That Which We Bring to God

In this part of the sermon: Drawing from Hebrews 13:15 and Matthew 18:20, Martin identifies the first two spiritual sacrifices: the joyful anticipation of an expectant heart due to Christ's promised…

A young man anticipating a date with a woman he loves illustrates the natural joyful anticipation that should characterize a believer's heart when coming to meet Christ in public worship.

But he speaks. He's speaking of a special presence that is pledged in the gathering of his people as his people. Now, let me ask you something. Suppose one of you young men had set your eyes upon a young woman and she has given you reason to believe that she's looking at you, at least as something other than just a nice brother.

23:37 - 23:59 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Drawing from Hebrews 13:15 and Matthew 18:20, Martin identifies the first two spiritual sacrifices: the joyful anticipation of an expectant heart due to Christ's promised…

A cheerleader hired by the Dallas Cowboys who shows no enthusiasm for the team illustrates the insult of half-hearted, unenthusiastic praise offered to the living God in worship.

What would happen to a cheerleader. Hired by the Dallas Cowboys. Who stood in the sidelines with her pom-poms. And just said yay cowboys.

32:13 - 32:21 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He presents the third and fourth sacrifices: the confession, humiliation, and contrition of broken hearts (Psalm 51:16-17), and the prayers, supplications, and intercessions of…

Watching TV late on Saturday night and stumbling into church unprepared is given as an example of how one fails to cultivate a broken and contrite heart for confession in worship.

Now where are you going to get that? By sitting up till 11 o'clock Saturday night. Watching TV. Flop into bed.

34:52 - 34:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Let your first conscious thought every Lord's Day morning be, 'None shall appear before me empty,' preparing spiritual sacrifices.

An Israelite coming to the temple without his commanded sacrifice due to 'extenuating circumstances' illustrates the inexcusability of appearing before God empty-handed in worship.

God says part of the rubric of public worship is your mails going up to the central place of worship three times a year. And he says this. When you come, you better bring what I told you to bring. Now can you imagine a worshiper coming up from one of the tribes to Jerusalem or to wherever the center of worship was?

49:14 - 49:33 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He uses Exodus 23:14-15 ('None shall appear before me empty') to underscore God's stringent requirement for prepared spiritual sacrifices in New Covenant worship, which are even…

A hypothetical requirement to bring a 'block of wood' to worship illustrates how people would diligently fulfill a physical requirement, contrasting it with their often-lax approach to spiritual requirements.

If you knew God would not accept your worship unless you came here with a block of wood, two by four by six, you'd do anything necessary to get yourself a block of wood two by four by six inches. If God had put in another chapter in Ephesians, say we had a chapter seven, and it said, every time you appear in public worship, come with a block of wood two by four by six inches, you'd get yourself a block of wood and you'd do whatever was necessary to make sure that you never came to public worship without your block of wood, wouldn't you? I hope you would. Well, you see, because God is requiring...

51:44 - 52:27 Read in full sermon