The Attitude Of Worship - [Ecclesiastes 5:1-7]

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Last week we learned the grim reality of the world, a world after the fall, full of loneliness, isolation, envy, striving, chasing after the sun.
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And if we're not careful, we might say things like this as we look at the world. God, are you really in charge?
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Are you really sovereign? What in the world is going on?
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I thought you're a God who's powerful, I thought you're a God who's kind, I thought you're a God who takes care of your people.
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Can we really trust a God when the world's like this? Is God really working all things together for good?
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Are those the right questions? Are those the right responses as we see the world? Asking God a thousand why questions, why, why, why?
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Or is it better to be humble, to listen, and as I would tell my children, children, look at me, you're not my children, but it might be better just to zip your what?
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To zip your lip. And that's Ecclesiastes 5, please turn there,
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Ecclesiastes 5. Solomon is writing and he's giving us wisdom. We all need wisdom as we walk through this world.
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How do we wisely, not foolishly, analyze the world and worship
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God? And that's really Ecclesiastes chapter 5. When you think all is lost, when you think the world is upside down, and that's it, where else do we go for help?
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And Ecclesiastes 5 is, you go to the house of worship, not to talk, not to question
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God, but to listen. Worship matters, and God has given us ears to listen in humility.
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Maybe I could set it up this way for you this morning. What was your attitude about worship this morning coming to church?
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What was your attitude last night? Preparation, prayer? This morning were you driving thinking
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I'm going to go meet the thrice holy God and worship Him? The way we think about worship is very important.
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Sometimes it's too casual for us, sometimes too routine. Sometimes it's excited, sometimes it's expectant.
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But we need to understand that as we look at the world, it's much better to listen to God than to ask
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Him a lot of questions. Now after last week's message in Ecclesiastes 4,
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I have to tell you I've been super excited to preach this message because it seemed like last week's chapter was the hardest book in maybe the
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Bible to preach. 4 and 5 go together. There's oppression done on our son, and now we come to the house of worship to listen.
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Ecclesiastes' big picture is pretty simple. Even though the world is full of all kinds of decay and destruction and difficulties and trials, you
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Christian can have a satisfying and fulfilling life found through Christ Jesus the risen
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King. You can have satisfaction. You can have enjoyment. You can eat and drink and be merry knowing that eternal destiny is fixed.
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You can know that when you stand before God, you can stand before, as we just sung today, stand before His face because your sins are forgiven, your sins are covered.
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Your sins are behind God's back, He says sometimes. As far as the east is from the west, cast in the deepest part of the sea, you can say to yourself, even though this world is difficult, there are moments and times where you can just eat, drink, and be merry.
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One writer said, here's why the book of Ecclesiastes is written, to convince men and women of the uselessness of any worldview that does not rise above the horizon of man himself.
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It pronounces the verdict of vanity of vanities on any philosophy of life which regards the created world of human enjoyment as the end of life.
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If this is all we have, then we're going to start feeling that vexation and that frustration, but we see what the world presents, and we realize there's a
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God who's sovereign over all that. We know as Christians that God has justified us.
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He's sanctifying us, and He will glorify us, and so we can see every good thing we have in life.
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God, thank you for that gift. Pastor Steve was talking in Sunday school about counting your blessings, and so today we're going to look at Ecclesiastes 5, probably the first seven verses, and then next week we'll talk about the vanity of money and chasing after money, but today we're going to look at Ecclesiastes 5 verses 1 through 7, and we want to see this in light of the
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Lord Jesus who comes to such an earth and redeems us and rescues us. It's not really that hard to interpret.
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It just is hard for the pride in Ecclesiastes 5. Now, before I read the passage, there's some connections between 4 and 5 that I'd like to draw your attention to.
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Both chapters 4 and 5 are about worship. Chapter 4 is about worship of self, and it leads to vexation, toil, isolation, envy, and oppression, but chapter 5 is about worship of the triune
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God. Chapter 4 is about life under the sun chasing things. Chapter 5 is about life over the sun, that is, the
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Lord God. We need right perspective. Chapter 5 is like Psalm 73.
