What It Means to Worship (01/17/1999) | NOTE: Low volume

True Worship Has Been Lost and Replaced With a Counterfeit

Going to truly See what it means to worship, and I think it's a it is a thing that in this world this religious world that we live in true worship has been lost and Also even worse than that it's been replaced with a counterfeit.

And so I think we'll see those things today, and I'm excited about it. But I'm excited about seeing what true worship is all about. We're so happy to have each of you here our home folks. And our visitors, and we hope that our visitors will feel like home folks today.

In our you might note the bulletin if you're visiting for the first time. We have a place for you to fill this out and tear that off and place it in the offering plates in a few moments. We'd appreciate that if you would do that so we can keep track with you and find you and pay you a visit a little bit later on.

I Notice that my grandfather just came in the back, and it's so good to see you brother waters with us again and It's good to have you in the congregation. Let me say this about next Sunday my wife. And I will be away for four days.

And we will not be here on Sunday, and we have a service plan that I think That will really touch your hearts. What we're going to do is brother Russell Brown is going to sort of serve as Moderator and we're going to have several families in our church.

Come and do one of three things or a combination of the above either sing a song preferably a hymn and Or Give a word from the Word of God That you've been studying lately or give a testimony about what the Lord's done in your life in recent days or a combination of some of those things and.

So if you and your family would like to be a part in that you might want to see me after the service today. And just let me know you know I really feel like the Lord would have us Say something and we'll try to keep each family to around 10 minutes so that several families Will have an opportunity that morning and also that afternoon what we're going to do when you get here next Sunday.

We're going to put everybody's name in a hat and draw that draw the name so that you'll so that you'll know what time you're Going to speak because some will speak in the afternoon service some in the morning.

And we want to be fair about that so everybody has equal opportunity to have the pulpit at 11 o 'clock Sunday morning so brother Russell will take care of all that and The only thing that I hate about it is that I'll miss it so I trust that you will take it brother Tom.

Tape it for us so that we can hear that when we get back. But I believe that'll be a wonderful service. And I don't think it'll be the last time that we do that. Of course we've done similar things in the past.

But I believe it'll be a wonderful day next Sunday. We might note also at 10 o 'clock on Wednesdays Mrs.. Sue Riddle is doing the ladies Bible class again up here at 10 o 'clock on Wednesdays. That's back in session, and we've also noted in the bulletin once again the different home Bible studies.

And brother Otis and Miss B's home Gives all the days and the times for that Bible study, and we really highly encourage you to go to that. I bring my entire family on Monday night, which is a school night.

But we drive all the way over from the head to attend that class every Monday whether we have homework or not. Because I believe it's that important to have my children sitting under that teaching so I encourage you to do the same.

Prayer for Teaching on Worship

Well, let's go to the Lord in prayer this morning. Dear father we thank you so much for Your word. For it is truth. And we thank you so much that You make it possible for us to worship you in spirit for that is the only way that you can be worshipped for you are spirit and We pray that you would teach us more about what that means today as we study your word together.

And we pray that your Holy Spirit would move in a powerful way upon the congregation today, and that you would move about To each of us individually speak to our hearts and teach us things of the Word of God.

And father we pray that there might not be a single individual who would grieve or quench your spirit today. So Lord search our hearts right now during this part of the service and bring to mind any Unconfessed sin that we might have from the past days and move us to confess and be cleansed.

According to 1st John 1 9. And father, we just pray that you would do something in our hearts today. It would make a change that we might know thee better. And we might know more about what it means to worship you and we ask it in Jesus name.

Amen, my brother Fisher. Come now for the morning special.

David if you'd rather we just skip this. This is another old old song. Those are the only ones With which I can identify dwelling in Beulah land. The noise of strife upon my ear is false. Then I know the sins of earth be said on every hand.

Doubt and fear and things on earth to me in vain are calling. None of these shall move me. I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky. I'm drinking at the fountain That never shall run dry.

