Descriptions: Spirit and Truth

Introduction: The Call to True Worship

0:00 I would call your attention this morning to two texts of scripture which will form the basis of our meditation this morning and for perhaps the rest of the messages prior to our departing for three weeks. I will be gone three Lord's Days. Mrs. Martin and I, as most of you know, will be privileged to go first of all to Scotland and then down into England for a, theoretically a vacation, but a ministry.

0:32 And we are combining these two as the opportunity has been afforded for this ministry in Scotland at a Bible conference, would be the closest American parallel to it, and then in London at a school of theology for ministers. And in the light of the fact that our attendance is so erratic, I have broken off our regular series of studies in First Thessalonians in the mornings and in Psalm 1 in the evenings, and we shall be considering for these few remaining messages until our departure for these weeks the subject set before us so clearly in these two passages of scripture. The first is found in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John. In this discourse, in this discourse of our Lord with the woman of Samaria,

1:28 our Lord Jesus declares in verse 21 of John 4, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

2:03 For the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And then a text in Philippians chapter 3, Paul's letter to the church at Philippi, chapter 3, and verse 3. Here the Apostle Paul is dealing with these Judaizers who were telling the young Christians at Philippi you're only second-rate Christians until you get circumcised.

2:44 It's all right just to believe in Christ, but if you'd go on and be circumcised and come under the ceremonial law you'd be a little bit better. You'd be real sure-enough Christians then. And so Paul in answering his opponents who are teaching this heresy says in Philippians 3, Philippians 3, and verse 3. For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit or better translated who worship by the Spirit of God, who rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

3:23 We are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God. The Father seeks true worshipers to worship him in spirit, and in truth. We meet each Sunday morning for what we call a worship service. Some of us have done this for months and years.

3:45 Some of us for as long as we can remember anything, we have been found almost every Sunday morning in a church at a so-called worship service. But it's been a growing conviction of my own as I've sought to study the matter of worship. In the pages of Holy Scripture. That perhaps very few of us have even begun to understand let alone experience what true worship really is.

4:18 Could it be that God would say to us as he said to his ancient people Israel through the prophet Isaiah that what you bring to me as worship is an abomination to me? Isaiah chapter 1 deals with that subject. Could it be that the Lord would say to us as he said of the religious people of his own day, in vain do they worship me? John 4 and verse 23 indicates that the Father is seeking true worshipers.

4:48 And that very word is used. True worshipers who will worship God in spirit and in truth. That is, the worship that is true worship is characterized by these two things. It is worship in spirit.

5:07 It is worship in truth. In spirit means it is worship that involves the entire heart. It is not worship in which the mouth is merely found saying the right words. The ears found listening to the right words.

5:25 But it's worship in which the spirit of a man or woman, the spirit, the inner being, the heart, the total man is involved. In being poured out at the footstool of God. But then it must be worship not only in spirit, that is the entire heart entering into it, but it must be worship in truth. That is, worship done according to the truth of God as revealed in the word of God.

5:51 You can't just let your heart run out in any direction in any way, but the running out of your heart must be bounded by truth. Now it's possible to seek to worship God in truth and have it like an empty riverbed unless it's worship in the spirit and in truth. Conversely, there's some people so concerned about worshiping in the spirit they don't care about truth, while their worship is like a river that overflows its banks and instead of bringing blessing it brings destruction. But a true worshipper is marked according to our Lord by worship that is in spirit and involves the whole heart.

6:32 And in the realm of truth it is worship according to the revelation of God. Now if the Father is seeking true worshippers, the obvious implication is before us that he isn't concerned about false worshippers. He's not seeking false worship or vain worship or abominable worship. He wants true worship.

6:52 Now you're here this morning in a Sunday morning worship service. You have been in many previous to today and if the Lord spares you, I trust you will be in many more. Now any activity that's a regular part of your life, unless you're just marking time and going through the motions, you ought to be concerned as to whether or not it is acceptable unto God. Now I ask you at the outset of our study on this subject of true worshippers, do you have any grounds to believe that God will have accepted what you have given to him in this hour and 15 minutes that we spend here this morning?

