Worship

Thank you very, very much for coming tonight. I hope God will bless this word as we read it together. And I'm going to ask you to turn please to Psalm 39 for our first reading.

Psalm 39 and verse 3. Psalm 39 and verse 3, perhaps verse 2 will give us the connection. I was done with silence. I held my peace even from good and my sorrow was stirred.

My heart was hot within me while I was musing The fire burned, then spake I with my tongue. If it were not for the first phrase in verse 3, you would almost assume that the psalmist was speaking about the hearth fire, as though he was sitting as that king did so long ago, sitting before the fire. And as he was musing in front of the fire, thoughts came to his mind, but obviously opening the phrase, the verse by saying, my heart was hot within me, he is indicating an inner fire.

And I just want you to notice in the passage, the connection between musing and speaking while I was musing the fire burned or was kindled. Then spake I with my tongue. Psalm 45, please.

Psalm 45 and verse 1. My heart is indicting a good matter. I speak of the things which I have made touching the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

Thou art fairer, and you will understand that the thrust there is fairer far than the children of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Therefore, God hath blessed thee forever.

Please notice how seamlessly, how artlessly he moves from meditation to adoration. You will remember from your days in English class that he is speaking, first of all, in the third person. He is speaking about the king in verse 1. Notice how simply he moves into the second person in verse 2 and suddenly he is speaking to the king.

And I would like to suggest to you that there is a key there for and what we will be looking at tonight. The reason that he found it easy to speak to the king in the language of adoration was that he was speaking about the king. And maybe, maybe the times that we have trouble worshipping and gathering our thoughts to know just exactly what to say to the Lord can be traced back to the fact that we so rarely speak about the Lord to each other and that if he occupied more of our conversation, if we were more occupied speaking about him, just like this man, meditation would lead to adoration.

We would find that our conversation about him will enable, will facilitate conversation with him. Notice again, the heart and the words link together. And one more reading, please, in the gospel of Luke chapter 6. Luke 6 and verse 45.

Luke 6 and verse 45. A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is good. And an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is evil.

And that leads to the annunciation of this principle of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaketh. Again, the heart and the mouth link together. Now, the subject before us is a vital one because I would like to consider with you the subject of worship.

That is not only something that occupies much of our time here. I was thinking, I think I added up as best I could, that if you are in fellowship in the assembly here in Sunnyslope, then you will spend somewhere between 300 to 500 hours a year right in this room or occupied with things that the assembly is doing. So if there's something that I can learn that will enable me to do better at what I'm doing for those 300 to 500 years, if there's something I could grasp from the scriptures that would make it easier, like I think of our poor sisters here, you know, if I were giving a message on preaching, they might fold up their arms and close their Bibles and notebooks and say, what good is that to me? But they do the bulk of the listening, don't they? And so anything that could improve the preaching ought to be something very, very important because we spend so much time preaching.

And anything that will make the assembly more competent at worshiping ought to be something we would all have a deep interest in. I want to notice with you, and I'll just follow the outline that I gave you, I want to notice with you the privilege of worship. I don't know if you've ever thought of it that way, that it is a tremendous privilege that God allows creatures to worship him.

Tremendous privilege. Now, all believers are priests and are all priests always, whether a person goes to the Baptist Church or the Episcopalian Church or the Catholic Church, if he's saved or comes to the gospel hall. Everyone who is in Christ is a priest.

He has made us a kingdom of priests. But what a marvelous privilege it is that God allows us to worship him. You see, I'm sure that there are young people who will go to sleep tonight under posters of sports fans or rock stars or actors or actresses and wishfully at times they will look up at that man with a hockey stick in his hand or he's taking a pigskin back in the pose or he's got a bat in his hand, whatever the case may be, or the radiant actress or whoever it is, and they have a secret wish.

I just wish I could be like him. I wish I could be like her. I wish I was that pretty.

I wish I was that handsome. I wish I was that skilled. I wish I could do what he does.

Do you remember something? That ballplayer doesn't think twice about your adoration of him. There's no connection between your longing to be like him and your adoring his ability. There's no link between your thinking that actress is so lovely and her concerns about you.