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Remember Psalm 73? The wicked do things. The wicked get all kinds of pleasure. The wicked have everything going.
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The wicked are on the top of their game. The wicked get everything until Psalm 73 says what?
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I came to the house of the Lord, and now I saw everything through the lens of God. Everything's different now.
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It's the same with Ecclesiastes 5. It's like we're reading the sermon of the world, and it's grim, and so now we need to make sure we understand the sermon found in Scripture about the
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Lord God. Is that coming through my microphone? It almost sounded like somebody's coming through my microphone.
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I thought, a young child has hijacked my sermon. It was true? It was.
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Okay, who's got their baby monitor on? My Bluetooth?
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Oh, okay. All right. Well, we needed a break with all this isolation, oppression, envy, rivalry under the sun.
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And you can kind of see the progression of Solomon. He says, let's take a look at the world. A courtroom, there's oppression, chapter 4.
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The marketplace, people are trying to outdo one another, and there's rivalry. The reason why you're working so hard is to get ahead of the next guy.
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Then you're on the highways and byways. You have to be careful because if you're alone, you might be taken advantage of. And you go to the king's palace.
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There's even trouble there. And now he moves to the temple. He moves to worship in chapter 5.
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Let me read verses 1 through 7. And, dear congregation, one of the best ways that you can study your
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Bible is to look for recurring themes, recurring words, words that are repeated.
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And so you'll see those here in Ecclesiastes 5, 1 to 7. And as I read them, see if you can see or sense, as it were, the theme.
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Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near, to listen, is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools.
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For they do not know that they are doing evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God.
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For God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few.
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For a dream comes with much business and a fool's voice with many words. When you pay a vow, when you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it.
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For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow, that you should vow and not pay.
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Let not your mouth lead you into sin. And do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake.
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Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity.
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But God is the one you must fear. Do you see the themes coming through?
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The themes I hope you see are these. God is great, and we should talk less.
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God is to be feared, and we should listen instead of talking. And the context is in worship.
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The context is the worship of Israel in a temple. God is great.
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He's to be feared. He's in heaven, and we're not. He's in a holy temple. We're not holy.
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And He's to be feared. And over and over He talks about verse 1, listen, verse 2, don't be hasty with words.
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Verse 2, may your words be few. Verses 4 and 5 about vows, how do you make a vow? By writing them out?
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No, you say them. More words. Speech can lead to sin, verse 6, and many words, verse 7.
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Everything in this passage, boiled down, is simply this. That the fear of the
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Lord is the beginning, middle, and end of worship. And we should be careful what we say.
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That's the sermon. That's what He wants you to know. We all look at the world and we think, we need to wisely walk by faith and not by sight.
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How can I do that? Ecclesiastes 5 is written for that very reason.
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God is over the sun, not under the sun. And there's no futility in God, no vexation in God, no emptiness in God.
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And our response should be humility and listening. By the way, there's a bunch of people across the world and they argue about Christian worship and we would call it maybe worship wars and how contemporary and should there be dance teams and should there be drama teams and should there be loud music and psalms only and all these other kind of things.
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I really think that if we understood Ecclesiastes 5, 1 to 7, all those worship wars would dissipate because what
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Solomon is really after is our humble hearts as we come to God and worship.
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Today, let me give you three truths about the triune God that will help you in your attitude in worship today.
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Three truths about God so that we might be more humble when we worship, so we might listen more instead of, as my father would say, son, don't run your mouth.
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It's kind of like you pop the clutch of your mouth and just slam it into gear and just say things.
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Reverent attitudes, submissive attitudes, attitudes to learn and to be humble.
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In other words, a God -centered worship, not a man -centered worship. Everything in this passage strikes against, you know, we're consumers and we'll pick and choose churches based on what we like.
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Wrong. No, no, what does God say? How does He say to do things? And we're not consumers, we're worshipers, humble worshipers.
