Worshipping God in Vain - Part 2

[0:00] And what a joy it is for us to be memorizing scripture together. I remember speaking with one of the young men who isn't here this morning,! He said, sitting in church.

[0:33] He was just learning it as we are going through it. And so that's one of the benefits of what we are doing as we hide God's word in our hearts. And I just want to say to you as a pastor who is aware beyond our local church, just aware of the broad landscape, the Bible talks about a time when there will be a famine for the word of God.

[0:55] Now, I'm not saying that this is the only time, but I can tell you that there is a famine for the word of God. In the book of Ruth, the book of Ruth opens up with some very ominous words in the sense that it talks about when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land.

[1:27] And what is interesting is there's a man by the name of Elimelech who leaves where he lived. He lived in Bethlehem. And he goes to a foreign country in search of bread.

[1:43] You know the irony of that is that Bethlehem means house of bread. And here is a man, supposedly one of God's people, who's in the place where there's supposed to be bread and there's no bread.

[2:01] And so he leaves and he goes to the land of Moab in search of bread. I want to tell you that that's happening even today. And so there are people who are going into spiritual Moab today because there is no bread in many places that are called houses of God.

[2:18] And so I want to remind us of the blessing that we have to be storing up God's word in our hearts. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going in this direction, but I just have another thought.

[2:33] And I remember when I was in college, one of the things that we used to do in Advocacy Christian Fellowship that I was a part of, every year, once per year, they would have what is called persecution week.

[2:48] And the whole design of it was to help us to get a sense of what it is like to live in a country where we didn't own a Bible. So they would take our Bibles from us. And the only Bible, the idea was the only Bible you had was the scripture that you memorized.

[3:04] And I tell you, it was a very, very different feeling. Things you take for granted. Sometimes in the week, you'll kind of forget and you go to go get your Bible and you forgot it was taken from you.

[3:16] And so, brothers and sisters, let us hide God's word in our hearts because we really don't know when, in fact, our Bibles could be taken from us.

[3:29] Well, please turn in your Bible to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 7. The Gospel of Mark, chapter 7. And I'm going to read verses 1 through 13.

[3:50] Please follow along as I read. If you have another translation, I'm reading from the English Standard Version, so if your translation is not that, it'll read a little differently.

[4:01] The Gospel of Mark, chapter 7. We begin in verse 1. Now, when the Pharisees gathered to him with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.

[4:27] For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.

[4:42] And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches. And the Pharisees and the scribes ask them, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?

[5:05] And he said to them, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, hypocrites, as it is written, this people honors me with their lips, for their heart is far from me.

[5:19] In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. And he said to them, you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition.

[5:39] For Moses said, honor your father and your mother, and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die. But you say, if a man tells his father or mother, whatever you would have gained from me is Corban, that is, given to God, that you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.

[6:09] And many such things you do. Please join me in prayer. Father, we thank you this morning for the privilege of being able to gather in this place.

[6:23] We thank you for the privilege of lifting our voices in worship to you in song. And Lord, now for this privilege of worshiping you through the preaching of your word and sitting under its authority.

[6:40] Would you speak through me and to us from your word? And we pray, oh Lord, that you would watch over your word and cause it to accomplish whatever you design it to this morning.

[6:58] We trust you to do this in Jesus' name. Amen. For those of you who are joining us for the first time this morning, we are in a series in the Gospel of Mark.

[7:11] We've been in this series since February. And over the last few weeks, we have been in this particular section of Mark, chapter 7, verses 1 through 13.

[7:23] The first sermon was on the entirety of the text, the first 13 verses. That's on our website if you want to listen to that. And then what we have done is we have taken two other sermons to look specifically at three verses in this passage that Jesus addresses concerning worship.

[7:51] And what we see in this passage is that it really is about two views of worship. One view is worship is from the lips based on the commandment of men.

[8:03] That's what the Pharisees were doing. And the other view is that worship is from the heart and based on God's word. And that's what Jesus was challenging his heroes to move towards.

[8:17] So, here's the point of this passage. And we've looked at this over the last three sermons. The point of the passage is this.

[8:29] Worship that God, worship that truly honors God is from our heart and based on his word. That's the worship that truly honors God.

[8:41] Jesus said to the Pharisees, your worship is in vain. They were worshiping him, but he said, it's vain worship because it was from their lips and it was based on tradition.