But the marvelous thing is, and that's why it is a privilege, the marvelous thing is that in the worship of God, there is the joyous understanding that not only is this the reason that we were created and have been redeemed, but that we are allowed to understand that we are giving delight and joy to the heart of our noble creator and great redeemer. That is a tremendous privilege. I say again, it is remarkable that God, who needs nothing, is willing to be worshipped by creatures like us.

It is a fact that God allows us the privilege of expressing our appreciation of his character, person and works, that he accepts our worship through his son, and that he assures us that our feeblest efforts are pleasing to him. We are a kingdom of priests. Let me just say this at the beginning, because I hope that we will move toward a practical idea of of how we worship publicly, that in the list of gifts that are given us in the word of God, there is no gift called the gift of worship.

So if there are times when you have found it marvelously simple, I hate to put it that way, but it just it just seemed like it seemed as if it was easy to worship. Well, if you know someone and you say, you know, every time I hear him worship, it just seems that he warms my heart or every time I'm with that sister and she speaks about the Lord Jesus or we pray together. It just seems that she just seems to touch my if that's the case, then we need to look elsewhere other than the idea of gift, because it's not linked with gift.

There must be some other reason, for instance, why there are some days where when you gather to remember the Lord Jesus, it just seems easy to go into his presence. There must be some other reason. And I hope we will find that or or at least see what the scriptures imply.

There must be some other reason than the idea that there are some men here and they have been given a capability from God to worship, because that is not the case. All believers are priests. All believers have the privilege of drawing near.

If you if you were concerned about looking up the things that were in the outline, then let me just say that there are only five passages of the word of God that you would need to have found to answer the questions about where the first and last occurrences are of worship in both the English and the original languages of the Bible. Let me give you those very quickly. Genesis chapter 22, this is the first time in the English language of our Bible.

Abraham says, I and the Lamb will go yonder and worship. The last time in the Old Testament is Zechariah 14, where it says that the nations would go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord of hosts. The first time in the New Testament is Matthew chapter two.

We have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him. And the last time in the New Testament is Revelation 22 when the angel says to John, don't worship me, worship God, do it not, he says, worship God. And he is told not to worship the angel.

So the only thing you have to add to that first and last times in the English, in the Old Testament, first and last times in the English, in the New Testament. One time in the Greek, in the Hebrew, it occurs before what I've told you, the actual first time in our Bible that the word occurs, the word worship occurs in the original language, is Genesis 18, where Abraham sees these three visitors coming and he bowed himself, he worshiped them. Now, let me just put those all together because I'm not just trying to throw arcane facts at you.

I think that there's some lessons we can learn because we're so often taught that the first time you read of a thing in the Bible, it is laying the groundwork for understanding that thing, that subject, that topic or that personality. So what do we understand from these first occurrences of the use of the word worship? Let me let me just sum them up. Matthew chapter two tells me that worship is the worship of a person, not a thing, but a person.

Revelation chapter 22 tells me it is the worship of a person who is unique. He's not created. The person who is to be worshipped is not a creature.

Romans 1 tells us that they worshiped and served the creature more than the creator. But we can learn, can't we, from what the angel says in Revelation 22, that the worship of this person is the worship of a unique person, an uncreated person, a person who is distinct altogether from things that had a cause, the uncaused cause of everything, the creator himself. He is the one to be worshipped.

Zechariah 14 tells me that that unique person is worthy of universal homage as the whole world comes to worship him in the city of Jerusalem in that coming day. And when I put together those two times where it's used about Abraham, Genesis 18, Genesis 22, just notice Abraham bows. See, before we write off things like our appearance and our deportment, that really doesn't matter.

Somehow, when you hit passages like that with a man physically expressing his homage, when you hear God say to Moses, put your shoes from off your feet, you suddenly learn that small things like that are vital. They are important to God. And I see a man taking the lowest place before God as he bowed.

And I see that same man in his words, Genesis 22, giving God the highest praise possible, his son. So he's bowing here as if the lowest place belongs to me. And he is offering his son on the altar and he's calling it not sacrifice, but worship because he is saying the highest place belongs to God.

So it is the worship of a person, not a thing. It is the worship of a unique person, the uncreated creator. That uncreated creator deserves universal global worship.

