This is chapter 22. We'll begin reading in verse number 1. And it came to pass, after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and claimed the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went unto the place which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand and the knife, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, My father. And he said, Here am I my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. and they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God. seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and beheld behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall. Father we bow in your presence this morning we thank you for this account that's recorded in scripture for us of how Abraham came and an obedience to offer his son and what a picture there is of your love for us and that you gave your only begotten son What a picture of the willing sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary. And then another picture of the ram, and what a picture of substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus who took my place upon the cross, who died my death, who suffered my hell and paid the penalty for my sin. And for that today, Lord, I bless Your name and I rejoice in the goodness of the Lord, in His grace and mercy unto me, in the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus Christ. And I pray, Lord, that as we look to this text and we consider the thought of worship, that, Lord, we would be genuinely brought to worship as we think upon these things and as our minds go back to what You've done for us. We love You and we ask You to have Your will and way done here today. Help us to preach, Lord. Use Your message. Speak to hearts, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Thank you for standing. As I mentioned, I want to preach on a picture of biblical worship. And by way of introduction, I want to introduce to you a thought many of you already know, but maybe remind you of it. There is a hermeneutical principle. Hermeneutics is the study of scripture. When you're talking about hermeneutics, you're talking about the proper study of scripture. How you exegete, you take out of the passage what's in it, And that's the proper way of Bible study. You don't just pick a verse here and there and read it and then make it mean what you want it to mean, but you read it in its context and you literally see what God's saying to you, not what you're trying to get God to say unto you. Amen. But there is a hermeneutical principle known as the principle of first mention, and what we do is in studying particular words or maybe particular truths, we go to the first time that word or that truth is mentioned in the Bible, and we see how God uses it, and many times that will define for us how that word should be used throughout the Scriptures, unless the context necessitates a different usage of that word. And we find that here this morning. The principle teaches that here in this text, it's surrounding the word worship. And we find here in verse number 5, the Bible says, I and the light will go yonder and worship. and come again unto you. This is the first time the word worship is used in the Bible. There's other words like that, like the word Egypt. First time you ever see the word Egypt mentioned is in Genesis chapter 12 verse 10. In that verse, Abram leaves Canaan during a time of famine. You'll remember he goes down into Egypt. And while he's there, he suffers spiritual loss and he damages his testimony. And we find that as a result, Egypt is presented in a negative light. It's always, from this point on, a picture of bondage or a picture of sin. Egypt in the Bible is always a picture of bondage or a picture of sin. And we find that again from the first mention of it. Well, the passage that's before us today, as I've mentioned, it presents us with the word worship. Now, people worshipped before this point. In fact, did not Adam teach his children to worship? We know he did because Abel brought a suitable sacrifice unto the Lord and worshipped. Cain worshipped in a way that he had devised, his own way of worship. And God rejected that. We see that Enoch walked with God. There was worship there. We see that Noah also walked with God and found grace in the sight of the Lord. And we see there was worship with Noah and even after he comes off the ark he builds an altar. There he worships God for his provision and how that he had protected them. And so people had been worshiping the Lord since the very beginning. But this is the first time the actual word worship is used. And in this passage, that describes the faith of Abraham. It describes to us his obedience and his willingness to follow the Lord. And I want to look at that today because I believe that Abraham teaches us some very powerful truths about worship. Now the word translated worship here in our text in verse 5 is a word that means to bow down. It means to lie on the ground prostrate. It means to be on your stomach, on your face, and your arms spread out. It's a sign of submission and humility. And was often done when nobility would come near to the peasant or to just the normal individual. They would bow themselves down to show reverence and respect for that nobility. Well, beloved, I believe we live in a day where there is too small a view of God. We don't realize that when we pray, we are entering into the presence