Amos, Randal: Spread The Word Conference-01-2009-03 ~ Worship In Spirit And Truth

Well, brothers, it is a privilege, and I mean that sincerely, to be with you, uh, this short time in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, as I look at you in this privilege, I see trophies of grace, uh, living stones in God's house, a- a- a blessed minority. And you're also an encouragement to me. Uh, you probably had to take off work and drive distances, but here you are wanting to hear the word of God and fellowship so you can be more effective for the Lord Jesus. That just speaks volumes to me, okay? And so, so what a privilege it is here to be with you. Now, the first session I'm responsible for has to do with worshiping in spirit and in truth. And of course, that phrase comes from the Lord Jesus himself in John four. So let's open the word of God, please, to begin with, to the Gospel according to John, uh, chapter four, please. John chapter four. John chapter four, and, uh, we'll begin at verse nineteen. John four and verse nineteen. The woman at the well speaking to the Lord Jesus, uh, verse nineteen. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where 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. Ye worship, ye know not what. We wor- we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipper 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. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah is cometh, uh, when- which is called Christ. Uh, when he come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. And God will bless the reading of his precious word to our hearts. Now, as we take this subject for a few minutes of worshiping in spirit and in truth, you probably noticed on the schedule after supper, my next responsibility will have to do with pressures that shepherds face, pressures that elders face in today's climate. And though that will be my specific topic in session number two, yet you will see that it will even fit here in session number one. For as we look at this, there is a great pressure on the people of God, on the elders of God today, on this subject of worship. It has become a word, at least in the last twenty years, that is almost attached to everything. Uh, i- i- i- we have worship teams and worship leaders and worship CDs and worship music and worship services and worship meeting, things like that. But as we examine the Word of God on this subject of worship, which the Father seeks, he seeks those that will worship him in spirit and truth, you will see that that in the Word of God, worship is always a verb. It's an action, what a person is doing. It is never a noun, and it is never an adjective. Never, if you want to be biblical. I know we say it sometimes, all right? I'll probably say it in the message a few times, but not in the Word of God. It's not worship meeting, worship, uh, music, worship CD, worship hymn book, worship leader. It is never describing something. It goes beyond that in the Word of God. For when you come to the subject of worship, it's not something that can be packaged. It must be in spirit and in truth, as we will see. N- not a perfect example, brothers, but to help us understand how you just can't package worship, uh, you can also say that to some degree about love. We read of love in the Bible, a love between a husband and a wife. Well, how do you define that love between a husband and a wife? One husband might get his wife, I saw it happen. She went out for her birthday. In the driveway was a brand new Toyota with a bow around it. You say, he loves her. Well, he might. What about the husband? What about the husband that can't afford it and only takes his wife out for dinner? Does he not love her? How do you contain that? How do you, how do you define love? Somebody might say, well, that husband, look at him. He, he cooks the meals for his wife. He really loves her. Maybe, or maybe he just wants good cooking in some cases. Or, or, or, or another husband, uh, he, he will, uh, he'll eat his wife's meals, and he'll just thank her and provide for her and say, what, d- does he not love her? And so when you try to define this, uh, you can't package it in an act. Of course, the Bible calls love long-suffering, doesn't it? In First Corinthians thirteen, and kind and never failing. And we're to love our wives as we love our own. That's what the Bible will say about it, but sometimes we don't try to package it in actions. You know, the same thing is done with worship. It's packaged today, a- a- and it's sweeping the church, a- a- and to criticize this, or to criticize any activity that has the name worship to it, you might as well deny God in some circles. So I say these things this afternoon to encourage your hearts that when you'll be presented with new ideas in the name of worship, you'll think them through and not always have to succumb to them because they have the word worship attached to them. You know, it's like that in the marketing industry, isn't it? The, the word fresh, if you can get that attached to something, you can probably sell more. Subway ad- advertises eat fresh, doesn't it? Wonder how long those tomatoes have been there, and that ham and that. I don't know how long, but they advertise eat fresh. I bought a can of tomatoes once, a canned tomatoes for a sauce, and it said on there, made with fresh tomatoes. So, so you see, it can be used in many different ways, and, and yet the consumers, when they see that word fresh, I want it. And when we see this word worship today, well, it has to be right, you can't criticize it. But as we study the word of God this afternoon, uh, we we're going to see it's to be in spirit and in truth, that not all worship is in truth, and not all worship is acceptable. You see, as he talks to the woman at the well here, he announces two big changes in God's program. Number one, the place of worship, it will be different. Ah, she brings up to him debate, will it be Mount Gerizim where the Samaritans worship, uh, or is it Jerusalem, you Jews say at Jerusalem, uh, which is really the holy mountain? And of course, as we read here, uh, look here at verse, uh, twenty one again. John four and verse twenty one. