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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/peter-ramsay/worship/
The Gospel of John chapter 4, and there is the beautiful story of the well encounter, and you know how the conversation unfolds between the Lord Jesus and the woman who was surprised that day by whom she met sitting on the well that she was so accustomed to coming to each day, and there she met a young man in his early 30s, and her life was changed completely that day.
A part of that conversation and that dialogue is John chapter 4 and verse 21. 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 know what we worship for salvation of the Jews, but the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship him.
God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Now don't put your Bibles away. I know it's tempting just to say, okay, now let's, I just want to not read anymore, and I'm just gonna sit and relax, I don't want to follow along, and so you put your Bibles underneath, or you shut your phones off, or you, well, shut your phones off so you won't be disturbed, and it's just such a bother when someone wants you to look up the next scripture reference, so keep your app open, and keep your Bible open because we're not finished reading for sure, but John chapter 4, true worship.
It's already been mentioned here about worship, and there is something out there that's called worship as well. You don't have to be up with the times to see the surge in the use of the word worship. All around us, just put in worship and search what you might find under the, you'll find worship songs, worship leaders, worship bands, worship artists, traditional worship services at 10, contemporary worship services at 12, and the blended service at 11, and it goes on and on.
There are worship videos, there is worship software, worship concert flashlights, there is kids worship, there's worship art, there, you can buy worship guitars, and there even, and this is a couple of years ago I looked this up, Google ads for worship tanning lotions, all under the great umbrella of worship.
There's something gone amok, run amok, with all this worship jargon. I wonder if God looks down from his holy heights and takes great delight in the proliferation of worship programs and worship devices.
I wonder does Michael nudge Gabriel and say, look it, listen to that riff on the guitar down there at that concert. Whoa, doesn't that give you goosebumps, Gabriel? Amazing! Do you think that's going on up there?
Have you ever listened to colleagues talk about their moving worship services? The incredible bands. Now I love music, and yes, it's beyond the George Beverly Shea style of music to some of the older folks over 70 will know what I'm talking about George Beverly Shea, but I have a wide range of likes when it comes, eclectic taste when it comes to Christian music, because we raised three children, and I would rather them listening to Christian music, whether you, whether it's rap or whatever it is, as long as the lyrics are good.
I was happy, and so I learned a lot of their songs. So I do appreciate music, and I appreciate anything of the truth that is in music, although we shouldn't go to the lyrics of our songs for doctrine, some of it's pretty dubious, but I can get goosebumps listening to great music.
I have never been to a secular rock concert, but I hear that people get goosebumps there too, and their hair almost stands up. They get so pumped at rock concerts, and now you've probably heard people debate, well, is it contemporary worship versus a traditional service?
I don't like that new music, and I don't get as much out of it. I just get the shivers when the old pipe organ starts up, and it's on a hill far away, and when they play the crescendo of the pipe organ, I just get goosebumps all over me.
Well, so a younger person, they get goosebumps from some other instrument. Well, I'm just trying to focus in on what really do we mean by worship? Worship. Is it the genre, the style of music that's offered?
Maybe you think we're lagging behind a little bit in the worship movement. Well, the greatest tragedy is no worship. It's a tragedy of eternal proportions when a person dies and enters into the eternal realm, having never worshipped God and his Son, Jesus Christ.
Never a moment in their life when they were subdued in God's presence, when they surrendered, when they bowed their knee, bowed their hearts in repentance to the Almighty God and ascribing to his great name the honor that is due.
There will be professors who had the name of Christian who participated in singing some of the most beautiful songs of worship and praise to the Redeemer, to the Lord, who will die having never worshipped.
There will be people that we watched on videos singing great Christian songs who gave their life to singing great Christian songs, and some of them will have died and never worshipped. There will be people in our lifetime that we broke bread with who will die who never worshipped.
That's just a reality. That's a reality. It's a tragedy of eternal proportions, but no worship can flow from an on-regenerate heart. No worship. And if no worship is a tragedy, perverted worship is a, what sounds like tragedy, it's a travesty.
Anything less than worship in spirit and in truth is worship that is unacceptable to God and therefore a travesty. There's plenty of worshipping going on. We were made to worship, but the, so we're all worshippers.