of the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the creator of all things. And though He is love and kindness and mercy, He is holy as well. And we should bow before Him. And when we worship Him, we should worship Him in humility, understanding that we are nothing. Outside of His grace, we would be nothing and we would still be headed to hell. But we are what we are by the grace of God. And I believe as we look at the idea of worship here in Abraham's life, as Abraham uses this word in the midst of one of the most difficult, trying, temptation, trials of his life, one of the hardest things I believe Abraham ever faced in his life, and yet here in the deepest valley of his life we see he experiences a time of worship. I think Abraham experience has something to say to us about worship this morning. That's why I want to deal with this passage. I believe the truth revealed in this picture that we have before us of biblical worship is going to help us in our biblical worship as well. And I believe these verses teach us about the character, the conditions, and the challenges that we face in biblical worship. And so, let's get into the text here this morning. First of all, I want to point out, as we consider the portrait or the picture of biblical worship, the source of biblical worship. What is the source of biblical worship? Look with me in verse 1 and 2 again. The Bible says, And it came to pass. So there's a period of time that has elapsed since the last information that we are given concerning Abraham and his walk with God. A few days, a few weeks, a few months, a few years. We're not sure. But it came to pass after these things. that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thy only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. And so God gives Abraham some very basic instructions. I want to talk to you for just a second about the source of biblical worship. And in a nutshell, the source of biblical worship is the revelation of God. You want to know how to worship God? You want to know what the source of biblical worship is? You're going to have to get in the Bible, friend. Because this is how God tells us to worship. And it was by the instruction, the revelation that God had given Abraham that Abraham knew how to worship God. We find here Abraham's worship in these verses. It was based on a clear word. from the Lord. God said unto him. Again in verse 2 says, and he said. So here God is speaking unto Abraham. Abraham found himself engaged in worship of Almighty God because God told him exactly what He wanted him to do. And as Abraham submitted to the revelation of God and began to fulfill in obedience the will of God, he began to worship God. The source of biblical worship. God told Abraham what to do. Take now thy son, Abraham. Not one of a hundred, not one of a thousand, not one of two, but thy only son. And you take him and you offer him as a burnt offering. God told him where to go. God told him what to do. And Abraham's worship was based on the revelation or the Word of God. Any worship, listen to me, any kind of worship that is not based, founded upon the Word of God is unscriptural worship. We can find that in a myriad of different churches in the day and age we live, especially in America. Nine out of ten churches that you go and visit are not worshipping God biblically. They're worshipping a God of their own imagination in a way that's pleasing to them and has no foundation in the Word of God. Beloved, if we're going to worship God the way He should be worshipped, we're going to have to have the Word of God as our source for that worship. True worship is always guided by the Word of God. True worship is always a response to the revelation that God has given us. And as a result, true worship is always a matter of faith. Romans 10, verse 17, So then faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. It's God's Word that gives us faith. And worship is an act of faith. Faith in who God says He is and what God says He wants us to do. God's revealed Himself to us in His Word. And as a result, we respond to that revelation with a humble attitude and honorable activity. That, in a nutshell, is what worship is. It is humble, it's humility of the heart, and it is honorable action, activity. It is us having an attitude that says, yay, I submit to God's Word and will. But that attitude being seen in our action, in our action producing fruit that abounds to the glory of God. There's a lot of people that do religious duty. There's a lot of people that are in church this morning because they are checking off their list of religious activity for the week. I hope that's not true of any here this morning, but there are many that do religious duty out of a sense of obligation, out of a sense of routine. Well, this is what I'm supposed to do, so I'm going to go and do this so that God will be pleased and I can be okay with what I'm doing and how I'm living my life. Others worship hypocritically. A lot of people go to church this morning. They're not going to really serve God throughout the week, but they've gone to church. They've put on the cloak of religion. They have put forth their best effort to show everyone in the community, or their family, or their friends that they're religious, but really they have no intention of reading their Bible, or praying, or living for God, or being a witness, or having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And