The Amen in Public Worship: Biblical Principles

Introduction: The Assumed Practice of the Amen in 1 Corinthians 14

0:07 I would encourage you to follow in your own Bibles as I read this morning from 1 Corinthians, chapter 14, verses 12 through 19. This reading comes in the midst of a section in which the Apostle Paul is correcting abuses that were present in Corinth, abuses with respect to certain temporary gifts that God was pleased to give to his church in its period of development. And in the midst of those words of correction and direction concerning the exercise of those gifts, he says in verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 14, So also ye, since ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may abound unto the edifying of the church. Wherefore, let him that speaketh in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then?

1:26 What is it then? What is it then? What is it then? What is it then?

1:27 What is it then? What is it then? What is it then? And I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also.

1:34 I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. Else, if thou bless with the spirit, how shall he that filleth the place, or occupieth the place of the unlearned, say thee amen, or amen, at the giving of thy thanks, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest? For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all, how be it.

2:09 In the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that I might instruct others also than ten thousand words in a tongue.

2:24 Now much to the disappointment of many of you, no doubt, I do not proclaim. I do not propose to enter into a discussion of the subject of tongues. Rather, I desire to direct your attention to a secondary issue which Paul mentions in his treatment of the subject of tongues, the issue suggested in verse 16.

2:50 Else, if thou bless with the spirit, how shall he that filleth the place of the unlearned say thee amen, at the giving of thy thanks, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest? Else, if thou bless with the spirit, how shall he that filleth the place of the unlearned say thee amen, at the giving of thy thanks, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest? Notice in this text, as I briefly expound it, the situation envisioned in the text. It is one in which Paul assumes that a member of the congregation possessing a spiritual gift to speak in another language given by the Spirit is exercising that gift, in a congregational meeting.

3:34 His gift is being exercised in a way of rendering praise to God in a language that is not his own native language or his own language acquired by the normal disciplines of learning another language. But now there is in that situation in which this man who possesses this spiritual gift and is seeking to render praise to God in the congregation, there is another person who in the language of the text occupies the place of the unlearned. That is, one who is uninstructed regarding the gift and function of tongues, one who is unable to understand what is said. Notice the language. How shall he give thanks, seeing at thy giving of thanks, how shall he say thee, Amen, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest? Now try to get the picture.

4:38 The church is gathered on a given Lord's day, and suddenly someone breaks out in a language not his own, rendering praise to God in that language. But sitting about seven seats away is this man who occupies the place of the unlearned. He doesn't know what this gift is. He doesn't know what the substance of that utterance is.

5:05 And therefore, we move very quickly into the second element of the text, the problem raised. The problem is this. That poor brother doesn't know whether he should say the Amen at this expression of praise given by the brother who is speaking in a tongue. How shall he who occupies the place of the unlearned say, say the Amen, seeing he knows not what you are saying?

5:36 In other words, this brother understands that his worship is to be intelligent worship. He's not simply to go through the motions of saying Amen because someone else seems to be praising God. If he cannot intelligently, with his understanding, enter into the content of the praise, he's not going to put his verbal signature to the praise with his Amen. So the problem is raised.

6:03 How shall this man say the Amen? You have left him, Paul says, uninvolved and therefore unedified. And he's rebuking the man who irresponsibly exercises his gift of tongues so that the one occupying the place of the unlearned cannot enter in with his whole heart and soul to that dimension of worship. Well, having briefly considered the situation in vision, the problem raised, now notice in the third place in our text, the practice assumed by Paul when he writes these words.

6:45 He is assuming in the midst of his pastoral treatment of this subject that every worshipper will intelligently and verbally assent to the expressions of praise and worship given by the other members of the congregation. You see, he assumes that the man who occupies the place of the unlearned or the uninstructed is desirous of saying his amen. But he's rendered incapable of saying his amen in a manner that would please God because his understanding is unfruitful and therefore his amen would simply be a matter of rote. It would simply be a matter of empty form. But now do you see what the apostle assumes? He is assuming that the worshipers at Corinth are indeed in the practice of adding their verbal amen to the praise and to the worship of those who lead in the expression.

