Hebrews 12, verses 28 and 29, and stand with me for the reading of God's word. That's Hebrews 12, 28 and 29. Please hear God's holy words. Therefore, Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Let us pray. Our Lord and our God, as we continue in this series on the Twelve Foundations of a Healthy Church, we ask for your grace that you would give us understanding, that you would illumine our minds and our hearts, that we would receive by faith all that you have for us here, and that we might worship you in a way that is pleasing and acceptable in your sight. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Beloved, there is no more meaningful activity or more important activity for God's creation, whether in heaven or upon the earth, than the worship of God, than the worship of God. It is the chief occupation of the angels. Those who surround God's throne and ceaselessly offer up their praises. Worship is humanity's preeminent purpose. We who were created in order to glorify our Maker. Worship is the chief duty and highest calling of every Christian believer, and nothing Nothing truly satisfies the Christian soul like God-centered, word-regulated, Christ-mediated, Spirit-filled worship. The psalmist exhorts God's people in Psalm 96 to sing to the Lord and bless his name. Tell of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all peoples. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. Splendor and majesty are before Him. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord the glory that is due His name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. Tremble before Him. all the earth. Perhaps you know that the word worship comes from an old English word, a medieval English word, which means worth-ship, worth-ship. To worship something, therefore, is to acknowledge its sublime worth, is to acknowledge its sublime worth. And beloved, is there anything or anyone more worthy of our worship than our blessed Triune God. Who more deserves our love and gratitude than the One who created us and paid the ultimate price for our redemption? Who more deserves our deepest affection and adoration than our great God of mercy and grace? One hymn writer in 1704 expressed his desire to worship God in this way. Oh, that I had a thousand voices to praise my God with a thousand tongues. My heart, which in the Lord rejoices, would then proclaim in grateful songs to all wherever I might be what great things God hath done for me. Imagine that, kids, having a thousand tongues. It would look kind of weird, wouldn't it? But his desire is to have a thousand tongues that he might worship God in a thousandfold manner. It's his heart. It should be our hearts. Worship is the heartbeat of the Christian life. So it should be our sincere desire and aim to learn what worship should be and to learn what worship should not be. What it should not be. Our text from Hebrews 12 is going to help us to do just that. You know that this evening we are in our third week on our series on The twelve foundations of a healthy church. Foundation one, of course, is the gospel. That glorious announcement that God sent his one and only son into the world to live, to die, and to rise again for guilty sinners. The good news that Christ suffered the anguish of hell on the cross, that we would not have to suffer the anguish of hell forever. The good news that Jesus drank down the cup of God's wrath to the very dregs. That we would drink the cup of blessing at the marriage supper of the Lamb forever and ever and ever. That is the first foundation of a healthy church. The centrality of the Gospel in our worship, in our preaching, in our ministries, in our Bible studies, in our fellowship, in our relationships, in our marriages, in our parenting. The Gospel is the center. It's the foundation. The first foundation of a healthy church. The second foundation is the Word of God. The Word of God. We learned last week from 2 Timothy 3 that in order to be a healthy church, both now and into the future, we must continue in the Word, to be steadfast. We must be a people of the Book. The Bible must be the firm foundation of all our ministry here in Charleston and beyond. As God's army, we are not to march to the beat of the world. We don't take our marching orders from the culture. No, we listen to the cadence of God's voice in scripture, telling us what to love, telling us what to do, all for His glory and for our good. We do not live according to the world's wisdom, but according to the divine wisdom revealed in the words All Scripture is inspired by God. All of it. It is inerrant. It is infallible. It is utterly sufficient for the salvation and sanctification of the Church. God's Word is the second foundation. The third foundation of a healthy Church is worship. But not just any kind of worship. Not just any kind of worship. Worship that is on God's terms. Not on man's terms. not on the culture's terms. Worship that is acceptable to God. Worship that is according to scripture. