Who do you worship?

Hi, welcome to Reformed Ex-Mormon. I am Brayden. It's a blessing if you're watching this video. I was just wanting, well, currently today I've just been trying to attempt to study for my sermon, as tomorrow is the Lord's Day.

And while preparing to be preaching tomorrow, to enter into the pulpit, I started becoming overwhelmed with just Facebook comments and posts. And just trying to dialogue and engage with biblical discourse, and trying to teach people who Jesus Christ is, according to the Bible.

And it was specifically in regards to those of the LDS belief. And it really got me thinking about, who do you worship? Who is the God that you worship? Is he created? Is he uncreated? Is he changing?

Or is he unchangeable? Is he the creator? Is he a reshaper? Is he all these kind of attributes that we see in the Word of God? Or is he something completely different? And while discussing with these people over on this Facebook page, there's an issue that it's so hard to be able to dialogue in a comment section.

I'm not saying that you can't do it for the glory of God, and I'm not saying that it isn't a fruitful means of conversation. But what I'm saying is that you can't show them your Bible in front of you.

You can't have the tone of your voice to express love and concern. And you can't use your hand gestures to express the words that are coming out of your mouth, and so on and so forth. There's so much that's lost in a comment section.

And so I would hope that if anybody that I was discussing with these things with on that Facebook group, that they would see something like this, and see the genuine care that I would have for somebody in worshiping the God of the Bible.

Anything less than worshiping the God of the Bible is, one, it's worship to an idol, and it's worship that's blasphemous to God. And it's not okay. It's clearly and identifiably sin according to the Bible.

It really is. And so the question of who do you worship is really fundamental to every individual, not just to religious groups, not to just churches, not to those that just profess Jesus. It's a question that is posed to myself.

It's a question that's posed to you individually. And so who do you worship? I want to show to you some things that are very clear in the Word of God about who deserves worship. I'm just going to read here right out of Isaiah chapter 6, and I'll just start in verse 1, and we'll just go for a little bit.

It says,.

The Holiness of Yahweh in Isaiah 6

And one called out to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, is the Yahweh of hosts. That name that God gives is His explicit name to Moses in Exodus 3, 14. He says, is the Yahweh, the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of His glory. And so we see right there that there's these angels, these cherubim and sephirim, these sephirim that are calling out to one another, singing to God about His attributes, about who He is, that He's holy, holy, holy, and that this whole earth, His creation is full of His glory.

And it goes on to say this,. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of Him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.

For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, the Yahweh of hosts. So it's Isaiah in here saying that he has seen His King, and that King is Yahweh. And this Yahweh is sitting upon His throne and receiving worship, not only from the angels, as we see here in just a moment,.

But it says that,.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he was taken from the altar with tongs, and he touched the mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I, send me. And so we see in this kind of a text that God is deserving of worship, and He receives that worship, and the worship is directed about who He is and who He proclaims Himself to be.

To the LDS reader that would be reading something like this, they would have no problem with this. And it's not only until you go to John chapter 12 that we see the conundrum that is before the LDS person.

Because they think that the Father is worthy of worship, and they worship God the Father. But they think that the Son and the Father are two separate beings, two separate essences, identifiably distinct.

Not just distinct, excuse me, divided in their beings, that they're two separate individuals. And that's very, very important. We know from Revelation, actually that's the first place I'll go to real fast.

In Revelation, I believe it's chapter 19, I'll flip over here real fast. In chapter 19, yep, chapter 19 verses 10, and just to give you a little bit of context, John is before an angel, and the angel is receiving...

Well, the angel is before him, and John starts to worship him. And so that's what we're reading here in John 19 10. It says, And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus.

Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So the angel in here is saying, Do not worship me. Because there's only one being that is worthy of worship. Worship God. And that's my message for this video today.

Jesus as the One Worshiped in John 12

Is that you individually, regardless of what professing church you are a part of, is to worship the God of the Bible. And so let us turn now. As we can see that this angel has said, Worship God. Let's turn to John chapter 12.

John chapter 12. And we'll just start in verse 37. It says in here, John chapter 12 verse 37. But though he had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in him. This is speaking about Christ in this text and the Jews.

It says that the word of Isaiah, the prophet, what we just read from in Isaiah chapter 6, might be fulfilled which he spoke, Yahweh, Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed.

For this cause they could not believe. For Isaiah said again, He has blinded their hearts, or blinded their eyes, and he has hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and perceive with their hearts, and be converted, and I heal them.

That is being quoted from Isaiah chapter 6 right after the verses that we just read a little while ago with the angels that are worshiping God. That Isaiah says send me, here I am, send me, and so he is sent to go tell a people that there is going to be a day when they will have eyes that cannot see, and have ears that cannot hear, and have a heart that is hardened, that they just cannot perceive who Christ is.