7:58 The expressions of praise and worship. And far from discouraging that practice, he uses that very reality of the practice as a lever to show this irresponsible tongue speaker the folly of his ways. Now it is that assumed practice of the corporate, public, verbal amen in the worshiping, of God that is to form the basis of our study in the scriptures both this morning and, God willing, again next Lord's Day morning. I'm going to address you on the subject, the amen in the public worship of God. Now, almost immediately, I can almost hear someone saying, now, Pastor Martin, you can't be serious. You mean you are going to take the precious time of two Lord's Day mornings to address yourself to something based on one little incidental passing remark of an assumed practice at Corinth 2,000 years ago? Surely, the injury

Addressing Objections: Why This Topic Matters

9:21 to your ankle has done something to your head. This reflects a distortion of perspective itself. an impropriety of priorities.

9:36 Well, fair enough. That objection may have some legitimacy to it. You say we've got to wait two more weeks before we get back into the great subject of adoption, before we return to consider the experimental privileges of the adopted sons and daughters of God. Why spend that kind of time on something that appears to me so secondary?

10:02 Well, let me answer that objection or question. And I answer, first of all, it is right to take this kind of time because of the seriousness of everything that pertains to the public worship of God.

10:21 It is right to consider this issue because of the seriousness of everything that pertains to the public worship of God. When man sinned in the garden and was banished from the presence of God, God and God alone had the right to say, A, if man could ever be welcomed back into his presence, and B, if welcomed, how and in what manner he should come.

10:57 Once man forfeited communion with God, it was for God and God, not alone to say if that communion could ever be reestablished, and if reestablished, how that communion was to be expressed both individually and corporately. And there is a masterful statement of this principle in Bannerman's classic work on the Church of Christ, and I want to read a few sentences from it. He speaks to this very issue saying, there is a duty of nature which lays upon me, man, the obligation of social or corporate worship. There is a duty of grace to the same effect over and above the duty of nature. And not only so, but the manner of corporate worship in addition to the duty has been expressly appointed by God. There has never been lacking in any age since the first, a divine directory for the form and method of worshiping of man's circumstances as a sinner, and regulating the manner of his approach in religious acts to God. Now, this statement is classic.

12:18 After the fatal separation between man and God, occasioned by the fall, it remained for God and God alone to say whether He would ever again permit the approach of man to Him in the way of worship, and, if so, it remained for God and God alone to prescribe the terms and to regulate the manner of man's approach to Him. In short, in no age since the first have sinners been left to their own devices or option in respect either to the duty or the manner of corporate worship. And then he goes on to buttress that, from the Word of God. You see, when we meet in this place each Lord's Day morning and evening, when we gather in our other building on Wednesday, whenever we meet as the church, with the special promises of Christ to be in our midst, in our special and peculiar identity as the very temple of God, there is a solemnity and a seriousness with respect to everything that pertains to worship, because if we bring to God anything other than that

13:46 which He Himself has expressly required and approved, we bring Him what the Bible calls will worship, and it's an insult to the deity. And so, because our subject touches our corporate worship, it is a matter of profound seriousness and of deep concern to God Himself. But then we need to address ourselves to this subject, secondly, because of the confusion which exists on this issue in our day. We have some claiming that there should be a return to the ancient liturgies of the church, in which each worshipper has a written form of various responses in order to involve the congregation. Preaching should be played down, the sacraments should be played up, and there should be tremendous and pervasive liturgical involvement. And there is in our day what is called the liturgical revival going on, and much of it in so-called evangelical circles. There are others who would say, well, we don't want liturgy, we just want to come together and have a holy let-it-rip session.

15:07 And I've actually seen some of those let-it-rip sessions, where you have the person who's leading the meeting, who's a master of crowd psychology, whipping the troops up until everything just turns loose and everybody does his own thing. And if your thing is to come down the aisle dancing in the Spirit while you come dancing in the Spirit, if your thing is to be stretched out on the floor, babbling in what you would call, or what that individual would call, the gift of tongues while you do it, whatever your thing is, come to the place where the Spirit is so in control that everyone does his own thing. And then there are others who in reaction against that say, no, there should be absolutely no congregational participation of any kind. You can't trust the uninstructed, ignorant laity. We can only trust the professional clergy to say what is proper and right in the public worship of God. Well, in the midst of all that confusion, do we have a word from God?

16:12 What is the manner of congregational participation ordained by God in His public worship? What kind of participation will God regard with favor from you, His people? What kind should we as elders encourage in seeking to promote pure and biblical worship in this place? That's why I say it is necessary to address ourselves to this subject, not only because of the seriousness of everything that pertains to the public worship of God, but because of the confusion which exists in our own day.