[8:53] It was not based on what God himself had ordained, what God himself had called for. That's the point of Mark 7, 1 through 13.

[9:03] That the worship that truly honors God is from our heart and is based on his word. Now, at the end, I'm going to allow some time for questions and answers.

[9:16] So, if you have a question as we move through this text this morning, please make a note of it and hopefully we'll get a chance to have you to ask it and answer it at the end.

[9:27] I want to finish now. Last week, we looked at the first part of what it means to offer worship that honors God that is from the heart.

[9:41] The second part is it is based on God's word and I want to consider that this morning. So, what we're looking at specifically is these three verses.

[9:53] Mark 7, 6 through 8, this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

[10:08] You leave the commandment of God and hold to the traditions of men. So, we're going to cover this morning worship based on God's word.

[10:20] Now, in one sense, all of God's word is a book on worship. All of this is a book on worship. It is a book on worship of the God who has revealed himself in the pages of scripture as the creator and also as the redeemer.

[10:40] So, it's a book that is designed to worship God based on the fact that he is creator and based on the fact that he is redeemer. So, in a sense, the whole book is about worship.

[10:52] The whole book is telling us and teaching us how we are to worship God. But it's not practical to try to say all that this morning, nor could I say it. Time would not allow and my abilities would not allow me to do that.

[11:07] So, rather than trying to do that, what I want to do this morning is I'm relying on Harold Best. I've been looking at his book and his book is Music Through the Eyes of Faith and he points out what he considers to be three key scriptures about worship.

[11:33] Three key scriptures about worship, worship that honors God, and I want to consider those this morning. And they are number one, Romans 12, verses 1 through 2. Number two, John 4, verses 23 through 24.

[11:48] And then number three, Psalm 29, verse 2. And I've summarized these three scriptures into three statements as follows. Number one, worship God with your whole life.

[12:01] That's the point of Romans 12, 1 through 2. Number two, worship God in spirit and truth. That's the point of John 4, 23 and 24.

[12:14] And then number three, worship God in accordance with his greatness. That's the point of Psalm 29, verse 2.

[12:27] So in our remaining time, I want us to consider these, starting with the first one, worship God with your whole life. Worship God with your whole life. If you return to Romans chapter 12, I want to read the first two verses.

[12:47] Romans 12, verses 1 through 2. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

[13:07] Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good unacceptable and perfect.

[13:22] In these two verses, what Paul does is Paul is making an appeal to those who belong to Christ to live mindful of God's mercies.

[13:36] God's mercies in the gospel that he has been talking about for the first part of this letter to the Romans. Romans 1, chapter 1 up through to chapter 11.

[13:51] And here's what he's saying, he's saying that we are to present our bodies, that's another way of saying our entire life, every bit of us, we are to present our bodies to God.

[14:06] And he says we are to do it as a living sacrifice. And the picture here that Paul is drawing upon is the Old Testament when you think of the way an animal was brought and it was sacrificed, the whole thing was given to God, every part of it.

[14:21] And scripture is very detailed when you read how the sacrifice was to be given, the whole thing was to be given to God. What Paul is saying to us, he's kind of saying to us, get that picture in mind that you're giving yourself wholly to God in a sacrificial way, but you're going to be living.

[14:39] You're not going to be dead like the animal. You are a living sacrifice. And that means as long as we're living, we are to be giving ourselves to God in that particular way.

[14:53] We are to die to self and we are to live to God and live for his purposes. And that's what it really means when he says we have to do it wholly. Wholly means to be set apart.

[15:05] It does mean in terms of certainly how we say no to sin and yes to righteousness, it means that. But that's an implication of what holiness means. What holiness means is that God saves us and he sets the power for himself.

[15:21] And since he sets us apart for himself, what we're supposed to do because of that is we live in a way that shows we are set apart for God. We live in a way that's consistent.

[15:32] And see, this is one of the things we have to remember. We're not holy by what we do. There's no act that we can do that makes us holy.

[15:43] But when we come to God through Jesus Christ, he saves us, he declares us holy and set apart. He sets us apart. He says, you are mine.

[15:54] You are my precious possession. And then he calls us to live our lives consistent with that. So holiness is to flow out of who we have been called to be.

[16:04] So this is, this is something that we are to do as unto the Lord. And so he says to us we are to do it holy and acceptable to God.