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And I think these principles in Ecclesiastes 5 apply to Adam and Eve in the garden, Abraham out in the wilderness,
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Moses in the wilderness, tabernacle, temple, and even worship today in a New Testament church.
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How to worship and what kind of attitudes should we have? P .S. dear Christian, you actually get to worship.
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You are a worshiper of God because before we were saved by the grace of God, what were we?
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Blasphemers. So even when I say to you, you know what, we get to come and worship God, that's an amazing thing that we just didn't figure out on our own.
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Hebrews 4 says, Since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
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For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one in every respect who has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
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Let us then with confidence, listen to this, draw near to the throne of, no longer judgment as blasphemers, but the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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We have a Father instead of a judge. But Solomon wants you to know this, that Father is in heaven.
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Didn't Jesus say that? Even though you have a great Heavenly Father, how do you address Him? Our Father, which art in heaven.
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And so we're able to worship, we're able to come to God, but how do we come to God to worship?
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With our chests out, our humbly listening. This is the remedy, the greatness of God.
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So truth number one, on how to worship God. What kind of attitude should we have in corporate worship and certainly in worship at home, if you're walking or worshipping or whatever you're doing, to see the world properly, humble worship, number one,
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God is holy. This is what we need to be reminded of. Me, you, everyone else, that God is holy.
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And you can see that flesh itself out in chapter 5 verse 1, can you not? Guard your steps. I think this is the first command in all of Ecclesiastes.
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Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they're doing evil.
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You know what this is like? This is like Moses. He's out in the wilderness and he sees a bush and the bush is burning but it's not really burning.
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And so Moses goes over there like a good scientist to kind of examine it all and says, you know, let's just take a look at this.
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And Moses forgets something though, that God is holy. He's not to be examined, he's to be revered.
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Remove the sandals from your feet for the place on which you're standing is what? Holy ground.
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Solomon is saying, you go to the house of God, the place where God specially resides. Yes, He's omnipresent.
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All of God is everywhere. All of Him is everywhere at the same time. That's true.
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But you'll see sometimes in Scripture this special residency of God, as it were. So we see
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His transcendent glory and the weight of who He is right here in the house of God. Here's what
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Solomon wants. Here's what we all need at Bethlehem Bible Church. When you approach God in worship,
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God is holy and we're not. And there's this distance. And we need to be cognizant of that distance so we're not just flipping, so we just don't run our mouth, so we don't ever say to ourselves, oh yeah,
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Jesus was good for me to get saved. No, no. Jesus is still the way we can have an approach to God even now.
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If you go to a church, many churches today, the buildings, you'll walk in and they're so tall.
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There's cathedrals and you'll go into Europe and you'll walk in and you walk in, you go to St.
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Patrick's Cathedral in New York and you walk in and the first thing you do is what? You think, how are they charging five bucks for a candle?
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No, that's not the first thing. There's a little kiosk the other day I was there and you could just put your credit card in and you could give a fifty, twenty -five or ten.
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But all that aside, you walk in and your eyes are drawn upward because you realize
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God is over, God is above, God is transcendent, God is holy. The architecture was made so that you might look up.
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This is the idea of the house of God. Caution, reverence, moderation.
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God's temple symbolized that He was holy. And the only way you walk into the house of God, by the way, is with a sacrifice because if you haven't sacrificed for your own sins and you walk into the house of God, there's trouble.
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It's like we're sinful and God is holy and the reaction's like nuclear fission. And so when you approach the house of God, it's with reverence and you know
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He's holy and the only way we have access to a thrice holy God is not by some kind of sacrifice that we do with lambs and bulls and goats.
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We know who the sacrifice for sin is. You walk into these buildings and they're to make you think
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God is bigger, God is greater. I can't take all this in.
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Do these words resonate with you? In the year that King Uzziah died,
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I saw the Lord sitting on the throne high and lifted up. And the train of His robe filled the temple.
