As I mentioned a moment ago, if you've been around here for very long, you've heard most of what we'll say. Some of it might be new, but for those of you who are relatively new here, it's important that we understand what some have called the regulative principle of worship, that the proper way of worshiping God is prescribed by God alone. We are not free to worship God in any way that we desire of ourselves. Again, in our confession on chapter 22 on worship, it says, but the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself and so limited by his own revealed will that he may not be worshiped according to the imagination and devices of men nor the suggestions of Satan under any visible representation or any other way not prescribed in Holy Scripture. God is the sovereign Lord who gets to determine what is pleasing to Him and what is acceptable worship. God alone is sovereign, we are not. And here in this passage, and we're gonna look at multiple passages this morning, This woman asked, where's the proper place of worship? And notice Jesus says, it's neither in the mountains of Samaria, nor will it be in the temple in Jerusalem. And the reason given is because God is spirit. And a spirit knows no particular place. God is infinite. He is everywhere at the same time, and it doesn't matter where you go, God is already there in his infinitude and as a spirit. And you see that in, say, Psalm 139. If I go to the farthest parts of the world, you are already there. And he says that an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For such people, the father seeks to be his worshipers. God is seeking for true worshipers. And probably all Christians of every stripe think how they worship God is the manner in which he wants to be worshiped. But that we will see by the end of the sermon, that's not necessarily true. But it also says in verse 24, Jesus says, God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. That word must, which is very easy to skip over in English, is a very important word in the Greek text, in the vocabulary in which Jesus is speaking. It requires either a moral obligation or a logical obligation, or I believe in this case, both. The moral obligation is that we must worship God the way He wants us to worship Him. We must worship Him this way. It's not an option. It's not a suggestion. I've told you other times, I remember this little cartoon, I think it was Id was the cartoon, and this character's holding these two tablets, which were meant to represent the Ten Commandments, and his voice comes from heaven and says, These are not 10 suggestions. When God has commanded something, it's not a recommendation. As Jesus will say in Matthew 7, not everyone will say, Lord, Lord, will enter heaven, but those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. And so there's this moral obligation that we must worship him in spirit and truth because he has in fact required it. Secondly, the logical reason for worshipping him in spirit and truth is because, as he says in verse 24, God is spirit. And those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. God is not an idol. God is not a building. God's not a piece of stone. God is not a golden calf, as we will reference later. God is spirit. And those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And it's not tied to a earthy location. And again, she says that it's this mountain or in Jerusalem, and Jesus says, a woman believe an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. And I'd like to suggest to you that the worship in this local church or any church that is seriously intending to worship God according to the mind of Christ, the worship doesn't happen inside this building. This is just the launching pad. This is where we gather. We have bodies. We are not disembodied people. We have to go somewhere. The church is called to gather, to worship God, and for us to gather, we must come to one location. But please turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 12. The place that we will worship God is not here. This may be where the service begins, but it is not where it ends. In Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 18, he starts out by saying, you have not come to a mountain that can be touched into a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and whirlwind. And you think he's hearkening back to Exodus chapter 20 and the giving of the law and the Shekinah glory that's on the mountain. And so fearful was that, it says in verse 21, that even Moses said, I am full of fear and trembling. We haven't come to a mountain in our worship, because we're worshiping the God who is spirit, and we are to worship him in spirit. We are coming to a, not to a physical location, but as he will say, in verse 22, but you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the myriads of angels, to the general assembly in the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous, made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel. Our worship takes place in the heavenly Jerusalem. This is one reason why we must worship in spirit. The physical things that we use for worship are not to tie us to the earth. We will drink from a cup and eat some bread. We are sitting in a comfortable building. We have hard copy Bibles, or maybe some of you are using a Bible app. There is a