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Beloved, my outline for tonight is in five parts. It's in five parts. First of all, we have the gift of worship, then the motivation for worship, the object of worship, the elements of worship, and the posture or manner of worship. The gift of worship, the motivation of worship, the object of worship, the elements of worship, and the posture or manner of worship. This is meant to help us. as a church, as a young church, to begin to form and to construct a healthy biblical view of worship, because there's lots of confusion out there. Perhaps tonight we'll be able to correct a few things in our own thinking that do not come from God's Word. First of all, the gift of worship, verse 28. Friends, right worship is a gift from God. Let me explain. Verse 28 states that we are what? Receiving. We are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Here we are reminded that we are not earning our salvation, we're not earning a place in the kingdom through our moral performance. It's an impossibility, even if we try to. No, we are receiving a kingdom. It's all of grace. God sent his son into the world in order to save us and to inaugurate an eternal kingdom that would break forth from heaven into the world and we could be a part of it. By grace, through faith. Isn't this in part the message of Hebrews? Christ has fulfilled the old covenant types, and shadows, and prophecies, and promises, He is the greater Moses. He is the greater Aaron. He is greater than the angels. He's the greater mediator of a new covenant. He's the greater temple. He's the greater land that was crucified once and for all for the guilty. He is the founder and perfecter of our faith, the one in whom the Old Testament economy finds its realization. It is all pointing to Christ. It's the illustration, right, of the Boy Scout troop, who is going through the line of the movies, and there are 50 of them, and the first 25 go through, and the leader is in the middle, and they go through, and as they're going through, they say, He's got me! He's got me! He's got me! And then the leader goes through, and the rest of them say, He's got me! The guy, he went through. Christ paid for the sins of those who were in the Old Testament, and those in the New Testament. It's all pointing to Christ in the Old Covenant. He's the fulfillment of it all. That's the message of Hebrews. God, by His grace, has brought us into His kingdom and given us new hearts. And do you know what those new hearts want to do more than anything else? Worship. Worship. Apart from God's grace, we would all still be worshipping the wrong things, wouldn't we? We would all still be worshipping the wrong things. I'll never forget being in Newcastle United Stadium over in Newcastle, England. Big beautiful soccer stadium. And in the stadium store I was picking up a couple of souvenirs for the kids. And I was looking through the t-shirts and I saw a t-shirt and it said, St. James Park is my church. That's the name of the stadium. St. James Park is my church and Newcastle United is my God. And let's just be honest, if we had less decency in the South, we would just go ahead and put college football teams on shirts like that as well, right? People worshipped lots of things. This stadium store just admitted to it. Some of us can easily remember a time in our own lives when we worshipped anything but God. Our hearts were totally caught up in the things of this world. I can remember in my own life, worshipping things like sports, friends, popularity, success, money. You know, if you want to know what a person worships, all you have to do is follow the trail of their time, their thoughts, their energy, their money. Follow it, and at the end of that trail, you will have the God they worship. By God's grace, He saved me out of that life of idolatry, and He saved many of you. He gave me a new heart, one that made Him the preeminent object of my love and devotion, the object of my worship. It's a gift. Worship is a gift, as we sit here, it's a gift to us. By God's sovereign grace, Christ became to me the fairest of ten thousand, my all in all. The same is for many of you. You know, before I was a Christian, you could not drag me to worship on a Lord's Day. But after I got saved, you couldn't keep me from it. It's the one place I want it to be more than anywhere else. In fact, I can tell you right now, there is no greater place that you can be right now than in public worship, worshiping God on this holy day. No greater place. The world would say differently. We are receiving a kingdom that will not and cannot be shaken. Those who are blood-bought citizens of that kingdom love to gather together in the presence of God for worship. And so the worship of God is a gift, especially as it relates to the gathered church. Before we go on, I think it's important that we make some important distinctions, though, regarding worship. The Bible generally describes Christian worship in three ways, doesn't it? Private worship, family worship, and what? Public worship, corporate worship. Private worship is that which we do on our own. Write that down and give me credit. Private worship is that which we do on our own. We've referred to it as quiet times, as personal devotions for most of us. It includes Bible reading, or the reading of a devotional of some kind, or reading sermons. It involves praying, sometimes it involves singing. Psalms are in many ways the inspired product of the personal worship of King David and others, even though they are commended for our use in public worship. The writer of Psalm 91 says this, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God and to my trust. We see Jesus Himself taking time