that's hypocrisy. That's hypocrisy. And we find that there are people that worship in different ways. But listen to me. Biblical worship is total devotion to God and all that He has revealed every day of our lives in everything we do. And so if you don't live what you claim to believe, then you do not worship God biblically and you're a false worshipper. You're a hypocrite. And so am I. If we do not go out there and practice what we preach, if you will, and put into practice what we take in from the Word of God, then we're no different than the Pharisees and the hypocrites of the New Testament. We have to put into action. And we have to have it in every aspect of our lives as we worship God. Listen to me this morning. If we're going to worship the Lord, we have to do it His way. and the manner that He prescribes, following the traditions and the customs of man, that's just not worship this morning. Genuine biblical worship is all that I am responding to all that God is and all that He has revealed in His Word. Are you worshipping God today? I don't mean just right now in this service at this very moment, but I mean in your life on a daily basis from moment to moment. Is there total devotion? Is there total submission to the Word of God and all He has revealed about Himself on a daily basis? Well, if worship is just when you come to church, friend, you're not worshipping God biblically. But if worship does consume every day of your life. In every moment of your life, you're seeking to devote yourself to the Word of God and what it says about your life, what it says about how you are a husband, what it says about how you are a wife or a parent, what it says about your home, what it says about how you are an employee or an employer, what it says about every facet of your life. And if you're not seeking to devote yourself to the teaching of God's Word and His revealed will, then you are not worshipping God. Genuine worship takes place when my spirit responds to God's revelation of Himself in His Word. And I bow myself before Him in reverence and love and adoration. And like Jesus said, God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. The source of biblical worship is the revelation of God's Word. What are you doing with this book? And how you treat the Word of God in your life and the place that you give it will tell me or anyone else whether or not you're truly worshiping God. The source of biblical worship, but number two, I notice the submission of biblical worship. Not only did Abraham act as a result of the revelation God gave him, and in submission to that revelation he began to worship God, We see here the submission of Abraham. Look at it again in verse number 3. What does it say? And Abraham sat down for three or four days and thought about what he'd heard and kind of debated in himself and said, well, Lord, he is my only son. Maybe we can negotiate, Lord. Is that what Abraham did? We see immediate response from Abraham, and in the response we see submission to the will of God, don't we? Worship happens when you submit to the will of God. We find that in Abraham's life. As soon as Abraham hears the command of God, he doesn't debate, negotiate, try to figure out a way around it, but he simply, without hesitation, he responds in faith, he submits himself to the will of God. We see how Abraham did that throughout this text. The Bible tells us he rose up early the next morning. The Bible tells us he saddled his donkey. The Bible tells us he took two of his young men with him. The Bible tells us he took Isaac, his son. claimed the wood for a burnt offering. He rose up and went his way into the place which the Lord had told him. He did all of these things as a response to the revelation of God. Abraham's worship manifested itself in humility, humble action, or a humble attitude and honorable activity. To the will of God. Each step of God's revelation. His revealed will in Abraham's life. Abraham submitted to it. He submitted to it. He submitted to it. He didn't buck God. He didn't try to get away or get out from under what God had put upon him. But he submitted to that. I think about how Christ, when He came to this world, He submitted to the will of His Father. He didn't try to get out of going to Calvary. He didn't try to get out of being the payment for our sin. He didn't try to get out of giving His life as a ransom for many. But beloved, He drank the bitter cup. and He went to do the will of His Father, that which He was sent for. I'm glad that He did. I'm glad that Jesus submitted to the will of God and is an example to you and I of how we are to submit to God's will for our lives. Abraham's worship manifests itself in his humility. He didn't allow confusion or a lack of understanding concerning the why. of what God had asked of him to stop him from worshiping God. But Abraham humbly obeyed God, and that is the essence of worship, humility and obedience. Let me say this to you this morning, not only does worship find its roots in what the Word of God says, but it also has its roots in obedience to what the Word of God says. Therefore anyone, listen to me, anyone who does not obey the Word of God cannot be a true worshipper. Mark it down. Anybody whose life is not in direct obedience to this book is not worshipping God. The only way you can truly worship God is by submission to the Word of God. It's one thing to know