Let's take our Bibles. We'll turn first to the book of Hosea. Hosea chapter 2, beginning at verse 14. It's found on page 954. It goes Daniel, Hosea, Joel, after the three long prophets, well four I guess they call them, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and then Daniel's the fourth one. Hosea, Hosea 2, beginning at verse 14. People of God, hear now the very words of God. Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the valley of Acre a door of hope. And there she shall answer, as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me my husband, and no longer will you call me my Baal, for I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land. And I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and in justice, in steadfast love. and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord. And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel. And I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on no mercy. And I will say to not my people, you are my people. And he shall say, you are my God. Let us turn to Romans chapter 10, beginning at verse 13, page 1,203, a few Bibles. Romans 10, beginning at verse 13. And after that we'll turn to 1 Corinthians and then 2 Corinthians. So three books in a row there. Romans 10. Romans 10 verse 13, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, but they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. And let us turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 14, beginning at verse 26, page 1,221. Just over a few pages there. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 26, following. What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two, or at most three, and each in turn. And let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church. and speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged. And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. So my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues, but all things should be done decently and in order. Then let us turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Again reading that verse 12 and read on into chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, Even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. Well, thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one, a fragrance from death to death. To the other, a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word. But as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, In the sight of God, we speak in Christ. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God. Not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God. who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. As far as the reading of God's holy word. Children, think to the creation week, Genesis 1. How did God make everything? Well, you remember again and again, what do we read there in Genesis 1? God said, God spoke. And when God spoke there in Genesis 1, what happened? Everything was created. God spoke, there was light. God spoke, the waters separated. God spoke, dry land appeared. Trees came to be. God spoke, and the sun, moon, and stars appeared. God spoke, and the waters and sky were filled with flesh and birds. God spoke, and animals on land were created. It's amazing. But then further in Genesis, we remember through our series, but you know from your stories, think of Noah. God spoke to Noah, and what happened? Well, from that, Noah built an ark. The race of man was preserved from the flood that God sent to destroy the earth. Remember Abram? God spoke to Abram, calling him out of Ur, the Chaldeans, made covenant with him, covenant of grace. Remember too, on Mount Sinai, God spoke. He spoke the Ten Commandments. He spoke to Moses, and from that the tabernacle was made. The entire Jewish sacrificial ceremonial system, the old covenant, began that would last for 1,500 years or so. Remember, above all, when God spoke through his Son, Jesus, when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. With the coming of the Son of God, by his sacrificial death, his suffering and dying in our place for our sins, taking God's wrath upon himself, and by his resurrection from the dead on the third day, our redemption was accomplished. The new heavens, the new earth, resurrection has come. The kingdom of heaven has come. Again and again and again in the Bible, we read of God speaking and things happen. Great things happen, wonderful things happen. We hold in our hand, I hold in my hand, the result of God speaking, even more, the very words of God, the Bible. Here are the words of life, words used by the Spirit of God to transform hearts and lives, to bring the glories of Christ to us, to all who believe these words. by God's grace and trust himself to the word Jesus. God speaks. And we think, and all these were in the past, weren't they? The Bible was completed over 1900 years ago or so. So is there anything left for us, for you and me? We don't hear God audibly speak. Such wonderful earth historical events from God speaking like creation, that don't happen anymore. We're waiting for Jesus to return. There will be a trumpet sound and the voice of the archangel, a loud shout. But is there nothing till that time? Now Jesus' second coming is the only, the final great event remaining in the unfolding of God's covenant, the history