Discussion on the Regulative Principle

Introduction to Pre-Membership Class and Q&A

0:02 The following discussion was held in the adult Sunday school class of the Trinity Baptist Church on July 12, 1992.

0:14 Now this morning, this is the 14th pre-membership class.

0:21 This is a question and answer session.

0:25 Now opportunity was given, I understand, to write out any questions that people had with reference to the pre-membership class. And if there have been written questions somewhere in the pastor's office, I went looking for them this morning and was not able to find them if they're there. So if you wrote out a question and it got lost, please accept our apology. You may have to just give the question here this morning.

0:54 So let us pray, and then I'll give a brief word of review of what we've seen and heard. I don't have any written questions, but if there are any questions that any of you have, and perhaps after we've had the review this morning, it will jog your mind. And then if you don't have any questions for me to answer, I have prepared a little bit of material on some other subject, which I think is related to it, that I trust may be helpful to us this morning. So let's pray and ask for God's help and guidance upon this pre-membership class.

1:27 Our Father, as we enter your presence this morning, in the contemplation of worshipping you in this place in another Lord's Day, how we thank you for the privilege that is ours of drawing near to you, your word, to sing your praise to hear your word preached and proclaimed. We do pray our God that from the beginning to the end of this day there may be the sense of your presence upon us and of your smile upon us as your people that you would draw near and bless with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of worship and prayer and song and praise and that you would be glorified today and make your praise glorious. We thank you for the good report that we have heard from the Philippines. Thank you for bringing Bart and Karen safely there and for the warm reception which they received from the people for helping them, Lord, to acclimate to the climate, to the cultural changes. We pray you would continue to be with them and bless them and strengthen them. We pray, Father, that as Bart gives his testimony in the Sunday school class that you would be pleased, O God, to watch over him in that respect and to grant that as he tells of the things that are upon his heart that his entering in there would be mightily blessed of you, that you would knit his heart to the heart of the people and theirs to him and that it would be truly a good beginning throughout this day. So we give you thanks

2:57 for your blessing upon them. And then, Father, we also pray for your help and guidance to be given to us this morning as we think back over the things we've learned and studied in this pre-membership class. We're praying that you would guide us, guide the people if there are concerns upon their hearts, that they may be able to articulate them clearly. Guide me as I seek to answer them from the word that it might not speak my own mind or feelings or thoughts or might not in anything lead your people astray, but rather that all that is spoken this morning might glorify you, that all that is spoken this morning might be from the scriptures, that everything might magnify and glorify the name of Jesus and that it might be according to the truth of your word.

3:42 We ask all these things in his most holy name. Amen.

Review of Previous Pre-Membership Lessons

3:54 Now, in the 13 weeks of our pre- membership class, we have considered all of those various issues which are important for someone to face, to come to grips with, if they are with good conscience, intelligently, to make a commitment to join Trinity Baptist Church. The first three weeks, we considered the subject of conversion, of true conversion, the instrument of true conversion, the gospel of God, that it is a message about God and man and sin and Christ and a call to repentance and faith. We considered then the nature of true conversion, that the nature of conversion is embracing the gospel. It is being regenerated by God, then exercising repentance. and faith, then having your record cleared when the righteousness of Jesus is given to you as a gift, and then having the Holy Spirit of God given to you as a gift so that you live your life in the special presence of God. Then we looked at the evidence of true conversion, that the evidence of true conversion was a holy life, a life lived in obedience to the word of God by the power and grace of the Spirit of God. And then

5:20 in the fourth week, we considered Christian baptism,

5:24 the significance of baptism, the subjects of baptism, the mode of baptism by immersion in water, the significance of baptism, that it is a declaratory and a symbolic ordinance. It symbolizes that the party baptized has been saved, has been united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And also its significance is declarative in that in the ordinance of baptism, the party baptized openly and publicly declares his or her personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we saw that therefore the only ones who should be the subjects of Christian baptism are those who have been savingly united to Jesus and those who are able to make it public and creditable confession of that faith. Then, in the next five weeks, we considered the doctrinal distinctives of our church. If someone is to join Trinity, then someone must hold the doctrinal distinctives of our congregation. There must be a unity with reference to truth.

