I want to talk about worship today, so I want to start with Exodus 20. Can we have somebody just read Exodus 20, verse, let's start in verse two. Through six, Exodus 20, verse two through six. Christian, puedes leerlo? Yo soy Jehovah tu Dios, que te saque de la tierra de Egipto, de casa de servidumbre. No tendrás dioses ajenos delante de mí, no te harás imagen ni ninguna semejanza de lo que está arriba en el cielo, ni abajo en la tierra, ni en las aguas debajo de la tierra. No te inclinarás a ellas ni las honrarás porque yo soy Jehová tu Dios, fuerte, celoso, que visito la maldad de los padres sobre los hijos hasta la tercera y cuarta generación de los que me aborrecen. Y hago misericordia a millares, a los que aman y guardan mis mandamientos. All right, we understand that these are the 10 commandments. And we've just read the first two commandments. And we understand that the confession rightly says this, that the moral law of God is summarily contained. in the 10 commandments. Uh, what you have here in these first two is, is with the idea of, um, worship. What I'm going to do today is we're going to go from here to Nahum in just a minute. But I want to lay some groundwork for some foundations about worship. And then I want to work through what false worship results in. And then I hope to close with some pointed application for pastors. Okay, so the first is we as we think about worship. The text says that we have no other gods before the one true God. And we're not to bow down to idols. The Hebrew word for bow down, sometimes it's translated, it's just translated worship. There's a connection with the physical act that the word is giving. And with the meaning of the word itself in terms of worship. I didn't come up with this, but one of the reformers, I think is a Scottish reformer. identifies three components of worship. that there is the component of understanding, there's the component of the will, and there's the component of action. So with true worship, that looks like this. We understand the one true God. We understand who he is. We understand the gospel. We understand that our relationship to him is based on what Christ has done for us. We understand that we only truly know Him in Christ, as He is perfectly revealed in the scriptures. But then there's also the element of the will. So, do you remember what James says? He says, you say that there's one God. You do well. Even the demons know and tremble. So the demons have an understanding of who God is. But their will is not one of worship. Pero su voluntad no es una de adoración. It's not surrender. So when I talk about will, I'm talking about surrender to God. No está sujetado. Cuando hablo de adoración, hablo de sujetado. Hablo de sujetado a Dios. We have affection for God. Tenemos afecto para Dios. We are afraid sometimes in the reform world to talk about emotions. En el mundo reformado tenemos miedo de hablar de emociones. Because emotions can be manipulated. But remember that emotions were given to us by God. And so we have a feeling for God. We love him. And then the third thing was action. So when you have this, uh, in the second commandment, it's, it's in the negative. You should not bow down. But the reverse is, is you should bow down to the one true God. We could spend probably all day on this. Worship is going to affect our action. That has to do with even the position we may take when reading the scriptures and praying. There are times when we pray when we can't get low enough. We get on our knees. It's not low enough, so we get on our face. And it's as low as we can get. But worship also affects our action in a multitude of other ways. For example, it takes our feet to church. So that's just a sort of a theological foundation for worship. We're to worship the one true God. We worship him in Christ. This involves our understanding, our will, and our action. But worship is restricted to the one true God. But it's not limited to God in the sense that people do worship other gods. Pero no es limitado a Dios en el sentido que la gente adora a otros dioses. Meaning, people give their heart. Quiere decir, la gente da su corazón. To other things. A otras cosas. People give their time and their devotion to other things. Gente da su tiempo y devoción a otras cosas. Now, in the scriptures. En las escrituras. They are full of commands, like the Ten Commandments. You shall do this. You shall not do this. The scripture is also full of Propositions, indicatives. It's not telling you to do something. It's just giving you a factual statement. For example, the love of money is the root of all evil. Well, that's not a command. It's not telling you to do something. It's just giving you a factual truth claim. So in the scriptures, you have all these precepts. And you have all of these propositions. But another thing the scriptures do, Pero otra cosa que los escritores hacen. They do a superb job of illustrating. Hacen un trabajo increíble de ilustrar todas esas cosas. So I want to go to Nahum 2. Quiero ir a Nahum 2. We're going to read from Nahum 2. And in Nahum 2, you're really not going to get any commands. And you're really not going