first of all, in life

with worshipping truly, with worshipping from the Spirit in

the truth that you have given according to your word.

Lord, help us to be reverent. Help us to live in awe and love

towards you. Help us to fear you.

Help us to have an attitude that does not change, but sees you as

the authority, but sees you as the whole goal of our lives, the

focus of our lives, the theme and the King of our lives.

We pray that you'd instruct us. We pray that you'd encourage us

this week. Thank you that we can be

together and talk about these things.

Thank you for your perfect word. We love you and we praise you.

In your name we pray. Amen.