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. It will not be a holy place on earth like it was in the Old Testament. Our brother Mike has brought before us that Jerusalem was the city that God chose to put his name there, First Kings eleven thirty six. And it was a spot you had to go to, and there was controversy among other religions where that holy spot was. But there is coming a change that the where is going to change. It's not going to be a spot anymore. But not only is the where going to change, the how is going to change. He spoke about the where in verse twenty one. He speaks about the how in verse twenty three and twenty four. Look at verse twenty three again. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipper 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. Brothers, the contrast, of course, the truth, we'll talk about that later, would be wrong or false in this context anyway. And the contrast of spirit in the Bible is flesh, tangible things that that you can see and feel and reaches the senses. The Bible often contrasts spirit and flesh. Later on, the Lord Jesus will teach, won't he, in John six sixty three, He says, it is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. And so the Lord himself will contrast spirit and flesh. And I want to take you to, to, to another verse on that to show you where that is done. But as we do, I will remind you of the New Testament, the way it's laid out in the epistles, uh, to the churches, uh, from Romans all the way through to Revelation, to those seven letters which end at chapter three in Revelation. From Romans to chapter three in Revelation, there is not one direct command for the church to worship. Not to say it shouldn't be, but but there's no command, there's no how to, there's no package presented. You might be amazed at the lack of the usage of the word worship in the New Testament epistles, to the churches, that is, compared to the way we see it used today. Now, there'll be negative uses in the epistles, who worship and serve the creature more than the creator, uh, Romans one twenty five. There will be angelic exhortations, let all the angels of God worship him, so says Hebrews one and verse six. But when you come to an exhortation of how to worship in the epistles, there's no package laid out for you. In fact, the, the act, the, the Hebrew or the Greek word we're reading here, proskenuo, i- i- i- it's never used for the church of a how-to. It's, that one's never used. We're, we're going to see that in a minute. And, and so that has to say something. It's just lacking, though God desires such. Now, the, the word worship is used once in a positive way concerning the church. It's not the same Greek word, but go with me to Philippians chapter three, please. And you're going to see again this contrast of flesh and spirit. We're going to see that Israel, their worship was in the flesh, that is the senses. But before I say more on that, let me read here in Philippians chapter three and uh, verse three. Philippians three and verse three. Paul writing to the Philippian Christians, the church here. Verse three, For we are of the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Once again, the opposite of worshiping God in the spirit is the flesh. Now, what does he mean by flesh? Well, sometimes flesh means your lust and that. You say, well, certainly we, we don't, uh, uh, carry lustful thoughts to God. Uh, that's not what he's talking about here. Here, flesh means the outward rituals of religion, in this case Judaism, human effort, the outward ritual way of, of, of approaching God. But look what he goes on to say. Look how he explains it in verse four. Uh, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he have whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. What flesh is he talking about here? He doesn't go on to name sins, he goes on to name his religion. Look at verse, uh, five. Circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which was, is in the law, blameless. So we're going to see that the old way of doing it would come under the word flesh. It would be symbols and rituals, things that appeal to the senses, to the flesh. You know, sight, sound, smell, feeling. Those are things that appeal to the senses. And often in the New Testament, we do make the mistake of defining worship that way. We think it's something that can be regulated, like things that appeal to the senses, like music. People say, that music's too loud, would you turn it down? You can regulate music, can't you? Uh, that that smells too strong, would you remove it? Well, you can regulate a smell, can't you? Uh, and something we think we can control, create, and regulate. But now it's in the spirit. But in the Old Testament, it did work through the senses. May I show you an example of Old Testament worship, and how, uh, at that stage, because they lacked the Holy Spirit as a whole, they had to approach God through these symbols and so on. So let's look at the house of God in the Old Testament, the dedication of the temple, and see how Israel worshiped. So go with me, if you would, to Second Chronicles chapter seven. 