And it goes on to say this in verse 41. This is the very important part.

It says,.

The question is, who did Isaiah see sitting upon the throne? Who did Isaiah see receiving worship? Who did Isaiah say that it was that was upon his throne, lofty and lifted up with a train that was fulfilling the entire temple?

It was Yahweh that he saw. It was God. And that is why he was worthy of being worshipped. But according to John chapter 12, it says that he was seeing Jesus. He was seeing Jesus being worshipped upon that throne.

And this would make sense, because if Isaiah had seen the Father, it would contradict the very words of Jesus. As we can see, Jesus says no man hath seen God. No one has seen him. And in fact, in John chapter 1, verse 18, this word that becomes flesh,.

It says,.

The Son as the Exact Representation of the Father

It goes on to say then, just jumping around into these different important verses, in John chapter 14, it says in verse 7, Philip said to him, Jesus is the exact representation, the exact same as the Father.

We cannot look to another individual and say that we are the exact. But Jesus can, because he is the exact essence and being as the Father. Distinct in their persons, but not divided in their being. For God is a triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus, being that God in flesh, is worthy of worship. And we see this, that Isaiah verse is before his incarnation. He's receiving worship in his incarnation in Matthew chapter 28, verse 17. Right before the Great Commission, it says,.

One being three persons. They worship Jesus, and if Jesus is not deserving of worship, he would have stopped them just as the angel did in Revelation chapter 19. Now, to put the nail in the coffin even more about who our object of worship ought to be, I would ask you to turn to Revelation chapter 5.

Revelation chapter 5, this comes after Revelation chapter 4, where they are worshiping God upon his throne. And there's this book that no one is worthy to open, that it is sealed. And it says in verse 5 of Revelation 5, and we'll start in verse 4, it says,.

And I began to weep greatly, because no one was found worthy to open the book, or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, Stop weeping. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome.

So as to open the book, and the seven seals. And I saw between the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders of the lamb, standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

And he came, and he took it out of his right hand, of him who sat on the throne. And this is important to notice in here. It is Jesus that it is speaking of, it is the lamb that is slain. And it says that he takes the book, that no one else has the power to open.

And it says in verse 8,. And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures, and the twenty-four elders, so both angels and elders, fall down before the lamb, having each one a harp, and a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy art thou to take the book, and to break its seals. For thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with thy blood men from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

And thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth. This is clear that Jesus receives worship prior to the incarnation, in his incarnation, and post his incarnation.

He's receiving worship right now, and he's deserving of that worship because he is God in flesh. So my question today is, who do you worship? Because if you are saying that you worship God, but you do not worship Jesus because you do not believe him to be the one and only God, the second person of the Trinity, you have made yourself an idol.

You have made yourself an idol, and you do not know who Jesus Christ is. You reject him as he has described himself to be. And it doesn't matter how often you use the name of Jesus Christ, or how you use the same titles as the person that does proclaim Jesus to be the Yahweh, the one and only God.

The very name that Jesus says in John 8, verses 23 -24, where he says, unless you believe I am, you shall die in your sins. Jesus took that very same name, Yahweh. Unless you believe I am Ego Emi, I am Yahweh, you will die in your sins.

False Disciples and the Wise Man Built on the Rock

Matthew 7, it says this, in verse 22,. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many mighty miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. These are people that have testimonies. These are people that think they know Jesus. These are people that call out to him. These are people that have had validating experiences for the being that they believe in.

But it does not matter, because Christ does not know them. He does not have a relationship with them. And it's because they are not built upon the rock. It says in verses 24 on, it says,. Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and acts upon them may be compared to a wise man who built his house upon the rock.

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against the house. And yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. In Matthew chapter 16, it says, You are Peter, upon this rock speaking about himself.

Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Jesus Christ is the stone that was rejected by the builders. He's the chief cornerstone. And if you are built upon the rock, you will worship him as he is, God in flesh, the one and only, from all eternity to eternity.

There is none before him, none after him. That is from Isaiah chapter 43 all the way to chapter 48. We see him saying this over and over and over again. If you fall upon that rock, you will be saved, and you will worship the God of the Bible, the triune God that is clearly seen, consisting of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all three claiming to be that one and only God, and they validate that message.

I hope that this has been a blessing. As I said, this was just some thoughts as I was preparing for my sermon for this Sunday, and also some thoughts on dialoguing and discussion on a comment thread on Facebook.

I hope that this might bless you, and once again, God bless, and go in peace.