of redemption. But God is not completely silent. For while there is the history of salvation, the great events affecting the structure, the progress, the accomplishment of redemption, they're all finished except for Christ's return, second coming. There is now the applying, the applying of redemption to us, to God's people in order of salvation by which God brings the glories of the kingdom of heaven to individuals and brings us individuals into the drama of redemption of the covenant. So God still speaks. Again, not in audible tones, but by His Spirit through the Word. And this corporate worship service, the corporate worship service, is one instance, is the highest instance where and when God speaks. Yes, God speaks. Just as we read throughout the Bible, when God speaks, there's a response, so in the corporate worship service, we respond. And that's part of what worship is, a pattern it follows. It's a dialogue. God speaks, his people respond. It's a dialogue. So we are to respond to God. First, we consider that God speaks. God speaks. Now we read four passages from the Bible. The readings from Hosea and Romans, we're especially going to bring those out in these first two points. And the readings from Corinthians, first and second, that will be more the third point. The Hosea passage that we read, it very clearly has God speaking, doesn't it? says there even in 23, I will say to not my people, you are my people. It talks about God taking initiative in verse 14, alluring, speaking tenderly. God is the one speaking. And it's clear to whom he's speaking, it's the church. No, no, no, perhaps the church as gathered with the purpose of worshiping God, that's directly in view, but it's to God's people, the group, the body of God's people that God is speaking. And that's the key of reformational worship, of Christian worship. God takes the initiative. God speaks. God begins worship, not man. Worship is not something we get ourselves in the mood for by singing or other actions. It's God who starts, and he starts by speaking. That's mirrored in our own liturgy. If you look at the liturgy and the bullets in there, we very clearly bring that out there. God calls us to worship. The Lord greets us with a blessing, opening the worship service. So often today, though, in broad evangelical churches around it, where worship, a key evidence of worship is thought to be how I feel, oh, now I know worship happened, those gathered for worship must be put in the mood to worship. emotive songs, a praise band, worship leader, get people going, the atmosphere, even in some things, fog. Some such practice. That does not fit biblical doctrine. It doesn't fit what God does. Fallen, sinful man never makes the first move to God. The gospel of God's grace to sin-bound man has God in His initiative. That's what God does recorded throughout scripture. God spoke, the world was created. God spoke to Noah, Noah made the ark. God spoke to Abram, Abram followed. God spoke to Moses, Tabernacle was made. God sent his son Jesus. God initiates. So it is with worship. God begins that Hosea passage. I will allure, bring her out, speak tenderly. I will do this and you will answer. I will even take the name of Baals out of you so we won't answer wrongly, idolatrously. God begins, God moves, God concludes, God speaks. It's only as God speaks and gives life to us, earthly life certainly, but also spiritual life, that we are enabled to do anything. Life is from the Lord. Therefore, God must speak to us. He must say, you are my people, like in Hosea. He must command light to shine in our spiritual darkness. He must send His Spirit, the Spirit of His Son, to, so to speak, speak in our hearts to make us alive. God speaks, God initiates. That's the teaching of scripture. And it's just as true for the corporate worship service. But we read from Romans 10, there God inspired the Apostle Paul to write a series of questions there which bring out a logical order, a progression of how someone ordinarily comes to faith, how someone calls upon the Lord. Verse 13 says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Verse 14, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And notice, this doesn't start with a praise band. It doesn't start with 10 minutes of singing praise and worship songs. It doesn't start with a piano or an organ or a flute or an orchestra. It's not candles. It's not incense. It's not amazing architecture. It's not a hushed silence. It's there with someone being sent to preach. to preach Christ's word so that what we hear are not the words of a mere man, but we hear Christ himself. In fact, look again at verse 14 there. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? Look at that footnote. That footnote gets it. It could be translated. One could say better translated. How are they to believe him whom? They have never heard, not of whom, about, but whom. It's not just hearing about Jesus, that's how faith comes about, as though then I just need information and I can do it. It's hearing Christ himself. It's having Christ speak to us. God must speak. Christ must speak. And he does. He does that in gospel preaching. Now, Lord willing, we'll come to that a bit later in our series, but it comes up now. God speaks. He truly speaks. You hear God in the salutation, the benediction. You hear God in the reading of the law. You hear God in the reading of scripture. You hear God in gospel preaching, in the preaching of the word. Now, what we hear with our earthly ears are the words of the minister. But what's going on at that moment, again, Paul brings it out there, because of one who's being sent, a faithful minister, it's God speaking. In the preaching, you hear Christ. You hear the Son of God who came to earth, who took upon himself your human nature, and in that nature suffered, died, and rose again to rescue you from sin, Satan, and death. You hear Jesus. How are they to believe in Him whom they have never heard but you hear? God speaks. He starts worship. He sustains worship. He carries worship along. He fills worship. He makes the time of worship powerful unto salvation. Praise God for that. This teaching from Scripture, this clear teaching, informs our corporate worship service, our church worship. It's why we place preaching higher than anything else, even the sacraments, and that shows in our architecture. We have the pulpit front and center and elevated. We have the sacraments front, but not center, and somewhat elevated. Our architecture reflects our theology. focuses on gospel preaching, Christ speaks, God speaks, then we respond. And we come to that in our second point, we respond. Now, both the Hosea passage and the Romans passage bring out more than God speaking. Now, when we speak, when humans speak, children, when you say something, well, something might happen or something might not happen, right? But when the Almighty God speaks, something always happens, always. When God speaks unto salvation, as in Hosea, as in Romans, the result is a joyful response. Hosea 2 verse 23 said, I will say to not my people, you are my people, and he shall say, you are my God. That dialogue, that response. Romans 10, Christ speaks to us, we believe, we hear, we believe, we call on him. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. God speaks, we respond, and we respond by God's grace in faith. Faith produced by God himself, but a faith exercised by us, by his people made alive. We respond. Now it comes out in a slightly different way in the second Corinthians reading, verse 15, we are the aroma of Christ, so this is Paul speaking in his office, we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one, a fragrance from death to death, so there's a result. To the other, fragrance of life to life. The speech of God always has an effect, life or death. Life to his chosen ones, to those whom he moves to repent and believe, death to the sinner, to those who are unbelieving, unrepentant. Encountering God's word will affect you, congregation. One way or the other. Because you are encountering not merely man's words, but words of the living God. Therefore, in your personal worship, in your family worship, in corporate worship, how are you listening to God's Word? Children, that's one reason why your parents train you and say, hey, pay attention. This is not a time to sleep. Squeeze your knee maybe, maybe nudge you or something like that. This is not a time. It's one reason why we try to get a good night's sleep Saturday night, to clear ourselves of distraction. How are you responding to God's word? I had a professor before starting seminary who impressed that upon us as seminarians. You are encountering God's word. Don't treat it casual. Even though you make it, seminarians make it your study, day in, day out, don't treat it casually. Are you attentively listening? Are you thinking about last week, the coming week, maybe a sporting event, maybe a video game, maybe a book, maybe a strained relationship, or a new relationship, or a joyous relationship? Maybe you're thinking about your finances. What do you do with a sermon after it's finished? Forget about it? Do you meditate on it? Fathers, husbands, Have a time of sermon discussion sometime in the week, maybe on Sunday when it's fresh in the minds, maybe other times. Talk to your children. Seek to understand, to apply it, God's word. We are to respond. Now that response shows up in corporate worship itself, but it's not exhausted there. but it shows up here as the church, as we lift up our voices in prayer, in praise, as we give of our earthly substance with the tithes and offerings, God speaks, we respond. There's a dialogue going on in corporate worship, a dialogue that's worked in our liturgy, reflecting the dialogue that goes on spiritually as God speaks. And by His Spirit, we are changed. We believe, we repent, we live. Now even our confession picks up one aspect of that. Turn with me in the back of the Psalter Hymnal to page 84 of the Belgic Confession, Article 30, the government of the church and its offices. Sorry, 32. Do 32. 30 and 32. But we'll start 30. We believe this true church must be governed by the spiritual polity which our Lord has taught us in his word. Namely that there must be ministers or pastors that preach the word of God to administer the sacraments. Also elders and deacons also together with the pastors form the council of the church that by these means true religion may be preserved and true doctrine everywhere propagated. Likewise, transgressors punished and restrained by spiritual means, also poor and distressed may be relieved and comforted according to their necessities. By these means, everything will be carried on in the church with good order and decency. And faithful men are chosen according to the rule prescribed by St. Paul in his epistle to Timothy. 