6:43 And we considered the five. First, that we are committed to orthodox Christianity. Second, to covenant theology. Third, to a Calvinistic or reformed doctrine of salvation. Fourth, to a Puritan view of devotion and the Christian life. And fifth, to a polity of church government which is marked by rule by elder and the independence of the local church and a baptistic church polity. We considered that those are the five doctrinal distinctives of our congregation as set forth in the 1689 London Confession of Faith. And then, finally, in the last four weeks,

7:35 in Lessons 10 through 13, we considered the terms of membership in Trinity Church because if someone is going to join Trinity Church, then they need to know what the terms of membership are. And they need to be committed to keeping those terms of membership. First, we considered the responsibilities of membership in three weeks. We looked at the priority of the church, that there's a commitment to be present at the meetings of the church and a commitment to support the church financially. We looked at the responsibility of members to promote the purity of the church by personal and domestic holiness. And we looked at the responsibility of members to pursue the unity of the church through submission to the leadership of the church. And through pursuit of peace with those who are the members of the church. And then in the final lesson, the 13th week, we considered the privileges and liabilities of membership. The special

8:39 and general privileges which pertain to all those who have made the commitment of membership and also the liabilities. The liability to greater judgment and the liability to church discipline which pertain to all of those who come into the membership of the church. Now that's where we have been in the last 13 weeks. We've considered conversion, baptism, the doctrinal distinctives of the church, and the terms of membership.

Defining the Regulative Principle of Worship

9:12 Now are there any questions respecting any of those things which any of you would like to have answered this morning?

9:25 Yes, Jerry.

9:33 Okay, the question is, would you explain the term regulative principle, where it came from, and what it refers to?

9:45 Well, Jerry, somebody's going to think I planted you as a mole in the congregation this morning because I just happened to bring some notes on the regulative principle with me. It's one of the things that I might speak about if no one asked questions. But I didn't do that, did I, Jerry? You asked that completely on your own, didn't you?

10:01 Very good.

10:05 Alright, now, though I did bring the notes, I'm not quite sure where to begin. But perhaps the best thing to do is to start by turning to the hymn book.

10:19 Let me find the proper page for you.

10:23 The question is concerning the regulative principle. What is the regulative principle? Where does it come from?

10:38 Page 683 in the back of the hymn book.

10:51 We stand confessionally committed to the regulative principle of worship.

10:57 It is chapter 21 in the Westminster Confession, which is in the back of the hymn book. In our confession, it's chapter 22.

11:07 Because there's an extra chapter in our confession of faith, which was not found in the Westminster Confession, which is chapter 20. And so what is chapter 20 in their confession, the Westminster is chapter 21 in ours, and what is 21 in the Westminster is 22 in ours. Forgive me for that little bit of confusion. But the reason I'm turning you to the back of the hymn book is because the statement in the Westminster Confession on the regulative principle is exactly the same as the statement in our own confession of faith, even though it's found in a different chapter.

11:45 It's exactly the same statement and commitment. And since we don't all have copies of the 1689 Confession with us, I thought it appropriate that we just read the Westminster Confession. Now, on page 683, under the chapter heading, which, again, I say, is chapter 21 before you, it's chapter 22 in the London, of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day, in paragraph 1 of the Confession of Faith, the writers underscore the regulative principle of worship.

12:20 Now let me read, then, paragraph 1. The light of nature showeth that there is a God who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is good and doth good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshiped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture. The regulative principle has to do with worship. As far as the origin, Jerry, of the name the regulative principle, I am not sure exactly when it was first used, or who first used it. I know that as far back as the 1800s

13:49 it was used, because in the book that I used for the Doctrine of the Church course, it's already in use then, and that's over 150 years ago. Exactly where it originated, I don't know. But the commitment to the regulative principle of worship goes back as far as the Reformation, and it is embodied in our confession of faith. Now, would you like me to enlarge upon that further? Have I answered your question, or do you still wish to consider more about it, Jerry? Okay. And what is the principle that regulates our worship? Okay, and what's the Biblical basis for that?

