I want to call your attention this afternoon to the book of Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. And I'm going to read the first four commandments of the ten here from Exodus 20 beginning at verse 3. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God. visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant. nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." May the Lord bless the reading of Holy Scripture. I want to begin a short journey today that will take, Lord willing, just a few weeks, and address the subject of worship with special reference to music and the worship of God. And we want to try to introduce this whole subject of worship in general here this afternoon. We are living in the midst of a worship revolution. Any description less than that does not adequately describe what is going on and what has been going on in our generation. It is an absolutely sweeping worship revolution that is no exaggeration. The changes that have taken place in my lifetime in areas of public worship are nothing short of staggering. And what should our response be? How do we fit in or not fit in to the whole revolution that is sweeping and has swept across the whole spectrum of public worship? Do the Scriptures really address this issue at all? Does God really care? Does it make any difference to Him? Well, I hope to address those issues and answer those questions as we go along and look at it biblically. After all, If it's just a matter of opinions and preferences and changing times, then it's not worth our time to even address. If, however, it has to do with the revealed will of God, and if it has to do with what is written in Scripture, then we must address the issue, at least from time to time. Now, in case you don't know what's going on around in other churches, and I guess it's generous to call some of them churches. After all, we're always here, unless you visit or maybe see some on television or something like that, then you may not know what is going on. So, let me take a little time here at the beginning just to sort of give you what is on the cutting edge of the worship revolution. A Southern Baptist Church in St. Louis, calling itself The Journey, is certainly on the cutting edge. In fact, A term that has come to be used to describe that cutting edge is the emerging church. This is one of the leading emerging churches. They are holding weekly Bible studies in a bar, and you can read this on their website. They call it Theology at the Bottle Works. The Bottle Works is the name of a bar in the area there around St. Louis in Maplewood. Theology at the Bottleworks starts at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood. Please join us for good discussion as we seek to tackle spiritual, political, and philosophical themes in an open environment." End of quote. And according to a March 11, 2007 article by a writer of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, One recent meeting focused on a discussion of rock and roll, the history of it and the contemporary direction of it and why it's not as good as it used to be and so forth. The church known as The Journey has grown from 30 members in late 2002 to 1,300 today. Some pretty phenomenal growth. Elsewhere, closer to home, we have the cowboy churches. I first heard of these just a couple of months ago. Checking around and doing a little looking on the internet, I discovered that there's not just one cowboy church. It's a whole network of churches all over the country, and now it has spread into some foreign countries. Here in Oklahoma, there are 41 cowboy churches in the network. one as nearby as Coweta. And judging by the websites of some of these various ones that I just randomly selected, it appears that their services are focused on rodeos, things Western, obviously, especially music, Western folk type music, food and fun. You can come, bring a saddle, And they promise you'll have a good time. One of them in the state of Texas has adopted their version of the Ten Commandments. And you'd have to see them in order to see how they've written them, but maybe you can figure it out as I read it. Just one God, honor your Ma and Paul, No telling tales or gossiping. Get yourself to Sunday meeting. Put nothing before God. No fooling around with another fellow's gal. No killing. Watch your mouth. Don't take what ain't yours. Don't be hankering for your buddy's stuff. It says that baptisms are performed out of a horse trough and happy trails to you constitutes the sung benediction. One cowboy church pastor from western Oklahoma says, quote, Isn't it just like God to provide so many different kinds of churches so that everyone can find one that fits them? If you haven't found the kind of church that fits you, or if you enjoy good gospel music, or if you just want to find out what the Cowboy Church is all about, come see us some Thursday night. We promise you'll have a real good time. And of course, most of these meet on Sundays and other nights of the week as well. A worship revolution. A few years ago, we saw the picture in the paper here locally of the pastor up on the platform with his motorcycle. where the church was featuring 1970s pop music with a few altered words. And that was a whole series of Sunday, a