It's what we worship or who we worship in life. We're to only worship God, but there are people who worship their careers. We're all worshippers, but we're not all worshippers of the only true and living God.
Man's chief end, they say, is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. So biblical teaching of worship is that the object of our worship is God. It's theological in nature, not anthropological. It's our worship to him, theocentricity, not egocentricity.
Oh, I love it. It just makes me feel so good. Does he love it? Theocentricity. God is at the center, not us. Idolatry is worship that is not directed to the true God. So we read this little passage in John chapter four.
One of the greatest messages on worship in the New Testament is taken from this very real life, day in the life of one thirsty, soul-hungry, sin-broken woman who came for water at a well. It was drama at high noon, so to speak.
One earth dweller meets a visitor from heaven at an ancient well, and it was there the Lord from glory and the Lord of glory, the Savior of sinners, unfolded rich truths about what worship really is. Worship is not some mystical trance, not some emotional frenzy that you work up.
It is emotional. It goes to the very depths of our being. It is the heart's response to the Almighty. But it's not, it's not some esoteric experience that happens, say, three times in one's life. Worship engages and embraces our intellect and our emotions, our mind and our feelings.
Both are required, and the impetus for worship comes from our comprehension of God and his greatness. Worship is an end in itself. Worship is the ultimate duty of every person on the planet, and the extent to which we fail in this regard is a degree to which we have never maximized our full potential, because that's the highest potential, that capacity within us to worship him.
The extent to which we fail in worship is the extent to which, as a human being, I have failed to maximize my capacity as a human being. Worship is also a means to having that overcoming power in my life as a believer.
And maybe that's where you are at the end of this afternoon's session. You are craving the power to say yes and to say no. You are craving to have the power to live a God-pleasing, a Christ-honoring life.
You don't want to continually cave into the pressures from within, from without. You want to be a solid, standing believer. You want to have a testimony like Nehemiah, like Jeremiah, like Ezra, like the Apostle Paul.
You want that. You want to be able to gladly reflect back to God and to the world that you interact with the radiance of God's infinite worth and value. That's your desire. How are you doing? I want you to turn over to the book of the Revelation.
The Revelation, chapter 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ. Chapter 1. We're going to read a few places here. Chapter 1, verse 1. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass, and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bear record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw.
Verse 9. I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
I, verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and so on. But we're going to read some more.
Where was he? On an island. Some people have a phobia about islands. They feel trapped, surrounded by water. Now some people come to Prince Edward Island to do bike, biking tours, and they do the trails of Prince Edward Island, and they wonder how could you ever be born and live your entire life on a little island that's a hundred and forty miles long?
Don't you feel cut off? Don't you feel stranded living on a little island like that? Not at all. The North American continent was connected to Prince Edward Island in the 1990s. You must have felt cut off until we built that big bridge for people to make the connection for you.
We can come and go as we wish. Now, from our little island. But Patmos was different. Twenty-five miles off the coast of Turkey, in the Aegean Sea, the tiny island of Patmos was used as a prison. If you were just a common criminal or an unknown Christian of the first century, well, you would just be thrown to the lions or burned at the stake.
But if you were a well-known Christian and a very public Christian, it was too risky for the Roman Emperor to get rid of you that way. It may have caused a riot, and so Emperor Domitian chose Patmos, 24 square miles in size, as the island of exile.
And the Apostle John was banished to Patmos. I wonder what John thought as he was dropped off. Oh, you can visit the island now. It's a tourist area. Not then. What must John have thought when he was left alone on that tiny island?
Back then it wasn't a destination of choice. Trapped, confined, alone, exiled, abandoned, isolated. I wonder, did John question God? He was no spring chicken by that time. He was an older saint. As the boat sailed away and he climbed the rugged cliffs of Patmos, did the tears begin to fall as the stars came out?
And he spent that first night all alone on the deserted island. Did he pray? Lord, I have been faithful to your word. I taught, I preached your word. I defended the truth, Lord. I told everyone I met about the Lord Jesus Christ, why is this happening to me now?
Is this the end of those who honor you? Is this the treatment we get? Is this the way our lives end when we give our whole life to you and we surrender it all? He looks at the twinkling stars and he's left alone on an abandoned island reserved for criminals.
