True Worship
by
John
MacArthur, Jr.
Word
of Grace Communications
ã 1982, 1985 by
John MacArthur, Jr.
All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without
permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Note:
Permission was received for Bible Bulletin Board (www.biblebb.com) to transcribe this book for
posting on their website, and all original copyrights and other rights are
still in effect.
Selected
Scriptures
Tape GC 2011
8
True
Worship - Part 8
Outline
Introduction
Review
I. The Importance of Worship
II. The Source of Worship
III. The Object of Worship
IV. The Sphere of Worship
V. The Nature of Worship
A. The
Deviations of Worship in Spirit and Truth
B. The Discussion of Worship in Spirit and
Truth
1. Worship in spirit
a) The meaning
b) The method
(1) Possession of the Holy Spirit
(2) Thoughts centered on God
(3) Discovery and meditation of God’s Word
(4) An undivided heart
Lesson
(a) Psalm 86:5-11
(b) Psalm 108:1-3
(c) Psalm 112:7b-8a
(d) Psalm 57:7-11
(5) An open and repentant spirit
2. Worship in truth
a) Romans 1:18-19, 25
b) Psalm 47:7b
c) 2 Corinthians 4:2
d) Acts 2:42a
e) 1 Timothy 4:13
f) Colossians 3:16-17
g) Acts
VI. The
Results of Worship
A.
God is Glorified
B.
Christians Are Purified
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C.
The Church is Edified
D.
The Lost Are Evangelized
VII. The Preparation for Worship ( Heb.
A.
The Call
B.
The Checkpoints
1.
Sincerity
2.
Fidelity
3.
Humility
4.
Purity
VIII. The Barriers of Worship
A.
The Worship of Repentance
B.
The Worship of Acceptance
C.
The Worship of Devotion
Introduction
Recently, I have been greatly concerned about the
matter of worship. Wondering whether this concern was unique to my own era, I
began reading the works of some of the more ancient scriptural commentators and
saints of God. What I found out was that they faced similar periods of time
when the church had lost its perspective on worship. In fact, throughout church
history there seemed to be a rather constant cry, calling the people of God to
a worshiping life. For example St. Anselm of
Review
In our look at worship, we’ve tried not to exhaust
the theme, but rather to just touch the edges of it so that the Spirit of God
might begin to teach us. So far, we’ve looked at a definition of worship (see
p. 8) and discussed:
I. THE
IMPORTANCE OF WORSHIP (see pp. 11-43)
II. THE
SOURCE OF WORSHIP (see pp. 47-51)
III. THE OBJECT OF WORSHIP (see pp. 72-78)
IV. THE
SPHERE OF WORSHIP (see pp. 78-81)
In our
last lesson we began a look at:
V. THE
NATURE OF WORSHIP (begins on p. 86)
A. The
Deviations of Worship in Spirit and Truth
B. The
Discussion of Worship in Spirit and Truth
1.
Worship in spirit
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a) The meaning
b)
The method
(1) Possession of the Holy Spirit
(2) Thoughts centered on God
(3) Discovery and meditation on God’s Word
(4) An undivided heart
Many
times in the Old Testament, God indicted His people for
worshiping
Him externally while their hearts were far from Him
(Isa.
29:13; Jer. 3:10; Ezek. 33:31). In fact, the Lord indicted
the
religious people of His day for the same thing. For example
in
Matthew 15:7-9a He says, “Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah
prophesy
of you, saying, This people draweth near unto me with
their
mouth, and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far
from
me. But in vain they do worship me.” You see, God desires
an
undivided heart.
Lesson
Now we’ll pick up where we left off.
(a) Psalm 86:5-11 (see pp. 90-91).
(b) Psalm 108:1-3 - “O God, my heart is fixed; I
will sing and
give
praise....Awake, psaltery and harp; I myself will awake
early.
I will praise thee, O Lord, among the peoples; and I
will
sing praises unto thee among the nations.” In other words
the
music of praise rises out of a fixed, undivided, settled heart-
a
heart focusing only on God.
(c) Psalm 112:7b-8a - This psalm starts out,
“Praise ye the Lord,”
and
then continues as a psalm of praise. How is it that the
psalmist’s
heart can praise? Because “his heart is fixed, trusting
in
the Lord” (v.7b)and because “his heart is established” (v.8a).
Praise,
then, arises out of a heart that is fixed, established, and
focused
on the wonder of God.