7:29 When 12.15 or 12.20 rolls around and the benediction is pronounced, do you have any assurance that God will have accepted that which you brought to him in that hour and 15 or 20 minutes? Do you have any assurance based upon Holy Scripture that God has accepted the worship you've brought to him in past Sunday mornings?

7:52 You say, I just never thought of that. Well if you haven't, it's high time you did. And I want us to think seriously about this whole matter of what is it to be a true worshipper, to bring to God the kind of worship which he will gladly accept. He will gladly accept the worship which he himself seeks and of which he himself is the author.

What is Worship? A Working Description

8:18 So much then for introducing the subject. I want us to consider in the first place as we think our way through this subject this very basic question, what is worship? Then we will begin in the second place to consider what are the prerequisites of worship. Now what is worship?

8:36 When you say, I am going to a worship service, and someone on the corner of Bloomfield Avenue and Roseland Avenue would ask you, now you say you're going to a worship service, what do you mean by worship? What would you answer? What would be your definition of worship? Well let's consider in the first place a formal definition, then a working description of worship which will be more helpful.

9:02 The word worship in the Hebrew means to bow down or to prostrate oneself, and in the Greek it means basically the same, to prostrate oneself, to do obeisance to someone or something. Worship might be formally defined in the following way. Worship is the honor, reverence, and homage paid to a superior being, whether men, angels, false gods, or the true and living God. The word worship sometimes is used to express the homage that is given, the reverence that is paid, to something other than the true God.

9:44 It is said in Romans 1 that they worshipped and served the creature more than the creator. Deuteronomy 17.3 speaks of the worship of false gods. Revelation 22.8 speaks of John's attempt to fall down and worship the angels. So a formal definition of worship would embody these ideas of honor, reverence, and homage paid to some superior being. Now for a working description of worship, which is far more helpful than a formal definition, let's turn to several portions of Scripture where it is said that a certain person or certain persons worshipped, and then it tells us what was involved in their worship. Will you turn to the book of the Revelation, chapter 4.

10:38 Now remember what we're trying to do is simply get a working description and definition of worship. Am I worshipping God this morning? Have I worshipped Him? Is my worship acceptable?

10:51 Well, I want to know what the thing is. That's the first and most basic consideration. Revelation, chapter 4, beginning with verse 10. The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.

11:28 They worshipped, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. They worshipped, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thy pleasure they are and were created. What is worship according to this passage? It is the conscious, wholehearted description of honor and praise to God for who He is and for what He has done.

11:55 Turn to chapter 7 of the same book and notice verses 11 and 12. And the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and forever. Amen. They worshipped, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and honor and power and thanksgiving and wisdom and might be unto our God, they were worshipping.

12:39 What is this working description of worship? You have the same elements as we had in the fourth chapter. A conscious, wholehearted, God-directed activity of homage and praise being rendered unto Him. Chapter 11 and verse 16.

12:56 This will be the last passage we'll look at here for a moment. Chapter 11 and verse 16. And the four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art and wast and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. They worshipped, saying, We give thee thanks for who you are.

13:31 You're the God who was and is and ever shall be. For what you've done, you're the God who's exercised your power, in bringing judgment upon the nations. Now, do you see the elements of true worship as described in these passages? In the first place, will you notice in every case, wherever it's said that a person or group of beings worshipped, it was a conscious activity.

13:58 Now, every one of you has been engaged very consistently in a certain activity from the time you entered this building. You have been engaged in the activity of breathing. Now, that is not a conscious activity. I doubt there's a one of you who has thought from the time you entered this building 43 minutes ago to the time I mentioned it, who sat there and thought, I am breathing.

14:27 I must inhale. I must exhale. I must inhale. I must exhale.

14:35 No, it's an unconscious activity. A very real and personal activity that only you can perform for you. Some day when you get tired of breathing and would like to have your wife do it for you, see it, try it and see what happens, or you'd like to leave it for Henry to do, you can't do it. It's a very personal, conscious, necessary activity, unconscious activity.

14:58 Now, worship is not like breathing. All you need to do to breathe is just come in here and sit down and do what comes naturally, and you don't even think about it. You breathe. But you see, worship is not that way.