What must John have thought? Maybe you feel that way today. Deserted, abandoned, stranded on a lonely island of circumstances. No escape. The future is bleak and you're filled with despair and you're afraid to articulate it, but you're actually a bit angry at God for the turns your life has taken.
And you know you shouldn't be bitter. But every once in a while, a fist comes up within. It was Sunday on the island of Patmos when it happened. There were no Christians to fellowship with. And from a human standpoint, it could have been the bluest and the bleakest, the loneliest Sunday one could ever experience in their lifetime.
But we just read that he was in the spirit that day, occupied with who? The risen, returning, regal Christ. As it says, verse 10, verse 13, verse 12, and I turned to see the voice that spake with me and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like onto the son of man, clothed with garment, down to the foot with a golden, I'll read this this way, another translation with a golden sash around his chest.
Verse 14, his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes was a flame of fire and his feet like onto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace and his voice is a sound of many waters.
Verse 17, and when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead and he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me, fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore.
Amen. And I have the keys of hell and death. Now, sometimes we can read the book of the Revelation and have these great theological debates and we forget what an encouragement the experience must have been for dear old exiled John.
Would the cruel, vicious Roman Emperor really have the last word on Christianity? Will the kings, and maybe you wonder that today, will the presidents and prime ministers and the kings and emperors of 2015 have the last say in our world?
Was John the loser for taking sides with Christ and remaining true and faithful? You know, human governments may flex their muscles against God, act as if they have the ultimate power, but that will be short-lived.
That Sunday on Patmos, it was clearly revealed to John that the Christ who was hated, the Christ who was despised, that same one, that same Christ, he will return as a mighty conqueror. He will reign supreme on this earth.
Unpopular, downtrodden believers, we will share in the triumph of Christ and we can look forward to this glorious future. That's our future, dear child of God. Regardless of how downcast you may be today, our future is a bright future.
As you wander around in 2015 on the lonely island of your circumstances, filled with despair, listen to his words again. Fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one. I died and behold, I am alive forevermore.
The circumstances are only temporary. Christ is forever. And so when I read through these chapters of the book of the Revelation, there are six truths that emerge and become apparent as you read through this book of the Revelation.
One is that impediments to worship will be forever removed. Two, the dazzling splendors of the Sovereign will be eternally displayed. Three, universal oneness will be experienced forever in a day. Four, every voice will swell in the anthem of worship.
Five, every rival will be crushed and he will reign forever. Six, his exceeding riches will be eternally on display and will eternally thrill our heart. There will never come a time in a distant eternity when he says, ah, that's about it now.
That's all I have. No, his exceeding riches will eternally thrill our hearts. So just think for a moment of the impediments to worship. Lots of them today. But in the coming day, they're going to be removed from us forever.
I know that the more I am occupied with Christ, I wish it was a lot more, and the more I'm focused on the glory of our God, the more worship that flows from my frail vessel. I know that my strength comes from the Lord and not from myself.
But yet there is that reality that I live with every day that rings from my heart. Impediments to worship. Oh, wretched man that I am. Never get disgusted with yourself. How will I, when am I going to stop?
When am I ever going to learn? Impediments to worship. I love this verse in 1 Corinthians 15 and 51. We shall all be changed. There are going to be a lot of changes. Our bodies will experience a full outcome of redemption.
We shall all be changed. But not only are we going to be changed physically to dwell in an eternal environment, but we are going to be changed morally to be like Christ. John, there will be no persecution then.
You will never be banished to a remote island in the coming day. You will never have another worry, John. Never another anxiety. You'll never brush another tear from your face over the preservation of the truth and the evil workings of false teachers and their insidious ways.
No, those are impediments to worship. They get a hold of our heart and it's so hard to refocus on Christ when we're distracted. They are impediments to worship. No, when you read the book of the Revelation, you understand the traces of a broken world will be forever passed.
The impediments will be removed forever. 1 John 3 verse 2 says, Beloved, we are now the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him.
We will see him as he is. All impediments to worship will be removed forever. Then I want you to think of the dazzling splendor of the Sovereign will be eternally displayed. You remember when Paul was caught up, 2 Corinthians 12 and 4, he talks about it.
He talks about an experience in heaven that no language on earth could ever describe or tell for. Such is the glory that awaits us. Paul couldn't put it into words. That's the glory that awaits us. The dazzling splendor of the Sovereign will be eternally displayed.