16:50 And thirdly, it's important to address ourselves to this subject because of the peculiar complexion of our congregation. We come from a great diversity of cultural and religious backgrounds, and these differences of cultural and religious backgrounds are reflected in the manner in which we feel comfortable worshiping God. Now, it's a wonderful thing that God has called us out of such a diversity of cultural and religious backgrounds. It lends a richness and puts a check upon provincialisms and many other things that are enemies of true gospel worship.

17:34 But, since we all bring the baggage of our cultural and religious and social influences, we must, if we are to render corporate worship with one heart and one soul, be prepared to throw away any baggage that doesn't square with the Word of God and to pick up any baggage that does square with the Word of God. Now, we have no desire to obliterate our cultural distinctiveness since it is ordained of God that some of you should have been influenced by one cultural, set of cultural pressures, and some of you by another. We do not ask our African brother here to dress like a proper middle class Manhattan businessman. We rejoice in the cultural distinction expressing itself even in dress. But when we come to worship God, there must be a commitment to a common standard if our worship is to be worship that reflects the essential unity that is ours in Jesus Christ.

18:51 And therefore it is vital that we take up this subject for that third reason. Well, my objector, I hope I have answered your objections. I hope I have secured the consent of your mind that indeed, it is right to take at least two Lord's Day mornings to address ourselves to this vital subject, the Amen in the public worship of God. Now then, with all that introductory material behind us, let me attempt to begin this morning by considering with you the meaning and the significance of the word Amen.

The Meaning and Significance of 'Amen'

19:29 When the Apostle says, How shall this person say thee Amen at the giving of thy thanks, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest? The word Amen to the Apostle Paul had a tremendously deep and rich significance that had its roots way back in the Old Testament and significance which gathered as it were increasing richness with the passing of each stage of God's work in redemptive history. The word in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word, is to be pronounced Amen and it comes from a root word, Amon, just like we hear of Amon in Jordan now in current terminology, which means simply to strengthen or to support, to render firm or trustworthy. Therefore, it became the word by which a man could personally affirm his faith to the Lord and to the people of the world. The word Amen in the Old Testament is the word that was used in the Old Testament to strengthen or to affirm his confidence in the validity and the trustworthiness of what was spoken by another. What a signature is to a document in terms of writing, Amen is to a statement in terms of speaking.

20:49 Now, when the Declaration of Independence was drafted, you only had one hand that actually framed the words and put them on parchment. Now, when the Declaration of Independence was drafted, you only had one hand that actually wrote the document. You didn't have one man come along and write we and someone else the and someone else people. One hand actually wrote the document.

21:19 But then the time came for all those who in their hearts consented to the content of the document openly to affirm their commitment by their signature. Now, that's precisely what the Declaration of Independence signified in its usage in the Old Testament. An example of this is found in Psalm 72 verses 18 and 19. Psalm 72 verses 18 and 19.

21:52 This song speaking of Messiah's glorious and extensive reign ends with a eulogy, a blessing of God. Blessed be the Lord who blessed be the Lord God the God of Israel who only doeth wondrous things and blessed be His glorious name forever and ever and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Now, when the Psalmist by the inspiration of the Spirit has penned those sentiments that the name of the Lord is on earth when he would express his response to those sentiments how does he do it? Look at the language. Amen and Amen so be it I subscribe with all my heart and with all my soul. Now in the New Testament the Greek word is simply brought over phonetically from the Hebrew and so it's pronounced phonetically but it brings then with it because it is not an original New Testament word with its roots in the culture of the New Testament

23:21 but because it is brought over directly from the Hebrew from the Old Testament is what we call a transliteration just taking the Hebrew word phonetically and putting it into the Greek alphabet it comes into the New Testament bearing with it the Old Testament richness and in the New Testament we see how it gains in significance it is the word first of all used frequently by our Lord in prefacing particularly solemn or vital claims promises or spiritual realities when he would make his claim to be Jehovah in John five twenty four we have the double amen I say unto you amen I say to you before Abraham was I am when he would give a promise as we have it in Matthew twenty one twenty one verily I say unto you and then he gives that wonderful promise I have the double amen amen amen I say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that

24:50 sent me has passed from death unto life when he would speak of the great realities of the new birth in John three twice he gives the double amen John three three times the new birth in John three times the double amen I say he would give a promise as we would give the double amen amen he would give the double amen amen I say unto you the weight of His Word with His own added signature by the Amen. Now we say, why does the Lord need to reinforce His words? That's like trying to reinforce Mount Everest. It stands on its own.