15:09 The fact that you've come and placed yourself down in the seat in a building set apart for holy worship does not mean that you'll worship. For worship, unlike breathing or walking, is a very conscious, deliberate activity. For you'll notice in each of these descriptions of worship which I've read, and there are but a few recorded in Holy Scripture, these elders, these angels, these heavenly creatures are consciously involved in an activity. They cast their crowns before the throne and they worship God saying.

15:46 Their minds are active. They're thinking about God's character. He is, He was, and He is to come. They are consciously thinking about God's works.

15:57 They're praising Him for either creation or providence or judgment. There is conscious, physical, mental, spiritual activity. And I'm convinced with all my heart, dear ones, that this is perhaps the greatest stumbling block to true worship. We have not grasped the fact that worship is a conscious activity to which you must give yourself with every fiber of your being or you won't worship.

16:25 If you simply come into a gathering such as this, as it were, sit back and shift into neutral and think that somehow worship will just automatically come, it will not come. It is a conscious activity. And then I've hinted at the second factor. It is a wholehearted activity.

16:44 There's no indication that these beings around the throne while they're worshiping are knitting. Now I've watched women knit. And it's amazing how they can do all that and keep the things straight. And yet it's sort of a subconscious activity.

16:58 They can be carrying on a conversation. They can be watching a TV program and the needles just seem to go right. They can really do two things at once. A person who can knit well seems to be able to do two things at once.

17:10 I can't do that with knitting, but I've learned that with driving. There are times when I've wondered, how in the world did I get from this place to that place? I'll be engrossed in conversation with someone and I won't even remember going through a certain town. And yet apparently I've been driving very carefully.

17:25 I could tell you what the name of the town was and what the speed limit was and all the rest. But I've been able to do two things at once, carry on an intelligent conversation or half intelligent, and at the same time operate my motor vehicle. But you see, worship is not like knitting or driving. Not only is it a conscious activity, but it is a wholehearted activity that demands the employment of all of your faculties in this one thing, the act of worship.

17:56 And don't you get that feeling, feel that mood as you read these passages that I've read to you? They're all business. The four and twenty elders, fell upon their faces and they worshiped God, saying there was one thing in their minds, one thing occupying them when they came to worship. It was not only a conscious activity, but a wholehearted activity.

18:21 And in the third place, it was a God-directed activity. We'll consider in a subsequent message the posture of true worship. And it's interesting that verse after verse after verse indicates that worship is always issuing from the posture of brokenness before God. These verses say, they fell down before the throne and worshiped God.

18:47 In other words, when a man worships, his worship, like the narrow end of a funnel, is all poured out in the direction of the living God himself. Let me state it in as blunt a way as I know possible. If the center of your mental attention and the focus of your expectations when you come to church is the pulpit and what comes over the pulpit, you're not a worshiper of God. This is why I've often thought, I wish we could somehow do away with the idea of the pulpit.

19:21 I tried for a while when we sang our hymns to sit down in the old church where there was a platform behind the pulpit and get myself out of sight. I felt that one of the great stumbling blocks to worship is the idea that all of our eyes are fixed upon the person who leads the service rather than on the unseen but very real presence of the living God. True worship, as we see in these passages, is not only a conscious activity, a wholehearted activity, but it is a God-directed activity. It does not focus upon the hearing of sermons, nor does it focus upon the listening to music, but it focuses upon God himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

20:05 Now, with this kind of a working description, can we come up with a definition of worship? We got the formal definition, giving homage or reverence to some higher being, but now can we come up with a very practical definition? See if this fits. Worship is that conscious, wholehearted activity ascribing honor and praise to the living and the true God.

20:30 Worship is that conscious, wholehearted activity ascribing honor and praise to the living and the true God. Worship is that conscious, wholehearted activity ascribing honor and praise to the living and the true God. They who worship him must worship him in spirit, that's the whole heart, in truth. The true and the living God is revealed in Holy Scripture.

Prerequisite 1: True Knowledge of God

20:54 So much then for a brief description of what worship is. Now we come to the core of our consideration for this morning, namely, what are the prerequisites of true worship? You know, not everyone can worship. Not everyone here can worship.