Articulating the Regulative Principle: Only What is Required is Acceptable

15:02 And I should, wait a minute, Jerry, I apologize. I've been rightly chided before for not doing this. What he just said, for the sake of those listening to this tape, he just said, because you probably, people on the tape cannot hear this, what he just said is that, what did you say, Jerry? What he just said was that the principle that regulates our worship is that we must worship God according to what the Bible says and not what we want to do. Right.

15:39 Then I said to him, where's the Biblical basis for that? Alright, that'll do. Let me help you out with the chapter and verse. That's fair enough, Jerry.

16:03 If you have the verse in your head, then it's only fair that we should help you with the chapter and verse. Chapter 4. Two headings.

16:50 First of all, definition of the regulative principle of worship. What is it? Jerry basically articulated it when he said it is that we must worship God according to the Bible. And then the Biblical basis.

17:03 He pointed to one of the main texts that shows us the Biblical basis for the regulative principle. Now before I get to that text, John 4, 24, and there's another text in the Old Testament that I also want to consider with you. Yes, Henry. Well, Henry, you just guessed it.

17:36 That was the text in the Old Testament that I was going to make mention of. Deuteronomy 12, 32. And also the illustrations of the regulative principle from the Old Testament in Leviticus chapter 10 and verse 1. You picked the first one I was going to use.

17:50 So that's very good. Apparently I didn't need the notes. But it is encouraging, though. Because what you're basically doing is you're going, you don't know it, but you're going through the exact outline of the notes that I have. Right in order.

18:05 It's almost unbelievable. Alright, let me start then by enlarging upon the definition of the regulative principle. And we have the Biblical basis. John 4, 24.

18:19 Deuteronomy 12, 32. Leviticus 10, 1 and following. And I'm going to see if you can grab the other illustrations, too. I bet you can do it.

18:28 But let me give you the definition. The definition of the regulative principle is this. Positively, God is to be worshipped only according to His revealed will. Negatively, man is not free to worship God according to his own imagination and devices, or by methods and in the manner of his own choosing and will. To put it differently, the principle that regulates our worship is not whatever is not forbidden in the Bible is acceptable. That's not the principle. But the principle that regulates our worship is only what is required is acceptable. You see the difference between those two approaches to worship?

Biblical Basis: John 4:24 and the Samaritan Woman

19:19 The one approach to worship says we can do anything we want as long as the Bible doesn't forbid it. That's not right. The regulative principle is we are only permitted to do what the Bible commands. It is to that principle, called the regulative principle, that we stand confessionally committed. You see, the definition of it, is it clear in your minds? Anybody that's not clear yet? I'll understand. Okay, let's look then at the biblical basis of it. John chapter 4, John chapter 4, John 4 and verse 24. Now in the context of this statement, the Lord Jesus has been conversing with the woman of Samaria. And he has just informed her about her life. When he told her about the living water of gospel blessing, and told

20:44 her, go call your husband and come, the woman said, I don't have a husband. He said, that's right, you don't. You had five husbands and the man you're living with now is not your husband. This you said truly, I don't have a husband.

20:58 Then she said to him, sir, I perceive you're a prophet. In other words, he had just told her as she says to the people of Samaria, all the things that ever she did. He had just exposed the truth of her life openly. And let her know that he was a man who could discern the thought and intents of the heart because he was more than a man.

21:21 Was God incarnate. She perceived that he was a man of God. And it's interesting. She doesn't talk about her marriage.