what God says. But beloved, it's altogether another thing to do what God's Word says. To obey what God says. And what the Lord called Abraham to do was unprecedented. No man had ever been asked to give up so much as Abraham was asked to give up. Abraham's only son. All of the promises of God hung upon Isaac, his son. And yet he by fate, submitted to God's instruction. In fact, we're told in Hebrews chapter 11, that's part of the reason I believe that he made it into the hall of faith, if you want to call it that. He, believing God, was able to raise up his own son. By faith, he submitted and took Isaac up to Mount Moriah. I want to say this morning, that kind of faith, oh, that's an essential component to true biblical worship. The smallest act of obedience to the Word of God is a form of worship. By faith, it is a form of worship. Whether it's praying, whether it's reading your Bible, whether it's tithing in the offering, whether it's witnessing to a sinner, whether it's faithfulness to the house of God, all the things that we ought to be doing anyway are all acts of worship when they are done out of a heart of love and humble submission to God. I'm not saying this morning that we shouldn't meet together, that this isn't worship, but I'm saying this is not worship if it's not done in obedience to the Word of God. We see the submission of biblical worship. We see the source of biblical worship. Notice with me thirdly this morning, as we begin to look closer into the picture of biblical worship, I see the sacrifice of biblical worship. Notice the Bible tells us, as God revealed to Moses, that he was to take his son, his only son, whom he loved, up to the land of Moriah, and there offer him as a burnt offering. And then in verse number 5, And Abraham said unto the young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship. Here he is going to do what God told him to do. Now, I love the statement that follows at the end of verse 5, and come again to you. There is faith in Abraham's heart. That even if he does kill his son, that God is able to raise him back from the dead. That God's promises are true and will be fulfilled. And that the covenant God had made with Abraham concerning his seed, that God would fulfill it. There was faith. There was sacrifice. Abraham's worship wasn't cheap. Abraham's worship would cost him the most precious thing in his life, and that was his son. But notice how God approaches Abraham in verse 2. He says, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest. Isaac was the light of Abraham's life. Isaac was the most precious person in the world to Abraham. Isaac was the fulfillment of God's promise. He represented all of Abraham's hopes and his future. And yet God commands Abraham to take that which is most precious to him and sacrifice it to God. I'm telling you this morning, Abraham's worship was costly. In verse 5, He told His servants, Abide ye here with the ass and I on the latter will yonder and worship and come again to you. Abraham, when he spoke here, he spoke of worship. In the context of sacrificing that which was most valuable, most precious to him, he spoke of worship. I'm telling you today, beloved, that without sacrifice, you're not going to worship God biblically. Now I'm not saying you're going to have to kill your children. God's not asking you to sacrifice your promised offspring. But He is asking you to be willing to give up anything for Him. Is that not what Jesus said? If a man be not willing to forsake his father, and his mother, and his wife, and his brethren, and his own children, he's not fit to be my disciple. Jesus wants complete devotion and worship requires it. It requires a willingness to sacrifice all that we are and all that we have if God asks of it. When He speaks of worship here, He knew that true worship involved Him making the greatest sacrifice possible. and his heart was wrapped up in his Son, yet he was willing to give God the treasure of his heart because of his love for the Lord was greater than his love for Isaac. Can you say that this morning? Can you say in your heart that your love for the Lord is greater than anything or anyone in your life? Well, you're gonna have to get there if you're ever gonna worship God biblically. I love my wife. I love my children. Pray nothing ever happens to them. We have a long life together. They are the apple of my eye. But I have to get to a place where Jesus is more than that. Beloved, when you get to that place, you realize the only way you'll ever love your wife like you should and love your children like you ought and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, is by loving God more than them. Because if you love them more than you love God, you'll do them a disservice. But if you love God more than you love them, you'll point them to Christ. You'll lead them to Calvary. And you'll show them what true worship is. And in turn, by the grace of God, they'll be made worshipers of God. Sacrifice. It's required for biblical worship. Real worship is always costly. It always requires a sacrifice. Typically, it's a sacrifice of self and selfish vanities. I've noticed many times in my life, it's not that God's called me to give up somebody or something particular, but it's that God's called me to deny myself, take up my cross and follow Him. And that is what the greatest sacrifice is. We find it throughout the Bible that David knew something of