2 Chronicles 7, please. This is the dedication of the first, uh, temple here, when the Lord would fill it, and the children of Israel were at the dedication, and they worshiped. But I want you to see, uh, how they worshiped. Verse 3 here of 2 Chronicles 7. Second Chronicles seven verse three. and when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. They were motivated by sight. God manifests himself in the fire and cloud at times, and when they saw that, why sight moved them to bow themselves down and worship. And as we'll see, one of the basic meanings of the word worship is very simple. Simply means to bow down. I- I- it means to to just bow down in reverence and give that person homage. New Testament, to look toward them in homage. Old Testament also to bow down, because you see that person has weight to them, they're worth it. In fact, the word worship is connected with the word worthy. You understand that, don't you? You know, in Revelation, when those twenty and four elders, they fall down and worship. You know what they say when they worship? In Revelation four eleven? I know you do. Thou art worthy to receive glory, honor, and power. Why is he worthy, the Lord? For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. So he's worthy of that. Other people aren't. He has the weight to it, the worth to it, that he deserves people to bow down before him. It has to do with value and weight. If I could use an example, brothers, of value and weight, something being worth something. You see a penny on the ground. Most of you will walk by it. There's not much weight or value to it. Uh, my wife, with her Scottish roots, she will not walk by it. She will pick it up. So we have a lot of pennies at home, praise the Lord. But, but I don't even know if they, you have these today anymore, but a twenty dollar gold piece, you see that on the ground. There's value, there's weight to it. You will bend down and get it because it's worthy of being picked up. And so it has to do with the worth of the person. The only one that's worthy of worship is the creator and the redeemer of our soul. And, and so worship goes to God. It's simply a bowing down, uh, before him, looking to him, giving him his worth that nobody else is worthy of. But in the Old Testament, that was ignited by the senses. They saw. Uh, they not only saw that day, sight, they not only had sight, they had sound. Look here at that verse, uh, six, two Chronicles seven verse six. And the priests waited on their offices, the Levites also, with instruments of music of the Lord, which David the king had made, to praise the Lord, because his mercy endureth forever. When David praised by their ministry, and the priests sounded the trumpets before them, and all Israel stood. So along with their worship, there was sound. The Levitical professional singers and musicians were playing, and that- so they had sight, they had sound, they also had smell that day. Another sense was activated, of course, the burnt offerings. Look at verse seven. Sight, sound, and smell, verse seven. Moreover, Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the brazen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings and the meat offerings and the fat. And so there's these offerings, thousands of them sending up. There'd be a special smell associated with that. My God is holy, God is here. There was sight, there was sound, and all these things activated them to worship. So that we read here, uh, in verse ten, and on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month, he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the Lord had showed unto David and to Solomon and to Israel, his people. Now that's the way it was. But the hour is coming, the Lord Jesus. Not only is the where changing, there's not one holy place on earth, the how is changing, not in the flesh anymore. The Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. See, brothers, we have something they didn't have. It's called the Holy Spirit of God in our heart. I think it's already been quoted, but he performs a work in our heart. What's he performing in our heart? You know, Romans five five, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Their understanding of the love of God through Christ is shed abroad in the believer's heart by the Holy Spirit. He does other things. You, you all know Ephesians five eighteen. You could quote it to me. Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Well, what, what, what does that produce, being filled with the Spirit? Huh? Uh, singing to yourselves in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, speaking to yourselves, rather, in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, and singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. This is a heart thing. He's going to produce a song in the heart to the Lord through the Spirit. Not only that, the next verse, Ephesians five twenty now, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So there'll be a song to God. There'll be thanksgiving to God produced by the Holy Spirit. I don't need, as a- a- as Galatians will call them, the child things or the baby things like Israel had. You see, we're not in the baby stage anymore. What has made the difference? You know what Paul will tell the Galatians about going back to these outward holy days and rituals and that? You know what makes the difference? Galatians four six, And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father. Now we have the Spirit revealing the death of Christ to us, putting a song in our heart, making us thankful. If he can't do it, I don't know how some worship leader's going to do it, or some worship this or worship that, you know? I don't know how it's going to happen if he can't do it. You see, worship in the New Testament, i- it's exclusive, it's for God only. He desires it. It's sacred, but it's not complicated. It really doesn't need man. It's something God works in the heart through the Holy Spirit, and that heart looks toward him in thanksgiving and adoration. Now, we've spent a few minutes, brothers, on taking that word spirit and contrasting it with flesh, meaning religious rituals and rules and religion