physical element to our worship because we are in fact still very much physical beings who live in this earth. And yet, our worship is not here. Our worship is in heaven. And therefore, the worship that we have must comport to the God we worship and to the location in which we worship. And the physical elements that God has given to us, like the cup and the bread, are an accommodation to us at this stage of life, this stage of redemptive history, but is not to tie us to the earth, but by His means we are to go and be with Him. Calvin will say of the Lord's Supper that by the secret work of the Spirit in the eating and the drinking, we are taken into the very presence of God. So the elements are not to tie us to the earth and to argue over them, but are simply an accommodation to our temporal needs to free us to focus on the heavenly realms where Christ is at the right hand of the Father, where we through the blood of Christ enter in the very holy of holies and heavenly realms to worship in spirit and truth the triune God with the generations of the church. As he says in this text, we come to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the general assembly in the church of the firstborn, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect. This morning we are worshiping with Abraham and David and Solomon. and the disciples, the early apostles, or the apostles and the early believers. We gather in terms of the church, I believe, Psalm 100, which we'll sing later, is the Holy Spirit given record of what that worship looks like in the drama of the nations and the generations of the redeemed gathering this day in the heavenly Jerusalem to worship God. And we're caught up in that. And the physical things that man will produce do not enhance that. We come, we draw near to God. If you turn back to chapter 10, I'd encourage you, if you've never done this, to take the book of Hebrews and trace several key words, and one of them is to draw near. That's a very important phrase that runs through the book of Hebrews. We draw near, but to whom and to what? And to where? And how? Verse 19, therefore, brethren, Hebrews 10, 19, therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus. What holy place? The holy place in the heavenly Jerusalem. not to the holy place or the holy of holies in Jerusalem that the Jewish high priest could go only once a year after many washings. We, because of the blood of Christ, enter into the holy place for which the temple in Jerusalem was just a pattern. We enter into the reality. Hebrews 12, that's where we go. We draw near to the very holy place, to the very throne room, to the very seat of God himself through the blood of Christ. Verse 20, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh, And since we have a great priest over the house of God, that would be the church, let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking the assembling together. The assembling where? In the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, in the Holy of Holies. There we assemble and there we are all the more to encourage one another and not forsake the assembling as the habit of some. Some would rather play golf this morning than gather in heavenly Jerusalem. This time of year, as the golfers start to come out, and you all know I love golf, though it's never been proven that I actually can play, and I drive right past the third tee box at Prairiewood, and I always wanna roll down the window, hey, go to church! But I choose not to do so, because that'd be rather rude and unkind, but you know what I'm saying. Why would we want to be tied here when we can be there? We draw near. To God, where is God? In heaven. So our worship must be in spirit and in truth because God is spirit and where we are worshiping him is in the heavenly Jerusalem that is not defined by physical realities like a building or a mountain or anything else. Calvin writes this in his book on the necessity of reforming the church. If it's inquired then by what things chiefly the Christian religion has a standing existence among us and maintains its truth, it will be found that the following two not only occupy the principal place but comprehend under them all other parts and consequently the whole substance of Christianity that is a knowledge first of the mode in which God is duly worshipped and secondly of the source from which salvation is to be obtained. When these are kept out of view, though we may glory in the name of Christians, our profession is empty and vain. The whole substance of Christianity stands on the proper worship of God and the proper understanding of the gospel. But notice the order. First, the mode in which God is duly worshiped, then the gospel. That's so not American, that's so not modern. The modern man says, oh no, we gotta get the man reconciled to God first, then we'll work out worship later. Not for Calvin, not for the Reformation. You straighten out the worship first, Because in Calvin's mind, right worship, you worship the right God in the right way, that will lead you to the gospel because you cannot dwell in the presence of God for any length of time before you realize, I need a savior. But you can be reconciled to that God and then blaspheme him in the way that you worship. And that's not helpful. So we must worship God in spirit and truth, morally because