32 picks that up about the order and the discipline. But you see there, carried on in good order and decency. So there's a dialogue. And in Reformed churches, we recognize scripturally there is to be this order. Now there, it's especially focused on the church and its offices, but it comes out in worship. All things should be done decently and in order. God speaks, we respond. The liturgy, it's reasonable, it's theological, it's biblical. And so when we think of worship, we should think of this as an orderly dialogue. God speaking, our responding. But don't just think of going through the motions. Think of our conversations, we call them, right? We often don't call them dialogues, we call them conversations, talks. Good conversations, they involve real responses. There's interchange, right? If you're talking with someone and she doesn't interact at all with what you say, but she keeps bringing up her own items, you're not really talking, are you? She really isn't listening. You're not having a conversation. Think of a husband and a wife. If a husband and wife are talking, and the husband's watching television, and then, yep, yes, dear, yes, yes, dear. Or, if they're talking and the wife is scrolling on her phone, yep, yes, yep. Those aren't real conversations, are they? So too in worship. How are you responding to God's word? We lift our hearts in prayer. Where's your mind during prayer? We lift our voices in song. Where's your heart during that singing? Where's your soul? We give in the offering plate. Is your heart in the money you give? Or is it a habit, a bare tradition, maybe grudgingly? How are we responding? If you're simply going through the motions, if you're disinterested in worship, If you're like a husband who's looking at the television while his wife's talking, or like a wife who's scrolling on her phone while her husband's talking, it's like that. It's not right. You need to ask God to forgive you, to renew you, to tune your heart, as the hymn says, to sing His praise, to trust Him, to respond to Him. God speaks. we respond. Now, in our third point, we're going to consider God speaking and our responding, how it's to be done in corporate worship. We consider office bearers, individuals, and the body. There's a lot in that point name, but it covers it. Now, the Old Covenant, children, you know, had kings, had prophets, had priests. Once the temple was established, from what we can tell, it also had a choir consisting of males from the tribe of Levi. Now, with the coming of the Messiah, the Christ, these offices find their fulfillment, as does the temple, as do the sacrifices. In the New Covenant, we confess in the Heidelberg Catechism, Christians are joined to Christ, and therefore we share in His anointing. Christians each and every one, then prophet, priest, and king. The Old Covenant distinctions there are taken up into Christ, fulfilled in Christ, and we share in His anointing, His office. And we think of corporate worship around the tabernacle, the temple. The priests took a very prominent role in corporate worship. From what we can gather, the Levitical choir would also play a visible or audible role. And we think about corporate worship as it relates to these offices, rules in the old covenant. Okay, how do we apply them in the new? Well, there are no priests of Levi anymore distinct in the worship of God. The Romanist Church calls its minister priests, right? And they try, you look in the Roman Catholic doctrine and practice, they revert to, they pull from the old covenant with an altar and a sacrifice of the Eucharist. We say, no, we don't see that in the new covenant. But there are offices in the new covenant. Minister, elder, deacon, three offices, that's it. During the time of transition in the New Covenant, the years before the New Testament was completely given, complete, when the Spirit was poured out, there were gifts of prophecy, gifts of speaking in tongues that are inactive today because the scriptures aren't complete. But 1 Corinthians, we read this time of transition, though there were those who spoke up in worship services, prophets, tongue speakers, tongue interpreters, apostles. In our second Corinthians reading, the Apostle speaks of himself being a minister of a new covenant, commissioned by God. And that it's through him, a man commissioned by God, in verse 17 makes that clear, commissioned by God, that God's word is brought to the congregation. Thus Christ speaks. But even with the extraordinary gifts, back to first Corinthians, God through the Apostle commands that all things Be done, verse 40 tells us, decently and in order. That pulls from our confessional reading. Our confessional reading pulls from that. Even if someone was given an extraordinary message, they were to be calm, they were to be controlled, they were even at times to be silent. How many think today that while being silent, that's a travesty, being silent in the churches, it's not a bad thing when it serves to promote order and decency. Verse 40 there. And as verse 34 makes clear, the women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission as the law also says. And yet, in many