itself. And the Lord has switched from these senses to the spirit. Uh, the hour's coming and now is. Not only has the where changed, the woman was told the how would change, but not only does the father seek worshippers, you know, in the spirit, but in truth. So if he seeks it in the truth, that might mean that not everything that has the name worship attached to it is right. That might mean that you just have to succumb and say, well, how can I stand against worship? Uh, maybe there's false worship, maybe there's wrong worship, and there is. Let me show you some biblical examples. One of the most famous, of course, if you'll go with me to Daniel chapter three, please. Book of Daniel, chapter three. m This obviously is wrong because it's to an idol, but that still happens today. But I want you to see here in Daniel three what was to evoke this worship, the cause of this worship. Of course, it was the king's command, but look how he did it. We're in Daniel chapter three, the famous story with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but, but in the fiery furnace. But if you look here at, uh, Daniel three and verse four, Daniel three and verse four, three four. Uh, then an herald cried aloud, to you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up, has set up. And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Therefore, at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and languages fell down. That's that word worship, fell down, go low and worship, and the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Well, obviously, this is wrong worship. We're the last command of the Bible was given to John, in contrast to bowing down before the angel, Revelation twenty two seven, that is concerning worship, the last command, it said worship God. And so this is falling down before an idol. But did you notice what the pagan king used to evoke worship? The sound of music. You know, it's the only time in scripture, you can search the scriptures on this. It's the only time in scripture where music is used to evoke worship, and it is a pagan thing. You know, some people today think you can't worship without electricity. The, the, the thinking is skewed today, and there's a great intimidation on God's assembly and the elders in this area. A- and the only example here of music evoking worship is a pagan thing. Now, there's one example, we'll probably look at it tomorrow for a different reason, in two Chronicles twenty nine, when in the Jewish system, worship, uh, uh, uh, music would be there at the same time as worship, only one example, but it wasn't used to evoke it, but it would be there at the same time. I also remind you of, of course, there's worship going on in heaven all the time. John saw that, and he sees those four and twenty elders, you know, in Revelation four and on. If you study it, they bow down and worship, or they bow down, they fall down six times. Six times those four and twenty elders fall down, if you study it in Revelation. Five of those six times the word worship is used, because that's generally what goes with falling down. The word worship is used, and they give God his worth. There's one of the times in Revelation five when they fall down, the word worship isn't omitted. I'm not trying to form a foundation block out of this, just giving it to you for your thinking. The one time the word worship is omitted when those four and twenty elders fall down is Revelation five nine. and they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy. It's when they're singing, it doesn't attach the word worship. Not that singing is wrong, but we can't equate the, the word worship with, with singing and say, well, we have this music we have that we're worshiping. It's a thing deeper, it's of the heart. So we have to be careful how we look at this. Again, I say something that hits closer to home, and I want to explain myself, brothers. We speak reverently of the Lord's Supper. I'm a believer in that, the centrality of Christ, the priest of the believers, of bringing our offerings unto him. Tremendous thing. We'll probably talk about that more tomorrow, Lord willing. But often it's called a worship meeting. You say, well, it's just semantics. It, it, well, yes, worship does happen there. I understand that. Uh, worship happens there, and it should happen there. But the danger of calling it a worship meeting locks it into something now. A- a- and you mean the next meeting isn't worship? You know how people are starting to think? I know, I run into this. They'll say, well, w- w- we can follow the Lord's format here, but but the rest of the time is not worship, so we can break up into small groups, and where the women don't have to be covered, and family Bible. We change the rules, not understanding the Word of God teaches there's one gathering of the saints. It's coming together in one place. It's in the church, the church meeting. There will be different activities and emphasis when we come together, but to label one thing worship meeting, it's saying, well, worship doesn't happen an hour later, and it gives us some strange liberty to do it different. We're going to see in a few minutes that worship can happen in all different kind of environments, and to limit it to one type of meeting i- i- i- is is confusing God's people, so we just have to be careful on that. But we see here an obvious example of wrong worship. Let me show you another one. Go with me to the prophet Jeremiah, uh, chapter forty four. Jeremiah forty four. Going to the left of Daniel a bit and going to Jeremiah chapter forty four. during these national days of idolatry among Israel. But I want you to see how the people justified wrong worship, how they justified erring worship. They did, and here's why they did. In Jeremiah forty four fifteen, they get back to Jeremiah about his call