25:54 Yet He does that for emphasis. The second major usage in the New Testament, it enters in at the end of eulogies and benedictions, this word Amen. For instance, Romans chapter 9. In the midst of speaking of the privileges of national Israel, he says in verse 5, Paul, Whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever.

26:31 Amen. You see, it was not just the end of something, and Amen was a convenient way to let people know He was done. He has spoken of Christ as being God over all, blessed forever. And he cannot speak of Christ in His essential Godhead without subscribing with His Amen to the fact that that is no theological notion to him.

26:57 It is the burning religious conviction of his heart and out leaps an Amen from his pen. So be it. I affirm it. I believe it with all my heart and soul.

27:10 You find a similar use in chapter 11, that great expression of praise to God of Him, through Him, verse 36, of Him, through Him, and unto Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. And then he introduces it again. Amen. This matter of ascribing glory to God, Paul says, is again, not just a little bit of liturgical nicety that I've inserted, it is the expression of the deepest religious consciousness that I possess, and so he subscribes with his own Amen.

27:53 Now you find the same with benedictions in Galatians 6.18, in Philemon 25, where Paul expresses the wish for blessing and grace upon the people of God, and then he adds the Amen used by our Lord to underscore the solemnity of His words, used by the New Testament writers in eulogies and benedictions. Thirdly, it's used to demonstrate the trustworthiness of all the promises of God in Christ. You have that unique statement in 2 Corinthians 1.

28:34 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Remember now, all we're trying to do is get a feel for the meaning and significance of this word Amen. 2 Corinthians 1.20 Now commentators differ on the precise meaning of this text, but there's enough agreement, and I concur in that consent.

29:12 Take all the promises, the promises that God has made to sinners. Take them all. How many so ever be the promises of God? What is true of them?

29:26 In Christ is God's yes. In other words, because of what Christ is and what Christ has done as the mediator of the new covenant, every single promise made to believe in sinners is an unqualified yes. Yes. Can all my sins be pardoned in him who is the mediator of the new covenant?

29:55 Every promise about removing our sins as far as the east is from the west, burying them in the depths of the sea, every promise comes to us from God in Christ with God's yes stamped upon it. Now when we embrace that promise in faith, Amen. And embrace the promise as it comes to us. How?

30:23 In the mediator. The promises come enfolded, as it were, in the robes of our glorious mediator. And we embrace him. And embracing him, every promise from God to upward in Christ is yes.

30:40 And what happens when we embrace it? We give back to God the amen saying, So be it. Even with this, you poor sinner. Do you come to me in the promises of your son saying, All my sins are pardoned.

30:57 There is a perfect righteousness. There is the promise of my keeping grace. There is the pledge I will take you home at last. State the glory.

31:07 Give you a new body. Are these my promises to you in Christ? Every one of which is yes. Well then, when a believer embraces Christ and the promises in him, that whole embrace and response is described in this passage in one word.

31:25 Amen.

31:27 Amen. We are saying, So be it, God. Christ is the Savior. Perfectly suited to my needs.

31:36 And all the provisions of the gospel in him, I do embrace with all my heart. So the promises come from God in Christ with yes, stamped upon, and our response in faith to Christ in the promises is our amen.

32:00 And then the fourth usage in the New Testament, it actually is elevated to a personal title of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. In the book of the Revelation, where we would expect to find it, at the consummation of God's revelation of his mind and will, all the revelations, the richness of the amen, gathering, as it were, significance through the Old Testament, increasing in richness through the New. Now it reaches its pinnacle. And here in Revelation 3 and verse 14, we are told this, unto the angel or the messenger of the church in Laodicea write, These things saith the amen. And here, the word amen is transposed into a personal title of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

33:02 He is the amen. He is the affirmation of God's will to sinful man. He is the confirmation of all the promises. He is the proof for so he claimed to be.

33:20 Now from this priesthood service, what can we conclude about the meaning and significance of the word amen, or if you prefer, amen? Well, certainly we conclude that it is not just a convenient verbal signal to let people know that we're done with our prayer.

33:43 Many of us, no doubt, have simply regarded the amen as a convenient, traditional verbal signal to let people know, I'm done praying, now you can start. Or it's time to lift our heads up and get on with the next element of our worship. No, no. Certainly the amen is not that.