to get any propositions. Rather, what you're going to get is a narrative describing what will happen to Nineveh. But I hope to show you how it's connected to false worship. So Nahum chapter 2. And let's read verse 7 through 9. Cautiva, y la reina será cautiva, mandarán que suba y sus criadas la llevarán gimiendo como palomas, golpeándose sus pechos. Fue ninive de tiempo antiguo como estanque de aguas, pero ellos huyen, dicen, deteneos, deteneos, pero ninguno mira. Saquead plata, saquead oro, no hay fin de las riquezas y suntuosidad de toda clase de efectos codiciables. We're going to do some exegetical work here first to set up what I want to teach. Now, in the reign of Valera, verse 7 starts out talking about the queen. Now I'm not sure, brother, in the translation that was read if it's the same. Did you read the Reign of Valera, Christian? Yeah, he read the Reign of Valera. It's the same. Okay, so it's similar. The King James translates it very similar. The English version translates it very similar. The problem is an understanding of what this Hebrew word is meaning. So the Hebrew word doesn't mean queen. And so some have said, well, they've just transliterated it to the name, the name of the queen. palabra y es un nombre de un rey reina. Not that it matters, but in the King James, it says chutzpah. En la versión en inglés dice chutzpah. But I think that that's a bad translation. Creo que es un mal traducción. And I even think that in the translation I have, the ESV, that it's not translated well. Y creo que también en la versión que tengo yo en inglés tampoco es traducido bien. The Hebrew word that begins verse seven. It comes from the word for stand. So the idea is verse seven starts out with, should say something like it has been established. And the point that Nahum is making here is that this is a fixed judgment upon Nineveh. Now, the reason I think that translators choose Queen is because verse seven goes on to talk about, well, I'm just going to, I mean, in the ESV, it uses these feminine. She is carried off. She is stripped. I'm not sure what the reign of Valera is. So if it's not talking about the queen, who is it talking about? Well, so let me just say this. I would grant that the queen is possible. Yo, entiendo que la reina es posible. My argument against her would be this. She's nowhere else in the Book of Nahum. She's not really mentioned in history. And it would just be strange for her to pop up here. Okay, another possibility of translating here. Otro posibilidad de traducirlo aquí. Is if these feminine pronouns refer to the city. Esas pronominales femeninas refieren a la ciudad. So the city is stripped bare, the city is taken captive. La ciudad está despojada, deportada, servientes. So again, I think that that's also possible. Creo que también es posible. But what I came down in studying this passage. Pero lo que yo llegué en estudiando este pasaje. Is I actually think that this may be referring to the false goddess of Ishtar. Pienso que tal vez está refiriendo a la diosa falsa de Ishtar. You don't have to go with me on that. No tienes que estar de acuerdo conmigo en eso. But there are some things earlier in Nahum that would lead me to think that. And even if you don't agree with me on Ishtar, what I'm going to say here in a minute is going to apply. OK, let's move on for a second. Let's move on to verse 8. So if you look at verse 8, The imagery here is this. Nineveh is likened to like an ancient pool. So imagine this beautiful garden Imagine a beautiful garden. And in the middle of the garden you have this beautiful pool. And for a long time Nineveh was like that. She's prosperous. She's like a jewel among the nations. Okay. But now, um, now she's like one of those cheap kind of above ground pools. Imagine swimming in one of those and the walls fall out. What are you going to do with all the water? Stop, stop. It's not going to stop. The water's gone. And so what's being described here is the chaos now inside the city of Nineveh. God is judging Nineveh and chaos is rampant. You tell the people to stop running away. Dices a la gente, no huyes. But they're gone. Pero ya se van. Friendships are broken. Los amistades están rotos. Family ties are broken. Los conexiones de familia están rotos. It's over. The end of his days are over. And now we get to verse 9. And I told you a minute ago this passage wasn't about commands. But actually verse 9 is commands. It's just not commands to you. Verse 9 does have commands. But the commands are God is commanding the Babylonians to plunder the city, to plunder the silver and the gold. So for years, the Assyrians, they were very rich. And they amassed their wealth from raiding other nations. And then these nations also had to pay tribute. Okay, so vast storehouses of wealth. Money was never a problem. And now it's all been stripped away at the command of God. Now, here's the point that I'm getting to. These things that Nineveh had, Esas cosas que Nineveh tenía. These things that Nineveh loved. Esas cosas que Nineveh amaba. Again, whether you go with the false goddess Ishtar. De nuevo, si tú dices, estoy de acuerdo con la diosa falsa de