churches in our day, women preach. Women read the scriptures. Women perform other very visible acts. God didn't teach that in the New Testament. That's an error. Not the New Testament, what's done out there contrary to the New Testament. Women are to be silent in the churches. Not bringing God's word to God's people with God's speech in worship. But what about our response? Prayers, songs, and offerings. Think in terms of who does what and the apostles' command for women to be silent in the churches as we apply these things. Some churches have special music. What's often common there is for a female to sing it, to take the lead, a prominent role in the singing, often given the aspect of an office. Sometimes a congregation will have a female lead in prayer. or perhaps in collecting the offerings of God's people. Those don't fit with God's instructions to the churches for corporate worship. Not that females are inherently sinful or less godly, far from it, but it doesn't fit the order God has established. But now broaden that to all the congregations responding to God. We have ministers, elders, deacons who represent God's actions to the congregation in corporate worship. What about the congregation's response? So that here we go back to the principle of corporate worship, worship being corporate. All believers, male and female alike, are Christians sharing Christ's anointing. All believers, male and female alike, are prophets, priests, and kings. All believers, therefore, are to take part in the corporate worship of God. Women are to sing when the congregation sings. At that point, they're not speaking for God, but they're speaking as part of God's people in response. Paul's not saying they're to be silent. They are to be silent when it concerns authority, in the sense of not acting as an officer. They are not to be silent when the congregation as a whole responds to God. Now, we could have turned to Ephesians, could have turned to Colossians about speaking and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. We can only read so many scriptures, I suppose, but well, there we quoted it. They are not to be silent when the congregation as a whole responds. So we encourage men and women alike to sing. But we don't encourage someone to stand out as though there was an office of singer. Because there isn't an office of singer anymore. We come as a congregation to worship God. God calls the congregation, the body of believers, to worship Him, to respond to Him. There's no office of special musician or choir member in the New Covenant. Every member is part of the choir. Every member is to join in responding together. Now, why don't we as a congregation offer prayers verbally at the same time? Well, sometimes we do. We recite the Lord's Prayer from time to time, don't we? We all recite it. That's fitting. But God has ordained office bearers in the church. It's they who represent the people in our response to God. In the Church Order of our Federation, it reflects that biblical teaching when it places the first duty of every office, Minister Elder Deacon, of continuing in prayer. It's office bearers who incorporate worship, lead in prayer, collect offerings. When the congregation as a whole does not act, singing, reciting the Lord's Prayer, it's the office bearers who act as representatives, commissioned by God to that office. That's part of the significance of ordination, of office, related to the corporate nature of worship. Again, the Apostle brings up in 2 Corinthians 2.17, commissioned by God. Now, admittedly, there's a lot here, especially in this third point. We've tried to make clear where there are clear commands, but then also said, and here's how we try to apply those principles, commands in the corporate worship service. And we see disagreements around us, don't we? About clear commands of scripture, but also differences in how we apply those things. But from all this, the earnest desire of reformational churches So, what we see in scripture, God speaks and we, God's people, respond in a decent and an orderly way. And so, don't let the confusion, the disagreement about corporate worship distract you from focusing on hearing God's voice and by God's grace, responding to Him. Repent, believe, call on Him, confess to Him, pray to Him, love Him. There's the blessing. As Hosea prophesied, when God said, You are my people, we say, You are my God. When you hear Christ speak in the preaching, by His grace believe, call on Him, pray to Him, sing to Him. May in all this, may God receive all the praise. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, your speech is mighty. You created all that is simply by speaking, a space of six days, in an orderly way. And Lord, you have sent your Son, your Word, to us. You've given us your scriptures, the words of God, the Word of God. So grant that we would respond. Move us to a right response, heartfelt, true, faithful, believing response, obedient response for your glory. Give us grace as we seek to have this dialogue in corporate worship and in our own lives to show up. For to respond to you, what else can we do? If even creation praises you, if even infants declare your praise, how much more we, whom you have given so much. Lord, we praise you, we love you, we trust you, we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.