alone, don't we, in Mark 1.35, where He goes off by Himself to pray to His Heavenly Father. And then later, at the end of His ministry, we see Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood and crying out to His Father. Private worship is biblical. Then there's family worship. Family worship. It's that important time of devotion that we have with all the members of our household. Deuteronomy 6 and verse 7 and Ephesians 5 and 6 command husbands and fathers, our heads of home, to gather their people to their flock together. To worship God in the home. You know, sometimes I think we confuse our kids. We tell them how important God is and then we don't talk to them or refer to them all week. Family worship is important. It's a powerful reminder to our household, our children, to all of us, that God is to be worshipped throughout the week, not only on Sunday. Family worship will normally include Bible reading, a question and answer or two of the Reformed catechism, the singing of a psalm or hymn, prayer. Family worship is the best part of a Christian household's day. Thirdly, public worship, or Lord's Day worship. The Bible clearly teaches that God's people are to gather together as a people on the Christian Sabbath, or the first day of the week, or the day that Jesus rose from the dead. This is of highest importance. We see this in Scripture. We see it in our confession, and we see it in Church history. Three important things to think about when we're asking ourselves the importance of something. The Bible teaches it, and our confession teaches it, that which has been scrutinized for 500 years, and Church history reinforces it, why it is something we should take very seriously. While we do not have time to fully unpack all of this, we learn in Acts 2.42 that the earliest believers devoted themselves to public worship, to the Apostle's teaching, Acts 2.42, to the Apostle's teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. Definite article in the Greek before each one of those elements of worship. Those are the elements of public worship. Those are the things that time and time again the Reformers came back to, to say this is what should make up our worship. It should be simple. It should not be filled with smells and bells. and all kinds of man-made institutions. Now it should be the words, sacraments and prayer, just as it says in Acts 2.42. In Acts 20, verse 7 and 1 Corinthians 16, 1 and 2, we learn that these early believers gathered on the first day of the week. Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, and a week later, again, on the first day of the week, Jesus did what? He appeared to his disciples. This is when God, in a special way, meets with his people. And how do we understand it? How do you understand the presence of God? You know, God is everywhere, isn't he? God is everywhere. And yet, in a mysterious way, his presence is more concentrated, if I can use that language, when his people gather together on his holy day, with his holy word being proclaimed and read, and his holy sacraments being administered. His spirit is working through these meetings. In Hebrews 10, 23-25, Christian believers are commanded to, quote, "...hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near." Question, how do we better hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering? How do we focus on the one who is faithful to us? How do we consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds? How do we actually do that? We gather together on the Lord's Day, the day that's been sanctified for that very purpose. You know, I believe the demise of the modern church is the marginalization and even complete obliteration of the Lord's Day. You know, now at best it's the Lord's hour, not the Lord's day. Maybe it's the Lord's two hours if you go to Sunday school. You know, it wasn't long ago that morning and evening worship was practiced by virtually every denomination. Ah, but we're more mature now, we've stopped evening worship. We don't need that. We don't want that. It doesn't make any sense, does it? That we say we love God and yet we want to cancel the rest of the day that God has given us to worship. The story of a lady who had major arthritis. She was in her 80s and she had the most difficult time walking. Somehow she lived near the church, somehow she would get to church, I don't know if she took the bus or what it was, but someone once asked her, she would come to morning and evening, every Lord's Day, and somebody asked her, how is it that you come back? How do you do that? You're clearly having trouble walking, it's hard for you to get here. She said, my heart gets there first and my legs just follow after. I'll never forget this fall, being in Edinburgh, Scotland, and sitting next to one of the godliest women I've ever known. In her early 80s, husband had already passed on to Glory, and there she was sitting next to us in public worship on Lord's Day evening, in pain, dying of cancer. Dead just a couple of months later, with the Lord in Glory. The heart gets there first. My legs just follow after. Let us not forsake the assembling of the believers. Dear ones, while privates and family worship are very important and should be a regular part of our day, it is the Lord's morning and evening worship that is of first importance in the Christian life. They're all important. Don't