Ishtar. And the false worship given to her. El adoration falso dado a ella. Or whether it's just the idolatry of the city itself. Or si es la idolatría de la ciudad misma? The point remains. El punto queda. What did Ishtar do when God brought judgment? ¿Qué hizo Ishtar cuando Dios trajo juicio? What did the city do when God brought judgment? ¿Qué hizo la ciudad cuando Dios trajo juicio? What did all the silver and gold do when God brought judgment? ¿Qué hizo toda la plata y oro cuando Dios trajo juicio? Nada. They could not stand against the day of God's wrath. Let me give you some more points about this and then I want to make it applicable to pastors. I saw news coverage. This is, I think it was within a year ago. And I think it was flooding in India. But there's a picture of this man. Pero hay una foto de este hombre. And he's walking through the streets. Está andando por la calle. And the water is up to his waist. La agua está hasta su cintura. And he has just come out of a false temple. Y acaba de venir de un templo falso. And on his shoulder. Y en su hombro. He's carrying a false god. Él está cargando un dios falso. Now that ought to illustrate powerfully to us. When you have to rescue your God, it is a false God. When you have to take your God away from the flood, so that it will not perish, it will not save you in the day of trouble. So false gods result in slavery, Do you remember back in Exodus 20? God says that he had rescued his people out of slavery. The Christian faith rescues us out of slavery. Out of slavery to false gods and slavery unto God. Paul says in Romans 6, we're no longer slaves of sin. But we are now slaves of righteousness. Back in verse 7 of Nahum 2. In the English it says her slave girls. It may say maidservants in Espanol, I'm not sure. It's the same. Yeah, OK. So some translations say maidservants, some say slave. In English, maybe a better word to explain what it says is slaves, but it says servants. The point is, these people in verse 7 are given over to this false god. But these people in verse 7 are given over to a false god. Or if it's talking about the city, Or if it's even talking about the queen. There is a measure of ownership here. When we worship false gods, we are not neutral. No somos neutrales. And nor are we actually really in control. Ni estamos en control. Yes, we're culpable of our sin. Somos culpables de nuestros pecados. But it's always shown in the scripture that we're ultimately slaves. Pero está metido en las escrituras, o está dicho en las escrituras, que ultimamente somos esclavos. False gods result in slavery. People are consumed and they love it. Others may kind of recognize that they're trapped. And maybe they think about getting out. But ultimately, they just can't. They can't. They don't want to. False gods control people's times, time. Los dioses falsos quieren el tiempo de la gente. Their thoughts are always running to false gods. Sus pensamientos siempre están corriendo hacia los dioses falsos. Their daydreams, they spend their time thinking about their false gods. Ellos piensan de todo el día de sus dioses falsos. I'll come back to some application on that in just a minute. Let me mention this too about false gods. They present false security. So again, you think about this city, Nineveh. It was destroyed in 612 BC. Precisely like God said it would be in Nahum. I've dated Nahum around 650, I think around 650. But exactly what Nahum says would happen to the city. Exactly what happened. And when the day of trouble came, I remind you again, what did the city do to stop it? What did the queen of the city do to stop it? What did the false goddess Ishtar do to stop it? What did all the storehouses of silver and gold do to stop it? Nothing. Even in verse eight, as people are scattering in the city. I own in versus coach. I mean, the hint is seven, just proceed. Let's see that family ties are broken. Well, the other is that it's for me. Everyone save yourself. Friendships are thrown away. The day of judgment ended at all. This is a very harsh reality, but I'm going to give you an illustration from history. In 70 A.D. when the Romans surrounded Jerusalem. And they began to starve the city. Things got so bad that Josephus records in history that women ate their infants. That is, on the day of trouble, everything is gone. Chaos. John Chrysostom. He died in 407. He wrote this. If you knew how quickly people would forget you, after your death, you would not seek in your life to please anyone but God. Not trying to discourage you with that. No, estoy tratando de desanimarte. I am trying to help us as pastors. Estoy tratando de ayudarnos como pastores. Stop idolizing people. No, no haces ídolo de gente. When we die. Cuando morimos. They'll say some nice things about us. Van a decir unas cosas buenas de nosotros. It won't be very long, though. No va a ser muy largo. They'll forget about us. Van a olvidar de nosotros. So fear God. Temas a Dios. And nothing else. Y nada mas. In the South, I'm not sure, I'm not sure how much this, well let me just put this way, where I live. Donde yo vivo. People are still interested enough in the things of