21:32 The first words out of her mouth that are recorded have nothing to do with her marriages, have nothing to do with defending herself, has nothing to do with talking about living with this man, or has nothing to do with anything else except the debate about worship that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans. She addresses the subject of worshipping God. This was the big religious issue of debate between the Jews and the Samaritans. And this debate had started way back in the days of Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

22:10 You remember way back to the days of the kings of Israel? Back to Rehoboam and Jeroboam you remember what happened? Jeroboam was set up as king over Israel and he was concerned. He had a pragmatic carnal political concern. And his pragmatic carnal political concern was that if the people of God were allowed to go up to Jerusalem to worship it would have horrible political ramifications for him. The result would be that when the Israelites made their journey up to Jerusalem and worshipped at the set feast in the temple that their hearts would be turned back to the son of David and the son of Solomon and they would destroy Jeroboam and destroy his kingdom and his rule and they would reestablish Rehoboam and his children as the king of Israel.

23:12 So Jeroboam figured he has problems with the worship of God for pragmatic and political purposes. And therefore do you know what he did? Do you remember what he did? He established an entirely different religious system. He set up an altar. He made calves. He ordained priests that were not from the tribe of Levi. He set a feast. He ordained a feast out of his own heart. Which God had not required and it was intended to compete with the feast that was at Jerusalem. And the people of Israel followed, many of them followed the leadership of King Jeroboam and he led them astray from the pure worship of God and this thing the scripture says became a sin to the people and they lived in that sin for centuries and that sin respecting the worship of God became the reason that God eventually drove them from the land and brought them

24:31 under the Assyrian captivity. Now the woman raises this issue. She says if we're going to talk about religion let's get down to the issue of the day. It's the worship of God and the controversy that exists between the Samaritans and the Jews. Now you say now Pastor Nichols this is all far afield from the regulative principle. No it's not far afield from the regulative principle at all. It's right on the target of the regulative principle. Why do you say that? Well listen to what Jesus said to them.

25:11 Talks about where people ought to worship. Verse 20. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. Now you know what she's referring to.

25:21 And she says ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. That's the issue of the day. Our fathers worshipped here in this mountain and ye that is you Jews. Ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

25:44 Well where did the Jews get that idea? They got that idea from the Bible. From the word of God which said that in the temple the place of God's appointment they were to gather in the place where he would be specially present and there they were to come for the set feast and the worship of God. And they were only to have those priests that were ordained of God and they were only to have those sacrifices that were ordained of God and only those feasts ordained of God and only in that place ordained of God. That was it.

26:20 So she was debating the regulative principle with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now did the Lord Jesus Christ hold to the regulative principle of worship? Let us see what he said. Jesus says to her woman believe me the hour comes when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father.

26:51 He said something is going to change woman. We are on the verge of a great transformation in the history of the people of God. We are on the verge of something truly significant. A change from the rituals and from the worship and a whole system of the old governor to the worship and the system of the new governor. Woman something is going to radically change. And the issue is no longer going to be whether the place of worship should be in this mountain in Samaria or whether the place of worship should be at Mount Zion in Jerusalem in the land of Israel. But the people of God are about to undergo the greatest change in their history. And that change is going to have a profound effect upon the worship of God's people. A

27:53 change which will last throughout their history forever. See what he says to her. Nothing is going to change. Then he goes on to say as far as this issue of the regulative principle is concerned verse 22 you worship that which you know not.

28:18 We worship that which we know for salvation is from the Jews. What you are doing you are doing in ignorance. We are based upon knowledge that comes from God. We are not worshipping ignorantly.

28:37 We are worshipping according to the knowledge that we have received from the light of the word of God. And what you are doing you are doing in ignorance. An ignorance of the will of God. An ignorance of the word of God.

28:53 But he says verse 23 the hour comes and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth for such does the father seek to be his worshippers. God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit. And in the articulation of this principle that because God is a spirit he must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. What the Lord Jesus is saying is he is cutting across the grain both of the error of the Jews and of the error of the Samaritans and he says that in this new order which is to come God is going to deal with the error and the errors of the Samaritan pragmatism and he is going to have true worshippers. And what is the spirit? It is worship in spirit and worship in truth. And when he calls for worship in spirit he is cutting across all the Jewish formalism and hypocrisy.