34:04 Nor is it just a traditional way for formal churches to end a hymn by singing a honorous amen at the end.

34:16 Nor is it the invention of old-time Methodists who desire to be a little bit noisy and form an amen corner. And certainly it is not something, believed by modern charismatics, to shake up the state and stiff religious society. It is a word introduced by God himself into the language of the people of God to indicate affirmation, confirmation, hearty assent, shared desire, perhaps the best way to express it. What the so be it of the heart is, the amen.

The Biblical Pattern: Amen as Assent to God's Word

34:57 The amen upon the lips becomes. Now that's the basic significance and meaning of the word. Now very briefly and finally for this morning, what is the biblical pattern for the use of the amen in the worship of God? Do we find in the scriptures a pattern emerging by which we can ascertain how we are to use the amen in the worship of God?

35:26 Now it has been observed from this pulpit in the past, that all of the specific activity of specific worship, now by that we mean the worship we engage in at a specific time and place. All of life is worship for an intelligent Christian. I'm fully aware of that.

35:46 And there's usually someone in a congregation who comes to me and informs me of that fact whenever I preach on specific worship. I know the difference between specific worship and generic worship. But now we are dealing with specific worship. And it has been observed from this pulpit that all of the acts of specific worship can be reduced basically to two fundamental categories.

36:12 Those activities in which God himself approaches us in the assembly of his people. And those activities in which we approach God in the assembly of his people. God comes to us in his pledged presence, in his proclaimed word. We come to God in the confession of our sin and need, in the inscription of honor and praise and adoration to him with our petitions and prayers.

36:49 Everything in specific worship can be reduced to those two basic categories. God comes to us. We come to him. In the language of James, there is the drawing line to God, there is God's drawing line to us.

37:05 Now keeping that in mind, you will see the genius,

37:10 the genius, may I say it reference, the genius of God's mind in introducing the amen into the worship of his people. For what the amen becomes is our verbal signature upon every approach of God to us in worship. And, and upon every approach of our own hearts to God in worship. So when we turn to the scriptures, what do we find?

37:45 We find, first of all, that the biblical pattern is one in which the amen was used as the expression of whole soul assent to the declaration of the word of God. When the word of God was declared, the amen was God's word. When the word of God was declared, the amen was God's word. When the word of God was declared, the amen was God's word.

38:07 When the word of God was declared, the amen was God's prescribed way of acknowledging assent to that word. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 27 for the classic illustration of this. Deuteronomy chapter 27.

38:31 Here we have the record of God's directions through Moses that the people of God should stand upon two mountains and that from those mountains the blessings and the comforts of God and the cursings of the law should be pronounced. Now when those blessings and cursings are read and pronounced, what are the people of God directed to do? Verse 15. Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsmen, and setteth it up in secret.

39:14 And all the people shall, and all the people shall, and all the people shall, and all the people shall, answer and not think or feel, but the people shall answer and say, Amen.

39:31 And right on through with all the curses of the law and right on through with all the blessings of the law of the covenant, the people of God were to make an expression of whole soul assent that, that was verbal. God was not content to read their hearts. The people shall say, Amen. Both to the curses and the blessings.

40:04 Turn to the book of Nehemiah for another example of this significant use. Nehemiah chapter five. After Kings and Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, you're in Esther, you've gone too far. Nehemiah, chapter five.

40:34 And here Nehemiah stands to bring the word of God to the people, a word of rebuke. He was an angry preacher, verse six. And I was angry when I heard their cry and these words. And I consulted with myself and contended with the nobles and the rulers.

40:53 And then he does some applicatory preaching. He takes the general directions of the law and he preaches the word of God to these people, exposing their spirit, exposing their sins. Now verse thirteen. Also I took out my lap and said, So God shake out every man from his house and from his labor that performeth not this promise.

41:15 Even thus be he shaken out and emptied. And all the assembly said, Amen. And praised Jehovah. And the people did according to this promise.

41:32 When Nehemiah has spoken the word of God, and concluded that word even with a curse upon those who will not obey it, that which was in the hearts of God's people worked its way up over the vocal cords and the larynx, and onto the tongue and the lips in a hearty assent that Nehemiah could hear. It was their affirmation that they consented to the word of the living God. Now you find in the New Testament, the incident to which we referred in 1 Corinthians, and in the book of the Revelation, you find John under the inspiration of the Spirit, in the Spirit on the Lord's day. And God's word comes to him, verse seven, Behold, he cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see him. And they that pierced him in all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him. And no sooner does that word come to him than John cannot withhold his assent.