God, that when they get married, or when they get buried, they would like a preacher. They would like a preacher to perform the wedding ceremony. They want a preacher to preach the funeral. But the rest of their life? They have no interest in the things of God. No interest in church. No interest in the preacher. Oh, but when the big day comes, I need a pastor. But what are these people going to do? when they face God in judgment? What are they going to do with all their life that was given to these idols? What are they going to do with all their life that was given to these false gods? What will the false gods and what will the idols do in the day of trouble? They will respond just like they did in Nineveh. That is, what did they do for Nineveh? Nothing. And they won't help any person when they face God in judgment. I hope what I've done so far has made sense. We've looked at the positive commands in Exodus 20. We're to worship God alone. We're to not bow down to false idols. Then we've looked at a real-time illustration in Nahum 2. You choose to reject Exodus 20. At some point, your sin will find you out. And when the day of trouble comes, these things that you gave your life to, they will not save you. They will not protect you from the wrath of God. In fact, let me make one more comment from Nahum. De hecho, déjame hacer otro comentario de Nahum. Would someone read Nahum 1-7? Nahum 1-7 dice así. I got it, bro. Nahum 1-7 dice, Bueno es el Señor, una fortaleza en el día de la angustia, y conoce a los que en él se refugien. Such a beautiful verse. Amen. You know what Nahum preached? He preached the gospel. that our refuge in the day of trouble, it's only the Lord. We must give ourselves completely to Him. We must rest in the finished work of Christ. The Lord knows Those who take refuge in him. Not just intellectually knows them. Covenantally, he knows them. He loves them. And when the day of trouble comes, And all these false gods fail? And all these idols fail? The Lord provides refuge for his people in Christ. This is the good news of the gospel. Now, we need to share, all I've taught, we need to share, teach our people these things. These things that are pulling at your heart. The bigger truck. More money. Whatever the case may be, when the day of trouble comes, or in life, we often have these little days of trouble. The doctor gives us a bad report. There's some sort of national crisis. There's a virus pandemic. What are these things that our people are chasing? How are those things going to help them in those days? They're not. And certainly in the day of wrath. They will not stand when the Lord brings judgment. Now, I just want to give some pointed application now for pastors. So everything that I've said thus far is applicable to our people. It's applicable to us. But let me just point out a few things for pastors that you're tempted to give your affections to. You're tempted to give your time and your worship to. And when the day of trouble comes, these things will be gone. They won't protect you. Let me give you one obvious one. And that is the false idol of pleasing men. That in your heart, you often have the opportunity to, I'm going to do this God's way. Or I can adapt a little bit and do it this person's preference. And what we don't see is an immediate consequence for adapting God's way. So it makes it easier for us Nos hace más fácil. To give ourselves over to man's desires. A entregarnos a los deseos de hombres. I'm telling you from one who's experienced this and been guilty. One who God has shown mercy to. One who God has sanctified and is still sanctifying in this. But the idea of, I'm going to do what these people want, In contrast to what God wants. You're like Aaron. People give you all the gold off their earrings or jewels. And Aaron says, well, I just threw it in the fire and out came this calf. That's because he was given over to pleasing man. I just want to remind you that when we stand before the Lord, These people that you tried to please? These people that you lost sleep over? These people that you were so worried about their opinion? When the day of trouble comes? You'll look around? And they won't be there. Or if you do see them, you'll see their back. They're not running to you. They're running away. They say, yeah, but, but, but, but Lord, he wanted me to do this. Don't think he's going to stand there and help you. He's gone. In the day of trouble, these things won't help you. Also, give this one just a couple more and we'll close, but let me give this one. Some of you are chasing after notoriety. You just want to be recognized. You just want to be known. Again, I tell you as one who has had to repent and grow in this area. But you just want people to applaud you. You just want people to accept you. Maybe you have a social media following. Or maybe it's a group of people in this or that camp that you're trying to please. Like in these seminary professors, or these authors, or these pastors, or it could even be infirm. You just want to be recognized. And I want to warn you again that when the day of trouble comes, And your social media followers, they're