What must it have been for John to have been transported by vision from the barrenness of Patmos to the majestic and to the beautiful and to the mighty and the excellent and the, what other words, the holy scenes of heaven.
It seems he burst forth in praise in the first few verses of this book. Look at it, look it down at verse 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is a faithful witness and onto and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth.
And look what he says on to him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and have made us kings and priests unto God and his father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
And then we come to chapter 4 where the future is to be unfolded and John's vision takes him right into the dazzling splendors of heaven and the scenes of future day. Let me just stop. You say, Peter, this is a little bit, it's not very practical, Peter.
Well, this is what I get out of it. There's a lot that I don't get out of Bible readings on the book of the Revelation. You go ahead if you want to debate them, but I can find another book written by another godly man who says something different than what you just said.
And so someday will those disputes and all those reasonings will, it'll all make perfect sense in a coming day. And in the meantime, we can study and read the book of the Revelation. But when I read the book of the Revelation, here's what I get out of it.
Peter, don't waste your life on trinkets and trophies, trivial treasures, don't you either. Don't waste it on trucks and trade and travel, TR. Trains, some people are into hobby trains and they give their life to a train.
Well, it's okay to have hobbies because we need that downtime and we can just relax. We heard a little bit about that last night, but in contrast to what awaits us, all the glitter and all the glamour and all the attractions of this world are like the artificial flowers you buy at the dollar store.
I don't know whether you have dollarama in the United States or not. We have them back in Canada and you can buy the most beautiful leather purses with flowers attached to them at the dollarama and you get them for a dollar.
That's what people give their lives to, that in comparison, in contrast to what is really ours in Christ Jesus, things that seem so big and so mighty and so important in our lives are like dollar store stuff when it comes to what we have in Christ.
So don't waste your life. Revelation 4 verse 2 says, and immediately I was in the spirit and behold, a throne was set in heaven and one sat on the throne, God himself, the sovereign judge. He seems to be the seated occupant of the throne.
And verse, chapter 4, and he that sat was to look upon or he that who sat there and had the appearance of Jasper like a Jasper and a sardine stone. There was a rainbow around about the throne and then you read verse 4 and around about the throne were four and twenty seats and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting clothed and white raiment and they had on their heads crowns of gold and out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices.
Verse 6, and before the throne there was a sea of glass like onto crystal. Verse 8, about those creatures, they rest not day and night saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come.
Verse 9, and when those creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne who liveth forever and ever, then what happens? Verse 10, four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne.
They worship him that liveth forever and ever and they cast their crowns before the throne saying, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Here the elders are singing and worshiping God and praising him for his creatorial glory. I think it's A .P. Gibbs who says this, here is pure worship unmingled with any petition whatsoever. It is the ascription of worth because of the intrinsic worthiness of the eternal Godhead.
Dear child of God, in some small way, are you a singing saint? You know, Paul and Silas, they sang when they were shackled. Paul encouraged the Christians in Ephesians 5, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and in hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord and the Lord Jesus led the song as they left the upper room that night.
We move into chapter 5 and the song and the focus changes from creation to the wonders of redemption and verse chapter 5, the book, the scroll containing the title deeds of earth. It's been opened by one who is qualified and the opening of the scroll pretends judgment and wrath that's going to fall upon planet earth and its inhabitants.
Chapters 4 and 5 describe the indescribable glory and the infinite majesty of the Godhead and John weeps with great intensity, but you're familiar with verse 5, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book to loose the seven seals are off.
Verse 6, in the midst stood a lamb as it had been slain. Verse 9, and they sung a new song saying thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals are off for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue people and nation and has made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth.
Look at the progression of that song. Now an innumerable company of angels joined in the singing verse 11, 10 ,000 times 10 ,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice worthy as a lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
And then the song is joined by all creation singing about the Lamb's worthiness. Verse 13, and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I sing blessing and honor and glory and power beyond to him that sitteth upon the throne and onto the lamb forever and ever.
And the four creatures said, oh man, what a scene. A coming day when impediments to worship will be forever removed. The dazzling splendor of the sovereign will be eternally displayed. What a scene. And universal oneness will be experienced forever.