get me wrong. They're all important. But this is of first importance, for it is in the context of the gathered church through his faithful ministers and his appointed means of grace that he most powerfully works in the lives of his children. Beloved, the gathered church on the Christian Sabbath is meant to be a picture and a foretaste of the eternal Sabbath. We are not going to go to heaven and have an eternal quiet time. You would think that would be the case by the way some people think about the Christian life. It's me, Jesus, and my Bible. But remember back to Sermon 1. In order to love, you must have an object to love. And we show love to God by loving one another. Some over-spiritualized books we have today, they make you think that to really walk with God, you just need to go off and do a closet somewhere. Friends, to really walk with God, we need to be together. Worshipping our God according to Scripture. receiving His means of grace, hearing the preaching of His Word. Now, some of you say, you know, yeah, but there's so many churches, they're so off base, and people are preaching their own opinions. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a faithful administration of these things. A faithful administration of these things. We need it. We all need it. I need it. My family needs it. I know how glorious it's been being at Church Creek over the past few weeks, where I can know for sure when I wake up in the morning and put my tie on that there's going to be nothing goofy happening in the worship service. It's wonderful. They're not going to ask me to get up and do something. I'm just going to come and worship God according to Scripture. Our Confession of Faith states in chapter 21, verse 6, that God is to be worshipped everywhere, in spirit and in truth, as in private families daily, and in secret, each one by himself, so more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly or willfully to be neglected or forsaken when God by his word or providence calls thereunto. Why more solemnly in public assemblies? Why the emphasis upon public gathered worship on the Lord's Day? Because in God's word we see that God himself has established a holy day when his holy ministers are to call his holy people to gather together in God's holy presence in order to feast on his holy ordinances, word and sacraments for the glory of God and for the blessing and growth and maturity of God's people. And here is where we must make another very important distinction between worship in all of life and worship at sacred times. You may remember the story of Eric Liddell, a great Scottish runner from the early 20th century. He refused to run his main event at the Olympics because it was scheduled for a Sunday. One of his most famous quotes came when his sister was imploring him to go ahead and make the decision to go to China and to be a missionary. And you know that great scene in Chariots of Fire, right? Where she's imploring him, and he says, but Jenny... I'm not going to interrupt his Scottish accent tonight. Because I don't want to distract him. He said, God has made me fast. God has made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure. And in a sense, he's saying that when I run, I'm worshipping God. And it's true. As Christians, whether we are running or walking or sailing or gardening, there is a real sense in which we are worshipping God, isn't there? Whether we eat or drink, whatever we do, we do it all to the glory of God. That's true. But it is also true, let us know, that God calls us to formal times of worship. We see this in Acts 2.42. We are to worship at sacred times. Some have tried to make the case that all-of-life worship is all we really need to remember. And that the Lord's Day worship with invisible church is unnecessary, that we can get our fellowship and our spirituality in other ways, in coffeehouses, with friends, or online, or in our homes, or on the baseball field, or in the fishing boat. Praise God! Fishing is not a means of grace, brothers, I'm telling you. Playing baseball is not a means of grace. You see, when you're in those places, you can be worshipping God, enjoying creation, but His Word is not being preached there. The sacraments are not being administered there. There aren't prayers going up. It is ridiculous to think that we get what we need in these places. It is utterly contrary to the word of God, for we are commanded not to forsake the assembling of the Church. When faithfully led, it is mainly in public worship that Christ shepherds, nourishes, convicts, corrects, trains, and guides His flock through His word and sacraments, those sovereignly appointed means of communicating Christ to His people. How does God communicate Christ to us? He does so through the means that He Himself has appointed. That's why preaching is so important. Preaching, not sharing. Not dialogue, but proclamation. It is what God has ordained. Why? Because it's important for us. It calls us to Christ. It calls us to repentance. You know, you're rarely going to be in a small group setting where someone's going to stand up and say, Repent of your sins! Stop looking at that pornography! It's just not going to happen in a small group setting. But it is going to happen for a pulpit, where the Word of God is being preached. repentance, faith, and Christ. This is why Christians throughout