Oh, yes. From a bountiful Supply for I am dwelling in viewing here the works of God. I sink in Contemplation Hearing now his blessed voice. I see the way he plans. Aspiration deadly will I tarry in. I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky.

I'm drinking at the fountain That never shall run. Feasting on the manna from a bountiful Supply for I am dwelling In all of you. Sing the course with me. I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky I'm drinking at the fountain That never shall run.

Oh, yes, I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful Supply for I am dwelling.

Some of you may not know this. Brother Otis was the music director at the Conn Valley Baptist Church in Dallas for 20 years under for the Barney Tims and I could tell that because even though his choir was was out here in front of him today.

You sounded great. And I appreciate that special. It's good to see KK's acts lip in back there. Good morning. Good to have you with us brother Tom. Could I ask you to do something for me? I think is this on number one.

Would you change unplug it put it on number two because number one has some corrosion on here and it's not quite picking up, right? I've noticed that before. We've been. Also, I don't know if that tapes already running but check that as well.

Sovereignty, Responsibility, and the Study of Worship

We've been talk about it again this morning and this afternoon as well but if you remember there are a couple of verses that we've looked at each time. Philippians chapter 2 in verse 13 and also 1st Corinthians chapter 3 in verse 9 and those two verses Sort of tie together the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.

Philippians 2 13 says for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. God works in us both to make us want to do and to make us to do His good pleasure or his will. And in 1st Corinthians 3 9 says for we are laborers together with God.

We are laborers together with God and so it brings the two together. It brings Together what God is doing in his purpose and how we are part of that purpose. And so those two verses Sort of have undergirded each of the studies and will also be the same same will be true of the study on worship.

Last time we talked from Genesis chapter 22, you might turn there. This morning Genesis chapter 22 and we began a study of worship in that chapter. Now the first thing that we did though was we had to discover or rediscover that In this particular passage.

The predominant thing that is usually taught. Is that Isaac is a type or a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ or a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Tom, I guess I need a little more volume or treble or something.

Let me see how we're doing now, okay now that's getting a little better. I can hear that little bite. I like to hear that. Okay. Thank you, sir. We've we noticed that there were 14 Similarities between Isaac and the Lord Jesus Christ and we studied that last Sunday morning.

We've also discussed the fact that in the Bible There are many forms of worship that are mentioned and by that I mean physical bodily forms. Now I'm not saying that's what worship is. But I'm saying when you find people worshiping in the Bible you find them in many cases in these forms.

There's a place where the word is translated to take hold of as if to take hold of the Lord. Predominantly it would be trans the word would be translated to bow down. The literal word for worship is translated to bow down before him and Unger's Bible dictionary says that the predominant form of worship as far as the bodily position was in biblical days to bow down on the knees and touch the forehead to the ground and.

But there are other Positions of worship that are mentioned and we discussed that holding the Lord Jesus by his feet was one position. Falling prostrate on the ground as mentioned many times in the Bible falling down before him crouching before him humbling humbly beseeching him doing reverence and.

Even the word stooping is found in Job chapter 9 verse 13 stooping before him. But this gives us a picture of how people might have looked when they were worshiping the Lord in the Bible now. One thing that I have immediately found to be interesting is that when we see people quote worship today.

Whether it be a church service we see on the television set or whatever where we see someone calling this a worship service. We don't see people in any of those positions. Now I'm not saying that being in that position means you're truly worshiping God either.

In fact, that's what we're going to study today is the fact that we must worship God in spirit and in truth. Otherwise, it's not worship at all. It might look like worship. You might see someone bowed down.

You might see someone standing there going like this. You may see them hopping up and down like this. You can see a million different ways that people appear to be worshiping. But unless they're worshiping in spirit and in truth, it's not real and that's what we're going to talk about.

Predominantly today now last time though. We also talked about some of the elements of worship that are found in Genesis chapter 22 as we went through it verse by verse. The first thing that we noted and we're just reviewing a little bit here but the first thing that we noted was that this particular worship of Abraham and Isaac was both preceded and Succeeded by God's testing we find that in Genesis chapter 22 verse 1 God did test Abraham and that happened before the worship and then in chapter 23 Abraham's wife Sarah Died and that was another test.