No descending voices then. No tweets from atheists. No tweets from the likes of a Richard Dawkins. No mockings, no tauntings about our glorious Lord. No denominational, no sectarian divisions then. Every blood-bought redeemed one of all ages from all cultures will be united in oneness in universal worship.
Not one discordant note to mar its majestic harmony. What a day. Universal oneness will be experienced forever. Amazing. Chapter 7, another beautiful scene. Verse 9, a number no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and people and languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.
I'm reading from the English Standard version now. And what are they crying out with a loud voice? Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Another beautiful worship scene in the book of the Revelation.
Universal oneness will be experienced forever and every voice will swell the anthem of worship and praise. Have you ever been in a crowd and the singing was absolutely beautiful? And you could only bow your heads and listen to it, to all the praise and its sweetness.
In that day, your voice and mine will be singing. We'll be singing. Maybe you're not singing today. Maybe your heart is heavy. Won't be then. No. In that day, there will be no distractions, no disappointments, no discouragement, no distress.
That relates to this life. And as much as we love to sing, I just wrote down a few hymns here. Do you mind singing a few hymns? I checked with Brother John here to see if it was okay to sing a few hymns.
Just, yeah, like, I know it's out of protocol, but they say it's okay. Let's just stand and sing and you'll know most of the words of these hymns and we'll just try to sing a string of them. And if I mess up, you carry on.
And if you know how to do it in harmony and parts, you do it. But just remember this, as beautiful as it might sound here in this auditorium, in a coming day, every voice will swell the anthem of worship and praise.
Let's just stand and sing. We'll start off with When I Survey the Wondrous Cross and we'll sing two or three verses of that. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, safe in the cross of Christ. My God, all the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.
See from His head, His hands, His feet, sorrow and love flow may go down. Did e 'er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown? Worth of nature mine, that were an offering far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my heart, my mind.
There is a name I love to hear, I love to speak its worth. It sounds like music in my ear, the sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus! Oh, how I love Jesus! How I love Jesus! Because He first loved me.
Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer. With His blood He purchased me. On the cross He sealed my pardon, paid my debt, and made me free. You are the treasure that I seek. You are my strength when I am weak. You are my all in all.
Seeking You as a precious jewel. Lord, to give up, I'd be a fool. You are my all in all. Oh, Jesus, our name. Taking my sin, my cross, my shame. Rising again, I bless Your name. You are my all in all.
When I fall down, You pick me up. When I am down, You fill my cup. You are my all in all. Oh, Jesus, Lamb of God, we surrender, we surrender, we surrender, we surrender. Okay, we can stop there, but you get the idea.
My, there's a glorious day coming, and we'll be able to hit every note, and they'll all be pitched at the right pitch. A tremendous day coming, and there will be no distractions then. Every voice will swell the anthem of worship and praise.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, we are troubled in every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
And then he says, knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with You, for which cause we faint not. But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
Verse 17, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment in comparison to eternity, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Verse 18, he says, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. You know, Paul wrote in Romans 8, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
So every voice will swell the anthem of worship and praise. Every rival will be crushed, and he will reign forever. Our sinful flesh, the sin principle within us, gone forever. Kingdoms and empires and vain philosophies of men, the clock is ticking on them.
Principalities and powers of darkness, they have a limited time left. Every rival will be crushed, and he will, well, that's what it says in Revelation 11, verse 15, and the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.
And the exceeding riches will eternally thrill our hearts. Paul wrote about that in Ephesians, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace. What a Sunday it was there on the island of Patmos when it happened.
What an encouragement to John. It wasn't a bad investment when he gave his life to the Lord. And how about you then, as we close this afternoon's session? You know what the Apostle Peter said? I wrote this down, 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 6, talking about the salvation of the ultimate.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, so now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold, that perisheth, though betried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the ultimate, even the salvation of your soul.
So, dear child of God, don't waste your life. Occupy yourself with things that have eternal significance. Reflect back to God the radiance of his greatness. Worship him, worship him, and learn about him.
And the more we learn from his holy word about him, the more our hearts will bow in worship as we adore him. So, may God bless these thoughts, and if you're going through a difficult time in your life just now, remember, it is only temporary.
You haven't made the wrong choice when you sided with the Lord Jesus. Absolutely not. The future before us is bright. Now, shall we pray?