this kind of sacrifice. He wrote about it. He said, Neither will I offer burnt offering unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. He said, If I offer something to God, it's going to be something that's costly. Mary of Bethany knew something of this in John chapter 12 verses 1 to 8. Or did she not bow before Him and with her own hair and tears wash His feet and anoint His feet with that alabaster box of ointment? Those fumes filled the room and she gave something that was worth a year's wage. What about the wise men? to pay a price and sacrifice in worship of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? Well, they traveled many, many miles and when they finally found the child and where he was, they bowed before him and they gave him gifts. I'm simply saying worship requires sacrifice. We've got to keep this in mind. Worship is a sacrifice. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15 says, By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise unto God. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. It always, always, always, mark it down, always costs something to worship God. You want to know primarily what it costs for you to be a worshipper of God today? It costs the Father His only begotten Son. It costs Him His beloved going to Calvary and suffering for the sins of wicked, depraved men and women like you and I that we might have a relationship with God through the bloody sacrifice death, burial, and resurrection of God's Son. We've got to keep that in mind, that it costs something to worship God. It's going to cost you time in spiritual preparation. It's going to cost you time in Bible study. It's going to cost you the loss possibly of prestige and your reputation among lost friends and family and society. Often the sacrifice of our pride is the sacrifice that is required to worship God. We have to deny ourselves. Listen to me this morning. The believer who will be a worshipper must learn this truth from Philippians chapter 3 verse 3 which says, For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. If we would worship the Lord, then we must not come to Him full of ourselves, but we have to come to Him full of Christ. Full of the very thing that God delights in. Full of the very thing that God looked upon as Christ was on this earth and said, Behold my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. We must come to Him full of the very thing that delights His heart. And nothing delights the heart of God any more than His Son, Jesus Christ. And so to that, I would say to you this morning, if you're going to worship God, you're going to have to get full of God. Get full of God and become a worshiper this morning. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Be saturated with the Word of God. Be completely devoted to God and all that He has revealed about Himself. You'll become more and more like Christ. And you'll be able to worship God. You see here the source of biblical worship. It's the Word of God, God's revelation. Abraham's submission is a teacher to us that we must submit. to God's will if we're going to be a worshipper. The sacrifice that Abraham was willing to give teaches us that we have to be willing to sacrifice anything God would ask of us. But then we see, fourthly here this morning, the separation of biblical worship. There was a separation that took place in this story that is before us here today, and it's in verse 5. Again, whenever Abraham tells his servants to stay there with the donkey, that he and the lad are going to go yonder and worship. I thought about this, and with this small little band of pilgrims, here they've arrived at the place that God's revealed unto Abraham, and a separation takes place. Those two young men were not a part of the worship experience that God wanted Abraham to get in on. Let me say to you this morning, everybody that you know and everybody that you're affiliated with in this world, those that are lost on the outside, they are not a part of the worship experience that God wants you to be in on. They can be by faith in Jesus Christ, and that's why we preach the gospel. But when it comes to you worshiping God on a daily basis, you're going to have to separate yourself from the world. You're going to have to separate yourself from those that would be a hindrance in your life that would keep you from worshipping God. Imagine if these two servants had gone with Abraham up on the mountain and they seen him bind his son and put him on the altar and begin to raise the knife, they'd have tackled Abraham, they'd have thought he was crazy, lost his mind and went insane and he wouldn't have learned what God wanted him to learn and he wouldn't have worshipped the way God wanted him to worship. I'm saying to you this morning there's going to come a time in your life when there's going to have to be some separation from the world if you're ever going to worship God biblically the way God has told us to worship Him, Spirit and Truth. A lot of people aren't worshiping God today because they have their roots too deep in this world. They love the things of this world too much. The pride of life, the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes. It's got its hooks in them. And they can't worship God with liberty and in freedom because of the influence of the world. You're going to have to separate yourself from that. There's a lesson here for the person