30:13 This people draws near me with their lips. When we come to worship

31:24 God we must come to what was wrong with the Jews. The Lord said I am weary of the multitude of your sacrifices. They are not given to me. Your heart is not attached to worshipping me in spirit. The heart that loves me that is devoted to me that is to me and that is what was wrong with the Jews. But their hearts are far from me. The Lord is about to change. There is a wonderful radical change in the life of the people of God.

32:41 From the least brethren we have the great privilege of living in the era of new covenant worship. When the people of God are designed to come to God and worship him in spirit. And the whole nature of the church, the whole identity of the church, the whole life of the church is such that we are a company of worshippers who worship him in spirit. That is who we are and that is what we are designed to be.

33:18 Now therefore brethren that is our glorious identity. And can you see how careful then we ought to be. If that is who we are and who God has constituted us to be. That when we come in here we come in here with our hearts.

33:32 We come with our souls. And we don't fall back through our own ungodliness or carnality to that which was characteristic of God's people under the old covenant. That the Jews were going through the right motions in the right place at the right time and the right sacrifices and the right priest but with the wrong spirit. The father seeks true worshippers to worship him in spirit. But then he gets to the Samaritan issue. And the Samaritan issue is this. The father not only seeks those to worship him in spirit but to worship him in truth. And in that statement he cuts across the grain of the air of the Samaritans.

34:14 They weren't worshipping him according to his word. They weren't worshipping him in truth. But they were worshipping him according to their own man made imaginations and schemes and devices. Devices other of God.

34:35 They were devised for pragmatic and political and amazing purposes. And God does not want worship that is devised for pragmatic or political or man pleasing purposes of any kind. But he wants worship that is in truth. Worship that is according to the word of God.

34:56 What he requires is nothing more and nothing less. He wants worship in spirit from the heart. What the Jews were bringing was not acceptable. And he wants worship in truth according to his word. What the Samaritans were bringing was not acceptable. Acceptable worship is worship in spirit and in truth. Not in spirit or in truth but in spirit and in truth. According to the word of God and from the heart.

35:35 And that is acceptable worship. That is the worship he wants from us. From the heart and according to the word. By the Bible from the heart.

35:46 From a heart that loves him and is devoted to him. So you are right Jerry. That text articulates the regulative principle of worship. It gives us the regulative principle of worship under the new covenant. That there is a two-fold rule. What he expects from us is according to his word worship. And what he expects from us is from the heart worship. That is acceptable worship.

Biblical Basis: Deuteronomy 12:32 and the Prohibition Against Adding or Subtracting

36:19 Now it is not just from any heart that it is acceptable. But it is from a heart that is right with him that it is acceptable. Now then let me come to the principle, not the principle, the passage in the Old Testament that was mentioned. Turn with me please to Deuteronomy chapter 12 verse 32.

36:43 Deuteronomy chapter 12. And verse 32. Now this, the regulative principle explicitly is articulated in verse 32. But in order to catch the context I would like to go back and read beginning in verse 29.

37:14 When Jehovah thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest in to dispossess them, and thou dispossesses them and dwellest in their land, take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared to follow them after that they are destroyed from before thee. And that thou inquire not after their gods, saying how do these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto Jehovah thy God. For every abomination to Jehovah which he hateth have they done to their gods. For even their sons and their daughters did they burn in the fire to their gods. He says now this is not to be what regulates your worship.

38:17 It's not to be that the people of God are to have an ear to the world.

39:04 Which ought to regulate their worship? Absolutely utterly not. That is what they are to do. Well then what is supposed to regulate their worship? If it isn't supposed to be have your ear to the world and see what it's in and see what's popular and do what everybody else is doing, then what are you supposed to do? Verse 32 What shall we worship God as his people? How shall we then worship God?