[16:21] It is not based on what is acceptable to us. It is, it is what is acceptable to God. And we know that what is acceptable to God he reveals in his word. And then we see a little later in verse 2 what is acceptable to God comes to us as we renew our minds.

[16:38] And we learn what is acceptable to God. Because not every single thing that God has for us and God calls us to do do we find in the pages of scripture.

[16:49] Yes, certainly the the main things are there but sometimes there are decisions that we need to make. There are issues in front of us that we need to consider and we can go to a particular book of the Bible and chapter and verse but we need to be able to discern God what is your will in this for me.

[17:15] And so it is in accordance with what is acceptable to God not as what is not what is acceptable to us. And Paul says what we are called to do is our spiritual worship.

[17:27] The King James version says it's your reasonable service. This is a very interesting word that Paul uses for spiritual or what the King James uses for reasonable.

[17:43] It comes from the in the original language in the Greek it is it is the word where we get our word logical from. The word is logikos L-O-G-I-K-O-S logikos what Paul is saying is living this way living in view of God's mercies giving ourselves wholly and fully to God is logical.

[18:05] This word also means thoughtful and essentially what Paul is saying is that he is saying if you think about God's mercies to you if you think about the kindness of God to you in salvation you'll live this way you'll just give yourself fully to God.

[18:26] He says brothers live in view of God's mercies so if you think of it this way it's not good to live life looking in the rear view mirror but this is one time it's good to live life looking in the rear view mirror looking in the rear view mirror of God's mercies to us that when we were sinners when we were rebels Christ died for us.

[18:50] Paul says live your life in view of those mercies thoughtfully reflecting upon what God has done for you and it is obvious what he's really saying to us is this if you think about what God has done for you you will live this way because it's logical it makes sense it's your reasonable response to what God has done so when we don't live this way what does it mean?

[19:15] It means that we're not thoughtful about it we're not contemplating it we're not being mindful of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ when we do we offer ourselves fully to God all that we are all that we have everything that we could ever accomplish we offer it in full service to God and I want to encourage us this morning to reflect on this because this is worship what we're doing this morning is worship as well but this is calling us to whole life worship that every aspect of our life is worship if you want to think of our lives this way you can think of our life as a big worship pie offered to God and our gathering this morning is only a slice of it and so this is the extent to which we see worship then what it means is that's all we're offering to God but God wants the whole of us he wants all of us and one of the things that we need to really give thought to because it is possible the Bible says that we can glorify God in all that we do everything whether we eat or drink whatever we do we can do it to the glory of God and that that calls us to whole life worship and so I want us to consider this morning as we hear these words whether there are aspects of our lives that we for whatever reason whether we just not thought about it or whatever the reason might be that we're not yielding up to God in worship we're not taken to him as a living sacrifice some aspect of our lives we've compartmentalized it and oftentimes it's so easy for us to only take to God what we think we can't handle like our problems like our needs but other parts we tend to handle ourselves you know

[21:26] I remember a time in my own life when I this may sound odd to you but the area of relationships was one that I had a hard time just fully trusting God's way and trusting God's wisdom because I used to think you know if I like this kind of girl this is the theology I had this is what I was being taught and so on it was almost like you know God was gonna give me the opposite I didn't have the faith to really trust the Lord in that way and so I it was not an area that I committed much to prayer I didn't I just took things into my own hands but by the grace of God God helped me to see that his ways are higher than my ways his thoughts are higher than my thoughts and so I needed to trust him in that area and you can see that I obviously trusted the

[22:30] Lord because I got a wonderful wife he gave me a wife I could never choose I was saying to someone the other day talking about relationships and I said when I met Alexine I was actually seeing another lady my mother knows the story because she would credit she would credit the relationship between me and Alexine to herself and I said to the person it's very likely that if I had pursued that relationship and gotten married I probably would have been divorced I don't know but I probably would have been just because I can look back and see how much I was taking that into my own hands doing my own thing and not really entrusting it to God that was an area of my life that I was compartmentalizing I was entrusting God with it that I was trusting him with other areas of my life other areas I was fervently praying about other areas I was trying to see what the word of God had to say about but that was not one of those areas and I wonder about you this morning might there be areas of your life that aren't fully entrusted to God where you're living and saying God