who'd worship God today. There are many things in this life that will hinder our worship of God. Just like these two men would have hindered the worship of Abraham to God. Just like these two men would have intruded themselves into Abraham's worship, there are things in our life that we have to separate ourselves from. I mean, we're all aware of the things that compete with God's Word for our attention. I mean, when we seek to worship the Lord, meals have been prepared in services just like this morning. Problems have been thought through. Relationships have been pondered. Deals have been struck in services just like we're sitting in this morning. Because the heart and the mind of that individual wouldn't set aside and separate the life that they're living and the things that are around them from worshiping God. All the things that can hinder us. The problems of the flesh and the mind and the world. We would go on and on and on about things that would hinder us. Hobbies, work, family, TV, There's so many things that will hinder us that we've got to separate. I'm not saying completely cut out of our lives. These two men, Abraham, he came back to them. But there was a separation for a time so that he could do what God wanted him to do. We've got to have that in our life. We've got to be able to separate the things of this world out of our life, out of our mind, and shut them off and shut them down and worship God. Anything that distracts the mind from Him is a hindrance to genuine biblical worship. That cool air that's got you thinking about all the big bucks running around your deer stand right now. That hay that's on the ground needs to get up before it rains again. I'm saying there's a lot of things that can distract us from worship. We've got to learn how to cut it off. Hebrews 10, 21, 22 says, And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. God wants us to draw now with a true heart. A true heart is a heart that is fixed upon him. A true heart is a heart that has grounded out all of the noise and the hustle and the bustle of life and is focused upon God. Romans 12, 1 and 2 says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body, live in sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you might prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. If you're going to worship God, you're going to have to sacrifice. and separate yourself from some things in this world by the renewing of your mind that you might be pleasing. St. Corinthians 10.5 says, Casting down imagination, every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringeth into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. If you're going to worship God, you're going to have to cast down every vain imagination. You're going to have to separate it from your way of thinking. A mind that is not sanctified, separated, sanctified and set upon the Lord is a mind of a person who cannot worship. If you cannot set aside the things of this life and focus on God's Word, you are not going to worship God. Let me ask you, what occupies your mind when you come to worship? What has had your attention, maybe even in this service this morning, that has kept you from being able to worship? Separation from the world is required for biblical worship. Let me give you this, the service of biblical worship. Verse 16 to 18 in our text, we didn't read it, but it says here that The angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven a second time and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, as the sand of the sea, Sure, he says here, so shall thy seed possess the gate of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. Abraham climbed a mountain with Isaac. Abraham answered Isaac's fears. Abraham took his son, bound him, placed him on the altar, he raised the knife, fully intending to take his son's life. He held nothing back. He yielded every ounce of self to the perfect will of God, and God intervened. God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in the place of Isaac. Why am I saying this? I'm saying this because in the end, Abraham worship was a service to God. Abraham's worship served to glorify God and God alone. Abraham's faith in the act of his selfless worship delighted the heart of God. And as a result, it brought the statement of blessing that came from God in verse 16, 17, and 18. What I'm saying this morning is this, when we devote ourselves to selfless worship, we bring glory to God. And when we bring glory to God, He delights in being good to His people, and He'll bless His people. Psalm 50 verse 23 quotes God as saying, Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me, and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God. You worship God and you'll be a recipient of God's blessings. But you can only worship God as it is a service that glorifies Him and doesn't glorify yourself. Worship cannot be about me, but it has to be about Him and Him alone. True biblical worship gives God the place of absolute preeminence in our lives in everything we do every day that we live. And let me say this, He alone is worthy of being glorified. And when we worship God genuinely, He alone is glorified. This is how worship serves the Lord. And then lastly, I'll give you this and be done this morning. We see the satisfaction of biblical worship. The satisfaction of biblical worship. Abraham obeyed God. God rewarded Abraham. He climbed the mountain