40:04 What serve to do? Are we at liberty to add to it? No. Thou shalt not add. Are we at liberty to subtract? You do sins. You do everything God requires. You omit nothing.

40:30 It is very what? And your ears popular things worship services. You just do what God says and you don't add and you don't subtract. Simple isn't it?

Sobering Illustrations: Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10)

41:06 Doesn't mean it's easy but it's simple. It's very simple. The regulative principle of worship. Listed here three illustrations.

41:24 What I have called three sobering illustrations of the regulative principle. The first one Henry has already mentioned. Leviticus chapter 10. Leviticus chapter 10 beginning in verse 1. And Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron each of them his censer and since thereon which he had not imaginative in worship. They were going to use their powers of imagination and they were going to be creative. That's an inward today isn't it? Everybody's got to be creative.

42:22 Well these people were going to be creative in the worship of God. They were going to be imaginative. They were going to come up with some fancy new dangled thing that had not been required and commanded. And they said let's try this. This is new.

42:38 This will be neat. And they offered before the Lord which he had not commanded them. And there came forth from before the Lord and devoured them and they died before Jehovah. So what did the Lord think of their creativity?

43:02 And their imagination? And their inventions? Didn't think much of it. He condemned it.

43:11 He condemned it with a very sobering and compelling illustration of the regulative principle. That God even though men may not take it very seriously. God Almighty takes his worship seriously. God means it. When he says do what I say. Don't add to it. Don't subtract from it. He gives us at the very outset of the life and history of the worship of his people a sobering and compelling illustration of just how seriously he takes that concern.

Sobering Illustrations: King Uzziah and Uzzah (1 Chronicles 13, 15)

43:51 Well can you think of other illustrations of the regulative principle in the Old Testament? Yes David. Oh yes. Oh wait a minute.

44:06 Okay. Because I don't have that one listed. Do you have another one? You're saying that there in this phrase, this general phrase, did what is right in his own eyes. There's some irregularities associated with the worship implied in that. Clearly the case of King Uzziah where he went in to burn incense and it was only required of the sons of Levi to burn incense and he was forbidden to do it and God stepped in and even the king wasn't allowed to violate this principle and his hand became leprous. You recall that incident? That's good.

45:09 Any other? I didn't have that written down. Yes Norman. Yes. Yes. That's listed.

45:23 Let's look at that one. 1 Chronicles chapter 13. 1 Chronicles chapter 13. And this is an important illustration because it shows that God takes this seriously even if people don't do it deliberately and maliciously.

45:42 Now the problem was not that David was not worshiping God in spirit. There was no problem there. In 1 Chronicles 13 and verse 8 and they carried verse 7 they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab and Uzziah and Ahio drove the cart and David and all Israel played before God with all their might even with songs and harps and psalteries and timbrels with cymbals and trumpets. Oh they were in spirit of worship.

46:16 Certainly wasn't any half-hearted business going on here. Their hearts weren't far from God. But with all his might his soul was engaged in the worship of God. But what was wrong with it?

46:30 Notice God put a damper upon all their celebration and joy because there was something wrong with it. Even though they weren't doing it out of malice. But there was something wrong that God took seriously. Notice. And when they came to the threshing floor of Kedon Uzziah put forth his hand to hold the ark for the oxen stumbled. Well I mean here's the oxen going to fall down and he says I better hold the ark and make it safe it doesn't get hurt. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzziah and he smote him because he put forth his hand to the ark and there he died before God. And David was displeased because Jehovah had broken forth upon Uzziah and he called that place the breach of Uzziah to this day.

47:20 And David was afraid of God that day saying how shall I bring the ark of God home to me. God engendered his fear to put a damper upon a spirit of sincere but misguided joy. Now what was wrong? What did they do wrong?