it is what God has required, logically because of who he is and where that worship takes place. And so now I'd like to give you three examples of how that worship is violated, and I will boldly say that the way God has asked to be worshiped is violated every Lord's Day throughout the world. Well, that's a bold and brash comment, isn't it? But I hope you'll see very quickly that it's not as bold or as brash as you might think. And so with that, I'd like to start with Matthew in the 15th chapter. In this chapter, some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus and from Jerusalem, and they have some questions about worship because the disciples were not performing the proper rituals of worship that they had deemed as necessary. So the context in which this is being stated is in what is the proper way in which God might be worshiped. and they tell him that your disciples are not washing their hands. Verse three, and he answers them and said, why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, honor your father and mother, and he who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death. Children, remember that one. Mark it, highlight it. But I say to you, whoever says to his father and mother, whatever I have that would help you has been given to God. He is not to honor his father and mother. And by this, you invalidate the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites. rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines and precepts of men." What's happening here? These Pharisees and scribes have challenged the integrity of the disciples of Christ because they were not washing their hands correctly and do not think this is soap and water in a sink and getting their hands clean just before they eat dinner. Do that. Good hygiene. This is a ritual where you hold your hand in a certain way and a certain amount of water is dripped onto your hand and then you would have to do certain things with your hand to get the water to run around and it's all about purification. So now you're pure enough to go and engage in worship. Jesus turns around on them and says that they are teaching as commandments of God the traditions of men. And he's referring to a thing called Corban. And in Corban, in the Jews tradition, was that I have a certain amount of money and I've given my tithes, my offerings, my free will offerings. but I can take some additional money. This is not biblical. It's not in the scripture. It's made up by the scribes and Pharisees. I can take a certain amount of money and I can dedicate it to the Lord. It still might be in my bank account, but I've dedicated to the Lord. So mom and dad come over and say, we just had our house burned down. Our possessions were all robbed. We're needy. And I say, mom and dad, I would gladly honor you, but the money I have has already been dedicated to the Lord. I can't give it to you. Jesus, therefore, calls their worship vain because they teach doctrines of men as if it was the commandment of God. And this is the first way in which worship, the true worship of God is violated, where we substitute traditions of men for the commandment of God. For example, nowhere in the New Testament are instruments commanded to be part of corporate church worship. Instruments are fine, we love instruments. I wish everyone played an instrument. Music is a beautiful gift of the Lord. But in the New Testament, no instrument has ever been asked for. In the first thousand years of church worship across the entire world of Christianity in those first thousand years, you know how many instruments were used in worship? Zero. That's a number I can handle. You know who the first to introduce instruments into worship? The Pope. It's a papal practice. And yet, well, let me say it positively, around the world to this very day, there are many, many churches that do not use instruments. Did you know the entire Orthodox Church, from the time of Christ to this day, has no instruments in it? Now, I'm not saying I agree with everything the Orthodox churches do, but they don't use instruments. Where do they get that? New Testament, New Testament practice. Time of the Reformation, the Reformed churches used no instruments. It wasn't until the late 1800s that some of our pesky Presbyterian brothers started to sneak in an organ. We had, last week in Cuba, the second church we preached at was a tiny little church. No instruments, no speakers, no screens, no hymnals. and they sang, and they sang joyfully. I loved it because they sang in every possible key, and some musical keys that have not been thought up yet. With one voice and heart, they sang joyfully unto the Lord, and I thought, this is great. This is like so wonderful. But when we say, well, we wanna worship God this way, why? Well, because it's what we like, or it's because it's what we've always done, or because it's our tradition. Understand that if it's not been asked for by God, you are putting in place traditions of men and violate the very commandment of God. And Christ calls that hypocritical. Now remember, who came? The Pharisees and the scribes. Who knew the Bible at that time? The Pharisees and the scribes. Who were the ones who were seriously considering how to make sure that God was rightly worshipped and Israel didn't go back into captivity? The Pharisees and the scribes. It's