special Sunday. Some there was a 50s Sunday and the 60s Sunday. And this happened to be the 70s Sunday. They had the cat in the hat Sunday. And that picture was published in the paper as well. Now, it is a bit difficult to imagine Paul the apostle having Cat in the Hat Sunday. How did we get to where we are? What has happened? Well, quite simply, people quit following the Word of God. Let me give you some more instances. Interpretive dancing is now a commonly accepted aspect of public worship. Some churches do this on a regular basis or even a weekly basis while they collect the offering. They have their liturgical or their interpretive dancers moving up and down the aisles and so on. For me, the only question that remains is this, when will they bring in temple prostitutes? Or maybe it has already begun under the guise of singles' ministries. Even architecture and furnishings have been affected. And this was really interesting to me that this very week, I had been home with my new pulpit just a couple of days and I get this magazine that comes free in the mail about all the latest technology in churches. I usually don't pay much attention to it, but there is an article here about church pulpits of all things. And just bear with me here. The article begins this way. If you've changed your worship service in the past few years but haven't updated your pulpit, here are some reasons to give it serious thought. And you ought to see some of the pulpits that are in here. Here's one that has a place for your laptop computer to fit on. It looks more like something that would be in an office of some sort. And so maybe I should explain right away here that that approach to things has nothing to do with this pulpit here today. And if you're worried about coming in next Sunday and finding a set of drums or something over here, let me put your fears to rest. You have nothing to worry about. One area that has certainly been noticeably affected is the area of clothing. It is now common to see preachers in the pulpit in jeans and shirt tail hanging out. The longer the better. And they try to justify this by saying, well, we live in a casual society. We're not trying to impress anybody. But the fact remains that they're going beyond casual to the downright sloppy. They wouldn't dress like that if they were eating dinner with a businessman. They dress up more than that to go play a round of golf. They're going out of their way to be sloppy and unkept in the worship of God. I don't say much about this, and not very often, but I will say this, what we wear to God's house on Sunday, says a great deal about our whole concept of God and our whole sense of reverence, respect and fear of God. We have people in pulpits going out of their way to be sloppy, and all that does in my mind is it shows their utter contempt of God. No reverence, no sense that God deserves our best. And the popular attitude is God doesn't care. He's just like us and we don't care. And God really ought to be happy with anything that we bring Him. Even if we bring Him slop. Who does He think He is? God? This is the attitude that prevails. We could go on and on with examples of this. In fact, one was just brought to me here this morning. This is an ad out of the telephone book in Columbus, Ohio, for a church known as Zeno's Christian Fellowship. Or maybe it's Kenos, if you want to say it that way. It's a fun place for my kids. Great Bible teaching and pizza, too. Kenos Christian Fellowship, a place for people who are into God but not into church. Friends, let me tell you, you cannot be into God and not into God's church, because God is into church. Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth. One of the most prevailing common links of all of these different churches and different directions involved in this worship revolution. One common denominator that ties them all together is this excessive emphasis on music and whether it's seventies or sixties or country and western or whatever, this is the common bond. And more and more time and attention is paid to music than to preaching. And more of the focus and more time and effort is put into music than into preaching by far. I heard one preacher say recently, he was at a Sunday morning service. This actually happened about ten years ago. The service began at 10.45 and ended at noon. After all the music and all the fun and all the children's program and all the nonsense, It was 1155. He's a visiting preacher. And the guest pastor asked him if he had something short that he could present in five minutes. Weekly meetings of so-called churches nowadays resemble a rock concert or a hoedown, or whatever type of music happens to be the preference. Not long ago, we counted no less than three sets of drums on the platform of a large church here in Broken Arrow, or church building here in Broken Arrow. Music increasingly dominates. It would be nice if we could say that all of that is out there, and that the churches that are serious about the doctrine of the Bible and about theology are safe and exempt. But it is not that way. Sovereign grace churches are falling prey in many places to this worship revolution. They are being swept away in the current. One example that one of the brethren here brought me a few