the ages have devoted themselves to Lord's Day worship. Beloved, we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. In Hebrews 12.27 we learn that the kingdoms of this world will be shaken, and they will be removed. What the world sees as powerful now will one day be destroyed. And what the world now sees as foolish, what we're doing here this evening, will one day be in its full glory. We are receiving this kingdom now, but one day we will receive it in full. It will be glorious beyond all comprehension. So the worship that we participate in is a gift from God, and perhaps our chief motivation for worship is that of gratefulness. This leads us to our very brief second point, the motivation of worship. Look with me again at Hebrews 12.28. Therefore let us be what? Grateful. Grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship. Let us be grateful. Let us be grateful. Here we see what may be perhaps the preeminent motivation for our worship. Gratitude. Are you grateful for what God has done for you in Christ? Are you grateful for your health? Are you grateful for all that God has done for you and for his church? Are you thankful for the indescribable gift of God's Son? If so, friend, you will be highly motivated to worship God. You will want to worship Him, to declare His excellencies and His wondrous works, and to receive His needed grace. The psalmist Asaph writes in Psalm 75 1, We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous works. That's why God saved us, 1 Peter. 1 Peter says, He saved us out of the kingdom of darkness and placed us in the kingdom of His light, of His beloved Son. In order to do what? To declare His excellencies. That's what Christians do. We are grateful people. I mentioned this morning over at Church Creek that this year is the 450th anniversary of the Hatterberg Catechism. Some of you will perhaps know that the Hatterberg Catechism is divided up into three sections. Guilt, grace, and what? Gratitude. Guilt, grace, and gratitude. It's in many ways a tidy summary of the Gospel, isn't it? In the first section we are reminded of humanity's colossal need for grace. For we are an undone people, riddled with sin and guilt before a holy God. Then we are taught in the middle section of God's amazing grace through Christ. That there is salvation from the power and the penalty of sin through faith in Jesus Christ. Then there is the gratitude section. And in this gratitude section of the Hatterberg Catechism we are taught how to obey the Lord, to show our gratitude to God. It's called the gratitude section, but what it is, is calling us to gospel obedience, to new obedience. We are commanded to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. But this command is not a burden. With thankful hearts for all that Christ has done for us, Worship is our greatest delight. It's a command. It's a duty. Worship is a duty. It's a command. We are commanded to be here to worship God. But it is our greatest delight at the same time. Worship is a gift. We are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Also, worship is motivated by our gratitude for all that God has done, is doing, and will do for us by His grace in Christ. The writer to the Hebrews says, let us be grateful. The third thing I want us to briefly consider this evening is the object of our worship. The object of our worship. Who or what is the object of our worship? That's an important question, I think. Who is the object or what is the object of our worship? When considering the wide variety of worship services that take place in our day, this is not always discernible. In some quarters of the Evangelical Church, worship services have become such a production It gives the appearance that people are worshipping worship more than they are worshipping God. They're worshipping worship more than they are worshipping God. In fact, I've learned over the years that many people will choose a church, and this comes from experience, people will choose a church not based on the truth that is preached or that is taught, not upon whether or not the leaders of the church, the elders and deacons of the church, are godly men with godly marriages who are actually overseeing the flock, but actually choosing a church, not even because the lyrics of the songs are truthful, but actually because the way the music is played during the songs makes them feel all good inside. Makes them feel good. I had a three-hour meeting with a family several years ago who had left the church, and I went to meet with them, and after three hours of trying to figure out what it was, they finally admitted, we don't feel the Spirit of God at Grace Presbyterian Church in the singing. The singing, of course, was much like we're doing here this evening. We're singing the truth of God, we're singing psalms and hymns with volume and with love and praise in our hearts, but it wasn't what this particular individual was thinking it should be. So the object of our worship is often not God, but worship itself and the way we think it should be. Sometimes we get so caught up in the things that are associated with worship that we forget about God himself. Have you ever done that? I've done it. I've certainly done it. The Apostle John did in Revelation 19, 6-10. Look there with me in Revelation 19, 6-10. We'll see the Apostle John even got overly excited about things surrounding God rather than God himself. Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns! Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory! For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. It was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. Then I fell down at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, you must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The great apostle John, at the end of Revelation, you wonder if he just wanted to leave this part out. Do we really need to put this part in? God's part? Yes we do, John, I'm sorry to say. John is so overwhelmed by the glory and the majesty of this angel, that he throws himself down and begins to worship this angel. And the angels just repelled at this. Look what he says, don't do that! You start looking behind him like lightning's going to strike him. Stop! And he gives this brief command. Worship God! Oh, how we need to hear this. Here, and also in Hebrews 12, 28, we are reminded that God is to be the object of our worship. not the music, not ourselves, not each other. God is the object of our worship. Unbelievers are not the object of our gathering together. It is God who is to be the center of our attention. It is precisely when we make God the object of our worship that our souls are most encouraged and that God is most glorified. John Piper was right, wasn't he, when he said that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. God is the object of our worship. This then leads to the most pressing question of our text. How then should we worship? Is it okay to worship God in any way that we choose? So long as we are sincere, is sincerity the only requirement? Is God a relativist when it comes to worship? Is he a worship relativist? Look at me again at verse 28. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God what? Acceptable worship. With reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Friends, if this verse teaches us that we must offer God acceptable worship, then there must be such thing as what? Unacceptable worship. Unacceptable worship. Yes, there is such a thing as professing believers worshiping God in an unacceptable way. We have a couple of Old Testament examples. How about the golden calf? How about the golden calf? You know they were worshipping Yahweh through the Golden Calf. They weren't making up a false god. They were worshipping God in a way that God had told them not to. So many were struck down. God was displeased. The text that Ross read earlier from Leviticus chapter 10. You notice what it said? They offered strange fire, unauthorized fire. They brought strange fire into the temple. Some believe they were intoxicated, they'd been drinking, and they were carrying out their duties in this manner. Whatever the case may be, they brought strange fire into the temple, and they were burned up. On the spot. Thank the Lord he doesn't act like that. The Lord doesn't do that every time we worship that way and bring strange fire in. I would have been burned up like a thousand times already. Still learning what it means to worship God according to scripture. But here we see, if anything, God's seriousness about worship. being worshipped according to scripture. How about the New Testament? John 4.24, we read it earlier, God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. It doesn't say God is spirit and you can just worship him as you please. No, according to his truth. Acts 2.42, again, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers. God is not a worship relativist. He has appointed the way in which He will be worshipped. And this way, friends, not only brings Him the most glory, but it also does us the most good. You see, when we question the wisdom of God and how He is to be worshipped, we're questioning the wisdom of God and how we are to be blessed and matured and strengthened and comforted in our faith. That's the beauty about biblical worship. Worship that is according to Scripture. It glorifies God. And it blesses us. And it even has what I've heard called doxological evangelism. If an unbeliever is in the context of a worshipping community, and God is going to save them, and the Word is being preached, they're going to come to Christ by God's grace. Well, this is referred to as the regulative principle of worship. The regulative principle of worship, that principle that says that worship should be regulated by the Word of God, that we should do nothing except that which is commanded by God in Scripture. Westminster Confession of Faith 21 says this, the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself. and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in his holy word." In 1667, John Owen wrote a book called The Brief Instruction for the Worship of God. It was actually a catechism on worship. Actually, King Charles II was the king persecuting Puritans during this decade. And so this was an anonymous book. The king that this town is named after was the king who was persecuting the Puritans. He wrote this anonymously, and in Question 12 it says this, What is principally to be attended unto by us in the manner of the celebration of the worship of God? Answer, that we observe and do all whatsoever the Lord Christ has commanded us to observe, in the way that he hath prescribed, and that we add nothing unto or in the observation of