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Above Him stood the seraphim, each had six wings, with two covered his face, with two covered his feet, and with two
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He flew. And one called to another antiphonally and said, Holy, holy, holy is the
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Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called.
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And the house was filled with smoke. And the most holy man on earth said,
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Isaiah said, Woe is me, for I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
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For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. John 12 says that's
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Jesus. Isaiah sees Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. And one seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with long tongs from the altar.
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If you realize God is so holy and you're not, and here comes the angel, you think it's the death angel.
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And the death angel is coming with the tongs and the burning coal. And instead of coming to incinerate you, what does he do?
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Well, with Isaiah, he touched his mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips.
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Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is. And so what
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Solomon is saying, when we come to church, when we come to worship, we open our Bibles at home and we just think about God.
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It's better to listen than to talk. It's better to realize God is holy and I'm not.
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Do you know the Old Testament? Pagans, when they went to worship, to get the
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God's attention, you had to talk a lot. Did you know in the temple worship in the Old Testament, you didn't talk much.
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You made your offering and you didn't talk very much. It was solemn, it was quiet, it was full of reverence.
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But if you're a pagan, and by the way, pagan gods, sometimes they sleep, sometimes they're taking naps, sometimes they're busy with other people.
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So you, to get their attention, you've got to talk a lot. For pagan gods to pay attention to you and you go to a pagan temple, you just keep on talking, keep on talking, keep on talking.
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Kind of reminds me of Elijah when he said to the prophets of Baal, Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it for your many.
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Call upon the name of your God, but put no fire in it. And they took the bull that was given them and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal until morning, until noon.
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O Baal, answer us. O Baal, answer us. O Baal, answer us. And then
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I love 1 Kings, but there was no voice and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made.
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And at noon, Elijah mocked them. Cry out, for he's a god.
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A little louder maybe. He's either musing or he's relieving himself.
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Maybe he's in the bathroom. Or he's on... It's in the Bible. Or he's on a journey.
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Perhaps he's asleep and must be awakened. And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances until blood gushed out upon them.
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And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation. But there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention.
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That's quite unlike the worship of the triune God where our attitude is humbly listening versus doing a lot of talk.
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We don't get God's attention by some kind of lengthy incantations and smells and bells and Latin and everything else.
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It's very, very simple. We come ready to hear. Even our
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Lord Jesus, remember when He taught the disciples how to pray? When you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathens do.
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For they think they'll be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them. For your
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Father knows the things you have need of before you... Ask. He knows. We come to worship and we think, oh,
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God's holy. That's why we start the service off with the New Testament reading and then every single
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Sunday we pray that God would forgive us because we realize we're coming into the presence of a holy God. And we need a sacrifice.
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I love Psalm 50. The Mighty One, God of the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting out of Zion, the perfection of beauty.
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God shines forth. Our God comes. He does not keep silent. Before Him is a devouring fire.
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Around Him is a mighty tempest. He calls to the heavens above and to the earth that He may judge
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His people. No wonder, go back to verse 1, it says to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools.
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For they do not know they're doing evil. They've been doing this for so long, running their mouth.
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They think it's normal. This is how you talk to God. They don't even know that it's evil.
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It is evil, but they're so used to it, so habituated. There's so much of a habit to do it.
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So I guess I could ask the question as you're thinking about it. When you come to worship, is that one of the things you're thinking about?
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I'm going to be in the presence of a holy God. And thank You, Lord Jesus, that You're my advocate.
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Thank You, Lord Jesus, You're my mediator. I'm thankful I have all my sins forgiven because how could
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I stand before a holy God? How could I be in the face of God? I'm coming to worship and I'm removing the sandals off my feet remembering that God's still holy.
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And although I have a right relationship with God, I still need to be very, very careful with reverence and care.
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Don't you start thinking as you read this passage and you go, hmm, worship isn't about me. Oh yes,
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I do worship, but worship is about the object of worship. What am
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I? I'm the first practical explosive produced.