weeks ago is this article out of World Magazine that tells about Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. Pastor John Piper is well known for his writings and his sermons preaching and teaching the doctrines of grace, he's considered to be a disciple of Jonathan Edwards, and a good disciple in many ways. I've enjoyed many of his books. But his church has been swept away with the revolution. And this article tells how that a Christian rap artist, you didn't know there was such a thing. Well, a Christian rap artist sung there recently on a Saturday night service and on both Sunday morning services. And after I read this article, quite by accident, I happened to see the a portion of the video where John Piper is introducing this fellow with his Christian rap music. And let me just read you some of his words here. Here's one of his rap songs that, by his own confession, he said, this music tonight is going to thump. I've been exposed to bright lights, the doctrines of grace. I'm elected, imputed perfect because of the power of God. resurrected and his gift of faith that when we see his face, we're not rejected and so on. And so now even the precious truth of effectual grace is subject matter for the worship revolution. I get about once a year a catalog in the mail from a place that manufactures liturgical dancewear. And this issue, they had an advertisement for something new, worship DVDs, where they actually teach you how to dance so that you can use their costumes and do this dance. Here is one you can pay $18.70 and buy the worship DVD entitled Sovereign. This fun, energy-packed, hip-hop style dance is choreographed to the song Sovereign by Parachute Band. Each funky move declares the sovereignty of Jesus and the power of his name. This video features the whole dance performed live, followed by an easy-to-learn step-by-step studio instruction, and can be performed as a solo or group dance, and so on. So you see that even those who have some doctrinal integrity are being affected adversely. Now, enough of these examples at just about is more than we can handle. Those who do not agree with these things and who have a problem with all of this worship revolution are viewed as out of touch, antiquated, stubborn, refusing to change, hung up on tradition, set in their ways and so on. After all, they say it's just a matter of personal preferences and preferences have changed and Some haven't gone along with the changes. It's just a matter of personal likes and dislikes. It's all what you were raised with and we all want to kind of stay in our comfort zone. There's no biblical principles involved. That's what they say. But in this series of messages, we're going to see that there are plenty of biblical principles involved. Not that that would make any difference to those who are swept away in the worship revolution. But I hope it will make a difference to us. Following the worship revolution bothers some who have hesitatingly gone along with it. I have heard the second hand of conversations between church members and church pastors in which people complained to the pastors about the music, especially in the youth department, in the Sunday school and so on, and how worldly and how wild and out of hand it was becoming. And the pastors on more than one occasion said to individuals, we don't like it either, but this is what we have to do nowadays. to keep the young people coming to church. It's a matter of survival. My pastor friend in California, Brother Downing, wrote me recently and he said, bring the world into the church or perish into oblivion. Those are about the only options that seem to be available to us. Bring the world into the church or die. I'd rather die. In fact, let me read you more from his email. He just wrote this to me personally, but he says, there seems to be a general decay within Christianity which is tending toward outright apostasy in our day. Faithfulness to God and His Word seems to make us a laughing stock in this day. Innovation, pragmatism, worldliness, and worldly success seem to be the order of the day. The divine standard of faithfulness to God's Word is almost completely gone. bring the world into the church or perish into oblivion. Now, these so-called worship wars deal with more than just secondary peripheral matters. They lie at the very heart of our church life and even our personal experience as public worship is a vital part of that experience. They lie at the very heart of the direction that the next generation and future generations will follow. And as I said earlier, ultimately our whole view of God is at stake. And our whole commitment to written revelation is at stake. I'm not going to be able to present all of the Scriptures in one message. I wish I could. It would take several hours, so we're going to have to divide it up. And what we want to do in the time that remains today is simply show from the Scriptures that God does care about how we worship Him. When I say that our whole view of the authority of Scripture is at stake, Exhibit A would be the increasing presence of women preachers in churches. This worship revolution has proven that People don't care at all what the Bible says. They're going to do what they like. They're going to do what they