Much more is this true of the infinite Jehovah. It is His greatness that makes Him so susceptible of loss. Others may overlook the lost thing. He cannot. He must go in quest of it. It is the same kind of seeking and searching as the prophet Ezekiel speaking in the name of Jehovah declares. I will search and seek, Ezekiel 34, 11, and to which our Lord so often refers when he represents himself as seeking the lost, Luke 19, 10. It may be the lost sheep, or the lost piece of silver, or the lost son. We must not dilute these expressions and say that they simply imply that God is willing to have us back again if we will come, that he is willing to take us as worshippers if we will come. All that comes very far short of the meaning And though we may say, what can the infinite Jehovah be, in want of, what can he need, to whom belongs not only the heaven of heavens, but the whole universe, still we must see how anxious he is to show us his unutterable earnestness in seeking and in searching. Such is the attitude of God. He bends down from His eternal throne to seek, as if the want of something here on earth, in this old sinful earth, would be a grievous and irreparable loss. What value does He attach to us and to our worship? Yes, the Father seeketh worshippers. He is in search of many things of which sin has robbed him. Affection, homage, allegiance, reverence, obedience. but worship the worship of man and of man's earth, he is specially seeking and claiming. He so created this world that from it there should arise without ceasing, wide as the universal air, that fragrance of holy worship from the creatures which he had made and placed upon its surface. The command is not merely Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, but thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Over this broken command he mourns. It grieves him at his heart, and he seeks to have it restored in man. He loves worship from human hearts and lips, and he will not be satisfied without it. It might seem a small thing to lose the worship of a creature's heart here on this low and evil earth. Can he not let it go? It will only be the worst for the creature, not for him who has the worship of heaven and of 10,000 times 10,000 angels. No, he cannot lose that worship. It is precious to him. He must have it back oh man God speaks to you and says worship me he comes up to each sinner upon earth and says worship me if he does so he must care for you and he must care for your worship it is not a matter of indifference to him whether you worship him or not it concerns him and it concerns you Perhaps the thought comes up within you. What does God care for my worship? I may praise or I may not. What does He care? I may sing or I may blaspheme. What does it matter to Him? He cares much. It concerns Him deeply. He is thoroughly in earnest when He asks you to worship Him. He wants these lips of yours, that tongue of yours, that heart of yours. He wants them all for Himself. Will you give Him what He wants? You say, He has enough of praise in heaven. What can He want on earth? He has angels in myriads to praise Him. Does He really desire my voice? Will He be grieved if I refuse it? Yes. He desires your voice. And he will be grieved if you withhold it. He has many a nobler tongue than yours, but still he wants yours. He has many a sweeter voice than yours. Still, he is bent on having that poor, sinful voice. Oh, come and worship me, he says. This answers the question so often put by the inquiring. What warrant have I for coming to God? God wants you. Is not that enough? What more would you have? He wants you to draw near. He has no pleasure in your distance. He wants you to praise Him, to worship Him. He is seeking your worship. Do you mean to ask, what warrant have I for worshiping God? Rather should you ask, what warrant have I for refusing to worship Him? Is it possible that you can think yourself at liberty not to worship him? Nay. Think that you are not under any obligation to worship him until you can ascertain your election or feel within you some special change which you can consider God's call to worship him? His search for worshipers is a worldwide one. It goes over the whole earth and his call on men to worship is equally universal. He made man to worship and to love. Can he ever forego such claims or can man ever be in a position in which that claim ceases or that obligation is canceled? Can his sinfulness or unworthiness exempt him from the duty or make it unwarrantable in him to come and worship Jehovah? Let us hear how he speaks to the sons of men, Jew and Gentile. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands. Sing forth the honor of his name. Make his praise glorious. Psalm 66, 1 and 2. Again he speaks Oh, sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord. Bless his name. Show forth his salvation from day to day. Psalm 96, 1 and 2. Again he speaks. Praise ye the Lord, for it is good to sing praises unto our God, for it is pleasant Yea, praise is comely. Psalm 147, 1. Nay, he calls on all nature to praise him. He claims the homage of the inanimate creation. Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad. Let the sea roar and the fullness thereof. Let the field be joyful and all that is therein. Then shall the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord. Psalm 96, 11 through 13. Thus is God seeking four worshippers here on earth. And what is his gospel but the proclamation of his gracious search for worshippers. He sends out his glad tidings of great joy. that he may draw men to himself and make them worshippers of his own glorious self. The shepherd loses one of his flock, and he misses it. The shepherd misses the sheep more than the sheep misses the shepherd. The sheep is too precious to be lost. It must be sought for and found, whatever toil or peril may be in the way. Even life itself is not to be grudged in behalf of the lost one. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, as if the life of the sheep were more valuable than that of the shepherd. The woman loses one of her ten silver pieces. She cannot afford to lose it. She must have it back again. She seeks till she finds it. It does not miss her, but she misses it. She seeks and finds. The father loses his son and is troubled. The son may not miss the father, but the father misses the son, nor can he rest till he has taken him in his arms again and set him down at his table with gladness and feasting. But the passage we are considering brings before us something beyond all this. It is not the shepherd seeking the sheep, nor the woman her silver, nor the father his son. It is Jehovah seeking worshippers, and he is in earnest. He wants to be worshipped by the sons of Adam. He desires the worship of earth, no less than that of heaven. He has the praise of angels, but he must have that of men. Such is the value he sets upon us, and such is his love. But it is spiritual worship and spiritual worshipers that he is seeking. The Father seeketh such to worship him. The outward man is nothing, it is the inner man he is in quest of. The worship must come, not from the walls of the temple, but from the innermost shrine. It must be something pervading the man's whole being, and coming up from the depths of the soul. Otherwise, it is but as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. Forms, sounds, gestures, dresses, ornaments are not worship. They are but mouth, honor, breath, which the poor heart would fain deny, but dare not. Instead of constituting worship, these outward things are often but excuses for refusing the inward service. Man pleases himself with a sensuous and theatrical externalism because he hates the spiritual and the true. God says, give me thine heart. Man says, no, but I will give you my voice. God says, give me thy soul. Man says, no, but I will give thee my knee and my bended body. But it will not do. God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. But what provision has God made for all this? It is not enough to say to us, be worshippers. This might be said to the unsinning, and they would at once comply. Let all the angels of God worship Him. But say this to a sinner, and he will ask, How can I, a man of unclean lips and unclean heart, approach the infinitely holy One? It would not be safe in me to come, nor would it be right in God to allow me to approach. There must be provision for this, something which will satisfy the sinner's conscience, remove the sinner's dread, win the sinner's confidence, on the one hand, and satisfy God, vindicate righteousness, magnify holiness on the other. For this there is the twofold provision of the blood and the spirit. The blood satisfies God's righteousness and the sinner's conscience. The Holy Spirit renews the man so as to draw out his heart in worship. It is the blood that propitiates And it is the spirit that transforms. God presents this blood freely to the sinner. God proclaims his desire to give this spirit freely. May I use this blood? Perhaps one says. Use it. Certainly. Thou fool, why shouldst thou ask such a question? Use it. Yes. For thou must either use it or trample on it. Which of these wilt thou do? May I expect the Spirit, someone may say. Expect Him? What? Art thou more willing to have the Spirit than God is to give Him? Art thou so willing and God so unwilling? Thou fool! Who has persuaded thee to believe such a lie? God has come to thee, O man, saying, I want thee for a worshipper. Wilt thou become one? Remember, thou must either be a worshipper or a blasphemer. Which wilt thou be? Taken from the book, The Rent Veil. Do you worship God? By George Swinnock. Exercise Thyself Unto Godliness, 1 Timothy 4, 7. The main work which God commands and commends to the children of men is to glorify Him upon the earth by exercising themselves to godliness. What is godliness? Godliness is a worshipping the true God in heart and life