to quit worshiping idols and turn to God, and here's what they say. Jeremiah forty four verse fifteen says, It says, then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt and Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken to thee. That's a bold thing to say. You spoke in the name of the Lord, but we're not listening. Why not? Well, here's why not. Verse seventeen, But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth to burn incense unto the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her, and we have done, we and our fathers, our kings, our princes, in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem, for then had we plenty victuals and were well, and we saw no evil. And they point to successful results when they did it their way. And then they said in verse eighteen, but since we left off to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. So the results are negative when we did it your way, and they're positive when we did it our way. So verse nineteen, and when we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her, uh, cakes to worship her and pour out our drink offerings unto her without our men or our males or our husbands, the women? So we didn't do it without the authority of the men. And look at the results. And so a lot of wrong worship happens today, but look at the people. Look how excited they are. Is that what makes something right? The results. The word of God will teach otherwise, as we'll hope to see, uh, further in the series. Uh, it's not, so wrong worship sometimes is justified, but you can't argue with the results. And so they rejected the word of Jeremiah based on positive results when they did it their way. The Lord Jesus himself looked at the religion of his day, Judaism, and there was the temple in his day, and there were the priests in his day, and there was the incense in those days, and there were the burnt offerings going up as God commanded. He looked at that system, and he said this in Matthew fifteen eight and nine. He said, this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And then he said in verse nine, but in vain do they worship me. Let me stop there. It looked impressive. All the sight, sound, and smell was there, and he says, it's empty, it doesn't count. In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Verse nine. You see, men's d- tradition, men's doctrines were now governing things they did there. And so Christ looked at the whole form and said, it's empty. There is worship that people will call worship that just doesn't count. It not only has to be in spirit, it has to be in truth. Remember King Saul? After he didn't kill all the Amalekites like he was told in First Samuel fifteen? and Samuel said, you rejected the word of the Lord, God's rejected you. And he tore his garment away. You know what Saul did shortly after that? First Kings fifteen thirty one. Then Saul worshiped the Lord. He was an unspiritual man. So, so it unclean spirits fell down before the Lord Jesus in Mark chapter three. So, so it doesn't, it's not a sign necessarily of spirituality because somebody worships. Saul worshiped. Uh, so there is wrong worship in the word of God. It must be in spirit and in truth. So to label worship does not necessarily justify something. Remember, what the Lord Jesus wants and what the Father seeks is worshipers in spirit and in truth. But if there's wrong worship, obviously there's right worship. Now, we've been saying, brothers, that you cannot take this and package it up and say, this is the service that happens in. And we're really wrong if we do that. I know we mean well. Or, or this is the book that's worshiped, or, or this is the leader, or this is the music group that causes me to worship. You've just brought it down to your senses when you've done that. But in the Bible, you will see worship is a thing of the heart, a thing, a simple thing, really. It's not complicated. It's looking toward God. It's bowing down before him because of his wondrous work, as we said earlier. Allow me to show you a few examples of worship and to show you h- h- how it goes far beyond man's design and man's package. Let's go to the first mention of it in the Word of God. I know you're ready to turn to Genesis twenty two, but but if you use the Hebrew language, you'll have to turn to Genesis eighteen. So let's go to Genesis eighteen. In the English, it'll be Genesis twenty two, but if you go to Genesis eighteen, where the same word for the, but it's translated different here. In Genesis 18. Genesis eighteen and the verse one, when the Lord appeared to Abraham, or at that point still Abra- no, Abraham at that point, uh, Genesis eighteen and verse one, And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him. I kind of like that language here. The Lord appeared unto him, he lifted up his eyes, and he saw three, three men. Interesting. Well, anyway. And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him, and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from his tent door and bowed himself toward the ground. See that word bowed? That's the common Old Testament word for worship, translated elsewhere as worship, same Hebrew word, translated bow down. That's really what the word means. Because the person has worth, you're low before them, esteeming them up, looking toward them in sacred homage, and so on. That's why it's reserved for God. It simply means bow down. So he sees him, and he bows down. We don't read of any music here. We don't read of any special, uh, hype here to cause him to do it. The man simply realized whose presence was in, and he bowed down. Now you progress to the more familiar one in Genesis twenty two. We do a little progressive study here o- o- on good worship, but how, how it's really not packaged. Genesis chapter twenty two. And you know this is when Abraham was asked to offer his only son, Isaac, that is the son of promise, the one whom he loved, as a burnt offering. And Abraham explains it this way, uh, uh, to the young men in verse five. Genesis 22 and verse 5. 