not a lack of knowledge. Calvin will also say, just a few pages later in his book, this is a profound statement, I love this. And I was gonna use this a little bit later, because he's commenting on 1 Samuel 15, which we're gonna go to in a minute. He says, I know how difficult it is to persuade the world that God disapproves of all modes of worship not expressly sanctioned in his word. In this comment, the opposite persuasion which cleaves to them being seated, as it were, in their very bones and morrow, is that whatever they do, is that whatever they do has itself a sufficient sanction, provided it exhibits some kind of zeal for the honor of God. As long as I'm zealous, that's all I need. I want lots of candelabras up here. Why? Because I'm so zealous for the honor of God and I think candles up here would really help. That's what Calvin says, that kind of thinking, that kind of attitude, that kind of sin goes right down to the very bones and morrows of your person. He'll say elsewhere in the same book, our hearts are like a factory of idols. They just keep cranking them out. The conveyor belt doesn't stop. But this attitude that as long as I have a sufficient zeal for God, that alone is sufficient warrant for the practice. Jesus says in Matthew 15, not so fast. The only proper Understanding of the right worship of God is the commandments of God, period, hard stop, or as they now say, mic drop, whatever. There's nothing more to say, but I have some more to say. Turn to 1 Samuel 15. So the first way in which we violate God's worship is by exchanging the doctrines of God for the traditions and practices of men. The second way is when we worship God in a manner that he has specifically not asked for. In 1 Samuel 1, it says, and Samuel said to Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel. Now, therefore, listen to the words of the Lord. He's going to get very specific directions, right? Here is the word of God. Here is the mind of Christ. This is what you are to do. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has and do not spare him, but put to death both man and woman, child, infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey. Gee, I wonder what God wants Saul to do. It's just not clear, is it? It's kind of vague. No, it's not vague. What God has asked Saul to do is to eliminate entirely the Amalekites. So when Samuel arrives, he should arrive upon a field of death where there's total and complete silence. other than whatever he hears coming from the Jewish army. Well, verse eight, he captured Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and the best sheep and oxen and fatlings and lambs and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly, but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. They got rid of the stuff they didn't want and the good stuff they kept. And this distresses Samuel greatly. And verse 13, and Samuel came to Saul and Saul said to him, blessed are you of the Lord. I have carried out the commandment of the Lord. Had he? No, he's claiming he did. I love verse 14, it's one of my favorite verses in the book of Samuel. Blessed are you of the Lord, I have carried out the commandment of the Lord. Verse 14, Samuel says, what then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen I hear? Why are there still sheep and oxen alive? Notice what Saul's response. They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but the rest we utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said to Saul, wait and let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night. And he said to him, speak. Samuel said, is it not true, though, that you were little in your own eyes? You were made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed you king over Israel, and the Lord sent you on a mission and said to go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated. Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord? Then Saul said to Samuel, I did obey the voice of the Lord, and I went on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and have brought back Agag, the cave of the Amalekites, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took some of the spoil, and sheep, and oxen, the choicest things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice the Lord your God at Gilgal. And Samuel said, has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is the iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you from being kings." And then one of the darkest parts of the passage, verse 32, then Samuel said, bring me Agag, the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully. And Agag said, surely the bitterness of death is past. But Samuel said, as your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal. Every time we worship God in a manner contrary to what God has commanded, We do evil in his sight. Again, this is the context in which Calvin says, I know and persuade how difficult it is to persuade the world that the only kind of worship that God accepts is that which has been expressly sanctioned in his word. Every additional addition to his word, especially in this matter, Calvin writes, is a lie. Every addition to the scriptures in terms of worship is a lie. Think about it this way. Do you know what the most frequent command is in scripture? By far, the most frequent command in scripture