So we see that it was surrounded by a testing. Second thing that we noticed about worship was that it involved giving up that which Abraham loved the most his son. His only son his only son Isaac whom he loved and the Lord God made it clear to Abraham By saying those exact words.

That that's what he would have to give up. And then the third thing we noticed was that worship was not always convenient. God told him I want you to go off over here three days journey some 30 miles.

To a certain place where I tell you and that's where you'll worship and many times. That's the kind of a picture in the modern church today that we do it the other way around. We tell God how we're going to worship him.

We tell God what we're gonna do in the churches to draw a crowd or to draw a bunch of teenagers. And it doesn't matter if it's godly or worldly just whatever it is to get them in the room. That's what's done today in the churches and that's not right.

Because in the Bible there were proper ways to worship God and we see this in this passage. God instructed Abraham Exactly how they would be worshiping and Abraham rose up early in the morning in verse 3 of chapter 22 and began to get ready and he did exactly what God told him to do.

He made preparation to do it exactly according to how God had told him to worship and Then the next thing that we saw is that worship will always result. There must be faith in God and the fear of God involved now that reviews a little bit what we've covered now.

I want you to focus on verse 6 now in Genesis chapter 22. Let's have a word of prayer dear father. We ask now as we go into this New material that we've not yet discussed about worship that you would fully control me and my mind.

Keep my carnal flesh completely away from this place and out of this message and we pray the same for Each of us that you would keep our flesh away and open our spiritual ears and our spiritual eyes. And help us to see the face of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith this morning and make us aware of your presence.

We ask it in Jesus name Amen in verse 6. It says in Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand and a knife and they went both of them together the wood and the fire and the knife Symbolized some things for us this morning.

The wood obviously symbolizes the altar the cross of Jesus Christ. There can be no worship for us Without the cross of Christ and what he did for us on that cross and the blood that was shed on that cross for it.

Is that blood that takes us? Boldly before the throne of grace. We cannot approach that on our own and the fire I believe typifies zeal. The zeal of the Christian as he worships God the zeal of his heart.

Because what that fire did was it totally consumed the offering and it pictures us giving our life over to be totally Consumed by God rather than by self. And thirdly the knife speaking of self what it pictures is death to self.

It pictures self judgment perhaps. And so we see these things pictured here. And it brings us really. By review we've spoken of four things that have to do with worship in this passage scripture. It brings us to the fifth and the sixth and the seventh will not be able to cover all three of those points this morning.

The fifth point is that worship is vitally conjoined with the Word of God and the sixth point is that worship can only occur in spirit and In the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and the seventh point which is our third point for this morning is it only can occur with the provision of God.

Now we can't cover all that. So I want us to start this morning. We'll see how far we get. I'll watch you and I'll kind of discern when you you've had a you know, a mind and heart full. But I want to talk about this point that worship is vitally conjoined with the Word of God.

Now, let's go back in Genesis. We're basically in Genesis 22, but let's go back to the last two verses of Genesis 21 and let's notice that it says in 21 verse 33 Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord the everlasting God and Abraham sojourned in the Philistines land many days and it came to pass after these things that God did test him and Said unto him and I want you to circle the word said because that's God's Word.

He said unto him and then he went ahead and we remember the story. We have here God's Word first of all, we see that that That Abraham was praying to Elohim in the end of verse 33 the everlasting God and Also, it's the Lord Elohim, which means Jehovah the everlasting God now.

We know that the names of God picture certain characteristics of God that he wants us to know about himself. And the interesting thing about the word Jehovah, which is in the English It would be L O R D all caps anytime you see all four of the letters capitalized.

It's always Jehovah and that means that aspect of God, which is the everlasting one who reveals himself to man and Where you see that word used in the Old Testament, it's I believe a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ even in the Old Testament, but when you see him praying to Jehovah and then it says the everlasting God that name for God is Elohim.