21:10 Not everyone here is able to worship in your present spiritual condition. For if there's to be true worship, there must be in the first place true knowledge of God. If worship is the conscious, wholehearted direction of praise and adoration to the living and the true God, there can be no worship until, first of all, there is some knowledge of the true God. Notice how Paul very clearly assumes this in his discourse to the Athenian philosophers in Acts 17.

21:50 Here these people were quite involved in worship, and they were worshiping many gods. And Paul tells them in Acts 17 and verse 22,

22:10 Ye men of Athens, I pray. I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious, or very religious, as some translate it. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God.

22:27 Now he says, how ridiculous. How in the world can you worship an unknown God? Someone comes over and bows his head and says a little prayer. To the unknown God.

22:36 You say, well, that's ridiculous. If you're going to worship a God, you've got to know something about that God. So he says, here's my mission. Notice the next verse.

22:48 Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. And then he begins to give them some basic facts about the knowledge of the true God. You see what he's saying? In essence, you people will never be worshipers of the true God until you know some certain facts about him.

23:10 And so he begins by declaring unto them, Facts about God. He is Creator. God that made the world and all things therein. He is the Sovereign.

23:22 He is Lord of heaven and earth. He is non-material. He is Spirit. God is Spirit.

23:28 He dwells not in temples made with hands. Neither is worshiped with men's hands as though he needs anything. And he goes on to give them these elementary facts about the nature and being of God. Why?

23:42 For they cannot worship. God in truth until they know the truth about him. And so he doesn't begin by seeking to work up their spirits to worship. He starts by straightening out their heads and putting some facts into their heads regarding the nature and character of God.

24:02 Now, do you see the application of this to our own lives? Where does one begin to create worshipers? Those of us who are parents. How are you going to make worshipers of your children?

24:13 By teaching them to be quiet when they come into a building set apart for worship? No, you ought to do that simply on the basis of teaching them good manners. That has nothing to do with worship. Quietness is not worship.

24:27 In fact, true worship might be a pretty noisy thing sometimes. I think sometimes our silence is an indication we aren't worshiping. If we really got to worshiping, we just might get some burst of ecstatic joy come over us that some loud hallelujahs and praise the Lord might come over us. That some loud hallelujahs and praise the Lord might come over us that some loud hallelujahs and praise the Lord might come over us.

24:43 Sometimes we might leap out of us unexpectedly. Sometimes we might leap out of us unexpectedly And true worship might be very noisy. There are other times it is very silent. You see, true worship is not determined by the decibels or lack of decibels.

24:56 That is how you measure sound. You don't put a decibel counter there and say, Well, it must be worshiping. It is up to 40 or it is down to minus 2. Now, worship is not measured in terms of volume or lack of volume.

25:11 How are you going to make worshipers out of your children? place of your responsibility as a parent teach them the facts about god this is why you ought to catechize your children because most catechisms are arranged to teach elementary facts about the character of god to our children like the little children's catechism so beautifully says are there more gods than one no there is only one god in how many persons does this one god exist in three persons what are they the father the son and the holy spirit can you see god no but he always sees me can god do all things yes god can do all his holy will does god know all things yes nothing can be hid from god what is this doing to a child it is putting into his mind some facts about the true god for what purpose that he might know the truth about god that when the holy ghost touches his heart he might worship in spirit and according to the boundaries of truth now that's where paul started with the athenians that's where we must start with our own children that's where we must start in our own family circles that's where we must start in our evangelism that's where paul started you don't start by trying to get men to feel better and hope that if they feel better they'll begin to worship god they've got to know some things about

Prerequisite 2: Spiritual Sight of God

26:36 god first but there must not only be some true knowledge of god but now listen to me listen carefully there must be a spiritual sight of god in order to see something a man needs two things he needs light as well as sight now when david prayed he prays for both of these things to be given to him by god listen to his prayer or his declaration in psalm 119 105 thy word is a lamp unto my feet and the light to my pathway he says all right the word of god sheds light upon my pathway but in psalm 119 and verse 18 this is what he prays open thou mine eyes that i might behold wondrous things out of thy law and i looked up that word open and it's an interesting word it's the word used in a standard way for denuding someone undressing someone it's the word used when it describes the fact that the word of god is being undressed or the fact that noah's son came and found him uncovered he found him undressed he

27:54 found him naked in leviticus chapter 20 you have the rules of god the mosaic legislation concerning a man that would uncover the nakedness of his brother's wife or his father's wife or some other illicit relationship but that word used again and again for uncover to undress the nakedness of his is precisely the word that David uses here. He says, oh God, it's not enough that your word is there as a light upon my pathway. My eyes have cataracts that need to be pulled off. I need to have my eyes undressed.