[23:41] I want what you have for me we sang it this morning let your kingdom come what does that mean what does it mean to let God's kingdom come in our lives it means to live for him fully and wholly even though we don't know necessarily what that looks like but here's what we do know we know that it comes from the hands of a sovereign and a wise God and whatever he does for us is good and I want to say this to us this morning that we will never do this with perfection we won't do it perfectly but I believe that we can do it sincerely where we are seeking to live our lives day by day fully for God as much as we know and any degree to which we fall short is not because of active disobedience where we're trying to hold this back from God it is just because we are we're sinners and we don't see as clearly as we ought to see but brothers and sisters let us be making that effort to give ourselves wholly to God because Paul says it's logical to do that there's another part to this call to live our lives wholly for

[25:01] God it's in verse two it says do not be conformed to this world and I want to suggest to you this morning that these two are connected I believe that the counterpart or the resistance to us living for God wholly for God is conformity to the world and this is why the enemy is working full time this is why the enemy is working hard to get us to be conformed or shaped into the world's mold to think the way the world thinks to approach life the way the world approaches life so what Paul is really saying to us in verse two he's saying to us essentially this if you are going to live in view of God's mercies if you are going to give yourself fully into God's purposes trusting him and living for him you're only going to do that if you're not conformed to this world you're only going to do that if you are being transformed by the renewal of your mind so that you can test and you can discern what the will of

[26:03] God is this doesn't come to us in any natural kind of way we have to give ourselves to this as we're doing memorizing scripture reading God's word getting godly counsel this is the way that we can actually not be conformed to the world let me make two key observations and let me move on to the next point the first is we should recognize that what we're called to here is not easy it's not easy it's not easy to be a living sacrifice before God I should say it's not always easy sometimes it's difficult because we have to die to self and we have to die to our own will and to our own way and I think most of us will agree sacrifice is not natural for us we don't naturally want to sacrifice when we do want to sacrifice that's the grace of

[27:10] God at work in us and we should be grateful but that's not natural for us the second observation again is that resisting conformity to the world is an ongoing battle that we will have to fight constantly until the day that we die it would be wonderful if we could just get to a place and you know we can coast after that but no we have to continue to do this because if we don't we'll fall back into worldly ways of thinking and worldly ways of living so brothers and sisters worship of God involves the entirety of our life that's what Paul says to us in Romans 12 1-2 second not only are we to worship God with our whole lives but based and based on his word but we are to worship God in spirit and truth and that's

[28:15] John 4 24 through 23 through 24 so please turn there with me the gospel of John chapter 4 verses 23 and 24 this is Jesus having a conversation with a Samaritan woman who entered into a debate with him about the right place to worship and Jesus says this to her but the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth for the father is seeking such people to worship him

[29:19] God is the spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth this woman was arguing about whether you should worship on Mount Gerizim or you should worship in Jerusalem the Samaritans say it's Mount Gerizim you worship the Jews they know it's Jerusalem and Jesus says to her Jesus says listen it's not about the right place it's not about a location true worship Jesus says to her is about spirit and truth it is to be in spirit and truth now what did Jesus mean by what he said to her that worship is to be in spirit and truth if you think about those words essentially it's the same thing he says to the Pharisees and the scribes back in Mark chapter 7 he said to them your you're worshipping from your lips but your heart is far from me and you are following the commandments of God and you've abandoned the commandments of men you've abandoned the commandments of God so what

[30:29] Jesus is saying when he says we have to worship in spirit and in truth he is essentially saying we have to worship from within us that our worship worship comes from within the depths of our beings and that's what he refers to our hearts the very core of who we are and is to be in accordance with truth and the word of God is truth now you know that we can make the same error that this woman was making this woman thought that true worship couldn't happen unless you're in the right place and she wanted to debate Jesus is it mangarism is it Jerusalem and Jesus says no what is important is that you worship in spirit from within the depths of your soul and that you do it in accordance with what is true what God holds to be true that is worship for him and so what this woman had done was she had made essential what is not essential she made location essential in worshiping

[31:32] God and Jesus says no that's not essential but brothers and sisters we do the same thing or we're liable to do the same thing for example we can reduce worship again just to what we're doing here this morning and even further some people would reduce that just to one aspect which is the songs we sing and there would be people who would choose a church or leave a church over music the style of music the type of music and essentially they're no different from this woman who was so focused on is this the right place or that the right place where we think is this the right style or is this the right type or this is the kind I like this is the kind I don't like and Jesus says you've missed it all together worship is to be in spirit and in truth that's true worship that's that's the worship that the father calls for that's the worship that he is seeking from those who claim to worship him but needs to be in spirit and in truth