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I'm first synthesized by the Italian chemist Sabero in 1847. I was later adopted as commercially use of explosive by Alfred Noble.
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In 1866, I was shipped in three crates shipped for California for the
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Central Pacific Railroad to help burrow through the summit tunnel in the
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Sierra Nevadas. What am
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I? In the United Kingdom, the government was so alarmed about what I could do, they banned me in 1869.
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In undiluted form, I'm a contact explosive. If you'd like to stabilize me, then you can desensitize me by freezing me to a temperature to about seven degrees
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C. And I could be used to treat health problems. What am
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I? Nitroglycerin. And when you think about nitroglycerin, what do you think about?
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I think about old cowboy movies of my dad. Don't have that stuff rumble around too much in the back of the wagon.
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Handle with care. Solomon's saying, we look at the world and the world looks wrong side down and we say to ourselves,
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God, how could You? Why? What about this? What about all the things in my life? I had not seen Your sovereign hand.
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Yes, You say You're sovereign, but I'm not so sure about it. And we come to the Lord's Sunday worship service and we think, you know what?
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Handle with care. God's holy. Once in a while, the
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Bible punctuates improper worship. Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took a censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the
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Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out before the Lord and consumed them and they died before the
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Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord has said, among those who are near me,
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I will be sanctified and before all my people, I will be glorified.
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Now here's the good news at Bethlehem Bible Church. I think for the most part, when it comes to corporate worship, we come to listen.
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I love it that you love to sit under the Word of God and hear it preached and we come not to argue with God and not to say, well
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God, how could You? But God, reset our focus properly because all week long,
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I've been thinking about you on Sunday, then on Monday, then on Tuesday, then on Wednesday and before you know it, I'm not even thinking about who you are.
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I need to have kind of a realignment, a repentant heart. But that's one of the reasons why preaching is so important, not because I'm the preacher.
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It's because of what the Word does and how does God talk. God does not just show up and talk. God shows up and talks through His Word though.
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Remember what Barnhouse said, if Satan were to take over a city, what would happen? Wes Boylston is taken over by Satan, what would it look like?
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Barnhouse said, the bars would close, no alcohol would be sold, happy marriages, well -behaved children, no crime and everyone would be in church on Sunday where Jesus Christ isn't preached.
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So we sit under God's Word because He's holy and it cleanses us like Ephesians 5 says and it quickens our soul like 1
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Peter 1 says. Well, not only is God holy, but number two, the second attitude helper, is that God is creator.
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Number one, we come to worship God, we remember He's holy and He's a creator. He's not the big guy upstairs,
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He's not buddy, He's not dude, He's God. Verse 2,
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Do not be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God.
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Here it is, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few.
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I mean, I don't know about you, but sometimes I just need to have something said to me to kind of put me back in place.
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I think I'm pretty big shot, I think I'm this, I'm kind of that and all of a sudden, some person or God's Word says something to you and you think, oh,
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I remember what I am. And what I remember now is I'm a creature. There's something in theology that if you get this straight, you'll get all kinds of things straight.
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There is something different between the creator and the creature. And it's called the creator -creature distinction.
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And it helps us with all kinds of things. God's a creator, we're creatures and we ought to remember that.
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God said in Isaiah, My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways my ways, declares the
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Lord. For as the heavens are above the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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I mean, this reminds me, okay, I have some kind of protocol so that I just don't begin asking God all these questions and somehow
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I've now elevated myself to the creator and I'm asking God questions. Solomon says that's not wisdom.
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I mean, what's my resume? What's your resume? I'm made of dust.
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Point one. Somehow it's sinful dust now on my part and the list goes on.
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If you realize God is so great, then we don't talk as much. Jesus even said,
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I tell you on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you'll be justified and by your words you'll be condemned.
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We have to be very, very careful. While we don't have to pay for our sins now of what we say since we've been forgiven of those sins, let's still be very careful.
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Humility is needed. Sauntering into God's presence.