want to do. It doesn't matter what God has said. But I believe it does matter what God has said on that matter and on every other matter. How did things get into such a condition? How did things deteriorate to the point where they are? Dread to think where they will go? Well, the answer again is quite simple. By not following the Word of God. And so now we're going to focus on the Word of God and bear with me in the next two or three weeks because we're going to see more in Scripture, possibly more than you ever dreamed on this subject. First, we must understand that God has ordained in His Word how we are to worship. God does care. First, and I don't think I need to labor this point to this audience, God is to be worshipped. God is to be worshipped. And in a sense, all of life, is worship to God. Whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. But there is a special sense of worship which involves public worship, congregational worship, on the Lord's appointed day. Jesus said to Satan while he was tempted, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. He's the only one to be worshipped. He's the only one to be served. And we have, of course, back in the Old Testament in Exodus 34, Thou shalt worship no other God for the Lord whose name is Jealous is a jealous God. God is to be worshipped, and especially now, God is to be worshipped in the way that He determines to be worshipped. Who has the prerogative to decide how man worships his Creator? Is it man, the creature? Or is it the Creator? Is it man, the sinner, who is redeemed by the grace of God? Or is it God, the Redeemer, who redeems fallen man? God is the one who legislates to us how we are to worship Him. He has the right to tell us. If I can say it reverently, He has the right to an opinion on this subject. And His opinion is more than an opinion, it is His determination. It is His revelation. He has the right to tell us how He wants us to worship Him. He has not left it up to us to decide. What we hear today is, well, I like this ad about the pizza church, or was it the cowboy church, whichever one it was. Come and find what you like. Find a church you like. I guess if you don't like pepperoni, you can go to the sausage pizza church or whatever. Find whatever you like. Listen, God doesn't care what you like. It doesn't matter. What matters is what God likes. What matters is that we must conform our likes to His likes. That's what matters. In the Bible, God established a specific manner of worship. And just as certainly as the Bible has two major divisions, Old Covenant and New Covenant, Old Testament and New Testament, so likewise, worship that God has revealed, that God has instituted, falls under those two categories. In the Old Testament, He established a specific manner of worship. And when I say worship, I'm talking about public worship, congregational worship. In the New Testament, He changed it radically. Now, that doesn't mean that God changed, but that God changed the method of worship. And He has the right to do that. The ceremonies are all done away and fulfilled, and there is a new, higher level of worship that does not depend on that which is geared toward the senses, but that which is geared toward the Spirit. And God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. I'm getting ahead of myself, but we'll look at that in more detail in another week or two, Lord willing. Now, we are bound to follow the New Testament order. But whether we're talking about the Old Testament order of worship or the New Testament order of worship, in either case, this rule applies. What God has ordained must be done in worship. And what God has not ordained must not be done in worship. All worship that God has ordered must be carried out. All other worship is forbidden. All worship is forbidden except that which God has ordered or commanded or ordained. I know that I'm covering some material here that Brother John covered recently, just a few weeks ago, but the review and the repetition won't hurt us at all. Let's read from Genesis chapter 4. I just want to take a quick tour of biblical evidence, Old Testament and New Testament, concerning this important foundational doctrine that God cares how we worship Him and God has not left it to our likes and dislikes, preferences, opinions and so on. In Genesis 4 we read in verse 3, In the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect." And Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell, and you know the rest of the story. What was the problem here? Well, twofold. Number one, Cain. And number two, his offering. God did not have respect unto Cain. He did not have respect unto his offering. The book of Hebrews chapter 11 informs us that Cain offered his offering without faith. It was a faithless act of worship. It was only a ritual. It was only an outward performance, in other words. That was the greatest problem, no doubt, with Cain's offering. That is, Cain himself, his faithless heart. But also there was a problem with his offering. As far as any of us can discern, God was expecting and God demanded a blood sacrifice. That was the kind of offering that he had instituted back in chapter 3 after pronouncing the curse. There is this shadow of redemption in the blood of the