is to worship the Lord. And there are more words, more verses, more chapters, in fact, entire books devoted to what does it mean to worship the Lord. More than any other command, the right worship of God is commanded and explained. more than any other command. And yet, amongst Christians, we seem to think that it's the least described and the one that's most open for interpretation. Every addition to his word, especially in this manner, is a lie. Mere will-worship is vanity, Calvin writes. And so we can violate the worshiping God in spirit and truth by exchanging the traditions of men for the commandments of God. Secondly, we can violate the worshiping God in spirit and truth by not doing what God has commanded us to do. The third way is to add. Turn with me to the book of Leviticus in the 10th chapter. In Leviticus chapter 10, we have the sin of Nadab and Abihu. And if I have my timing correct, and I think this is important, the tabernacle's been built. the curtains, the candlesticks, the cups, the altar, anything and everything that will be part, the robes that the priests will wear, anything and everything that will be part of the worship of God in the tabernacle has finally been made complete, assembled, it's ready. Now, they had about a week, I think it is, of cleansing rituals. Everything had to be cleansed to make it holy, to separate it off. And the priests had to be cleansed. And their robes had to be cleansed. And all that is now complete. And what we have here, if my understanding is correct, is the very first official worship service of Israel in the tabernacle of God. This is a big day. Verse 10, now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective fire pans, and after putting fire on them, placed incense on it, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, It is what the Lord spoke, saying, By those who come near to me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored. So Aaron therefore kept silent. Use your sanctified imaginations. You've got Nadab and Abihu. Nadab says to Abihu, Hey, look. We're about ready to do the incense, but I got some new incense. This stuff smells great. The people are gonna love it. And it's cheap, and out here in the middle of the wilderness, it's easily accessible, it cleans up nice, all these great benefits, and the people will love it. Abihu says, you know, slow down a little bit, bro. God didn't ask for this. Oh, but he's going to love it when he sees how happy that people are and how excited they're going to be and how zealous they will be about this worship. He's going to love it. I'm not so sure. Nadib says, no, trust me on this one. Well, OK, this once we'll see how it goes. So they offer up this fire, which God had not asked for. And this fire comes out from them, from their presence, and they're immediately consumed. That was a supernatural fire. I believe it was the Shekinah glory of God coming out. You say, well, pastor, how do you know that was a supernatural fire? Because I say, because of verse five, came forward and carried them still in their tunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses said. Now, think about it for a moment. When have you ever heard of somebody being burned to death and their clothes are left intact and strong enough to be carried in? The body is consumed, but the clothes don't even have a whiff of smoke on them. What you have here is a miracle. to demonstrate exactly that God is to be treated as holy and honored. The opposite of holy is common, ordinary. When we add to the things of worship God, no matter how zealous we might be, how excited we might be, no matter how pleased we might be, If it's not what God has asked for, we have treated Him as if He is common and ordinary, and we have dishonored Him. We have to own that. A consuming fire comes out from the very presence of God and devours these people for what? What great sin did they do? They simply offered something He hadn't asked for. How often in churches around the world this day are things being offered to God in the name of Jesus that He never once asked for? And before we get to pointing too many fingers, that's a question we have to ask ourselves. What is it in our worship service that we may actually be doing that God didn't ask for? We like it. It makes sense to us. Because that's who we need to worry about, not the other churches. We need to worry about ourselves. What do we offer to God that either he has said no to, or we've added to, or we in our zeal have simply replaced things that we like in exchange for what he has commanded. Because if God is going to be treated as holy, and he's going to be treated as honored, in honor, we must do what he's commanded. Now, think about it for a moment before we go to our last passage. Remember, when Jesus is asked by the disciples, Lord, teach us how to pray. Jesus gave him the Lord's prayer, right? How does that begin? Our Father, who art where? In heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Sanctified, made holy. Why is that the first request? And I would suggest to you, because that is the first and greatest of all the sins that we commit, because we do not love God with all of our heart, mind, soul. His name is not holy and sanctified in our mind, in our hearts, on our lips. And so Jesus teaches us to pray. The very first thing he teaches