them, that is, of man's invention or appointment. So if I said right now, okay everybody stand up, we're going to do jumping jacks for Jesus, you could say, sorry Pastor John, not going to do that. Never come back to the church again, as a matter of fact. You know, there are all manner of things. The Churches are asking worshippers to do, but it should always be only according to Scripture. John Calvin said this in his Necessity of Reforming the Church. He said, I know how difficult it is to persuade the world that God disapproves of all modes of worship not expressly sanctioned by His Word. What should our worship consist of? The Word of God, read and preached, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper administered on a regular basis, and prayer. Prayer, our response to God. And within prayer, we're going to say that a sub-part of prayer is the singing, because singing is like a prayer to God, isn't it? It's a prayer of praise in song. And so this is the nucleus of worship, the Word. Sacraments, and prayer. Confession also being a part of that. Liturgies may be a little different, church to church, but these things must constitute worship. Worship according to scripture. Isn't this what we see the early Christians devoted to in Acts 2.42? Isn't this what the apostles put their confidence in? Isn't this what we see the Reformed devoted to since the days of the Protestant Reformation? Why? Because they believed that God's promises were attached to the Word. And think of it, when the Word of God is preached faithfully, who is central in the worship of the Church? Jesus Christ. When prayers are being offered in the name of Jesus Christ and through His blood and righteousness, who is center? Jesus Christ. When God-centered psalms and hymns are being sung, who is center? Jesus Christ. When the sacrament of Lord's Supper and baptism are being properly administered, who is the center of worship in the Church? Jesus Christ. Who is pleased when Jesus Christ is exalted? God the Father. Who is at work when Jesus Christ is being exalted? The Holy Spirit. There is so much more we could say about worship, but this is why we want to worship according to scripture and in God's way, because on God's terms, His Son is exalted and His Spirit is at work through the means that God has promised to bless in the lives of His elect. God will save and sanctify and comfort His elect through the means that He has appointed. Here we are reminded that worship is not just a giving of glory to God. We don't come to worship to say, OK, I'm going to worship, and I'm going to worship God, and He's going to get all the glory, and then I'm going to leave. No, worship is us coming and feasting on the means of grace, feasting on Christ. We don't come into a gym to show how many weights we can lift spiritually. We come as pilgrims who are weary after being in battle all week long. And we come to receive God's promise that He loves us and He sent His Son to die for us. And we receive Christ again by grace through faith. We say, Yes, Lord, tell me again. Tell me you love me. And then when He tells us that He loves us in His Word read and preached and confessed and sung, then we respond with prayers of thanksgiving and obedience. This is worship. Our worship here is a microcosm of the entire Christian life, recognizing our sin, recognizing our need for Christ, hearing God's promises, and responding to them by grace through faith and obedience that's increasing. Worship also is not just the singing. Oh, man, worship was great tonight, and then I heard an average sermon. Worship was great, and then the pastoral prayer and the confession and the sermon was OK. Worship is everything that takes place between the call to worship and the benediction. And so, there might be a jazzercise class for all I care during the announcements, but when the call to worship takes place, by the way, that's not going to happen. When the call to worship takes place, we are now in worship, and we will worship God according to Scripture. And after the benediction, You can have cookies and do jazzercise after you eat the cookies to lose the weight. All you want. I'll never forget being up in Peru and teaching on these very things to the pastors in the mountains of Peru. And they were looking at each other like they had just discovered sliced bread for the first time. You mean we can do worship in an hour and not in four hours? And hear one testimony after another for 30-35 minutes while everybody rolls their eyes? It feels like they have to stay there, and people are walking up and leaving and coming. I said, you all can do whatever you want before the worship service and after. But during this time, it's sacred. And we're going to worship according to Scripture. Here we are reminded that worship is a context in which God, our shepherd, is feeding us, discipling us, correcting us, disciplining us, training us, teaching us, and nourishing us. Let us therefore offer to God acceptable worship. And finally, we have the posture and manner of worship. Many evangelical churches in our day have worship services that intentionally go for a relaxed and informal approach. They tell you to relax, bring your coffee and your bagel into the service. And I know, I say these things, I know that people have good intentions. People have good intentions and they have their