(d) Psalm 57:7-11 - “My heart is fixed, O God, my
heart is fixed; I
will
sing and give praise. Awake up, my glory; awake psaltery
and
harp. I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord,
among
the peoples; I will sing unto thee among the nations.
For
thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the
clouds.
Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy
glory
be above all the earth.”
So
to worship in spirit we must possess the Holy Spirit, our
thoughts
must be centered on God, we must be in the
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Word of God with discovery
and meditation, and then we must
also
have an undivided and fixed heart. Fifth, we must have:
(5) An open and repentant spirit
In
Psalm 139:23-24 David says, “Search me, O God, and know
my
heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any
wicked way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting.” David
was
admitting here that he couldn’t fully understand his own heart.
So
he asked God to show him anything in his life that he needed
to
repent of.
As
we approach God in worship, we need to come with an open
and
repentant spirit. We must come to God with a willingness to
say,
“God, turn on the searchlight and expose whatever You find
in
the corners.” If you have found it difficult to worship, and there’s
little
sense of the nearness of God, it may well be that there are
areas
in your life that you have long overlooked and are only known
about
by God. If that’s the case, you need to plead with Him to
search
those areas out and expose them to you. Then you need to
willingly
confess them in a broken and contrite spirit.
In
order to worship, our sins must be dealt with. When Scripture
talks
about worship, it also talks about cleansing, purging, purifying,
confessing,
and repenting. Why? Because the only person who
can
utterly enter into communion with an utterly holy God, is one
whose
sin is utterly dealt with. We can’t go rushing into God’s
presence
in our impurity, thinking that all is well! We, like Isaiah,
must
confess our sin before God and allow Him to touch that live,
burning
coal to our lips to purge us (Isa. 6:6-7).
When
the Spirit of God resides within us, when our minds are focused
on
God, when we’re in His Word discovering and meditating with an
undivided
heart, and when we have given God full access to uncover
whatever
stands between us and Him - that is worshiping in spirit.
Many
years ago, Stephen Charnock wrote these words: “Without the
heart
it is not worship; it is a stage play; an acting a part without being
that
person really...a hypocrite. We may truly be said to worship God-
though
we lack perfection; but we cannot be said to worship Him if we
lack
sincerity.....” That’s so true! We may worship imperfectly, but we
cannot
worship insincerely. When we come to God to worship in spirit
it
must be from the depth of all that is within us-a sincere worship of
God.
Now,
lets look at the second (and balancing) element of the nature of
worship.
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2. Worship in truth
All
worship is in response to truth. It is not an emotional exercise with “God
words” and induced feelings, it is a
response that is built upon truth.
Pilate
asked Jesus a very important question: “What is truth?” (John 18:38a).
Well,
the answer to his question is found in
His
Father, “Thy word is truth,” or in Psalm 119 where the psalmist says, “Thy
law
is the truth” (v. 142b), “Thy word is true” (v. 160a).
Now,
if we are to worship in truth, and the Word of God is truth, then we must
worship
out of an understanding of the Word of God. If we’re going to truly
worship
God, we must understand who He is, and the only place He has fully
revealed
Himself is in His Word.
a) Romans 1:18-19, 25
“For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness
of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because
that
which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shown
it
unto them.” God has disclosed Himself, first of all, in terms of conscience
and
creation, or what is called general revelation. But men suppressed that
truth
and “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served
the
creature more than the Creator.” (v.25).
First of all, God revealed Himself in
creation and conscience, and then He
revealed
Himself clearly in the pages of the Word of God. If we are to
worship
in truth, then we are to worship God as He is defined in the Bible,
because
only the Bible explains the God of creation and conscience.
Everything
we know about God is in the Word of God, so He can’t be
worshiped
apart from His revelation.
b) Psalm 47:7b
All
worship must be based on truth. This is seen in Psalm 47:7b, where the
Psalmist
says, “Sing ye praises with understanding.” Worship is not simply
holding
hands and swaying back and forth or having ecstatic experiences
that
have no meaning or content. Worship is not even a good feeling, as
good
as feelings are. Worship is an expression of praise from the depth of
the
heart toward a God who is understood through His Word. There’s no
virtue
in saying you’re worshiping God if you don’t comprehend what
you’re
doing. Why? Because there’s no true worship apart from a true
understanding
of God. Any group that does not understand truth about
God
does not worship God - cannot worship God - for He must be
worshiped
in spirit and according to truth.
c) 2 Corinthians 4:2
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walking
in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by
manifestation
of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience
in
the sight of God.” In other words,
misuse
the Bible, nor will we ever be dishonest with anybody to gain our
own
ends. All we desire to do is to manifest the truth and to therefore
commend
ourselves in the sight of God.” All response in worship is a
response
to the Word of God.