28:33 I need to have my eyes denuded, uncovered.

28:40 Two things are needed. Light? Yes. But all the light in the world will not help a man whose eyes are veiled.

28:47 There needs to be sight, eyes that can see, and light that will reveal the truth to be seen. And so if we are to be true worshippers, there must not only be true knowledge of God, but there must be this spiritual sight of God. And by nature, we are spiritually blind. Ephesians 4, 17 and 18 declares that by nature the understanding is darkened and we are alienated from the life of God.

29:17 2 Corinthians 4, 4 says the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not. Now I might take a blind man and describe to this blind man a tree, an oak tree. And I might tell him that it's so wide and it's so tall and the leaves are of such and such a shape. And that blind man might be guided over to that tree and feel the bark and feel the leaves.

29:45 He knows something of the shape of the tree. He knows something of the size of the tree. The density of the bark and of the wood of the tree. Something of the texture of a leaf.

29:56 But he's never seen a tree. He has some idea, but his eyes have never seen all of that in its living form.

30:07 Now this is a little bit what happens to that child of ours, into whose mind we put right thoughts of God. God is everywhere. God can do all things. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

30:23 It's like teaching a blind man what an oak tree is like by guiding his hands to feel its shape, to feel the leaves, to feel its texture. And that we must do. But God must do something else so there'll never be worshippers of him. God must open the eyes to see.

30:39 Ah, the trees. That's who God is. Not only right knowledge of him, but a spiritual sight of him that will cause them to become true worshippers. It's obvious in those passages which I read to you from Revelation that those people that are worshipping God are worshipping and seeing a real God.

31:03 They're responding to a present sight of God. It says they fall down before his throne and they worship him that sits upon that throne. They are worshipping in terms of a very real sight of God.

How Spiritual Sight Comes: Sovereignly, Mediatorially, Spiritually

31:20 Now this spiritual sight of God, which is abstract, something necessary to true worship, is not something that I can create nor can you. For the scripture reveals at least three things about that spiritual sight of God. First of all, that it comes to men according to the sovereign will of Christ. Will you turn to Matthew chapter 11?

31:44 A very interesting portion of scripture along this line. How is it that someone comes not only to have the external knowledge, the knowledge of God, but this spiritual sight of God?

32:00 Matthew chapter 11 in verse 25. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

32:41 Notice his statement. No man knows the Father. No one has this spiritual sight of God save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son wills to reveal him.

32:55 This spiritual sight of God comes sovereignly, by the will of Christ. But, oh, look at the next verse. Is he reluctant to reveal his Father to men? No, listen.

33:06 Come, come unto me, O ye that labor in heavy labor.

33:13 Scripture teaches that this sight of God comes sovereignly, but it comes from the hand of a willing Christ, who says, come, come. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. All that come to me I will receive. All who come unto God by him, find me.

33:31 Find him a willing and an able revealer of the Father. So it comes sovereignly. And then secondly, it comes, and I don't know a better word to use, so I'll use this big word and then explain it.

33:46 It comes in a mediatorial way. That is, this sight of God always comes through a mediator, through the Lord Jesus. For he says in John 14, 9, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, in that verse on worship from which we read earlier in Philippians 3, 3, Paul says, we are the circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus. For we've come to the true worship of God through the Lord Jesus, the Son of his love.

34:22 And it comes by the power of the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 4, 6, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge, to the glory of God, where? In the face of Jesus Christ. We come to this spiritual sight of God not directly, but through a mediator. And we come to it as the Holy Spirit reveals the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

34:50 This is why our Lord describes eternal life in these very turns in John 17, 3, when he says, This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus. Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. So that there is no true knowledge of God except through the Son. And any true knowledge of the Son introduces us, as it were, to the true spiritual worship of God.