[32:49] I think we all need to consider this morning rather the worship we offer God in our lives every aspect of it including this morning would be marked by those two words spirit and truth from our hearts and based on God's word or is it all just simply external where maybe music can get us going in ways that we could not from the depths of our hearts simply worship and offer worship to God and it's not based on any truth it's just based on what we like or what we don't like we need to ponder this we need to ponder this what happens when and we've experienced it here at times where maybe power is out and the keyboard is off and the guitar goes and we are just left with our voices are we able to from within still offer singing and worship to God or do we feel somehow that it's impossible to do that we need to ponder this because

[34:20] Jesus says that true worship is in spirit and in truth it's not based on all the many things that we tend to elevate as essential those things could be helpful sometimes they could be unhelpful but they're not necessary so scripture calls us to worship with our whole life scripture calls us to worship in spirit and truth and then finally scripture calls us to worship God in accordance with his greatness worship God in accordance with his greatness you know if I had to choose one of these three to say that's the one I'm going to hold on because I think it would help me to worship God most faithfully it would be this one it would be worship

[35:21] God in accordance with his greatness turn to Psalm 29 and I want to look at verse 2 Psalm 29 and verse 2 Psalm 29 verse 2 says ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness notice that this Psalm this verse in particular does not just call us to give glory to God it does more than that it tells us how we are to do it it says that we are to ascribe to God we are to give glory to God in accordance with his greatness we are to give him the glory that is due his name this is a very important truth

[36:30] I think we need to hear that we are to two things that is telling us one that the glory the worship the reverence that we are to ascribe to God is in accordance with the glory that is due to his name and what this does is it really turns the table for I think for a lot of us because as much as worshiping God may bring joy to our souls and we may like it it really isn't for us it is the glory that is due to his name it is worship that is intended to God and so we are called to give him the glory that is due to his name I believe all of us are familiar with giving and receiving gifts

[37:31] I think every single person in this room has at one point either given a gift received a gift and probably have been on both ends of it and when we give gifts I think one of the things we do is we do our best to give a gift that we think is appropriate for the person to whom we are giving it so imagine for example if I were buying you a gift and I brought you a little toy plastic truck I bring it to you wrap it big bow and I say happy birthday I think you would be excited that I thought about you to give you a gift when you opened it you were like what what kind of joke is this you gave me a plastic truck especially if you're a woman I don't think you'd want a plastic truck even when you were a child or suppose I gave you a Barbie doll and you happen to be a male or suppose

[38:37] I went and I bought you the newest Pierre Carden fragrance for men I just give it to you and you're a woman you think that's thoughtless why did you even give me a gift because it is of no benefit at all to me or even worse I buy you makeup and you're a man and I gift wrap and give it to you do think that's really thoughtless it doesn't fit me it shows you just give me something but you're not giving me what is due to me what is appropriate for me I share something with you this morning here's a conviction in my heart we will grow in our worship of God when we grow in our view of

[39:38] God when God begins to be in our eyes who he is and what he is as revealed in scripture we'll never see him in all of his fullness we cannot fathom God and you know what eternity doesn't even promise us that we will there's nothing in the Bible that promises us that when we get to heaven when we are with God forever!

[40:06] that we will fully comprehend God nothing in the Bible that tells us that and so what that does for us is it allows us to continue to grow as we read God's word as we understand that God is a great God God a God!

[40:29] is Offer our worship to God, whole life worship, including our time this morning, whether it could look as weird as sometimes giving an adult a toy truck or giving a man makeup, giving a woman a man's fragrance.

[41:14] Because we've not thought long and hard enough about the one home we worship. But God is great. And scripture says we are to ascribe to him the glory that is due to his name.

[41:33] I want you to turn with me for a moment to a very gripping passage of scripture in the book of Malachi, Malachi chapter 1. Just go right to the end of the Old Testament.

[41:45] It's the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi is the last prophet who spoke to the nation of Israel. Malachi is God's last prosecuting attorney.

[41:58] The nation had backslidden. They were not honoring the Lord as they should. And one of the ways that God had called them to honor him was in the offerings that they would bring him.

[42:10] And the irony about it is that the offerings they were bringing him, he gave it to them. Because he owns everything. I want to pick up in verse 6.

[42:22] I want to read verse 6 to the end of chapter 1. Chapter 1, verse 6. And brothers and sisters, let us hear this. And may it both inform and grip our own hearts about our worship to God.