And he deserves the highest thing from us while we take the lowest place before him. So let me notice with you the priority of worship. Just after four, the Lord Jesus says the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Now, I have to go on record here. I don't know if this is right or wrong. I'm not so sure that the Lord Jesus is saying the Father is seeking worshipers.

I know that there is a lovely parallel often drawn that the Lord Jesus seeks sinners. And he says in John 4 that the Father seeks worshipers. But he does put in the word such.

So I'm not so much so sure that the Lord Jesus is saying the Father is seeking for worshipers as if God had a need that only we could meet. And that's, of course, wrong. Or is the Lord Jesus saying this is the kind of worshipers that God is seeking? He never intended that worship would be by means of a physical animal laid on the altar.

He never intended that worship would be by the means of a physical objects, but that it would spring from the hearts of redeemed men and women whose spirits had been reconciled to God, worshiping God in spirit and in truth. The Father seeketh those kind of worshipers to worship him. Revelation 5 tells us that we have become a kingdom of priests.

First Peter 2 reminds us that we are a holy priesthood and a royal priesthood. If you if you know any Hebrew boys or girls at school whose last name is Cohen, then you will understand that that is a Bible word. That there are, of course, the priests who are in the temple and they were the holy priests.

They were to render to God. But there were the priests who were at the palace, at the court, and David's sons were made priests. And of course, you have likely seen the margins as they were made coheens, cohens.

And what is that? They're royal priests. In other words, the king, the king would not be available to everyone. It would be a matter that that I broke your fence.

So you're going to get right in to see the king and say, Gene broke my fence down. I want you. I want you, King David.

I want you to come in and handle this. They'd be intermediaries. They were they were between the complainant, the people and the king.

And they were handling cases for him. So in the temple, you had priests who were rendering to God. But in the in the palace, you had priests who were representing the monarch, representing the king.

So those two thoughts now Peter grabs and applies them to us. That first of all, we render to God as holy priests, but we represent God as royal priests before others. And so we are a nation, a holy priesthood in the feasts of the Lord of the Old Testament.

Israel was called upon to leave its land and its loved ones, even at a time of harvest, even in the face of danger and go up to Jerusalem to worship. It came first. So a man might say, but if I go now, what about the crops? Worship came first.

And if a man says, but but my house, my house is right on the border. The Philistines are just a few miles away. And if they catch on that this is an habitual thing, that I go up to Jerusalem every year at this time, well, you know what will happen.

They'll wait until my sons and I are gone. And when just my wife and daughters are home, they will raid our farm. They'll take everything.

Worship came first. And God promised them while his people were in covenant relationship with him, God promised that the enemy would not desire their land if they went up, which ought to have been a loud voice to them, of course, during the Yom Kippur War, that something was wrong and the enemy was allowed to attack. But God promised them back then when you go up to worship in the feasts of Jehovah, the enemy will not desire your land.

Worship was to come first. Why else would we read words like this? Please tell me, why else would we read words like this? A male of the first year. A male of the first year or first fruits offered to God.

Why, why, why is this requirement that God come first? And why does God say the best of the oil and the wine? It is not that God is a is a demanding God who wants to get the best from you because he wants it instead of you're having it. But it is rather that God understands that our true bliss, our true joy and happiness lies when we are in a right relation, the very best that we can. That's the very purpose.

We're reaching the purpose of our existence and of our redemption when we are worshiping God and giving him our very best. What about the place of worship? Well, we worship in our halls, don't we? I don't want to be ludicrous and say that we just worship within the veil and we don't worship in our halls. If someone came in on a Sunday morning, they would hear believers expressing expressing terms of worship to God here in the hall.

But although that means, and I think we need to remember this, worship is not limited to Sunday morning. Some people call the breaking of bread the worship meeting. Well, that's fine unless by that you mean that's the meeting we set aside for worship and then there's meetings we set aside for prayer and then there's meetings we set aside for preaching and so we departmentalize and pigeonhole everything and every meeting should be marked by worship.

I hope when I'm preaching the gospel, I am worshiping God while I'm preaching and presenting his son to sinners. I hope when we're teaching the word of God, when we're praying, I hope when we're discussing the Bible, our hearts are open and worship to God. We worship in our halls.

We're not restricted to Sunday morning. We worship here. We worship in our homes, don't we? We're not restricted to the public expression of it.

Brethren and sisters worship in their homes. We do worship in the holiest. We are not restricted to earthly limitations.

Again, when the Lord Jesus spoke about worshiping in spirit and in truth, that was in contrast to physical means, worship in spirit, and formal means, worship in truth, that would be laid aside while as a result of Calvary, men and women would become worshipers in spirit and in truth, and we worship in our hearts, not restricted to set occasions. We worship in our hearts. You ever just quietly get aside and spend time with the Lord? What a good goal for a young believer now just to say, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to set aside some time in my day where I just worship God.

I was having meetings with Murray McCandless in Toronto back in 1986, and the gentleman, the couple I was staying with, he was staying in a different home, but the people I was staying with, the man in the home was the vice president in a government office. He was as high as he could go without becoming an elected official, and I'm only telling you that. I'm not name dropping.

I'm only telling you that because you have to understand that to understand the story I'm about to tell you. He said to me on one occasion, why don't you and Murray come downtown and we'll have lunch together, and I know that you men, I know you listen carefully to directions, but I had trouble listening at times, and I missed when he told me the floor that his office was on. I also forgot that he goes by a different name at work.

He goes by his full name at work and is not known by Robert so much among the assemblies. He is known more by Bert. So I got there, the receptionist was there, and I asked for Mr. Reining.

Oh, she said, certainly, she lifted up, she said, you'll want to take the elevator here on the right and go up to the sixth floor. She said, when you get off, she said, there'll be a, you'll see a desk there. Just ask, ask the woman to page Mr. Reining.

So we did that. Now, when the doors opened on the sixth floor, the first thing I noticed, I thought to myself, there's something wrong here. First thing I noticed was the din, the noise.

There were, there were cubicles as far as the eye could see. And what was open to us, there was a woman sitting at a desk and there was a woman sitting beside her and she was waving her finger at the woman. And this was like, like the welfare system in America.

This was, this was that type of office. She said, she was demanding that these bills be paid. And why wasn't this being paid? And there was a lot of noise.

And, and the woman said, may I help you? And I said, yes, we're, we're here to meet Mr. Reining. Yes, she said, have a seat. She said, I'll, I'll, I'll get him.

So we sat down and I, like, I couldn't imitate the noise for you, but I remember I leaned over to Murray and I said, well, sure enough, in a few minutes, Mr. Reining came around the corner. Only not our Mr. Reining. I see another Mr. Reining.

So he says, yes. I said, I'm sorry. I said, we made a mistake.

We're actually here to see, and then I remembered the difference. And I said, we're actually here to see Mr. Robert Reining. Oh, he said, you're going to have to go down.

He said, and get the other elevator. He said, he's on the 22nd floor. This elevator only goes up, I don't know, like the eighth floor.

So we went down to the lobby, crossed over, hit the buttons, went up to the 22nd floor, and when the doors opened, the thing that hit you would have sunk in the rug's pot. And to be honest with you, I actually whispered to the secretary. I didn't think it was the kind of thing where you raise your voice at all.

I said, what a different world up there on the 22nd floor, right? And when we were sitting there waiting for him in those plush chairs, see, if I said you could hear a pin drop, that wouldn't be true because you wouldn't hear it. What a difference. When just floors below us, noise, yelling and complaining.

Now, I would suggest to you that one way that we can prepare is what the psalmist is talking about. If I want to understand something of the place of worship in my heart and in my home, then I need to know what it is to, what does he say? While I kept silence, the fire burned, my heart was hot within me. Then spake I, I want to move on very quickly because I want to give you the pictures of worship that I think will be a help to us in the word of God.

I want to notice with you the opened eyes of John chapter nine, the full filled baskets of Deuteronomy 26, the prepared ointment of Matthew 26 and the devoted heart of Genesis 22. Just those four pictures very quickly. The opened eyes of John chapter nine.

What a picture that is of worship. Do you remember that blind man and his eyes have been opened by the Lord and the leaders, the Pharisees have come upon him? In fact, there's something very nice here. Do you remember when people said that's the blind man and others said, no, it's like him, but it's not him.