animal slain whose skin was made into a covering for Adam and Eve. Cain only brings some fruits from the ground. Oh, he probably brought some good fruits. I doubt that he brought, you know, rotten, you know, last year's crop. He no doubt brought some fine, healthy, good-looking fruit. But that was not the pattern that God had ordained. And God was not pleased. God had no respect to Cain or to his offering. But God doesn't care. I mean, can't you hear Cain reasoning in his mind? Who does God think he is? He ought to be glad that I'm bringing him this big watermelon or whatever he might have brought. I'll worship God my own way. And I happen to like vegetables. I'm sure God likes vegetables too. And as one song puts it, I did it my way, but it was not God's way. God did not approve. We read earlier from Exodus chapter 20 how that these first four commands specifically address the worship of God. And they specifically regulate our worship of God. The first command tells us who to worship. The second command tells us how to worship Him. The third commandment tells us with what attitude, not taking His name in vain. And the fourth commandment tells when to worship. One in seven. One day in seven devoted to Him. Coming on down in Exodus chapter 20 verse 24, here's a very interesting commandment. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings. This evidently was sort of a temporary altar until the one that was made out of wood and covered with gold and so forth was made. This altar of earth. Thou shalt sacrifice thereon Thy burnt offerings and Thy peace offerings, Thy sheep and Thine oxen. In all places where I record My name, I will come unto Thee, and I will bless Thee. And if Thou wilt make Me an altar of stone, Thou shalt not build it of hewn stone. For if Thou lift up Thy tool upon it, Thou hast polluted it." Isn't that interesting? God says if you make one out of stone, Don't ruin it. Don't spoil it. Don't pollute it. Don't defile it. Well, how do you do that? By trying to improve it. By trying to make it better. By saying, well, you know, this rock here, if I just chopped off the edge of it a little bit, it would sure fit in a lot better. God says, don't touch it. Don't put a tool to it. Leave it alone. If you touch it, you pollute it. Surely that statement tells us much about the heart of God concerning worship. We don't need to try to improve anything that He has given and ordained in the way of worship. There's no enhancing. If we try to improve or enhance, we only pollute and spoil. Going on over to Exodus 25. Exodus 25, verse 9. According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it." God says to Moses, I'm giving you a pattern and you have no right to change it. Moses couldn't look at the blueprint that God gave here for the tabernacle and say, you know, I really like rugs made out of bear skin. So I'm going to put one of those down on the floor here. No, God told him the way He wanted it done. And He says, now you make sure that you follow this pattern. We have the same thing down in verse 40. And look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount. Deviation? No. Changes? Exactly the way that God wanted it was the way that He told it to Moses. And He even gifted Bezalel and Aholiab with special wisdom to make it all just according to the pattern. In Leviticus chapter 10, we read further. An instance of what happens to those who do things their own way. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Now notice, if you will carefully, the phrase at the end of verse 1. which He commanded them not. God had never said, thou shalt not kindle strange fire in thy censer. But He had told them that they were to use the fire from the burnt offering. It was not that they did what God told them not to do. It was that they failed to do what God had told them to do. They took the initiative to do things a different way. He simply had not commanded them to do it this way. Now, can you not imagine the thoughts in the minds of Nadab and Abihu? Well, God doesn't care. Fire is fire. It doesn't matter where it comes from. God's not that picky. Who does He think He is? He ought to be happy that we bring Him any fire. And God's answer was to destroy them with fire. God did care, didn't He? Moses said unto Aaron, this is that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me. And before all the people, I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. Oh, beloved, God is determined to be sanctified, to be set apart, to be honored and glorified in those that worship Him. He does care. We read in Numbers chapter 20, though this is not directly related to public worship, it does show how that God expects exact obedience to the things that He has commanded in any realm of life, public worship or otherwise. Numbers chapter 20 and verse 7, I'll not take the time to read all of this, but you remember that Moses on an earlier occasion, was commanded to hit this rock so that water would come out and water the congregation. On this occasion, God says, go and speak to the rock. Moses did things his own way, maybe out of a sense of anger and frustration. And he even had a precedent to do it this way once in the past. But the command for this occasion was, speak to the rock. Well, Moses lifted up his hand after cursing the people in verse 10. It says, verse 11, Moses lifted up his hand and with his rod he smoked the rock twice. And the water came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their beasts also. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, because ye believed Me not." And here's the same phrase, "...to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel. Therefore, ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." Not following God's explicit instructions cost Moses the great privilege and delight that he'd look forward to of entering into the promised land. You reckon Moses thought, oh, God doesn't care if I speak to it or if I hit it, it doesn't matter. It did matter. God cares. On over into Deuteronomy, and I know Brother John will be there in a few weeks, but let me just read it quickly. Deuteronomy 17.3. If there, in verse two, if there be found among you within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God in transgressing his covenant, and hath gone and served other gods and worshipped them, either the sun or moon or any of the hosts of heaven which I have not commanded. And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it and inquired diligently, and behold, if it be true in the things certain that such abomination is wrought in Israel, thou shalt Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman which have committed that wicked thing unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die." And what was the offense at the end of verse 3? Doing that which I have not commanded. In other words, God gives definition to what He wants from us in terms of our worship. And anything outside of that is off limits. Hear me carefully, if you will. It is not that we are free to bring in anything into worship except what God has forbidden, but rather it is that we only Engage in public worship that which He has commanded by precept or example. No changes, no alterations. And I know that you're familiar with this from Deuteronomy four, but let me just read it once again. You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it nothing to be added, nothing to be subtracted. It's exactly the way that God wants it. Deuteronomy 12, 29, when the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them and dwellest in their land, take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee, and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise. imitate the heathen in their worship. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God. For every abomination to the Lord which he hateth have they done unto their gods. For even their sons and their daughters have they burnt in the fire to their gods. What thing soever I command you, observe to do it, thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it. Let me give one more instance from the Old Testament very quickly here in Deuteronomy. I'm sorry, in Second Samuel, chapter six, Second Samuel six. Here is the transporting of the ark and this familiar scene with a man named Uzzah. And as the ark on this cart pulled by, was it oxen? begins to rattle around, the oxen stumble, a wheel hits a low spot in the road or something like that, and the ark begins to look like it's going to fall off? Uzzah? Innocently? Trying to help? Trying to avoid a catastrophe? In verse 6, "...put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error. And there he died by the ark of God." There's a number of errors here. It all began with the wrong method of transporting the ark. God had specified more than once how it was to be carried. On the shoulders of those Levites, on sticks, staves. And this was David's error perhaps. to carry it this way. It led to this danger. And that led to Uzzah's action in expediency to try to save the ark from falling. But, beloved, it's better to carry the ark the way God said to do it. But in this instance, for Uzzah, better to let the ark of God fall. than to prop it up with unholy hands. That's a principle that applies in a lot of our life. Better to let it fall than to hold it up against the revealed will of God. Now, we're not saying, of course, that these external things were the only things that mattered in the Old Testament. Far from it. In Isaiah 1 we read where God says, I'm full of your sacrifices. I'm full of your oblations. Bring no more vain, empty oblations to me. There is an emphasis throughout the Old Testament even on the worship of the heart. And it is that emphasis that is brought out all the more in the New Testament. So let's look quickly at just a few passages here from the New Testament. Matthew 15. Matthew 15, the Lord here addresses these hypocrites, these Pharisees, head on, asking them in verse 3, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? Beloved, we must be willing to re-examine every tradition. And follow only that which is the good tradition, which is the tradition that is grounded in the Word of God. Coming down to verse 7, he quotes Isaiah. Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips. But their heart is far from me, for in vain they do worship me. Teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men. No man has a right to usurp the authority of God and to make his own commandments, to make his own method of worship. That is considered by God to be vain, empty worship. You know how that Jesus twice in His public ministry cleansed the temple. the first time in John chapter 2 at the beginning of his ministry, and the second time near the end of his ministry. And I'm not going to read both of those accounts. I'm going to read the second one from the Gospel of Mark. Jesus went into the temple and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves, and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And He taught, saying unto them, Is it not written? He appeals to the authority of Scripture. My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. Jesus cares about the honor of His name, the honor of His worship. Of course, here at this point in time, the Old Testament temple is still standing, still in effect. The veil has not been rent yet, though it soon will be. Let's look at a couple of other passages. Go with me to Colossians. And in a way, this is one of the most important statements in the New Testament concerning how we are to worship God. Colossians chapter 2. To get the whole context here, we'll have to begin in verse 20. Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world. Colossians 2.20, this is. Why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances?" And these ordinances he's talking about are man's traditions, man's rules that are extra-biblical. At this point, at least, touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using. Perhaps he's referring here to some of the ceremonial commands of the Old Testament concerning the dietary laws and so forth, but all of that is done away in Christ. Now, those that follow those things are just following ordinances that have nothing to do with the worship of God. He says, this is after the commandments and doctrines of men. In other words, even these shadows that were in the Old Testament that were good at that time, now under the fullness of the light of the New Testament, to continue on in these shadows is nothing more than following after the commandments and doctrines of men. Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship and humility and neglecting of the body, And as I understand it, the idea here is, but not in any honor. And because there's no punctuation in the original language, I would suggest that a comma should be here in our English version, not in any honor, but rather to the satisfying of the flesh. Now, what is this will worship? Well, quite simply, it is the worship that man devises, the worship that man determines and develops for himself. It's worship that he conjures up out of his own imagination and his own will. Will worship. And this is so plainly condemned here by the Apostle. Oh, it looks good. It looks appealing. It has a show of wisdom and humility in neglecting the body, but it only satisfies the flesh. Do you see how relevant that is, my friends? It doesn't truly honor the God whom we worship. It's only will worship. It's what we have made, invented for ourselves. God does care. Last of all, 1 Corinthians 14, 1 Corinthians 14, 37, after the apostle has laid down these rules concerning the use of extraordinary gifts in the public worship, he ends with, or towards the end, he gives this Word, verse 37, if any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. What the Apostle says here, in effect, is these rules that I've laid down, take them as God's commands. They are binding, they are regulatory, they are The law, shall we say, on this matter. All of these references point in one single direction, and that is God cares how we worship Him. Only that which God has commanded is to be done in worship, and that which He has not commanded is condemned. Some call this the regulative principle of worship. And that's a good phrase, I suppose. Call it whatever you will. The point simply is God does regulate worship. God does care. God does have a right to tell us how to worship. And Scripture is our guide. Scripture is sufficient. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. Everything we need to know about the worship of God is here. This is the authority. It's not left to our imagination, our likes, our whims, our fancies. God has revealed all that we need to know in His Word. And so the question for us is, are we willing to be governed by the Word of God? Once we see what God says in His Word, are we committed to follow it? May it be so. Surely it is the height of arrogance to ignore or in any way alter or change or even try to improve what God has established. God cares. Just ask Cain. Or ask Moses. Or ask Nadab and Abihu. Or ask Uzzah. Look at the pile of ashes that used to be Nadab and Dabihu and tell me God doesn't care how we worship. Look over that corpse of Uzzah lying there beside the ark. Yes, God cares. He cares enough to tell us. And He does tell us. Our problem is we may not have realized how much He does tell us. And so that's why we're studying it here at this time. One more thing. What if God hasn't? What if there's an area that God just hasn't said anything about? Well, that is the whole point. If God has not instructed us to worship in this or that way, or with this or that medium, then the principle is only what God has commanded by precept or example.