Which is in the Hebrew language a uniplural word, which is very unusual. But it speaks of the Godhead the Father Son the Holy Spirit the same word or name of God that's used in the early chapters of Genesis when it says let us make man in our image and.

Yet when God made man, it was Jehovah who made him. Now we see here that he begins to speak to God. But then in verse 1 of chapter 22 God speaks to him. So we're bringing in the Word of God. Let me say this this morning.

There can be no worship outside of the Word of God. Why is it that we see the cheap and I say cheap counterfeit of Worship all over the TV screens and everywhere in this country. Where people are dancing around and hollering and clapping and and making believe that God has come down on that place.

You say well brother Mitchell surely you believe God does do that. Yes, I do believe God does that but I believe God does that. You can't make him do that and I'll tell you this you search the scriptures and show me where God does it every time.

In every service he does not. He chooses when he will come down on a place in power like that. He is a sovereign God. He's the one that makes that choice. We'll see that in the scriptures in a few moments.

What does that tell us you cannot make it happen? You can't counterfeit it. And When we talk about worship the Lord Jesus Christ said very clearly in the New Testament that if you're there will be those who will worship him and We must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The problem that we see in a lot of our charismatic churches today, or I should say all of them Perhaps is that they want to worship God in spirit, but they don't emphasize the truth. And if you do that and you leave the truth out of it.

It comes into a counterfeit type worship. It will not bleep please God and cannot please God because the Bible says you cannot please God in the flesh or with the flesh. Now it is very difficult to discern the difference between your spirit and your soul.

The Bible says In the book of Hebrews that the only thing that can help you discern the difference between the spirit and the soul is the Word of God. What is the difference. Well, have you ever heard of a soul brother.

What does that mean? Is that somebody who's spiritual necessarily? Well, I mean it could be but I mean when we use that phrase we're talking about a spiritual person. No, and yet many people in the modern church think your soul is what makes you spiritual.

Listen, your soul is connected to your flesh. Maybe it is an interface between the flesh and the spiritual part of you, but it doesn't mean that it's what makes you spiritual. Your soul can have to do with what we call your your life or your emotions your feelings and When we see a lot of these quote worship services with people bouncing around all over the place a lot of times.

That's their flesh doing that and you can check out the message that they're listening to and it's a very fleshly message. And that's not spiritual. Therefore it is not worship because Jesus said we can only worship God in spirit and in truth.

Which means according to the Word of God. Listen, you can't just worship God like you want to when you get into Genesis chapter 22 God tells him very carefully says in verse 2 and he said now take your son.

Your only son whom you love and get thee into the land of Moriah. He told him exactly where to worship. He said it's out there. You're gonna go out there until I tell you to stop and that's where you'll worship.

So God's Word gave instruction on how to worship and that's what we mean by worshiping in truth. Let me show you some places in the Word of God where worship is Surrounded by and has to do with the Word of God and is vitally connected to the Word of God first of all in Psalm 138 in verse 2 The Bible says I will worship toward thy holy temple.

So we see the idea of worship here and praise thy name for thy loving-kindness and for Thy truth or because of your truth for thou has magnified thy word. Listen to me thy word above all thy name. The Word of God is magnified higher than the name of God by God himself.

Why do you suppose God would do that to man? Because man has such a tendency to get off on a tangent. And get off out here getting into things that he thinks is right because it feels good. And God said therefore I must magnify my word above even my name.

Because if you don't follow my word, you'll get off base on worship. In Jeremiah 7 2 it says stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and Say hear the word of the Lord all ye of Judah that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord.

Do you see the connection? Here ye and proclaim the word and Hear the word all of you that are going to enter into the gate and worship the Lord. Don't enter in the gate and worship the Lord without the Word of God.

Jeremiah 26 2 says. Thus saith the Lord stand in the court of the Lord's house and speak unto all the cities of Judah which come to worship In the Lord's house speaking to them all the words that I command thee to speak unto them and listen to this.