Implication: The Necessity of the New Birth for Worship

35:20 Now the first then prerequisite of true worship is knowledge of God, a spiritual sight of God. Now, what are the implications of this as we try to bring this to a practical conclusion? Well, the first implication is that it's obvious there's no true worship until a person is born of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 3 and verse 3, Except the man be born again, he cannot see.

35:47 And that word see could very well be translated. He cannot perceive the kingdom of God. When someone hands me something and I say, now read that. I say, but I can't see it.

35:58 I read it, but I can't see it. Well, what I mean is there's no malfunction in my eyes. I can read the words, but I can't perceive what's there. Now Jesus, when he said, except the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

36:13 He means there is no perceiving. There's no ravishing sight of God until the Holy Spirit has opened our spiritual eyes. You and I may be able to say with theological precision in answer to the question, What is God? We can memorize and we ought to, the answer to the Shorter Catechism.

36:34 God is a spirit. infinite eternal and unchangeable in his being wisdom power holiness justice goodness and truth that's fine and you ought to know that god is a spirit infinite eternal and unchangeable in his being his wisdom his power his holiness justice goodness and truth you can know all of that and never be found like those people described in the book of the revelation prostrate on your face crying worthy art thou see until we are born of the spirit so that we have spiritual eyes that perceive the beauty of this god who is spirit we will not be found worshiping him any other worship other than that which is the result of this sight of god is vain worship i ask you this morning could it be that some of you cannot worship today because you're strangers to the new birth as much a stranger to it as they are to you this man nicodemus who knew many things about the true god of israel but jesus said you'll never really know anything nicodemus until you're born from above someone asked mr whitfield why he preached so often on the third chapter of john except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of god he preached some 350 times on that subject in the course of his ministry and he said

38:02 the reason i preach on the subject you must be born again is because you must be born again does it seem elementary for me to say to you young people and adults and visitors and friends with us except you're born of the spirit except there is this work of the sovereign christ revealing the father through himself to you by the spirit you'll never be a true worshiper oh may it throw you cause you to throw yourself into the fire of the spirit and you'll never be a true worshiper you'll never be a true worshiper you'll never be a true worshiper you'll never be a true worshiper down upon your face crying out lord jesus have mercy upon me show me the father show me the father child of god do you see the implication of this to yourself if the first prerequisite of true worship is a true knowledge of god and a spiritual sight of god how should you prepare yourself for worship well how do most of us prepare ourselves for a sunday morning worship service well we break out our best suit in our nice dress and we fix ourselves up a little nicer on the outside which is perfectly fine but are we as it were digging up from the storehouse of past understanding what we know

Practical Preparation for Worship: Mind and Heart

39:25 about god and setting it in order before our eyes before our mental eyes are we preparing ourselves by seeking the first thing sunday mornings to turn our minds to the being of god and think about who he is as we get out of our cars and walk through the doors and take our places are we focusing our minds upon what we know of god jesus said true worshipers worship him in truth they worship according to what they know of god i venture to say that the very suggestion of this sounds strange to some but that's what's involved in true worship you cannot worship with holy zeal like these beings before the throne unless you presently are thinking about the very things that they're thinking about what were they thinking about i'm sure they weren't thinking about their roast at home and i'm sure they weren't thinking about many of the trivial things that occupy our minds they were thinking about this person before them he was the eternal god so when they worship him they say to this great god thou art the god who was and is and is to come they were thinking about his character about his

40:43 works about the manifestation of his power so you and i if we are to worship must fix the mind upon him call to remembrance what we know of him we must worship him according to truth but we must worship him in the spirit there must be the involvement of the whole man so if we are to truly worship we must learn what it is to cry to god for the holy spirit to give us ever increasing measures of understanding and to enable us to shake off the dullness the lead feet that would keep us from marching up to his throne and prostrating ourselves before him i just wish that you could stand where i stand sometimes and look at your faces when we're singing hymns that ought to make you look drunk with ecstasy and beloved we look like we're drunk not with ecstasy but with indifference