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. What was he describing as worship? An offering to God, a burnt offering. In his mind, his son was going to be offered. Uh, doing what obedience, doing what God asked him to do. And so, so obeying God, uh, sacrificing, offering God, you, you understand. Hebrews thirteen fifteen. by him, the Lord Jesus, let us offer the sacrifice of praise that is the f- of God to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. So, so offering can count as worship. He- he's worth it, so I'm giving him something. Abraham giving his son and calling it worship. Uh, that- that's not an exciting event. Your son's about to die, and yet he looks at it as worship. Progress to chapter twenty four where Abraham now sends his eldest servant to find a bride for, uh, Isaac, and of course, the eldest servant was told not to get a Canaanite or a pagan from Mesopotamia, but, uh, one of Abraham's relatives. And it just happens like a needle in a haystack to run into her after he prayed. And when he saw that God had brought the right woman into his path, look what the man does in verse twenty six. Genesis twenty four and verse twenty six. And the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord. He bowed down his head. It's just going low before God. You know, as as I look at what is called worship today, worship teams and worship leaders, I don't see a lot of bowing down. I see a lot of standing up and raising. I see a lot of up, and man getting the spotlight, and man getting the glory, and man getting the standing ovation. I mean, these things are wrong. Uh, he- it's simply a bowing down before the Lord. Uh, this comes across more than once in this experience. Look at verse forty eight. Verse forty eight. It could be your knees, it could be your head, but anyway, verse forty eight. And I bowed down my head and worshiped the Lord and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son. Appreciation of God's answered prayer caused a man to thank God, and it's called worship, as he bowed himself before God. You'll see it again in verse fifty two. And it came to pass that when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshiped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. Now he bows himself to the earth. You see, worship is desired by God. Worship is sacred. Worship is exclusive. Worship is not complicated. Brothers, one of the reasons I'm going through a lot of scriptures today is when you face this pressure back home, and the automatic word worship is a path, you might have some biblical reason to show why maybe that's not the direction to go into. That's not spirit and truth. Now, on this a little more, progress to, uh, Nehemiah. I know Brother Mike had us there, but he, I don't think he had us in chapter nine, so, chapter eight rather. Nehemiah chapter eight, please. You'll see worship again here. And I want you to see the setting in which it occurred. Uh, Nehemiah chapter eight, and the book is open at this revival, and Ezra the priest will be reading from the book. The law of the Lord, the old, we call it the old Testament now. But we're in Ezra, or excuse me, we're in Nehemiah eight, and look at verse five. m Nehemiah 8 and verse 5. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and he opened it up, and all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord and the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, amen, with lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Now, I should have probably read verse three also, so let me do it now. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and women and those that could understand, the ears of all people were attentive unto the book of the law. So, so it was being read, the word of God was being declared, and eventually they bowed their heads and worshiped. And so we say, well, we can do things different and quote the Family Babar. It's not a worship meeting. You mean you don't worship when you hear the word of God? Huh, they did. You mean there's hearts that aren't saying, God, you are worthy what I've just heard, and hearts crying out to God, even though it might be silently? Be careful what we label and package here, is all I'm saying. Here it occurred while the word of God was being opened. That's worship too, as they bowed themselves before the Lord. Let me show you something else, a- a unlikely scenario of worship. You'll know it when I tell you the name of the book. Job chapter one, all right? Job chapter one, please. Very close to Nehemiah, Job chapter one. You know the story, all his material goods were destroyed as God gave Satan a leash to try Job, and then not only his material business and goods, but then he got this report in verse eighteen. Job chapter one and verse eighteen. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smoked the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead. And I only am es- alone, escaped alone to tell thee. Not only are your goods wiped out, you just lost your sons and daughters. I- I've never experienced anything close to that. Nothing close to that. Not to say no problem with children, but nothing close to that. Look what happens in verse twenty. Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave me, the Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Wonder how a worship leader would handle that one, huh? A man loses his family, and yet his adoration confidence is still in God without understanding why, and God calls it worship as he bowed down. Remember when David and Bathsheba lost their little baby because of their sin? After that baby died in two Samuel twelve twenty, he got up, he washed himself, went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Remember Jacob in Hebrews eleven twenty one, that old man dying. It says, and Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joses, Joseph, and worshiped, leaning upon the top of the staff. There's a man in his dying breath, using his staff for support, and he is worshiping God. So how do you package it up in one meeting or one leader or one song? It's something from the heart, and it's something in the New Testament the Holy Spirit produces, eh, with the love, because of the love and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, having said all that, brothers, ha- having looked a little bit at the contrast between spirit and flesh, and saw that it's not the senses anymore, sight, sound, smell, feeling, and that. That's what's interpreted as worship today, but it's through the spirit. A- a- and it's truth that there's such a thing as wrong worship. We've looked at the simplicity as the Word of God uses that word. We saw how it's in a variety of circumstances, and the simplicity of worship is simply bowing down and looking toward God in all kinds of circumstances. May I show you, in closing, an Old Testament s- picture of how worship is evoked? You say, well, what evokes worship? What, what can be used to draw people in adoration to God? Let me show you an Old Testament picture in closing. So go with me, please, to Deuteronomy chapter twenty six. Deuteronomy chapter twenty six, please. I'm going to compare this with the book of Ephesians, but probably not turn you there for the sake of time, but you can study it deeper on your own. So we, we go here to, uh, Deuteronomy chapter twenty six. Israel given instructions that when they come into the Promised Land, they'll be a place where God places his name. We've already heard a bit about that. And something is to happen at that place. Now it's not just one place because the where has changed, but it's still where we gather in the name of the Lord Jesus. But anyway, you look at Deuteronomy um twenty six and verse two. Twenty six Th- thou shalt take the first of the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring to the, of thy land that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou shalt put in a basket and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there. So they get this basket, and they take the fruit, the first fruit of the land of the harvest, which God gave them. So they're really going to give back to God what he's already given them. They put it in a basket. What do, what do they eventually do with that basket? Well, it goes to the priest, it goes to the altar, and look what happens here in verse ten now. Deuteronomy twenty six and verse ten. And now behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which thou, O Lord, hast given me, and thou shalt set it, that's the basket, before the Lord thy God and worship before the Lord thy God. So, so they bring it to the altar, to the priest, and they s- this basket of first fruits which God gave them, they're now offering it back to God, and they worship before the Lord thy God. Now, what caused them to do that? There are three things in the verses I skipped that caused them to do it, and still, principally speaking, what, what really evokes worship today. L- look at it here. Once they brought that basket to the priest, and he put it by the altar, before they worshiped before the Lord, uh, they were to say three things. Uh, look here at verse five, verse five of Deuteronomy twenty six. It says, and thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, a Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few and became there a nation great and mighty and populous. They go back to their heritage. We weren't, we weren't Israel, power, prince with God. My father was a Syrian. He was an idol worshipper, Joshua tells us. I came from Gentile stock. It is a confession of their ruin, a confession of what they were before God delivered them. My, my father was Assyrian, and so on, they say, and uh, uh, we are brought into the house of bondage, and so on. Uh, look at verse six. And the Egyptians evil entreated us and afflicted us and laid upon us hard bondage. My father was Assyrian, and what's our pedigree? Uh, we were, we were slaves. My father wasn't the owner of the bank. We were slaves. We were evil entreated. It is a confession of their natural ruin. You know, brothers, when I read Ephesians two, I read of our ruin spiritually, don't we? That before we're saved, Ephesians two one says we are dead, we were dead in trespasses and sins. No life to God in our sins. Not only that, Ephesians two two says we are children of disobedience. We, we are connected to disobeying God and fulfilling the lust of our flesh. Not only that, Ephesians two three, we are children of wrath. We're going to inherit or deserve the righteous judgment of God forever and ever and ever. So there's a confession of ruin here. They realize what they were, they were nothing outside of God. They got a right perspective of self, you know. They call it low self-esteem today, but here it is anyway. Understood their confession of ruin. Well, well, secondly, though, look what they go on to say in verse seven. verse seven. Seven and, verse seven and eight. And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord God heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression, and the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs and with wonders. So if verses five and six are a confession of ruin, verses seven and eight is an acknowledgment of God saving them, of God's deliverance. Uh, we were in that bondage, but we cried unto the Lord. He heard us, and he brought us out with a mighty hand. You know the blood on the door, so they did, the firstborn didn't die. The