What did happen when he met the Lord Jesus? He even looked different instead of the hopeless, empty stare. Now there was just a new look about his face. People weren't even sure if he was still the same man.

But the Pharisees begin to question him. And you remember that the way he progresses in his conversation, a man named Jesus, whether he be a sinner or no, a man sent from God, a prophet. And you remember when they throw him out, which is not merely physically evicting him from the premises, but excommunicating him.

They stand at the feet of the Lord Jesus. His eyes are open. Who is he, Lord? Who is the son of God that I may worship him? I that speak unto thee and he.

And he knows and is now worshiping what they do not know and will not worship. So you get a picture of a man with his eyes open at the feet of the Lord Jesus, understanding who he is and worshiping him, not only for what he has done, but for who he is, not a picture of worship. See, when we, when we come together, for instance, on a, on a Lord's day to break bread and we're worshiping the Lord Jesus at the background of the appreciation of our hearts is of course, the fact that he has saved us, but that's not, that's not a before.

That's not, we haven't come together to thank God that we won't be in hell, but more to be occupied with the staggering cost of what has saved us and the great Redeemer himself, and he has now found out who he is and he is worshiping the Lord Jesus for who he is. I think broadly, it could be said that thanksgiving is the expression of gratitude for something that we have received. Praise, which we often do praise is lauding God for a capacity or a capability of his that we have come to appreciate.

But worship is the adoration of God for who he is and what he has done. And that blind man is worshiping the Lord Jesus for who he is, the son of God, and for what he has done, he has opened my eyes. Think about the filled baskets of Deuteronomy 26.

They come before the Lord and the Lord says, none shall appear before me empty. And they're coming to worship before the Lord, their God. They're occupied with the heart of God because they say he looked on our affliction and he heard our cry.

They're occupied with the power of God. They say he effected our redemption through the lamb. They're occupied with the grace of God.

What do they say? Assyrian, ready to perish was my father. We were few in number. It's the grace of God that saved us.

We were nothing. We would have been extinguished like the blowing out of a candle if it hadn't been for God. So the heart of God, the power of God, the grace of God, and the goodness of God, as they're presenting this basket to give back to God something of what he has given to them.

So there is intelligent worship as they are occupied with God's heart and his power and his grace. Again, I guess in the background of what I'm discussing today or what I'm trying to consider with you is the idea of how we publicly worship. And to me, there seems to be something wrong with just handing a young believer a hymn book and welcoming them into fellowship without giving them any help or instruction about the meetings.

I think that's a little like handing a child the keys to the car without giving them driver head or teaching them or giving them any practice driving. And what happens? Well, he gets up at a breaking of bread and he gives our Christians go and tell of Jesus. And who's to blame? How much would it have taken us to sit down and say, we're really looking forward to your coming into fellowship.

And we'll love to hear you take part. Now there's an index at the back here and you'll find that worship can't be regulated, but that will guide you. You'll find hymns in there that have to do with the Lord Jesus.

And so on a breaking of bread, you'll want to think. I know, and then nobody said it better than Thomas Newbury when he said we come together on a Sunday morning, we come together in a prepared state of unpreparedness, a prepared state of unpreparedness. In other words, I have something in my heart.

I'm prepared, but it's a state of unpreparedness in the sense I'm not, I haven't made up my mind. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to get up and I'm going to give this out.

No matter what, I'm going to say these things, no matter what you're unprepared. You're just waiting for the spirit of God. And, and, and so what happens is that brother gives out a hymn that falls right in line with what you were thinking.

And you say to yourself now, now's the time for me to contribute the thoughts that I had about the Lord Jesus. I was at a conference once. I said, there's some people that are from close to this place.

I'm going to do a, take a page from brother Gustafson and tell you it was hundreds of miles away from here. And I'm not going to tell you where it was a North American conference. And when I sat down at the Saturday evening meal, a young man who had only been saved for a short time, he sat down across from me and he told me he'd only been saved for, and he said, you know, I, I came to this conference hoping to find out one thing.

He said, I want to find out who the angels are that, uh, to the churches in revelation 20, uh, revelation two. And he said, I really want to find out about that dragon in revelation chapter 12. If he finds out what he wants to find out the next morning, as we sat to break bread, I think that the hymn he gave out was something along the lines of Christian's go and tell of Jesus.