42:41 Even so, Amen, so be it. O Lord, if it is your promise that he will come, and every eye shall see him, with all my heart I consent that that is my desire, and my consent finds expression in the Amen. In fact, it's on that very note that the book of the Revelation closes, in chapter 22 and verse 20, He who testifieth these things saith, Yea, I come quickly. John's response is, Amen.

43:22 Come, Lord Jesus. Is God's word to you, John, that he is coming? John says, Yes. And I subscribe to that word with all my heart, and with all my soul.

43:38 Now, brethren, sisters, in our corporate worship, God continues to come to us in his word. What is your response to that word to be? Well, inwardly gets to be the response of the whole-souled activity of faith and obedience. Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me.

44:02 You are to embrace God's approaches in his word. You are to embrace them in faith and obedience. But that's not enough. You are outwardly to express your accent to that word by your Amen, subscribing to the word by the Amen of your lips.

44:24 So be it. Be it confirmed even in my heart and in my life. You see, there's a sense in which a sinner gets saved the first time he really says Amen to the gospel. That's when he gets saved.

44:43 God keeps coming to sinners as he does in this place in the gospel, saying, Though you've broken my law, though I have a controversy with you, though I could justly condemn and destroy you, I've sent my Son to die for sin. My Son has died. I've raised him from the dead. I've seated him in my right hand, and all my promises of forgiveness and mercy, are yet in him.

45:08 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and as long as you will not subscribe to that gracious overture, you remain in your sins. In a real sense, a sinner gets saved the first time he says Amen to the gospel from us. He says, O God, Amen to all the yea that is in Christ. I take to myself the Savior, and the author itself, and the salvation.

The Biblical Pattern: Amen as Assent to Corporate Prayer and Praise

45:40 And you see, dear child of God, the God who initially approaches us in the word of the gospel, and the response of repentance and faith is summarized in the Amen. That God continues to come to us, and there ought to be the response of our Amen to God. Now I know there are problems. You say, but when should I say Amen?

46:03 When would I be distracting the people? We'll take up the practical problems next week. Lay out the principle this morning, that as God comes to you in His word, what is your response to that word? Well, you say, well, my heart says, Toby!

46:19 God says, let your lips say it in the way I have appointed you, which is the Amen in the public worship of God. And then, of course, secondly and finally, what about our approaches to God? In praise, in prayer, in confession. Well, we see a pattern in the Scriptures that the Amen was used as the expression of whole-souled assent to the prayers and praises offered to God.

46:47 God's people are commanded to pray and to praise Him in company with others. But what of those who are not leading in that prayer and praise? How are they to show that when the appointed leaders have praised God, their hearts have gone with them in the expressions of that praise? Well, look at the pattern in 1 Chronicles 16.

47:11 Here is the pattern of the Amen in connection now not with God coming in His word to His people, but His people coming with their praise to Him. We read in 1 Chronicles chapter 16, verse 7, Then on that day did David first ordain to give thanks to the Lord by the hand of Asaph and his brethren. These special, instruments, or these special, not instruments, but we should call them these specially appointed servants of God, Asaph and his brethren, are to articulate the praises of God on behalf of the people of God. And then the substance of their praise is given in verses 8 through 36. But now what about the people in whose presence that praise is rendered to God? What are they doing all this time? Well, let's read verse 36.

48:12 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. And all the people said, Amen, and praised the Lord. You see what happened? As they heard the sons of Asaph rendering praise as the duly appointed ones to render that praise, they indicated that their hearts were holy with them by their verbal Amen at the conclusion of their praise.

48:48 And we have this same pattern indicated in such psalms as Psalm 41, verse 13, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting. Now what do we say to that? Amen and Amen. And then we find that pattern carried right on into the New Testament, our text again.

49:14 How shall he that is occupying the place of the unlearned say the Amen at the giving of thy thanks, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest? The indication is, if he knew what you were saying, he would say his Amen. And then we turn to the book of the Revelation where we have the most beautiful description of the Amen in its function with respect to the Gospel. Revelation 5, 13 and 14 And every created thing which is in the heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things that are in them heard I saying unto him that sitteth on the throne and unto the Lamb, be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. They couldn't hear that kind of praise and be silent as the whole created order renders its praise to God. These four living creatures affirm that all that is expressed is indeed the expression of their own praise.