according to His revealed will. First, godliness is a worship. Worship comprehends all that respect which man owes and gives to his maker. It is that service and honor, that faithfulness and homage which the creature owes and tenders to the fountain of his being and happiness. Second, godliness is a worshiping the true God. All religion without the knowledge of the true God is a mere notion, an airy, empty nothing. Third, godliness is a worshipping God in heart and life. Godliness is the worshipping God in the inward motions of the heart and the outward actions of life. Fourth, godliness is a worshipping God according to his revealed will. Every part of divine worship must have a divine precept. The institutions of Christ, not the inventions of men, are the rule for worship. Godliness should be every man's main and principal business, because it is God's chief end in sending man into this world and continuing him in it. Now then, If godliness is a worshipping the true God in heart and life according to his revealed will, and if godliness is the main work which God commands to the children of men, it is of the utmost importance to us to consider. Do we worship God? Do we truly exercise ourselves unto godliness? Consider how this duty is so exceedingly neglected by mankind, and, well, may we mourn that it is so, and then examine your own heart and life to see if you do indeed exercise thyself unto godliness. First, how eager is the worldling for wealth and earthly things? Though they loiter about the meat which endures to eternal life, yet they can labor for the meat that perishes. Though they are so negligent about the kingdom of heaven, yet the kingdom of earth suffers violence. What pains do the mariners take for treasure? What perils does the soldier undergo for plunder? What labor and industry does the husbandman use for profit? He rises early, sits up late, denies himself, loses his sleep, rides and runs to and fro, embraces all opportunities, is eaten up almost with cares and fears, all for the earthly mammon, while the heavenly mansions are like the unknown part of the world which no man regards or looks after. They pant after the dust of the earth as greedily as hot creatures do after the air to cool their scorched entrails. Amos 2.7. The serpent's curse is entailed on that poisonous brood. The dust is their diet. They feed on ashes. They laugh at dangers and trample upon difficulties. They force their way through darkness and the shadow of death, through stifling damps and overflowing floods, through rocks and mountains in the pursuit of earthly treasures. Job 28, 9-11. What a pity is it that this jewel should hang in a swine's mouth, which would so well become the Christian's finger, that this diligence, this violence should be exercised about men's earthly and particular calling, which would so well suit their heavenly and general calling. Is it not sad that so noble a being as man's soul should be wholly taken up with such mean, sordid things? God has entrusted you with a precious soul, descended highly even from God himself, claiming kindred with the glorious angel, and capable of inheriting that kingdom to which the most glorious empires of the world are but muck heaps. Are you not one of them that employ this princely soul altogether about unsuitable and earthly practices, and causing it as the lapwing, though it have a coronet on its head, to feed on excrements? It was one cause of Jeremiah's sad lamentation that The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, should be esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter. They that were brought up in scarlet should embrace dunghills. Lamentations 4, 2, and 5. Have not we more cause of sorrow than men's souls should be put to no better use? than earthen pitchers, that they which should be brought up delicately in the nurture and admonition of the Lord should be busy about dross and embrace dunghills, that your precious soul should thus seek after earth and vanity when it should be always standing and waiting in the presence of the Lord. May I not say to you, are you not ashamed? being an immortal spiritual substance, the offspring of God, and capable of his likeness and love, to be glued as a toadstool to the earth, to spend your time and strength, venture the perishing of your mortal body and immortal soul, for that meat which perishes, How costly is that treasure which makes him a beggar to all eternity. How foolish is man, and what a silly thing, to prize and take pains for husks before bread, vanity before solidity, a shadow before the substance, the world's scraps before the costly feast, the dirty kennels before the crystal water of life, a mess of pottage before the birthright, and the least fleeting and inconstant good before the greatest, truest, and eternal good. Their particular callings are but about earth, and yet how eagerly are they pursued, how closely are they followed, how constantly are they busied