41:52 hymns that focus upon the being of god there ought to be some times when i'd have to thunder out in the middle of a hymn contain yourselves lest you be deranged by your zeal after god

42:10 oh that god would give us the opportunity of having to restrain in your holy worship frankly dear ones this is why i just long to get away from this pulpit i wish i could sit right down there and have on a board somewhere the order of service and would just check up occasionally and just be able to take my place with you and lift up my voice with no thought of anybody or anyone else but me and the lord and my voice blending with the voice of this people in holy praise and holy worship does that sound like enthusiasm if it is you better get prepared for it because that's the kind of enthusiasm you're going to be occupied with for eternity for among other things you're going to join that crowd described in the book of the revelation who's going to be lost in that moment he's going to be lost in in that conscious, wholehearted description of praise and honor to the living God. May God grant that he would give us that which we cannot give. We cannot crank up some kind of enthusiasm. That would be strange fire upon God's altar which would provoke his wrath and his judgment.

43:25 But we can turn our minds consciously and deliberately to think upon what we know of God. We can and we must ask the Holy Spirit to send fresh fire of holy zeal into our hearts that we might praise him with our whole beings and then give ourselves to the praise of God, consciously, deliberately bringing the mind into subjection, bringing our dissipated affections into subjection. And then as God is pleased to receive that worship, I believe he will give us ever-increasing measures of the apostleship, of the ability to truly worship him in spirit and in truth. God is a spirit and he seeks true worshipers who will worship him in this way.

Conclusion: A Call to Remedial Worship

44:15 Have you found the cause perhaps of the weakness of your worship this morning? I hope you have. I want this to be not just theoretical but remedial. You know what remedial English classes are, remedial reading classes.

44:27 You try to find where people's problems are and meet them there and take them on to something better. And I hope...

44:33 I hope that this has been a remedial worship class this morning so that even as we come tonight you will consciously as you come through the doors and even before as you're driving here turn your thoughts to your God, who he is, what he's done. Turn your heart to the Lord afresh asking that the Spirit will come enabling you to worship. And I'm convinced as we do and as we sense and experience a little bit more of what true worship is it'll whet our appetites and spoil us. For just as we worship God, we worship him in spirit and in truth.

45:03 For just as we worship God, we worship him in spirit and in truth. For just as we worship God, we worship him in spirit and in truth. We are not just a dull dry round of the mouthing of our hymns and our prayers and we will be restless unless we know what it is to be abandoned to his praise as we read of those creatures before the throne in the book of the Revelation. May God grant that to this end, we shall absorb and work out in life and practice this portion of the truth of God to the end that God may have that which he seeks.

45:32 What a delight it would be to know that our worship is true. What a delight it would be to know that our worship is true. What a delight it would be to know that our worship is true. What a delight it would be to know that our worship is true.

45:34 Was acceptable to him That's all we ask Whether he's acceptable to anybody else Or any human standard Who cares But if the God who made us to be his And revealed himself That we might worship him If he's satisfied Then we're satisfied Let us pray Oh God We confess to thee this morning The sin of our failure To worship thee as we ought Forgive us that So many other things Draw forth our conscious Wholehearted enthusiastic effort But thy worship so often Finds us languishing in zeal Sluggish in spirit Dull in mind Oh Lord When shall the day come When we will shake off All the limitations Of this earthly frame And join those pure spirits Before thy throne Lost in wonder Lost in wonder Lost in wonder Lost in love and praise God minister to us Give us such a satisfying And ever unfolding Knowledge of thyself Quickened by a spiritual sight Of thy beauty That we may be true worshipers Who bring delight to thee For those who cannot worship Because they are yet in their sins

47:02 They've never been quickened to life By the Holy Spirit Lord Jesus May it please thee to reveal The Father to them Oh Lord Jesus Do thy work Of revealing the Father As his glory is seen In thy face Hear us and seal to our hearts This word Send us to our homes To meditate upon it To think upon it To discuss it About our family tables Grant oh Lord That we may hallow And sanctify this day To our prophet And to thy glory Now may the grace Of our Lord Jesus Christ And the love of God the Father And the fellowship And communion of the Holy Spirit Be with us all Through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen