Directives for Ordering Public Worship #1

Driving home: There is nothing that does so provoke and exasperate God against the people, as mixed worship.

Martin quotes Brooks, who asserts that 'There is nothing that does so provoke and exasperate God against the people, as mixed worship.' This highlights the extreme importance of the regulative principle and purity in worship.

But it is a marvelous distillation. Of the tremendous importance of the regulative principle in worship. Because the point that he is making under the broad subject of the beauty and excellency and rarity of holiness, he says that evidence and declare the truth and reality of your holiness by a resolute standing up for purity of religion and for purity of worship and ordinances in opposition to all mixtures, and corruptions whatsoever. And then he makes a bold statement.

2:00 - 2:39 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin outlines the sermon's structure, distinguishing between general directives for ordinary services (Sunday gatherings) and specific directives for extraordinary services…

Martin humorously offers to lend his set of Charnock's works, joking about requiring a wife and cattle as collateral. This lightens the mood while emphasizing the value he places on Charnock's theological depth.

this is in the old Nicole series I don't think it has been no yeah yeah this is discourses on divine providence the existence and the existence and attributes of God they didn't reprint that they didn't reprint that it's a shame yeah well that is to be lamented is that right well thankfully you guys got a set in your library here so yes good we may lack a lot of things but I do I'm almost certain we have a full set of Charnock in there and if any of you want to borrow mine as long as you're willing to put up your wife and cattle and as collateral maybe not your wife I don't want to be a polyga...

4:58 - 6:25 Read in full sermon

Driving home: We insult God if we approach him in a way not warranted by Scripture and expect God to do us a favor.

The church, composed of diverse people brought together by grace, is described as a 'living monument' to Christ's redemptive power, glorifying God as a new humanity and a 'city set upon the hill.'

And there is a beautiful picture of the church existing as with one heart, the one accord, no discord, they are of one heart, and they become one mouth. And with that mouth they glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that when God brings together not people out of a homogeneous segment of society, a la the church growth gurus, but when he brings together people of tremendous diversity and through the dynamics of grace operative in them, causes them to be of one accord and with one mouth to sound forth the praises of their God, God is glorified as that corporate group of his pe...

29:19 - 30:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Be glued both to the regulative principle in the substance of worship and in a frame of utter dependence upon and constant pleading for the presence and power of the Spirit in the use and engagement of divinely institute…

Believers are depicted as 'living stones' and a 'new covenant priesthood' offering spiritual sacrifices, particularly praise, which brings distinct glory to God. This illustrates the active role of the church in glorifying God through worship.

sacrifice, except for the sacrifice of the Holy Spirit. We, as living stones, are built up a spiritual through Jesus Christ. And among those spiritual sacrifices, and I believe we can reason by analogy, is the sacrifice of praise. Hebrews 13, 15. By him let us offer the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips, making confession to his name. And in Psalm 50, we read that whoso offers praise glorifies need. So here is the church, under the imagery of living stones, the new covenant priesthood, engaged in the offering up of spiritual sacrifices, among them praise. And it is said specifically i...

32:11 - 33:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Be glued both to the regulative principle in the substance of worship and in a frame of utter dependence upon and constant pleading for the presence and power of the Spirit in the use and engagement of divinely institute…

Martin uses the imagery of the Israelites longing for the 'leeks and the garlics and the cucumbers of Egypt' to describe believers who seek external excitement in worship when the simplicity of God's ordinances is emptied of His presence and power.

that we will approach God only by means of his institution. We will expect blessing from him only by those conduits that he has marked out as those which he has chosen, while at the same time there is a conscious, pervasive dependence upon the Holy Spirit and the awareness of his almighty presence and operations in the gathering of his people. Amen. I am personally convinced that one of the things that leads people away from the simplicity of biblical worship is they can only for so long tolerate the simplicity of those means when they are emptied of the dynamics of the presence and power of G...

38:48 - 39:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Dare not ignore the dimension of God's purpose in planning and ordering public worship that unconverted individuals may be convicted of God's reality and presence.

Martin describes it as a 'tragedy enough to make angels weep' that some assemblies never convey the presence of an awesome God to the unconverted. This emphasizes the profound failure when worship neglects its evangelistic purpose.

we dare not ignore this dimension of God's purpose in the planning and ordering of the public worship of the people of God. In our bearing and demeanor, in the content of the worship, in the choice of Him, in the exposition, illustration, and application of the Word of God, in our prayers, in the total life of our corporate worship, to me it is a tragedy enough to make angels weep that one could go to some assemblies and never once infer in three months that anyone unconverted was present and you were trying to see him confronted with a God who is awesome and majestic before whom men are not. ...

54:09 - 55:05 Read in full sermon