I think, I think it would be far better if I could just grasp how best to worship the Lord amongst his people than understanding who the dragon is in revelation chapter 12. And they are intelligently worshiping. See, when they come with that basket and tell, they know what they're doing, they're presenting God, what he has given to them and they're occupied with him, his power, his grace, his goodness, his heart.

What about the prepared ointment in Matthew 26? Well, I learned that worship takes precedence over things, doesn't it? Worship takes precedence over things that are personal. She could have taken that ointment and used it on herself, couldn't she? Perfume? And it would have drawn attention to herself, but she didn't use it on herself. So worship takes precedence over things like my vacation, my ease, my rest, takes precedence over things that are personal.

I'm not laying down any rules. I hope I'm clear on that, that I'm not laying down any rules, but I admire, I admire young couples that have just been married and they have planned their wedding trip so that they don't miss a breaking of bread. It's not like we're taking a vacation from God.

Sometimes that's not possible, but you understand what I'm saying? That more than things personal, she saved that ointment for the Lord. I noticed that worship takes precedence over things that are personal. Corruption had already set in.

She could have very practically said, you know, that's why I've saved this ointment. It's for a time like this. Lazarus has died and so I'm going to use this on him.

But more than practicality, in fact, it took precedence over things that were profitable. The keen, greedy eye of Judas said 300 pence right there going down the drain. I can't believe she could have sold that money, right? She could have sold that money.

But you see, worship takes precedence over even things like unnecessary employment. Do I really need to take that extra time and that extra job or that over? Do I really need that? If it's putting bread on the table, that's one thing. But if it's just a matter of feathering the nest a little more, would it not be better for me to be with the Lord's people? And when Judas and the others said she could have sold her for 300 pence and given to the poor, which, of course, did not really mean at least we learn that the Lord prized her worship over even things that were philanthropic, even things, even things that were beneficial to us.

So God willing, if the Lord has not come when you gather to break bread Sunday morning, couldn't you, couldn't we all be out giving out tracts? Couldn't we say this Sunday, this Sunday, instead of observing the Lord's supper, we are going to have an open air meeting and we're going to preach the gospel. That would be putting the good ahead of the best. See, that would be taking something that was beneficial and making it more important than the most important thing.

I noticed this. And to me, there's something very touching about this, that Matthew tells us that Mary anointed the head of the Lord Jesus. Matthew tells us that.

John tells us, John adds that she anointed his feet. Matthew tells us she anointed his head, Matthew, the gospel of the king and the kingdom, the gospel where that head should have been anointed by the leaders, the gospel where that head should have been crowned with a regal royal monarch's crown. He was never anointed by the leaders.

He got from a woman what he did not get from the noted leaders. John, chapter 12, what happens in chapter 13, 12 men will walk past that basin of water. Not one of them, not one of them will be humble enough to take that water and wash, not only the disciples feet, but first of all, the Lord's.

What he never got from his disciples, he got from a woman. Mary washed his feet with ointment. Now, here's where I want to get right to the heart of the matter, why? Why are there some Sunday mornings where it just seems as if you're speaking to the Lord face to face and the meeting, it just seems no matter who takes part, right? Why? I've noticed a place where it doesn't seem to me it matters who you plug into the assembly.

It's an assembly where people have left and moved elsewhere. Somebody else moves in there, so you understand what I'm saying, it doesn't matter who you take and plug in there. When I have visited that assembly, invariably I have been impressed by the worship there.

I find myself asking the question, why does it seem to matter who comes and visits? It doesn't seem to matter who leaves. My dear sister, just as Mary created an atmosphere where it was easy to worship, but when you walked into that house, you were not struck, you were not struck by the disciples. When you walked into that house, you weren't first, the first thing that you sensed was not, oh, Peter's here, James is here, John's here.

It wasn't the meal on the table, although a wonderful meal had been provided. You weren't even the first thing that struck you, the first thing that your senses register was not even, I know Lazarus has got to be here somewhere. No, no.