scared and defeated, but he came off the mountain rejoicing and thankful. He might have climbed the mountain with uncertainty, but he came back down with understanding. One of the greatest blessings of genuine biblical worship is that it brings the manifold blessings of God back to the believer. God will honor those that honor Him. The Bible tells us that. When we are willing to sacrifice all that we have, all that we are, and all that we could ever care about on the altar of His glory, He will respond by blessing us and using us in a greater way than we could have ever imagined. And God used Abraham and his seed greater than He ever imagined. Think about the satisfaction of biblical worship. That's not the primary reason we worship, but I'm saying to you there is a sense of satisfaction and blessing that comes to the heart of God's people. There's been times, beloved, when I've worshipped God and my mind has been set apart from all the things of this world, and I've sensed the presence of Almighty God in my heart. Beloved, it's caused tears to stream and joy to swell, and the reality of God in my life to be so overwhelmingly real that I was blessed as a result of worshipping God. God manifesting His presence. This isn't foreign to those of our forefathers. I think of the first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and it asks, what is the chief end of man? Well, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And you're not fulfilling your purpose for existence if you're not worshiping God and enjoying Him. And I'm glad they come hand in hand. I'm glad that when you worship God, you will enjoy Him as He reveals who He is to your heart. And He begins to eternally infinitely reveal Himself in ways that you've never seen and never understood. I'm simply saying that our reason for existence this morning is to worship God. That's why you were created, was to worship God. That's why God created Adam and Eve and put them in the garden, to tend the garden, was to worship God. Devotion to God and everything. And if the serpent crept in, and they disobeyed God, and in an act of rebellion, plunged the human race into depravity, and now Though we aren't able to realize in ourselves our purpose for our existence, it's still there. And there's a void in the heart of every sinner that calls upon them for a higher purpose. And though they can't find what that purpose is, and they can't produce a relationship on their own with God, there is a desire there to worship something. And that's why for those in the jungles of Africa and South America, they'll carve out a piece of wood and they'll worship that. And those in the schools of higher learning, they'll carve out a man of philosophy and they'll worship him. Because there's something in every man that is designed to worship. But we don't ever really understand what that is until by the grace of God we're saved and brought into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And all of a sudden we realize this is my reason for living. This is why God created me. It's to worship Him. God wants us to be worshipers. Is that not what He said in John 4? He's seeking such to worship Him. He's seeking worshipers this morning. But it's those that have to worship in spirit and truth. As created beings made for the purpose of glorifying God, we will never experience any truer joy or any greater satisfaction than when we worship God. When was the last time you worshipped God? When was the last time that you stopped living for self and you just completely devoted your ways to the Lord? In your home, at the job site, at church, with your children, with your family. Then in your heart you said, in a very real way, and you purposed, I'm putting God first in everything that I do. If you're not there this morning, you're not worshiping God. Abraham's worship honored the Lord. See, he placed all that he was and all that he had on the altar of submission and humble obedience to the God who loved him and saved him. And in response, God blessed him. Blessed him with a promise. Have you examined your worship in the light of what we've learned from Abraham this morning? Is your worship based upon the source of God's Word, God's Revelation? Is it in submission to what He's revealed about Himself? Are you willing to give up anything and everything that God would ask of you so that you can devote yourself to that Word? Are you serving Him? Making sure that in everything you do, in every realm, every aspect, every avenue of your life, that there's service to God and He comes first. Is there separation this morning? Are you separating yourself from certain things in this life that will draw your mind away and hinder you from worshiping God? And if you can say yes to all that, praise God. You've got the picture. You get it. You see what this portrait of biblical worship is trying to show us and you get the picture. But if you haven't today, wouldn't you open your eyes? Oh by the grace of God, I pray you'd get the picture. You'd see why God put you here, what He put you here for and how His Word tells us that we are to worship. And you can go through acts of religion and you can have a self-righteousness and you can have all of these things that the world says is sufficient. but you'll never truly worship God. Oh, fulfill your purpose for being on this planet. Glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Be a worshiper.