about them. Their general callings are about their souls, their eternal salvation, Yet how lingeringly is this calling entered upon, how lazily is it followed, and how quickly cast off? O foolish man, who has bewitched you that you do thus dislike and disobey the truth? The favor of God, the promises of the Gospels, the covenant of grace, the blood of Christ, the embroidery of the Spirit, the life of faith, the hope of heaven, joy in the Holy Ghost, are laid before man. Yet he overlooks them all and lives like a mole, digging and delving in the earth. Though men see before their eyes an end of all earthly perfections, that the beauty, the bravery of all earthly things is but like a fair picture drawn on ice quickly perishing, that their riches and estates are but like snow, which children take much pains to rake together to make a ball of, which upon the sun's shining on presently melts away. Though they see daily men that hoarded up silver and wrought hard for wealth, hurried away into the other world, leaving all their heaps behind them, yet they will take no warning but as the silly lark still play with the feather in the glass till they are caught and destroyed by the fowler. What say you, friends? Should we not blush to think that worldlings are more busy and laborious about the low things, the rattles and the trifles of this life, than we are about the high affairs of God and our soul, the noble and serious concernments of eternity? Second, how do men make superstition and idolatry their business? Though they are careless about divine institutions Yet they are zealous for human traditions. How zealous were the Pharisees for the inventions of their elders! Though they were backward where God commanded, they were forward when men commanded. What an outcry did Micah make for his idol! What a diligent search did Laban make for his images! Gideon must die for throwing down the altar of Baal. How earnest are many for priests, altars, sacrifices, days, meets, consecrations! In these their zeal is hot, boiling over to the scalding of themselves and others. Jeroboam will be at great cost for his idols. They must not be iron or brazen, no, not silver, but golden calves, not gilded over, but massive, molten gold. The Israelites will spare their jewels for their idols. Exodus 32. 3. Micah's mother, to make molten and graven images, will lay out eleven hundred shekels of silver. The Papists are so prodigal, though it is the less wonder in them, because they hold such actions meritorious of salvation, that not only their churches, but even cloisters, are stuck and stuffed with costly, pearly presents to their supposed saints. How many zealots that will hardly give a penny to the relief of a poor Christian throw away pounds for the maintenance of superstition. They slight their relations to further their idolatrous devotion. Nay, they will sacrifice not only their estates and the children's but their lives and all their outward comforts to superstition. How did the worshippers of Baal cut and lance themselves, Ahaz, sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that smote him? So fervent he was that he chose rather in the service of false gods to be scourged than in the service of the true God to be saved. What sorrow does this call for and command, that men should be so hot and fiery in will-worship, in false-worship, wasting their wealth, cutting and carving their bodies, as if they were made only to be their slaves, and themselves to be the tyrants over them, laying out so much cost, and exercising so much cruelty for that which is worse than nothing, for that which will not only not profit them, but extremely and eternally prejudice them. And in the interim, the easy yoke of Christ is scorned, the power of godliness slighted, which might be minded with much more mildness and mercy to their outward and inward man. Third, as many make the world their main work and others superstition, their principal occupation, so most make wickedness their chief, their constant trade and business. While holiness is but coldly entertained, but complimented with, sin is laid in the bosom and heartily embraced. The turnings and windings that are in the sinner's way are not easily to be observed. In what haste and hurry is Absalom for a halter? What work does lust make in Amnon to waste his body and send his soul to endless woe? How fast does Gehazi run after a leprosy, as if he might come too late? How sick and violent is Ahab for Naboth's vineyard! How fiercely does Balaam ride, even without reins, after the wages of unrighteousness! How eager and earnest were Pharaoh and the Egyptians to fight against God! What a stir! What ado they make to overtake destruction, and to sink like lead in the midst of the mighty waters! Joshua could stop the sun in its course, but not stop Achan in his covetous career. Paul, before his conversion, followed the saints with such close persecution, and was so mad upon it, that like a