First thing that struck you was the worship of a woman. The wordless worship of a woman. And I would like to suggest to you that when believers, for instance, on a Sunday morning when believers, they're not thinking about that meatloaf, I hope I put the temperature.

Instead of that, when whether I am taking part or not, say publicly, audibly, when like Mary, my heart is flowing out to the Lord, an atmosphere is being created where it's easy to worship. What's happening? As that sister, as that sister, as that brother, as their hearts are musing on the Lord Jesus, it's like ointment being poured out. What did the, what did the canticle, the son of Solomon say? While the king sit at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell of, it's like ointment being poured out.

And so in the prepared ointment of Matthew 26, I learned, I learned how much pleasure it gave to the Lord, let her alone, she hath wrought a good work on me. What about the devoted heart of Genesis 22? When Abraham uses that word to describe what was about to happen, I and the lab will go yonder and worship. He was telling us that what he viewed was God deserves his best.

Now I noticed an interesting thing that the first book of our Bible, the first book of the Old Testament shows us the picture of a man giving God his best. The last book of the Old Testament is a book in which God laments that his people were giving him their worst. Look at Malachi, what are they saying? What does God say? Would you offer that to the governor? Will he be pleased with that? You brought the lame and the blind and you're offering it up on my altar? They were just giving God anything.

So in the first book, you have a man and he's giving God his very best. In the last book, you have people and they're giving God the worst. And why? What does God say? Where is now my fear? Where is now my fear? What happened? They had lost that appreciation for God, which, of course, curtails worship.

Where's my fear? Listen, please. In Genesis 22, when the angel says, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest me.

Why did they offer God the worst they had? No fear of God, no appreciation for his person, therefore, no worship. Why did Abraham say God deserves my very best? Because he had a reverence for God, he appreciated who God was and he understood that God deserved his very best. And what he did was he provided God and us with a mini Calvary, didn't he? Just a miniature Calvary.

Just imagine now up in heaven, God the Father looking down on this scene and this old man and young man are making their way up the slopes of that mountain. And just think about God looking into the heart of Isaac and thinking to himself, Isaac is going up. He doesn't even know what he's going to.

One day my son will go up in that very place. He will go up to Calvary and he will go knowing everything. And as God watched that, he drank deeply of what was happening.

And imagine the son in heaven looking down into the heart of Abraham and thinking to himself, Abraham's heart is breaking because he has to give his son. One day my father's heart will break because he will have to give me. And so in what seemed to be, in fact, in fact, the man standing with the animals didn't even know the drama that was on.

God was watching and in the devoted heart of Abraham, God saw worship from a man who feared him. So what about the preparation for worship? It's linked with our hearts and it's linked with our hands. Notice, please, in the verses we read out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaking.

Psalm 45, my heart is indicting a good matter. I speak. Psalm 39, my heart was hot within me.

Then spake I while I was musing the fire burn. Then spake I. You see, we will completely misunderstand the value of worship. In fact, let me back up and say this.

Have you ever had anybody come, ever invite anybody to come to the breaking of bread and their reaction has been, well, it may even be someone who is saved. I've seen that. We've seen people saved and they will come and sit back at a breaking of bread and they will say something like that.

Why? Because, you see, the general the general thinking now about church attendance is that you come to church to get. To get. So therefore, the homily, the preaching, the choir, whatever it is, the entertainment that they're getting, that they've come together, life is hard and they've come to get some help.

The children are breaking their hearts. They've come to get some comfort. The husband has run away.

The wife is coming to get some solace. Right. They've come to get.

But once I understand that there is at least this one meeting that is unique. And that it is entirely set aside for me to give. And that when a person sits at the back, he's not there waiting for now, when will I receive some advice about Christian living? But that this meeting is set aside.

To give to God the adoration of our hearts and what he has done. So what about our hands? It is intended that we will have something to present to God. I would suggest to you that the exercise, the care, the inspection and the preparation involved in bringing an offering to the Lord in the Old Testament implies a parallel experience to the believer today.

Unless you think I'm being fanciful, notice how they're linked together. Notice that in Psalm 50, God says, who shall offer praise, glorify his name. Remember the psalmist said, I will praise the name of God with a song and magnify him with thanksgiving.