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I think it was Erwin Lutzer who said many, many people seem to think that trapezing into God's presence is a good thing without a mediator.
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And so, we have to be careful when we talk. And even if you think about prayer, does this resonate with you?
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The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, God, I thank You that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
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I fast twice a week. I give tithes at all that I get. Blah, blah, blah.
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That's right. They're listening. They're listening. What did the pastor say today?
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In this particular case, that's true.
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Now, if running our mouths is something we ought not to do, we have to be careful of, we have to be reverent and humble.
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We're creatures, not the Creator. The right kind of response would be what?
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And I think we see it in the tax collector. Jesus talks about that tax collector in Luke 18.
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Standing far off, Jesus said, He wouldn't even lift up His eyes to heaven, but beat
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His breast saying, God have mercy to me, a sinner. True words.
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Few words. Martin Luther said,
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You cannot speak about the works of God on the basis of your own judgment. Let God rather do the speaking.
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Do not dispute about His counsels and try to control things by your own counsels. Luther said,
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We express all of this in a German saying. And I'll use it in English. Don't use many words, but keep your mouth shut.
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What about the problem of evil? God, how does sovereignty and responsibility go together?
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God, what about all the other things? Death, miscarriages.
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What do you mean there are elder qualifications? What do you mean only a man can preach? What do you mean all this, that, and the other?
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Question after question after question. God's holy and we're not the
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Creator. What did Jews think was maybe some of the most important Old Testament statements that they would repeat regularly in the morning and regularly at night, and sometimes more often?
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It was something called the Shema, and the Shema means to hear. I think
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Solomon is basically re -preaching that Shema. Here is the Shema in Deuteronomy 6. Hear, therefore,
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O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the
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Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you in the land flowing with milk and honey. Here's the Shema. Hear, O Israel, the
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Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and all your might.
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So instead of going to talk, going to say things, to hear. Very, very important.
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Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Job 38, please. I regularly read
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Job 38 -42 because I need to be kept in my place. I'm prideful.
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I think I'm better than people. I have all kinds of bad, sinful thoughts that go through my mind, and in every case,
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I read Job 38 -42, and I just think, Lord, thank you for putting me in my place.
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John Calvin said at the beginning of his Institutes of Christian Religion that if you want to know the world, you need to know two things, who
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God is and who you are. God is holy, and God is a creator, and I am sinful, and I'm a creation, and I just need to know my place.
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And Job 38, I'm not going to read all the verses in chapter 38 -42, but when you start having those questions that there's no answers to, the only answer can be found in who
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God is and His nature and His character. And God is not going to tell us until we get to the other side of glory.
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And we just need to have that humble, submissive spirit. I think
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Job 38 -42 echoes Ecclesiastes 5. I will read a few verses.
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Job 38, verse 1, Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, in my mind
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I want to insert there, duck, and said, Who is this that darkens counsels by words without knowledge?
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Dress for action, Job, like a man. I'll question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when
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I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding, who determines its measure? Surely you know.
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Who stretched the line upon it? Or what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for glory and joy?
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Verse 12, Have you, Job, Have I, Mike Abendroth, commanded the morning since my days began and caused the dawn to know its place, that it may take hold of the skirts of the earth and the wicked be shaken out of it?
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Verse 31, Can you bind the chains of Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? Verse 33,
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Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on earth? Verse 34,
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Can you lift up your voice to the clouds that a flood of waters may cover over you? Chapter 40,
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After lots of questioning, the Lord says to Job in chapter 40, verse 1,
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The Lord said to Job, Shall a fault finder, shall a creature, shall a sinful creature, a finite creature, tainted by sin creature, fight with, contend with the
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Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it. Job answered the
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Lord and said, Behold, I'm of small account. I'm a creature. What shall I answer you?
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Like with Ecclesiastes 5, I lay my hand on my mouth. I've spoken once.
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I will not answer twice, but I will proceed no farther. And then in chapter 42, we hear something that is very similar to Ecclesiastes as we think about the divine author.