tired wolf wearied in persecuting the flock, he lay panting for breath, and yet still breathed out persecution. Men run by sin away from God, even to the tiring of themselves here and tormenting themselves hereafter. They run as fast as if they feared that hell would be full before they came thither. All the rubs which are laid in their way do rather increase their rage than hinder their riot when God would stop the steam of their lust by his prohibitions, laws, judgments, like waters dammed up, they swell the more, and like the possessed person, break all those cords in pieces. When Paul chides the Ephesians for their idolatry, they cry out for it with the greater vehemence. When Stephen had reproved the Jews for their cruelty, they were cut to the heart and gnashed upon him with their teeth. When Ahaz was hampered in affliction like a mad dog, he bites at his chain and sinned yet more in his distress against the Lord. When the sinner's a tide of nature is thwarted and crossed by the winds of reproof or some judgment, what a storm is presently raised! How does he like to see, presently discover, and foam out his own shame? Though God command, entreat, persuade, threaten, promise, yet all this physic does often but move and stir, not remove nor purge away their ill humors. Oh, how deadly is that disease which no physic can cure, and how tough is that wood that no wedge can cleave. The bird will beware of the pitfall in which she has been caught, and the beast of the snare in which he has been taken. But brutish man, more foolish than beasts, will not be parted from sin, though he has been sharply punished for it. Who would imagine that a reasonable soul should act so much against sense and reason? Where is the saint that is not shamed by the very damned? Sinners drive furiously, like Jehu, against their God, their Sovereign. But saints drive heavily, though they are marching on the road to the heavenly Canaan. Ah, who presses towards the mark for the prize of eye-calling? Who works so hard to be preferred to the beatifical vision, as wicked men do, to be punished with eternal destruction? they sweat at sowing in the devil's field, when all they shall reap thereby will be damnation, and you are very sluggish in seeking God's favor, when the fruit thereof will be everlasting salvation. But possibly, you may say, there are many that make godliness their business, They abound in every country, congregation, and family. All are Christians and make the worship of God their main work. I must answer as he did when he saw the vast army of Antiochus. There are many men, but few soldiers, many mouths, but few hands. There are many nominal Christians, many that flourish like censors, beating only the air, but few that fight in earnest the good fight of faith. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart. Jeremiah 17, 9 and 10. The heart is the great work ship. where all sin is wrought before it is exposed to open view. It is the mint where evil thoughts are coined before they are current in our words and actions. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, Matthew 15, 19. That is the nest in which those hornets breed. The heart is the source of sinful words as well as sinful thoughts. They were in the heart before ever they were on the tongue. Every sinner conceives at the heart what he brings forth at the mouth. The heart is the vessel of poisonous liquor. The tongue is but the tap to broach it. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. The heart is the forge also where all our evil works, as well as words, are hammered out. Out of the heart proceed murders, thefts, and adulteries, and fornications. You will say that murders and thefts are hand-sins, and that adulteries and fornication belong to the eye and outward part of the body. But, alas, the heart is the womb wherein they are conceived and bred. The outward parts are but the midwives to deliver the mother of those monsters, and to bring them into the world. An evil man, out of the evil treasure in his heart, bringeth forth evil things. There is no sin, but it is dressed in the drawing-room of the heart, before it appear on the stage of the life. It is vain to go about a holy life till the heart be made holy. The pulse of the hand beats well or ill according to the state of the heart and the inward vital parts. Our earthly members can never be mortified unless the body of sin and death be destroyed. Therefore the Holy Ghost calls on men to take away the cause if they would have the effect to cease. O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness. Jeremiah 4.14 And in James 4.8 Cleanse your hearts, ye sinners, and purify your hands, ye double-minded. First the heart cleansed, then the hands. There are several things which may help to make the life fair in the eyes of men, but nothing will make it amiable in the eyes of God, unless the heart be changed and renewed. Indeed, all the medicines that can be applied, without