This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that have horns and hooves. So he's thinking about a person bringing an offering to the altar, but he's thinking my offering will be praised. Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing, said the psalmist.

How about in the book of Hebrews where you read, by him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. And Hosea spoke about offering and the calves of our lips, like instead of a calf on the altar, the calves of our lips.

You see, when a person would select an animal and he would look it over and he'd inspect it and he'd say, God deserves my very best, this is my best animal. Now, all that preparation and inspection and time. He's doing it so that he will present to God his very best.

What's the parallel with us today? Instead of my going to bed at midnight on Saturday night, I don't mean whether you've had to work now, you know, I'm talking to like along the normal lines, so please don't imagine that I'm setting down any hard and fast rules. But instead of my going to bed at 12 or one o'clock in the morning on a Sunday morning and I come rolling into the meeting here and take my seat and first Tim's given out, I'm, you know, my head's nodding. Instead of that, I've taken a little time to just prepare something to think about the word.

We just went through a wedding and my family reminded, nothing that happened at the wedding reminded me of this, but it just reminds me of an incident I read about a woman, the mother of the bride. She said she was she was OK with her emotions. Until at a point in the ceremony.

She looked over and she saw her aged mother. Reach her hand over to her husband, the woman's father, reach over and just put her hand. And she thought after all these years, mom and dad still such affection.

And she looked up at her daughter getting married and the tears started to flow. So she said, you know, afterward, she said to her mom, she said, you know, I she said I was all right until that moment. But she said, when I looked over and I saw you put your hand on that, she said, I just I just broke down.

She said, you know, I hate to rain on your parade, but she said, I actually was checking for a pulse. It was just kind of not responding during the ceremony. I wonder whether you'd have to check for a pulse sometimes at our meeting.

And our dear sisters are sitting here and their hearts may be flooded. See, their hearts may be filled with thoughts about the Lord Jesus. But they sit and they sit and they sit waiting to hear the air conditioner.

But we haven't prepared. We just figured we'd wing it. You know what will happen if somebody give out a hymn and, you know, Lamb of God and glory before and Bethlehem and on the cross and risen from the dead.

And I'll just go through. This shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock if I have my worship ready to present to him. So let me close very quickly by talking about the permanence of worship, the permanence of worship.

We're not going to be preaching in heaven. There are shepherds here who spend hours trying to care for the people of God. All their shepherding will be done.

There are men here who have taught the word of God to the Lord's people for many, many years. They won't be teaching us in heaven. You won't be giving out gospel papers.

You won't be arranging gospel outlines and what to preach. Do you know what you will be doing forever? You know, that's one reason why the Lord Jesus is called a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. But as you see, the priesthood of Melchizedek was a priesthood of revelation and blessing.

The priesthood of Melchizedek was one where Melchizedek revealed to Abraham something about God and it elicited a response from Abraham. He has now learned that the one true God that he's following, the God that appeared to him in error of the Chaldeans, he's possessor of heaven and earth. He learns that and he uses that title that when he speaks to the king of Sodom, what has happened? The priest after the order of Melchizedek has taught him something about God.

Now, imagine, you know what it's like when you sit, you know what it's like when you sit in a meeting and a brother just gives out, talking about whether you've cried or wept. You understand, don't you? It's just it's hit the cord and it's just drawing your heart out to the Lord. You know what it's like when that man gets up and he begins to worship and you're following it.

And it seems to just be drawing you into the presence of God. Now, imagine when instead of a failing fellow believer, imagine when your great high priest sets up class and begins a course, a study course that will last for eternity. And he teaches us more and more and more about our infinite God.

Do you know what will happen? We will have for all eternity fresh material with which to worship that almighty being who has become our father. So I hope God will help us with a fresh appreciation, whether it is publicly or in the quiet of our own hearts and homes, to be worshipers in spirit. Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, we vow to ask thy blessing on my word.

We thank you for thy grace to us. Thank you for thy grace to the assembly here, preserving it over many years. We ask the Lord for its spiritual vitality and health, for thy blessing on the testimony and on the spread of the gospel.

Take us to our homes in safety. Bless to our hearts whatever has been of thyself tonight in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In number 52, number 52, thank you for coming.

And remember the subject tomorrow night is the extremely practical one of discipleship.