Deuteronomy 12, we'll read the whole chapter, and beginning in verse 1, these are the words of God. So give your attention to them. These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess. All the days that you live on the earth, You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire. You shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things. But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place, and there you shall go. There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you. You shall not at all do as we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes. For as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about so that you dwell in safety, then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you, your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see, but in the place which the Lord chooses. In one of your tribes there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you. However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which He has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. Only you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it on the earth like water. You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil. or the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, or your freewill offerings, or of the heave offering of your hand. But you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God chooses you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God and all to which you put your hands. Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levites as long as you live in your land. O Lord, your God enlarges your border, as he has promised you. And you say, let me eat meat, because you long to eat meat. You may eat as much meat as your heart desires. If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the Lord has given you. Just as I have commanded you, you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires. Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them. The unclean and the clean alike may eat them. Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life. You may not eat the life with the meat. You shall not eat it, you shall pour it on the earth like water. You shall not eat it that it may go well with you and your children after you when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. Only the holy things which you have and your vowed offerings you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses. And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood on the altar of the Lord your God, and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the meat. Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God. When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abomination to the Lord which he hates they have done to their gods, for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it nor take away from it." Those are the words of the Lord. Chapter 12. It is an exposition on the second commandment. God's people must utterly destroy all idols and relics and remains of false worship in the land of Canaan, in that land in which they were going. And we as well must destroy all idols and relics and remains of false worship amongst us. We must worship the Lord in His presence according to His commandments. That is, we are to put off all false worship and we are to put on all true worship. And throughout the chapter there are commands of bringing all offerings to the altar of God and all holy things where the Lord calls. Of course, we learn in Chronicles that's Jerusalem. And this reminds us, of course, all these offerings. It reminds us of Christ's final sacrifice as He fulfills these shadows spoken of here in the Old Testament worship. But the principle of Old Testament worship, because of the second commandment is eternal, it remains. And so those things commanded to put off, they were to do as they were to put them off in the wilderness, they were to do in the land when they entered the land. And as this is the second commandment, it gives us what we call today in doctrinal terms the regulative principle of worship. And that is very simply that what we do in God's holy worship, verse 32, we only do those things in God's worship that God commands us to do, and everything God commands we must do. So we can't take away from it. We have to do what He commands. And that's the same principle as you find here that is in New Testament worship. It doesn't change. And this as well does not allow for doing anything in worship just because God does not forbid it. But of course, if God forbids it, we must not do it. And those who do and worship those things that God does not forbid, practice that false principle of worship not found in scripture, we call in doctrinal terms the normative principle of worship. That's the Roman Catholic view, that's the Lutheran view, and much of the American church is seriously infiltrated with such thinking, even throughout the world. But we worship, because God calls us and tells us here and in other places how to worship, we worship according to Scripture, doing only in worship what God commands us to do in worship. And that's very different from doing anything in worship, as long as it's not forbidden. And in worship, the center of worship, is God's Word, which declares to us the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in which we worship the Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ, in union with Him. And much more we learn about New Testament worship in the book of Hebrews, especially. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, we are thankful for Your worship. We confess now that we are sinners, that even as members of the body of Christ and this congregation, we are not perfect. The elders are not perfect. As undershepherds of you, of your son Jesus Christ, We have sinned, we continue in sin now. There are aspects of our worship that are not perfect, that are contrary to your word, that are against what you command us to do, maybe not only in word and truth, but also in our hearts as we worship even now. Father, we are not perfect, we are in sin. Father, we are often in that sin, ignorant of what we are doing, And so, Father, even now we ask that you would reform the church, reform this congregation, that you would put off all false worship and cause us to put on all true worship in your Son, Jesus Christ, and by your Holy Spirit. So reveal to us, if it is your will, reveal to us where we have erred. Help, especially the elders, to see where we have erred and turn this worship of you to be more holy and righteous in your sight. And yet, Father, even where we are ignorant, perhaps some willfully sinning against you in worship now in their hearts, Father, where we are ignorant, We ask that you would forgive us of our sin, that you would receive our worship for Christ's sake, knowing that as we worship, we know we have a mediator, an intercessor, Jesus Christ, our advocate, who's not only praying for us, but perfecting our worship now, even as we pray. And so, Father, we ask that you would receive that worship that we offer that is perfected by your Son. We pray that you would receive it for His sake, for His glory, for His name to be spread throughout all the earth. And Father, we do ask today that you would as well give us safety. We're thankful that you are a God who protected us And hopefully everyone else that we saw in traffic accidents today, you would protect them and bring healing to them if they had to go to the hospital. We ask that you would make this perhaps a wake-up call to them, that they cannot live life any way they please, even when driving dangerously in such conditions. Father, we must trust you and they must trust you for their life. lest they die and perish in the way. And so, Father, we ask that you would give them wisdom. Send your Spirit. Send somebody to tell them the gospel and reveal to them your Son, Jesus Christ, and that you would turn us and them from their sins unto you, the living and true God. We ask that you'd also give us safety as we travel home today. and that we would be wise and take our time and pray that you would continue to keep safe those people on the road. Father, we also ask that you would be with Shane today as he's sick and you would heal his body. We ask any others who are not feeling well and who are sick or often hurting in their body or long-term ailments, you would heal them. We pray that you would help Larry in the van today and that he'd be able to come to worship this evening and perhaps that we would be able to have worship this evening, we pray as well. We also ask for Patricia, you'd bring her safely home from Italy and ask that you would also in the weeks ahead give safety to Bob Hemphill, I know he's traveling here. This coming Friday and we'll be meeting with my family and then on the Lord's Day, teaching and preaching in the morning. I pray that you would be with him now and preparing his heart for that and preaching God's Word and us to hear. I pray you give him and his wife safety as they come and join us and we learn about church planting. Father, we also ask that you would be with your church throughout the world. We ask for the persecuted church, even many who are imprisoned, some being put to death as we speak, some who are being abused and beat. and hurt, and Father, we ask that you would protect them in their souls. We know that you do not leave nor forsake us, that you keep us and guard us in our souls and our hearts, even our bodies, as long as it is in your plan and according to your will, knowing that death will bring in a new glorified body, and so we live in hope, but we ask that they would live in hope, who are persecuted and suffering today throughout the world. We pray for the Gospel going forth throughout all the world, have it to fall on receptive hearts, as your spirit works in their hearts, and bring about faith. We also ask that you would be with our government, our nation, as we've heard in the evenings from chronicles that you would reform the church, and so bring about reformation to this nation that we belong to, and the other nations throughout the world, even that we know dearly, like Brazil or South Sudan. Father, we ask that you would bring about a reformation, and that would take salvation of rulers and leaders, that would take the loving and fearing of your name, and bowing down to Christ who is the King. And so, Father, we pray for rulers and kings and all in authority over us You would save them, you would bring about salvation, they would rule according to your word for your glory, and you would bring about reformation as well to your church, which desperately needs it in our day. Father, we also praise you, that you are the God who not only is our creator, but our sustainer. A God who gives us your word and reveals yourself to us, and teaches us, and tells us, and exhorts us, and your Son, Jesus Christ. as well as rebukes us of our sin, in which we praise you for that as well. Again, we confess our sin. We ask for forgiveness, even of breaking the second commandment, that we would make no image before you, nor have idols or worship falsely, but that we would worship in truth and in spirit with our hearts. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.