Red Sea opened. God saved his people from death and from bondage and the power of the enemy to control them. And it was all of God. They couldn't have done it. And so it's an acknowledgment o- of God has saved us from our ruined state. Well, not only does Ephesians two, huh, speak of our ruined state, dead in sins, children of wrath, it speaks of God saving us, doesn't it? The very next verse, Ephesians two four, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love for with he loved us, verse five, even when we were dead in our sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. And so we have been quickened, we've been forgiven. His blood, E- E- Ephesians one seven said that, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Not by works, but God has saved us through the Lord Jesus Christ. I was a ruined sinner bound for hell on the lake of fire. I am dead in my sins. I can't understand God. I have no life, and he, he saves me. He sends Christ, and he quickens me. He has saved me. You think that'll produce worship? But then there was a third thing, not only confession of Rome, acknowledgement of God's salvation, but then a recognition of where God has now brought them, in a place of blessing, a recognition of the place of blessing His grace has brought them to. God could have saved them and said, I'll see you later, you're in the wilderness, you're on your own. But God was going to bring them into the promised land to be his people, a land of milk and honey, a place of fruit and privilege. Uh, look at that. They were to recognize the, the, the, the place of blessing God was to bring him. Verse eight and nine. Verse eight, or I'm sorry, verse nine I should say. And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us of the land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. So he's not only saved us, he's brought us somewhere, unto this place flowing with milk and honey, a recognition of the place of blessing that God brought them to. You see, brothers, not only are we ruined and dead in our sins, he saved us through the precious blood of his son the only way he could. But is that all he did, is save you from wrath? Oh, he did do that. We are promised in Romans five nine, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. But if that's all he does, is save you and I from wrath, we're on the level of a cat, because cats don't go to hell either, do they? Don't answer me. But anyway. But he's done more than that. He's put us in Christ. Listen to the very next verse in Ephesians two verse six. Uh, it said we were dead in our sins, we're saved by grace, and as verse six, and has raised us up together with him and to set together with Christ in heavenly places. We have been raised up, we're in a union with Christ in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We've been raised up together with him and seated together with him in heavenly places in Christ. You're one with Christ. You're holy without blame. You're the habitation of God through the Spirit, Ephesians two twenty two. We're going to reign on the earth with the Lord Jesus. The pl- the place of blessing he's brought us into, not only forgiven, but without blame before God, heir of all things with Christ, in Christ, seated in the heavenlies right now, accepted in the beloved, Ephesians one six. You get a hold of the blessings he's brought you to, and then I- I need some leader singing a song to cause me, I beg your pardon, my goodness. Uh, I need this type of schedule, I need this, uh, when I'm taken up with what I was and what he did and where he's brought me. Why, again, verse ten. And now behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which thou, O Lord, hast given me, and thou shalt set it before the Lord and worship before the Lord thy God. What a be- beautiful picture. Uh, of to understand our lostness and to understand the salvation of God and to understand the blessings of the Lord Jesus. Worship through the Holy Spirit will be natural. It's exclusive. It's desired, it's sacred, but it's not complicated. God desires such, but the ways of man have brought in error. The ways of man have distorted true worship, and the great pressure today to go that way, but to know the scriptures and to know the reason why in spirit and truth is all he seeks. May God help us in these things for the glory of his son. We're, we're going to close in prayer, and as we do, I think we should bow our heads, and if you wanted to bow your knee, I don't think anybody would complain. We are in the presence of God, and so let's look at to him as we close in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we are in thy presence, the only way we could be through the blood of the Lord Jesus. We thank thee as lost sinners, thy salvation has reached us at different times in our life, but all through the blood, precious blood that has made us nigh to thee, so nigh that we are a habitation of thee, we are priests of thee, we're seated in the heavenlies because of the Lord Jesus. We thank thee for him, we, we, we adore him, and we thank thee for thyself that is satisfied in him and has brought us near to thyself through the Lord Jesus. And so we, we again pray the word that has gone forth this afternoon by the different brothers and the personal talk between men, uh, will, the truth will get in our hearts, we'll understand what thou desires. We'll have the courage to stand against the wrong and to be able to point it out lovingly to others and show the simplicity that's in Christ and that he's enough to draw the heart. So, Lord, now we look to thee and we thank thee for the good food thou hast provided and those who prepared it. Thank thee for our kindness to thee in this also, and thank thee in the name of the one on thy right hand, and worthily so, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.