the sanctifying work of the Spirit, though they may cover, they can never cure the corruptions and diseases of the soul. Some insects lie in a deep sleep all the winter, stir not, make no noise, that one would think them dead. But when the weather alters and the sun shines, they revive and show themselves. So the lusts may seem dead in an unregenerate man. They are only laid asleep, and when opportunity comes, will reveal. Shame may hide sin, but it will not heal sin. Corruption often lies secret in the heart, when shame hinders it from breaking out in scabs and blotches in the life. Fear may do somewhat to curb a corrupt nature, but it cannot cure it. The bear dares hardly touch his desired honey for fear of the stinging of the bees. The dog forbears the meat on the table, not because he does not like it, but because he is afraid of the cudgel. Many leave some sin in their outward actions, as Jacob parted with Benjamin for fear they should starve if they kept it, who are as fond of their sins as the patriarch of his child. This inward love of sin is indeed its life, and that which is most dangerous and deadly to the soul. Sin, only reigning in the heart, is oftentimes more hurtful than when it rages in the life. Such civil persons go to hell without much disturbance, being asleep in sin, yet not snoring to the disquieting of others. They are so far from being awakened that they are many times praised and commended. Example, custom and education may also help a man to make a fair show in the flesh, but not to walk after the spirit. They may prune and lock sin, but never stub it up by the roots. All that these can do is to make a man like a grave, green and flourishing on the surface and outside, when within there is nothing but noisemess and corruption. It has often appeared that those means which the great moralists have used to bridle their lusts and passions have rather raised them than recovered them. Indeed, if the chief fault were not in the vital parts, then outward applications might be effectual. When the fault is in the foundation of a house, it cannot be mended by plastering or painting. A leopard may be flayed, but he is spotted still, because the spots are not only in the skin, but in the flesh and bones and sinews. When a person loses his sight on account of a disease, by smallpox or the like, there the physic of morality may be advantageous. But when a person was born blind, their physic will do no good. A miracle alone must restore such a one to sight. An unconverted person may do something some small matter for the sake of religion, from common gifts of illumination, etc. But the most that he does is for his own sake, for the credit or profit which he expects thereby. Friends, make sure of this inward change. Otherwise, though your conversation may be specious, it can never be gracious, nor your profession durable. If the house be built on sand, it will never stand long. When the principles are variable and uncertain, so will the practices be. I wonder not that many professors disowned the Lord Jesus, when they were ignorant why they at any time owned Him. Christ tells us, some which heard the word, though for a season they rejoiced in it, when tribulation came because of the word, were offended at it because they had no root. He that follows Christ, he knows not why will forsake him, he knows not how. But not so He, unto whom His misery without Christ was revealed, who had a discovery of the absolute necessity of Christ, who by the eye of faith saw the excellencies in Christ, what love and peace and endless bliss God offers with His Son, who, knowing what Christ expects from all that will be married to Him, even the denial of themselves, the taking up of their cross, the contempt of father, mother, wife, children, estate, life, and all for Him, yet being drawn with the cords of love, gives Himself up to Christ, resolved to be faithful unto death, and to own the Lord Jesus Christ, whatever it may cost Him. And now, my friends, do you worship God? Do you exercise yourself unto godliness? Let me address myself to those of you whose hearts have not been renewed. I would bespeak you, or rather God himself. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto thee, saith the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 1, 3. After all your neglect and contempt of God and His Word, after all your wondering and wickedness, you have His call to turn and live. He calls you to turn unto Him for your good, that you might be happy in His favor. To those of you whose hearts have been renewed, in whose hearts saving faith has been implanted, I say, exercise thyself unto godliness. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail order catalog, containing thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books, tapes, and videos at great discounts, is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since He condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.