not, they're not going to be there. So it's media, uh, media, socialists, red is the CEO of the socialists. No, they're not going to stand in, in the day of trouble. No one apart. Uh, of course there's money. Hi dinero. If you're in this for money, number one, I think you're dumb. Uno, creo que estás necio. I haven't found the money. No he encontrado el dinero. But maybe you're in it because you're just lazy. Pero no haces esto, o tal vez estás aquí porque estás flojo. It's easier to do this than it is to wake up at four and pour concrete. ¿Es más fácil hacer esto que despertar temprano a poner concreto? It's not gonna stand in the day of judgment. Of course, if any of you are harboring secret sins, sexual immorality. Or pornography. Pornography. Or, or, I don't know, stealing, whatever, whatever. Robando, lo que es. These things will, seer sin will find you out. El pecado te va a encontrar. And on the day of judgment, these things will not only not help you. Y en el día de juicio, estas cosas no te van a, no solo no van a liberarte. They'll, they'll rise up to condemn you. Van a levantar, condenarte. I'll mention just one more. There's so many things and so many applications we can make. But let me warn us to even be careful of not making an idolatry out of Reformed theology. Let me explain it this way. I see people all the time. It seems all they do is argue about reformed theology. They're arguing about the five points of Calvinism. They're arguing about the Second London Baptist Confession. and I see very little worship, we must understand that Reformed theology is meant to lead to robust doxology, the best illustration I've ever heard. is that Reformed theology, I'm going to add the 1689, that these things are like my glasses. And the point of my glasses is to put these glasses on so I can see. Now, if I'm walking around all day, and I'm talking to people about my glasses, and I'm showing them how great my glasses are, but I never put them on, I've missed the point. Okay, so we put on Reformed theology. Because it is the truth. And we defend the truth. And there are certainly times to argue for the truth. But all of this functions in the grand purpose of the truth. Which is the glasses. So that I may see Christ. I can see Christ without the glasses. An Armenian can see Christ. But I see him more beautifully. Because I'm seeing him through the lens of the truth. But I can't let the glasses become an idol. The glasses serve that I may magnify and worship in glory in Christ. Anyway, there's so much more application I know we could make. But I hope that this has been a benefit to you. I hope it's helpful when you're teaching and instructing your people. But most importantly, I hope that it is instructing to our hearts to guard ourselves from these things that will not help us in the day. It's only Christ. Um, questions or comments? Uh, thank you, Alan. That's just Alan. That's a good reminder. Reminder when recorded. ¿Quién dijo eso? El cojo. Ah, el cojo. Adelante, cojo. Precisamente el apóstol Juan, al terminar su primera carta, termina de esta manera. And John finishes his first letter like this. Después de dar un montón de cuestiones para probar el corazón de los que se dicen creyentes y los que son creyentes. after giving a whole bunch of reasons to prove the ones who are believers. The way he finishes, be careful with idols. Amen. That's a good word. Amen. Hermano Rodolfo, adelante. Creo que me pegó muy duro hoy. It was very hard for me today. When I came to the doctrine, the reformed doctrine, and the doctrines of grace, the confession of faith of Second Baptist, Lenten Baptist Confession, I felt like I have the truth and no one can tell me anything. I think I was becoming a problem to myself and that I was not teachable. And I'm really just starting because I don't really know anything. But a few months ago, I started meditating and thinking that I was proud to be reformed, de que sabía las doctrinas, de que comencé a estudiar la confesión de Londres. A few months ago, I was very prideful that I knew the doctrines, I knew the truth, and that I had learned to learn these things. Y lo que dijo hoy el Pastor Allen, ese es cierto. O sea, creo que había yo, había yo convertido ídolos y no, no, no, no es así, no es así. And what Alan says very true, you know, about the idols. And God is working with me on these things. El amor. Y ahorita lo que entendí es exactamente esto. And what I understood is this. Era yo un idólatra. I was an idolater. Amen. Gracias por compartirlo, hermano. Gracias, Paso Valle. Gracias. Sigues adelante. Tenemos la verdad. It's la verdad, no? Sin embargo, debemos manejarlo con una edad. Amen. Well, thank you very much, Alan. Gracias, Alan. Hermanos, espero que tengan excelente día, excelente semana. Send me the texts that you are going to preach so that I can pray properly. And for many, first of all, we will see each other next week there in Tabasco. They are praying for Brother Carlos and his church, his family. A great moment for them. And if you can come, come to support him with everything we have in mind. I hope you have an excellent week, brothers. Take care.