Diminish not a word. What does that mean? Don't take away from the Word of God. If they're going to come to my house and worship me. Then you speak all of the word to them and don't diminish one bit of it.

Put all of it in there. Don't just pluck out a verse. Let's talk about the whole chapter. Let's talk about the whole book let's figure out where this book fits into the entire Word of God and Let's give the true sense of it when we talk about it.

And then the people will be able to worship in one and True I'm gonna get to the spirit part later right now. We're talking about the truth part now. Deuteronomy 11 16 that now this is. Get this in your notes.

I don't know if you're looking all these up and going with me get more out of it if you look at it I believe but at least get Deuteronomy 11 16 and following in your notes because not only Is true worship connected with the Word of God?

But the Bible teaches that the Word of God will prevent false worship. So we see coming at the positive and the negative now. This is the negative side. Take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them.

Now apparently that must be possible for God's people to do. Because he warns us not to do it. Therefore shall you lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul. Now listen to what he says to do with the Word of God here.

It draws a very interesting picture. He said now I'm trying to teach you how not to worship the wrong things and how not to worship the wrong way. And here's what I say. I want you to do. God says therefore lay up these my words, that's the Word of God that you've got on your lap this morning and Lay them up in your heart and in your soul and bind them for a sign upon your hand.

Every time you look at your hand you see the Word of God. That they may be as front lip but front lips between your eyes. You got a little box extended out here between your eyes with scriptures on there where you can see them everywhere you go.

And that you shall teach them to your children. Now listen to this speaking of them when you sit in your house. When you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. Ladies and gentlemen the way you teach the Bible to your children.

It's okay to sit down and have a family altar time if you want to and make a formal thing out of it. But the way they know God's real is when you're just walking out by the way and they're with you. You have to point out something God has done.

And you speak of the Lord to them in the way as you walk with them in life. And when you lie down when you rise up when you're sitting in the house, that just means when you're sitting around quote doing nothing.

You point out to your children what God is doing at that present time around you. And what he has done and God becomes so real in their hearts and in their eyes. And then you take the Word of God and you write them upon the doorpost every time you go out of the house.

You see the Word of God every time you come in the house. You see the Word of God and you write it upon the gates. Why do we do that so that your days may be multiplied in the days of your children in the land?

That's a picture of the promised land is a picture of Vital successful Christian living in the true sense of that word. Of being able to walk in the spirit with the Lord. That's what the promised land pictures.

In the land which the Lord swear to your fathers to give them as the days of heaven upon the earth. For if you shall diligently keep all these commandments, which I command you. That's the Word of God to do them to love the Lord your God to walk in all his ways and to cleave unto him.

Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you. Do you know what those nations picture in our lives today. The enemy. Who is our enemy? Well, you better know who he is because he's trying to destroy your children today.

Gentleman, he's trying to take your wife and destroy her. All these soap operas are an accident. All these things that are around there for that wife to see with her eyes and consume while you're off at work.

I'm telling you the enemy is there to destroy your wife gentlemen. Ladies, he's there to destroy your husband's but God says if you keep the Word of God in front of your eyes on your hands on the doorposts of your homes and you speak about the Word of God to your children as you sit down as you rise up as you go in the way as you Get up in the morning and as you go to bed at night.

Then he says the Lord will drive off these nations from before you the Lord will take care of the enemy. He's trying to destroy your family and you shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.

Every place where on the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours. That's the promised land. Victorious Christian living life. Abundant life. From the wilderness of Lebanon from the river the river Euphrates even into the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

There shall no man be able to stand before you. That's a picture of the enemy again. For the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land. That ye shall tread upon and as he has said unto you.

That's the power of God. The power of God in this entire passage is wrapped up in the Word of God and its presence in your home and in your life. And everywhere you go. Now does it mean you're literally gonna write scriptures on your hands and put a little box between your eyes like the Orthodox Jews do and and Put it on the doorpost.