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Chapter 42 of Job, Then Job answered the Lord and said, His tenor has changed.
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His tone has changed. I know that you can do all things. See, that's listening.
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And no purpose of yours can be thwarted. That's listening. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?
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Therefore, I've uttered what I did not understand. Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
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And then the very next word is the word understanding God's holiness and that He's the Creator here.
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And I will speak, God said, and I will question you and you will make it known to me. Well, let's go back to Ecclesiastes 5.
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What's the point? When we look at the world, when you see problems in the world, when you see things going on that don't seem to match up with what you think
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God should be doing, did we not even see today in Esther everything seems to be going the wrong way?
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And what happens at the very end? What God meant, what man meant for evil, God meant for good.
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And so we come back to Ecclesiastes 5 and he says in verse 3 as we continue the exposition for a dream comes with much business and a fool's voice with many words.
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And if you're going to stay up all night and work and work and work and work and work for toil and gain and for being number one, there's going to be dreams in your life just as natural it is for the fool to talk.
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It's just a little proverb, that's all. Fools talk a lot and if you work for the wrong reasons you're going to have a lot of dreams.
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It's just a general rule. The attitude of humility goes on in verses 4 and 5 about vows.
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I was at a place last night where some couples gave their vows, lifelong vows.
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And of course I have Indian friends and sometimes they don't say vows, they say wows.
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And when you say, till death do us part, I say to you, wow. Right?
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Here's what's happening with vows. This is not, I promise to give you the money if I get a promotion.
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This is in the context of the Jewish setting where you would give vows in public worship and you would say in front of the whole group of people that were worshiping with you in the tabernacle or the little synagogue, this is what
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I'm going to do for God. And if you're going to vow to God, verse 4, don't delay paying it.
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For he has no pleasure in fools, pay what you vow. It's better that you should not vow, talking a lot with these vows, that you should not vow and not pay.
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That's right from Deuteronomy chapter 21. The Jews would say, I'm going to have a special vow, here's my vow.
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I'm going to consecrate myself unto your service, God. It's not a private thing, it's a public thing and basically what
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Solomon is saying when it comes to worship, you need to not talk so much.
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And if you do talk in this context of vows, be a person of your word. Jesus said, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, it's the throne of God, or by earth, it's his footstool.
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Do not take an oath by your head. You cannot make one hair black or white. Let what you say be simply yes or no.
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Verse 6, Let not your mouth lead you into sin. Do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake.
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Oh, I made a vow publicly and now the temple messenger comes to collect. The repo man's here.
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And I just say, No, no, it was a mistake. No, no, don't say that. Think about what you're going to promise
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God before you promise him and then when you promise God something, keep your word. Verse 6 goes on.
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Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? And then finally, number 3, and we'll end here.
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How can I worship rightly? Making sure I keep the Lord Jesus in my mind because how could
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I stand before such a God on my own? Number 1, God's holy. Number 2, God's the creator.
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And number 3, God is great and to be feared. Verse 7, he repeats essentially what verse 3 is with that dreams passage.
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For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity. But God is the one whom you must fear.
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Back in the old days, they called Christians God -fearing people. Why don't we talk that way anymore?
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We are to fear God. Now, I've said this several times and I want to say it one more time to make sure we get this.
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and it's the beginning and end and middle of worship. But remember, we're not talking about a servile fear, cringing that if we do something wrong,
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God's going to condemn us. If you're a Christian, you stand with Jesus Christ, your elder brother, with your advocate and you don't have to worry about eternal punishment for a sin that you've committed because as a
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Christian, God has taken care of your sins past, present and future. But God is still great and He's to be feared.
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So what kind of fear is it? If perfect love casts out fear, how can I love God and be afraid?
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Well, this isn't this I'm afraid of some condemnation. God is so great.
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God is holy. We've seen God as the Creator. God is above us. God is transcendent. And we ought to recognize that.