us to ask for is let your name be sanctified, holy in our minds and hearts. Our Father, who art not here, but in heaven, In the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, may your name be holy in our eyes and in our midst, that we might honor you as God and treat you as holy. And the reason why that starts is because since the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, we don't do that. How often have we rehearsed what I'm about to say? This is nothing new if you've been here for long. God said, you shall not eat of the tree of the garden. Not hard to understand. You may eat freely of all the trees, but the tree in the center of the garden, you shall not eat of that one. If you really understood Hebrew and could read it in the Hebrew, you know what it would say? Don't eat of that one. Satan comes along and offers a Contrary truth claim, you may eat. And what does Adam and Eve do? To resolve this, do they submit to the revealed command of God? Nope. Rather, they put the commandment and the word of the Lord underneath them, and the claim of Satan underneath them, and they decide using their own empirical mind Empirical evidence, their mind to evaluate the empirical evidence themselves. They look at the tree. Hmm. It's a delight to the eyes. Kind of like native in a bayou. The people are going to love the smell. It's good to make one wise. That's good. It's good for food. I think we'll eat. How'd that turn out? In the worship of God in the garden, what our first parents did is replicated in our lives individually and in our churches to this very day. God's word says, do this. Well, let's weigh that. Sing psalms. Well, let's weigh that. Couldn't we do this too? No request for instruments. Well, let's weigh that. You know, people will sing better if we have instruments. And the instruments can really get excitement and joy going. And the young people will love it if we use the right instruments. Why in our arrogance do we think it's going to turn out any better for us than it did for Adam and Eve or Nadab and Abihu? And isn't this the same problem that happened in Exodus? When Moses is up on the mountain getting the Ten Commandments and he hears quite a distance away Israel worshiping And he goes down to find out what was happening, and they've made a golden calf. Just a few chapters earlier, God said, no graven images. How hard is that to understand? It's kind of like, don't eat of that tree. No graven images. But in the worship that was happening down at the camp that Moses hears, it was the most exciting worship ever in the history of the world. How do you know that? Let me tell you, number one, the people spared no cost. It says they took of their gold and they gave it to Aaron and he formed this calf and he called it, this is the God who brought you out of Egypt. Now some of you are generous givers, but I'm looking forward when you bring all your gold to us, that will be exciting. Secondly, They were singing fervently. So loud was the singing, it could be heard up on the mountain. And they didn't have martial speakers blasting anything. It was just their voices. And thirdly, they're dancing and having a good old time at it. And God looked upon it, and his response was what? He thought, you know, if I only had asked them, I could see this as a superior way of worshiping. Let's embrace this. Is that how he treated it? No, not at all, quite the contrary, right? He was ready to destroy the entire people of Israel, except for the sake that they had a mediator, Moses, who interceded on their behalf. And to this very day, as we worship God in manners that are not approved of Him, thankfully, we have a better mediator than they did. We have Jesus Christ, who ever lives to intercede on our behalf. As it says in the book of Hebrews, But that doesn't make wrong worship right. No amount of zeal and excitement will make that which is wrong, right. No amount of extra traditions or things that we can add that could really be helpful that the people will like make what is wrong right. It will not make that which dishonors God honorable. It will not take that which makes him common and begin to treat him as holy. It will not happen. So the last verse, I'd like to go back to Hebrews chapter 12 and remember the fire that came out and consumed Nadab and Abihu. Because somebody here might be thinking, oh, but pastor, look at all these Old Testament passages. That's the God of the Old Testament. Yes, and the God of the Old Testament just happens to be the God of the New Testament. Same God. So remind us in Hebrews 12 that we have come, verse 22, to this Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the myriads of angels, and to the general assembly of the church of the firstborn who are enrolled, and to God, verse 24, and to Jesus. And then he tells us that, see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For those who did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven. This is the second time at least that we've been warned to listen very carefully. Remember back in chapter two, he says a very similar thing. For this reason, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from the word spoken Well, who is the one who's actually doing the speaking? Ultimately, back in chapter 1, verse 1, God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions, in