Why is expository preaching important?
People
often ask me, “How can you have a worship service when you preach such a
long
time? When do the people have time to worship?” Well, I’m so committed to
expository
preaching because God cannot be worshiped apart from an understanding
of who
He is as He is revealed in Scripture. I’m committed to the systematic teaching
of the
Word of God - week in and week out - because God must be worshiped in
truth.
Now I could give clever sermons that would move the emotions and attitudes by
filling
them with a lot of stories. And I could make it all very interesting, fun, and
exciting.
However, when it was all said and done people might say, “Boy, John
MacArthur
can sure preach!” but they wouldn’t be worshiping God. It’s a far greater
challenge
for me to teach the Word of God and let it command men to respond to God
as God
is revealed in His self-revelation.
I
strongly believe that any young person going into the ministry who is not
committed
to
expository preaching is ultimately cutting his own throat. Why? Because people
must
respond,
in every dimension of their lives, to the truth of the Word of God. We have to
worship
in truth - truth that is revealed in His Word. That’s why I’m so totally
committed
to the fact that we must teach the Word of God.
d) Acts 2:42a
When
the early church met together, they “continued steadfastly in the
apostles’
doctrine.” What was their doctrine? The revelations of God about
Himself
that were manifested through the apostles’ writings and teachings.
They
were the substance of the truth on which the early church worshiped.
e) 1 Timothy 4:13
to
doctrine.” In other words, “Read the text, explain the text, and apply the
text.”
Timothy was to stay in the text and teach sound doctrine - the truth
about
God.
f) Colossians 3:16-17
When
the early church worshiped, they used “psalms and hymns and
spiritual
songs” and had times of praise and thanks. But before all these
things
are listed in verses 16-17, it says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in
you
richly [Gk., plousios, “abundantly, fully”].” In other words, when the
Word
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dominates us, our praise is
regulated, and our worship is conformed to
the
divine standard.
g) Acts
When
but
their worship was unacceptable. Look at his indictment of them: “For
as
I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this
inscription,
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly
worship....”
You see, they were worshiping in ignorance, and their worship
was
unacceptable.
So
what is the nature of worship? It’s offering God worship from the depths of our
inner
being in praise, prayer, song, giving, and living - but always based on His
revealed
truth. It’s difficult to keep the church conformed to that because on one
hand
it tends to get cold and lifeless, but on the other hand it gets emotional,
fanatical,
and feeling-oriented. The balance is in the middle because God is to be
worshiped
in spirit and in truth.
A
loss of true worship is seen in cold orthodoxy where ritual, formality,
routine,
and
tradition have become a mindless, meaningless, activity - that is just as much
a
loss as the ecstasies of the other extreme. So I submit to you, if you’re going
to
worship
God, there must be faithful commitment to the Word of God. It isn’t going
to
happen by some “zap” out of heaven. Worship must come from the overflow of
an
understanding of God’s Word. As you study it, discover its truths, meditate
on
it, focus on God, have an undivided heart, and have an open and repentant
spirit
- the result will be an overflow of worship.
VI. THE
RESULTS OF WORSHIP
A.
God is Glorified
Psalm
50:23a says, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.” When we praise and
worship
God, He is glorified. In Leviticus 10:3b, the Lord tells Moses, “I will be
sanctified
in them that come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified.”
God
wants to be set apart and glorified among His people. And as we come to
Him
in worship, He is glorified. The supreme purpose of life is to glorify God -
and
when we worship Him as He is to be worshiped, He is glorified.
Second, when we worship God as
He desires to be worshiped:
B. Christians Are Purified
In
Psalm 24:3-4 David says, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who
shall
stand in his holy place? He who hath clean hands, and a pure heart.” A
worshiping
church is a pure church. Why? Because as we enter into God’s
presence
there is recognition of our sinfulness and a willingness to abandon that
sinfulness.
There is a consuming desire to be pure and clean, the closer we draw
to
God. And the nearer we come to Him, the more overwhelmed we become
with
our sinfulness and cry with David, “Search me, O God, and know
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my heart; try me, and know
my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way
in
me” (Ps. 139:23-24a).
The
reason the Lord’s Table is so important in the worship of the church is
because
it causes us to regularly face the reality of our sinfulness. In fact, that’s
the
reason the early church so frequently engaged in it - so that they might come
face
to face with the need to be pure.