[42:40] He writes, A son honors his father. This is Malachi speaking to the nation of Israel. A son honors his father and a servant his master.

[42:51] If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? Says the Lord of hosts.

[43:03] To you, O priests, who despise my name. Now here he is issuing an indictment against the priests because the priests were leading the people astray.

[43:15] The priests were not saying God is great and therefore the people were not saying God is great. I'll pick up again at the second part of the sentence.

[43:34] And if I am a master, the third part, sorry. If I am a master, where is my fear? Says the Lord of hosts. To you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, how have we despised your name?

[43:46] By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, how have we polluted you? By saying that the Lord's table may be despised.

[44:00] When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor.

[44:13] Will he accept you or show you favor? Says the Lord of hosts. And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us.

[44:25] With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? Says the Lord of hosts. Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the doors.

[44:40] That you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain. I have no pleasure in you. Says the Lord of hosts. And I will not accept an offering from your hand.

[44:54] For from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations.

[45:05] And in every place, incense will be offered to my name and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations. Says the Lord of hosts.

[45:15] But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted. And that its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. But you say, what a weariness this is.

[45:29] And you snort at it. Says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick. And this you bring me as your offering.

[45:42] Shall I accept that from your hand, says the Lord? Curse be the cheat who has the male in his flock and vows it. And yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.

[45:53] Here's why. For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts. And my name will be feared among the nations. This is a weighty indictment against the nation of Israel.

[46:16] Because they were likening God to less than the governor they had. They were treating him as less than an earthly king. And how they approached this aspect of worship to him.

[46:31] And brothers and sisters, let us remember that whatever worship we offer to God. Whatever aspect of worship that we offer to God. We are to be worshipping the Lord in accordance with his greatness.

[46:43] Because as he says, I am a great king. And my name is to be feared among the nations. When scripture tells us to give God the glory to his name. What it really means is that there's no equal to him.

[46:54] There's no other name equal to his name. He is the God of gods. He is the God of creation. He is the God of all things. You know, if we just think of the vastness of the earth.

[47:09] You take a map, for example. And just look at the vast earth. It just boggles our minds. But you realize that that's just a little teeny piece of God's vast creation.

[47:25] That shows his own greatness. Scripture says we are to worship him. We are to give him the glory that is due to his name.

[47:39] Let's turn back to Psalm 29. Let's look at the second part of verse 2. It says, worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

[47:51] The King James says in the beauty of holiness. The beauty of holiness. And the point is that those who are set aside to God and worship him consistent with that being set apart as holy unto the Lord is a beautiful thing.

[48:09] It's a beautiful thing when we offer that holiness to God. When we live for the Lord.

[48:21] When we say no to ungodliness and yes to righteousness. The psalmist is saying to us that that is a beautiful thing. First, it's beautiful that God has taken sinners who deserve his wrath.

[48:35] Set them apart and declared them to be holy on the basis of Christ's own holiness and his own righteousness. It's a beautiful thing when those people offer God worship consistent with that being set apart.

[48:55] So when I ask us this morning, when we consider Psalm 29 verse 2. Are we ascribing to the Lord the glory that's due to him? Are we ascribing to the Lord the greatness that he deserves?

[49:11] Is our worship in concordance with that? With his greatness? Or is it more haphazard?

[49:22] Is it more thoughtless? Is it more ritualistic? Is it more that we go through the motions? And I understand that. We're people of creature. We're creatures of habit.

[49:32] And we are able to just do rote and routine things. But may God help us to be thoughtful. And mindful. Of what God has done for us.

[49:44] And who God is. And may we worship him. In accordance. With his greatness. You know, none of us.

[49:56] Although we're called to this. None of us can do this. In and of ourselves. To make it acceptable to God. It's interesting in the passage we were reading in.

[50:10] In Malachi chapter 1. Where the Lord says, Oh, I just wish there was someone to shut the door. So I don't have to put up with your less than appropriate offerings.

[50:24] I wish someone would shut the door. You know the good news is? Someone did shut the door. Someone shut the door to all of that.

[50:35] Because we could never offer to God. That which would perfectly please him.

[50:50] And so Jesus shut the door. By offering himself. By offering himself. As the perfect sacrifice. As the perfect act of worship.

[51:03] Unto God. Atoning for the sins of sinners. And appeasing. The wrath of God. That would be poured out on all the ungodly.