many ways, in these last days, He has spoken to us in His Son. Who is the one who is speaking to us from heaven? It is Christ Himself. The mind of Christ is being laid before us and how he wants to be worshiped. It's not the mind of man. It's not the traditions of men. It is the mind of Christ who is building his church. That one is speaking. And that one warns us, and it says in verse 28, therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, or maybe better translated, let us show grace. By which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe. Acceptable, I would translate it well-pleasing. Either way, it's acceptable to God. It's well-pleasing to God. So we are to show gratitude by which we may offer to God Acceptable, well-pleasing of service or worship. The word service is the word for the priests in the temple. The services is worship service. We are to serve God in worship with reverence and awe. Why? Verse 29, for our God is a consuming fire. Where have we heard that? Leviticus chapter 10. We're not free to make this stuff up. We are to offer to God that which is pleasing to Him, not to us. You all know the story of the Christmas gift of the greatest platter ever, right? You all know the platter story. I was so excited. I got this beautiful platter for that first Christmas as a married man. I wanted it to be special. I wanted it to be valuable. I wanted it to be transgenerational, something that could be passed on to the kids and the grandkids. I wanted something that would express that I'm now thinking not any longer as a single guy, but as a married man, hopefully one day to be a father and a grandfather. I want a gift that represents all these ideals. I find this beautiful pewter platter. I'm so excited. I wrap it up. I hate wrapping gifts, but I wrap this one because this is the best gift ever. And I put bows on it. And Christmas Day comes. I'm going to give it to my wife. And it's like, open this one, open this one, open this one, right? I don't know. It's the reverse of a kid. The kid's on Christmas. Can I open? Can I open? Can I open? Here, I'm excited. Open it. Open it. Open it. She opens it. She holds it up. And with a face that had no joy or happiness in it, why'd you buy me this? And that was a great lesson to me. The fitness of the gift is not in the heart of the giver, but in the mind and heart of the receiver. Why is the worship service called a worship service? Who is being serviced? Not you. God. We draw into the heavenly places to service Him with psalms of praise, songs of joy and thanksgiving, and our prayers. We give Him glory. We ascribe to Him glory and praise. And in doing so, in the fullness of all that, Our souls are washed over with His love and mercy and kindness and goodness and grace in Christ, but we draw near to give to Him. And when He opens up the gift, will it be something that's acceptable and well-pleasing to Him? It better be, because our God is a consuming fire. And so as Community Baptist Church seeks to want to reform our ministry according to the mind of Christ, we better make sure that what we do in any given worship service is according to the mind of Christ. He is the one who speaks from heaven. Days passed, he spoke through the prophets in various times and ways, but in these days he has spoken in his son. We may not be like the Pharisees who came up with their own traditions and say, we'd like to do these even though they're contrary and nullify the very commandments of God. We're not to be like Saul and the people of Israel who can say, well, we kept the commandments even though we didn't do everything that was there. Our intention was there. Our zeal was there. In our violating of the command, we are doing things to praise God. We're excited. No. Nor are we to be like Nadeb in a bayou. I know he's going to like it. Nafrup, strange fire, adding to it. And God forbid that we should ever be like our first parents, and we are. Every day, we are. It's just part of who we are. We have to fight it. We have to resist it. We have to repent of it. Every hour, where we take the Word of God and whatever counter-truth claim there is, and we sit ourselves in the sovereignty seat and decide for ourselves what we will do. Our God is a consuming fire. God wants us, God is seeking for those who will, and we must worship Him in spirit and truth. Why? Because He is spirit. And why? Because where we worship Him is not here, but there in the heavenly Jerusalem. with the souls of righteous men before the throne of grace by the blood of Christ. And our worship service should always free us by the work of the word and spirit to ascend there and not tie us here. May God have mercy on us and grant to us ears to hear and hearts to believe. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much Our hope is not in ourselves, but in Christ. And we thank you for the sins have been covered. Our sins have been covered by his blood. But Lord, in the greatness of our salvation, may we not assume that worship that we offer is any more acceptable and pleasing to you. If it's not what you've asked for, If it goes against what you've commanded, or we replace our practices and traditions for what your commands have given us, help us, Lord, to worship you in spirit and truth, for we know that that's who and what you're looking for. In Christ we pray, amen.