Why not? It it's drawing a picture of the fact that the Word of God must be in our lives every day and throughout the day. Brother Otis and I have commented on the fact that we have coffee a few times a week.

Gail will testify to that because I don't always get a lot done in the office when I'm having coffee. But you know, we have both drawn closer to the Lord and Had revival in our lives because he and I get together and have coffee and discuss the Word of God.

Did you know that if you would do that with someone the same thing would happen. It could be your wife or your husband to children. It could be a friend in the church be your pastor. Brother Otis, he liked that bunch of coffee.

Call him up sometime. But the point is not that it's Otis and me or you and someone else it's the presence of the Word of God and the fact that you're bouncing it off of one another and Sharpening one another and discussing it and getting more deeply into it than you would have.

You know what that'll do. That can bring you to worship, but you know what else it'll do according to what we're talking about right now. Keep you away from false worship. It can keep you from going the way of the world and following what religion is doing around us today that in many cases is so.

Wrong, it's interesting in Exodus 34 8 that when Moses had gone up before the Lord. At the time when the Ten Commandments were given it says and Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and Worship, why did he worship?

Because he was in the presence of not only God but also the Word of God. As it was given now, let me have you turn to the book of Nehemiah in chapter 8. Nehemiah chapter 8 and we'll begin with verse 5 and I want you to look at the presence of the Word of God as.

These people come to worship and we have to understand in the history of the Jewish people. They have not been worshiping God properly for years. Before this happened and they came back to a proper worship of God.

They had been worshiping. Yes, but in a false way. In fact, they had been worshiping idols setting up groves and going out there and everybody thought they're worshiping God. But you know what? They weren't doing it according to the Word of God.

Well, what watch what happens when they bring the Word of God back into it. Look at this. It's just beautiful. Nehemiah 8 verse 5 and Ezra opened the book. You cannot have worship without truth. We must worship in spirit, but we must worship in truth.

Ezra opened the book and the sight of all the people for he was above all the people. All that means is he had a pulpit like this. I'm up a little higher so people on the back row can can see me. And that's the way he was and they could when he opened up this book.

Maybe we don't like this front part. We shouldn't have this because you ought to be able to see this book sitting up here on this pulpit. I'll promise you it's always up here open. And they saw that book and when he opened it all the people Stood up, you know what brother rocky tells me.

He's a Jew, you know Jewish believer he tells me that when the Word of God is open the Jewish people always stand up and Ezra blessed the Lord the great God. And all the people answered. Amen. Amen with lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord.

With their faces to the ground when he you have to understand the Word of God had been lost at that time. They had just they had abused it so much. They put it off and the scrolls were off in a dusty part of the temple somewhere perhaps and they had not even been using using them so when when Nehemiah comes in and breaks it out and Ezra begins to preach from it all the sudden the Word of God is back in play and As soon as they saw it and heard it they stood they lifted up their hands and they bowed their heads.

We don't know whether it was like this and they just bowed down and worshiped God or whether they went all the way to the Ground and put their forehead on the ground, but I guarantee you something happened.

But the reason it happened is because of the Word of God in the presence of God right there on that particular day. It had not been happening in all their other worship services. I'll promise you that so they bowed their heads and they worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly. Now, you know, that's not like a lot of the preaching we hear nowadays. By the preaching that we think is the best preaching is somebody running around just hollering and slobbering and going up down the aisles and You don't know what he's saying.

He probably only read one verse. In that truth, that's kind we like the best. But God says that these preachers opened the book and that they read the book Distinctly and gave the sense you know what that means.

They told them this is exactly what God means by this verse in this passage those preachers were teachers. They took the Word of God. They read it distinctly and they said here's what it means this is what it means for your life and they did it in context and they did it in such a way that it didn't contradict the rest of the Word of God and They gave the sense and they caused them to understand the reading.

And Nehemiah which was which which is the Tershitha and Ezra the priest the scribe and the Levites. That taught the people said unto all the people this day is holy unto the Lord your God. Now listen to this more not nor weak.