47:46 Well in 1 Chronicles chapter 15 we find the answer. Beginning in verse 11. And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests and for the Levites and for Uriel and Esaiah and Joel and Shemaiah and Eliel and Abinadab and said to them you are the heads of the fathers houses of the Levites sanctify yourselves both you and your brethren that you may bring up the ark of the Lord the God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it for because you bear it not at the first Jehovah our God made a breach upon us for that we sought him not according to the ordinance. So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord as the God of Israel and the children of the Levites bear the ark of God upon their shoulders which stays there on as Moses commanded according to the word of Jehovah. You see what the issue was? The issue was

Sobering Illustrations: Jeroboam and Israel's Captivity (1 Kings 12, 2 Kings 17)

49:14 that though they had sought God sincerely and in spirit they had not sought God in truth they had not sought him according to the ordinance they had not sought him they had neglected to follow what was commanded respecting carrying and bearing and for that God smote them because God took this principle that he was to be worshipped and sought according to his word nothing was to be added to it nothing was to be subtracted from it but it was simply to be done God took this principle seriously. The final illustration that I had mentioned in the Old Testament is the case that we've already described the case of Jeroboam and Israel. For those of you taking down notes we don't have time to turn to it our time is gone but in 1st Kings chapter 12 and verse 30 is the story of how Jeroboam instituted the religious system of worship out of his own heart and in 2nd Kings chapter 17 verses 21 and 22 is the story of where God judged Israel it's recorded there that judgment came upon Israel and they were sent into captivity because of this sin was because of this that they were

50:42 led away captive it was their violation over a long period of time of the regulative principle which ultimately was the reason that God judged them and sent them away out of their land so I trust we've seen the definition of the regulative principle the biblical basis for the regulative principle both in the Old Testament and also stated and clearly illustrated soberly illustrated in the Old Testament I meant to say in the New Testament stated and clearly illustrated in the Old Testament now the final question we need to raise then is what does God require of us now we can't get into that this morning but God willing in the providence of God it's something that I purposed at least to mention in preaching this evening so I have opportunity to preach this evening I had purpose to preach on the subject of the priesthood of believers what God requires of us we under the New Testament we are priests and we are required it's very simple there's the priestly ministry under the New Covenant and there's the prophetic ministry under the New Covenant the prophetic ministry is the word of God read expounded preached and applied the priestly ministry is the priesthood of

New Covenant Worship: Priestly and Prophetic Ministries

52:10 believers it's what Pastor Martin's two headings if you get those sermons by Pastor Martin he opens it up what we bring to God what we receive from God you want to hear it in detail that series of sermons on worship I don't know the numbers off the top of my head what we bring to God that's the priestly ministry of the New Covenant what we receive from God that's the prophetic ministry of the New Covenant the word of God read expounded and applied what we bring to God that as a priesthood of believers the spiritual sacrifices which we bring to him that's what he requires of us in our worship very simple and God willing this evening I intend to open up the priesthood of believers the priestly ministry of the New Covenant that is what is required of the people of God under the worship of the New Covenant well believe the Lord has answered our prayer and directed us this morning sorry if there are any other questions that didn't get answered but there was you might come please come to me privately if you have any questions and if the elders think that they're worthy of being addressed publicly perhaps that's possible but if you have any further questions please come to me privately or one of the elders privately about them and let's pray that the Lord's blessing will rest upon our consideration this morning of the regulative principle of worship our Father we thank you we ask you to come and to

53:38 draw near to us this morning we believe that you have thank you for this we're not worthy oh God of your help and blessing and presence but you are worthy of our worship you are infinitely worthy of it Lord and as we prepare to worship you even now this morning we pray that we may come and worship you in spirit and in truth that our hearts might not be far from you but that our hearts might be poured out before your throne in loving believing adoration and worship we pray that everything that we do this morning might be according to your holy word that you might be glorified this morning and this evening that your word might be expounded that your people might be filled with the Holy Spirit to bring you acceptable worship we pray that the studies of this pre membership class may not be in vain but that it may be profitable to all of us to your people beneficial to your church that it may bring honor and glory to the name of Jesus receive our thanks and seal your word to our hearts for we ask it in Jesus name Amen