50:31 Now brethren and sisters, when we are led in prayer and praise, we are not mere spectators or listeners, but we are participants. Now how do we participate? Well, we participate inwardly by the concentration of all of our mental and spiritual faculties. When someone is leading us in prayer and is confessing sin, we enter in and do before God confess our sins in the language of the One who is leading us in confession.

51:01 When there is petition and someone is leading us in praying specifically for this one and that one, we enter in our heart, consent to all that is uttered. But brethren, is our work done when we've entered in inwardly? No. It is God's will that we should then outwardly and verbally express the disposition of the heart so that when the One who leads us in prayer adds His own Amen to what He has uttered, saying, Lord, so be it.

51:35 I've not played games. I've not been drawing nigh with my lips only. Lord, I have consciously and intelligently and with all my heart and soul expressed these desires. So be it!

51:48 I tell you, one of the most heart-discouraging things is to pray that you may be helped in prayer in public worship, to think through one's prayers as I seek to do and other brethren do, to give thought to the emphases of the prayers so that there is variety and there isn't the same thing week after week, and to feel some measure of help in being drawn out in prayer, and then to have a deathly silence when it's all over, wondering, well, was I just praying in the presence of 400 people? Were their hearts with me? Did they really lay hold of God with me? Oh, and there's the Amen! There's that sense of thankfulness that with one heart and soul we were enabled to lay hold of God. So I appeal to you Christians not to look to your past experience, to your native temperament, to your cultural inclination, but to the Word of God.

Call to Obedience: Overcoming Reservations

53:03 Are you determined to be subject to the Word of God in every area of your life? If so, then you see you have an obligation with respect to the Amen in the public worship of God. But you say, Pastor, that's not in my background. Well, neither was it for many of you to pray.

53:23 But I hope you pray now. And some of you stealing, cursing was in your background. You left that. Well, God can give you grace to leave whatever reservations, whatever psychological and emotional hang-ups are there to keep you from expressing to God in the way of His appointment, your verbal signature to all that He says when He comes to you in His Word, and all that is brought to Him in the congregation of His people.

54:01 I trust at least this much has been accomplished this morning, that you have a feel for the meaning of the word Amen, that you are convinced that the usage of the Amen in the worship of God has its roots in the Old Testament, and it's carried right on through into the New Testament, and appears as though it will be carried on into the world to come, and that it is our duty, if we are worshiping God in spirit and according to truth, to exercise a judicious use of the Amen in the public worship of God. Next week, God willing, I want to take up the matters of the passage and the pastoral implications of this teaching, so that the practice is not abused, so that the sensitive conscience is not overly burdened. But this morning, I've had one goal in mind to make you aware that the Amen, if it is materially absent from our worship, is an absence that ought no longer to mark our public worship. May God grant, that if nothing else has been accomplished, that has been accomplished. And God willing, next week, if the Lord spares us

Conclusion and Prayer

55:28 and brings us together, we'll consider the practical directions for the proper use of the Amen in the public worship of God. Let us pray. Our Father, how we thank you that all of your promises in Christ to us are yes. And we desire to confess this morning with our Amen that we do embrace and believe the promises that are in Him.

56:03 Forgive our sinful silence. Forgive, O Lord, our sin of not rendering to you that appointed means of public affirmation of our confidence in all that you have said and our hearty consent to those sentiments that we have expressed in prayer and prayer. We pray that you will teach us, help us to know how to incorporate these broad principles into the specifics of our own worship. Lord, keep the enemy from gaining advantage in any overly sensitive conscience.

56:47 Keep him from gaining advantage in anyone who has a tendency to self-assertiveness and to ostentation, who would use even the occasion of this sacred privilege to attract attention to himself. Lord, we would have you and you alone be glorious in our eyes when we gather to worship. With all our hearts we want to render to you the worship which is your doing. To this end we pray, seal the word in each of our hearts.

57:20 We pray for those who have never yet said that initial Amen to the Gospel. O God, use even the study, this morning, to smite them with the wickedness of their unbelief. And may they come in that Amen of repentance and faith and embrace the Savior. Thank you for your word.

57:42 Be pleased to give us understanding in it and grace to obey it. We plead through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.