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We ought to say, reverence, awe, humility, respect. It's the
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Lord Jesus that's talked about in Revelation 1. And in the midst of the lampstand, one is like a son of man clothed with a long robe and a golden sash around his chest.
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The hairs of his head were white like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.
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His feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace. And his voice was like the roar of many waters.
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In his right hand, he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two -edged sword. And his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
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And John said, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.
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He sees who God is. He sees the Son. And he responds with this worship, except what
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Jesus said afterward is insightful. Fear not. I am the first and the last and the living
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One. I died and behold, I'm alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and Hades. Fear means
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I see God. He's majestic. He's holy. He's different. Who's like God?
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It says in Psalm 89. He's awesome above all who come around Him. And then lastly, there's a component of fear that I haven't talked about, but I think it will encourage you.
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We don't have a servile fear of God. We have a relationship, a son or daughter kind of fear.
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There's an element in the New Testament that's fleshed out through the old. And I want to know if you can catch it as I read this passage that you're familiar with.
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After these things, God tested Abraham and said, Abraham, here I am. Take your son, your only son,
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Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains on which
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I shall tell you. So Abraham rose in the morning early, saddled his donkey, took his two young men with him and his son,
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Isaac. He cut the wood for the burnt offering, arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
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On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar off. Stay here with the donkey, he said to the young man.
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I and the boy will go over there and worship and come back to you again. Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, laid it on Isaac, his son.
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He took his hand and got the fire and the knife.
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And so both of them went together. And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father, here
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I am, my son. Behold the fire and the wood, but where's the lamb for the burnt offering? God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.
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So they went, both of them, together. And as you know the story,
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Isaac is bound. He's laid on the altar. Now listen, here's the tie -in to the fear part.
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He took the knife to slaughter his son, but the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham.
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And he said, here I am. He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now
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I know that you fear God. Did you get it?
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I know now that you fear God. There's an element of fear that we have to make sure we factor in.
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And that's we trust that God will provide. And we trust that God will perform all
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His promises. And we, by faith, realize that God is the transcendent
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King and He sits on the throne and He does whatever He pleases. You're going to see the fear of God and faith right there, one next to each other.
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And what does it say in Hebrews 11? By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son.
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He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which figuratively speaking,
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He did receive him back. What does this have to do with anything? This has to do with this.
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When we come to God and we say, I want to worship Him and think rightly. God, You're holy.
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I'm thankful for Jesus that I could approach You. God, You're the Creator, and yet still Jesus assumes human nature.
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Truly man, truly God, truly my brother. And then I'm to fear
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You. And part of fear is, yes, God is great. He's to be respected. We're to be in awe of Him.
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But part of fear is faith. That God would accept our feeble worship through Jesus.
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It's true. How can I approach a thrice holy God? How can I approach a God who's majestic and holy and He's the
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Creator? I have to say, even by faith, I know that I could approach God and I can stand before Him as we sung before His face.
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God is holy. He's the Creator, and He's to be feared and trusted. Did you know the
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Lord Jesus on earth sang with His men? Did you know in Matthew, Passover's over and He's singing songs with His men?
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Do you know the Lord Jesus is the one who perfectly typifies understanding that God is holy, understanding the
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Father is holy, understanding that God is the Creator, and understanding that it's to fear
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God? I think of the Lord Jesus and it says He's not ashamed to call us brothers.
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It says in Hebrews 2, I will tell of Your name,
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God, to my brothers and in the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise. Worship isn't about us.
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It's about a God who's holy. Aren't you glad for Jesus? It's about a God who's a Creator.
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Aren't you glad Jesus assumed human nature? It's about a God who we can fear like a son would by faith.
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Bow with me. Father in Heaven, we're very thankful today that we can approach You. And it's only by the
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Lamb of God who takes away our sin. It's only brought by the One who nourishes us, Jesus, the
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Bread of Life. And as we look at this world, Father, would You guard our hearts to ask the question like You're on Your heels and we ask
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You questions like why or how could You? Would You help us instead to say it's time to just worship.