[51:15] And it is only through Jesus Christ now. That we are able. To offer. This living sacrifice. That we are called to.

[51:25] In Romans 12 verses 1 through 2. It is only through Jesus Christ. That we are able to offer. This living sacrifice to God. That is acceptable. Only through Jesus Christ.

[51:38] Under the old covenant. Israel failed. And the sacrifices God called them to bring. They could not bring. They fell short every single time. And I think we would acknowledge.

[51:49] That even our best efforts. When we try to. Obey. Romans 12. 1 through 2. And present our bodies. As living sacrifices. Under God. We are aware of our blemishes.

[52:00] We are aware of our shortcomings. We are aware that. It isn't fitting for the great God of the universe. Who has been so merciful to us. And our only hope.

[52:12] Is to have that mediated. Through Jesus Christ. To God. Brothers and sisters. The only way that we become. Confident. And satisfied.

[52:23] And happy. In anything we offer to God. In and of ourselves. Is when we don't understand. Who God is. His holiness. His righteousness.

[52:34] His perfect standard. God is. When we do. We rest in Christ. We trust in Christ. It doesn't mean. We don't make the effort. It doesn't mean.

[52:44] That we don't seek. To obey these commands. We do. But we don't rest on it. We don't trust. In our efforts. To worship God. In this way.

[52:55] That he. Has called us to. You may remember. When Jesus was in the wilderness. Satan. Tempted him. Three different times.

[53:06] The final temptation. That Satan gave. To Jesus was. If you bow down. And worship me. I'll give you all. The kingdoms. Of this world. And you may remember.

[53:20] What Jesus said to him. Jesus said to him. It is written. You should worship. The Lord. Your God. And him only. Shall you serve.

[53:33] Interesting. That he didn't say. In him only. Shall you worship. He says. Him only. Shall you serve. And see. Our living for. God. Our serving. Of God.

[53:43] Is worship. It is this whole life. Worship. That we are. Called. To do. God. God. God. Help us. This morning. To let.

[53:54] Those words. Ring in our hearts. That we want to. Worship God. And worship God alone. Serve him alone. But we don't do it trusting in ourselves.

[54:07] We do it trusting in the one. With whom. God is pleased. God says. This is my son. In whom I am well pleased.

[54:18] We trust in him. We hold close to him. We hide behind him. Because that's our only way. That God. Will accept us. So may God help us to do this.

[54:30] And again. Brothers and sisters. We need both. We need our own. Sincere. Earnest efforts. To. Worship the Lord.

[54:40] With our whole life. Every part of us. I think of students this morning. I looked at Joshua. And I. I remembered.

[54:50] You know. Students this morning. What is it. What does it look like. For you. To worship God. With your whole life. What it means. For one thing.

[55:02] It means. Taking your academics. And. Approaching them. As an offering. Of worship to God. Not detached. But recognizing.

[55:13] That he is the one. Who gives you ability. He is the one. Who gives you the opportunity. And that you can. Apply yourself. For his honor. And for his glory. But.

[55:24] At the same time. It also means. Being. Wise enough. To recognize. That that. In and of itself. Is not. Sufficient. To please the Lord.

[55:35] We must rely on Christ. We must look to Christ. Because he is the only one. Who has ever worshipped God. The father. The way he is. To be worshipped.

[55:47] Let's pray. Father we. Are so limited.

[55:58] We. Are so limited. In our understanding. Of how great you are. Lord. And so.

[56:09] We ask. That you would. Open our eyes. And help us. To see. Your great mercies. That you have. Extended to us.

[56:20] And that we live. In view of those mercies. Help us Lord. To. Remember. That you are a spirit. And those. Who worship you. Are to do it. In spirit. In truth.

[56:30] And then Lord. Most of all. To remember. That you are a great king. Your name is great. And will be. Great. In all the nations.

[56:42] And so you've called us. To worship you. And ascribe to you. The glory. That is due. To your name. And we have to worship you.

[56:53] In this land of holiness. Lord. Would you. Help us to do this. Help us. To grow in doing this. And at the same time. Help us to. Fully.

[57:05] Rest in. And trust in Christ. Who alone. Is able to please you. In this way. Who alone. Has pleased you. In this way.

[57:16] Would you help us. As we seek to worship you. In Jesus name. Amen. Are there any questions. From this sermon.

[57:29] Questions. No. All right.