philosophy of ministry that's seeking to do a certain thing. But once again, who is the object of our worship? Where in the Bible do we see this kind of thing, this kind of hyper-informality, flippancy in worship? It's just the opposite, isn't it? Whenever we see God's people, whether individually or corporately, coming into the presence of Almighty God, they come always with great fear, and respect, and love, and reverence, and joyful adoration. They know that they are coming before a sovereign king. You wouldn't walk into Buckingham Palace and give the Queen a high five, would you? I hope not. If you were to go to the Oval Office and to meet with the President, You would go there with dignity, respect, reverence for his office. Think of Moses at Mount Sinai, or Isaiah and his commissioning. Some think that was merely an Old Testament approach to worship. But right here in our passage for this evening, we are commanded to do what? To come with reverence and with awe. Friends, this should be a gravitas to our worship. There should be a gravitas to our worship, a weightiness, a reverence. If anything characterizes our worship in American evangelicalism today, it's that God is resting too lightly upon the Church. He's resting too lightly upon the Church, and it's our fault. We've crowded Him out with our informality and our silliness. In the Lord's Prayer, what do we say? Our Father who art in heaven, what? Hallowed be your name. It's part of one of the articles of our faith to hallow the name of God. This doesn't mean that we walk around morose with frowns. No. There's a joyfulness and a warmth to our reverence. But there's clearly a respect. And we know we're in the presence of a King when we worship Him. God is an exalted King, not a buddy to pal around with. Yes, God has come to us in Christ, and there's an imminence there, and he's our friend, and he's our brother. Yes, yes. But let us remember that he is also an exalted King, and this should be reflected in our worship. Since worship is so important, it shouldn't therefore surprise us that Satan is trying to mess everything up. In fact, I think public worship, I think the Lord's Day, is central to what it means to make disciples. We are shaped and formed in the context of Lord's Day worship like nowhere else, if it's done according to scripture. So the devil wants to ruin that. He wants to bring confusion. And yes, there are issues that we have discussion on, and godly people trying to follow the Bible will have different thoughts about it and different interpretations, and we understand all of that. But at the end of the day, we must be able to say, Lord, we are worshipping you according to your word, in spirit and in truth, with your word and with Christ at centre. So let us remember that worship is a gift, that we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be grateful, and may that gratefulness motivate our worship. May God be the object of our worship. Let us exercise our faith when the God-appointed means of grace, the elements of worship, are being administered. Let us not be driven, blown to and fro by the fads of our culture. Let us not re-create worship and re-create the Church every other week. Let us rejoice in what has been passed down to us through the ages. Let us worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. He will burn away all the dross. He will mold and shape us into the image of Christ. And He will make us more and more aware of our own weakness and our own need, and are more and more aware of His great sovereign love through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Let us worship God according to Scripture. Let's pray. Our God and our Father, we thank you for your word and for all that it teaches us in connection to the worship that you yourself call us to do. We thank you that you have not left us to ourselves to figure it all out, but you have given us your word. You've commanded us to worship you in spirit and according to your truth. Oh, Lord, bless us now as we sing your praises and as we respond to your word. Help us to do so with faith. and ever-increasing obedience, may we be founded upon the worship that is according to Scripture. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I've got to go. Raise my soul, my King of Heaven, to Him be glory ever. Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise the everlasting King. Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, Lord, you'll see His gratefulness. Scattered by the endless deserts, where are we, O brave heroes? In His hands we gently rest, rescued thus from all our foes. Praise Him, praise Him, mighty as His mercy flows. Real as Son, whose love we flourish, love's no end and it is gone. God, while mortal, strife and perish, God endures our changing arms. Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise the High Eternal One. Angels help us to adore Him. You behold Him face to face. and bow down before Him, dwellers all in time and space. Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise with us the God of grace. A little bit before I give the benediction, I want to invite you to have some refreshments and some fellowship just in the courtyard here to our right. Please receive God's blessing. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace, both now and forevermore, in all of God's people said. Amen.