Do you know that if you’re saved, blood bought, through faith in the
finished work of Christ, you are a worshipper and priest, able to offer up spiritual
sacrifices to the Lord? There’s more….

IS GOD RECEIVING THE WORSHIP

DUE UNTO HIS NAME?

PSALM 29 :2 ,”GIVE UNTO THE LORD

THE GLORY DUE UNTO HIS NAME; WORSHIP THE

LORD IN THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS.”

I have visited several bible-teaching churches and have found
confusion.

They call a certain service,a worship service but the pastor gives
a gospel

message for the unsaved or he ministers to the believers. Now,

is this w worship? No, it is not. Then what is worship you might
say.

WORSHIP IS THE FRUIT OF OUR LIPS GIVING
THANKS TO HIS

NAME. (Hebrews 13:15). Worship is
praise from us to God, while ministry

is from God to us. There is a difference between a worship service,

a gospel service and a ministry service.

IN JOHN 4:23 “THE FATHER SEEKETH
WORSHIPPERS TO WORSHIP

HIM”. Fellow Christians, please
don’t forget that. The Father is seeking

something. There is a lot going on today. There is a lot of work
and far be

it from me to ever minimize the importance of Christian service,
but it

doesn’t say here the Father seeketh servants to serve Him. It says
here,

THE FATHER SEEKETH WORSHIPPERS, TO WORSHIP
HIM

That’s what He would have-His redeemed people fulfilling this

character of worship which was in His mind from eternity.THINK OF
IT

–REDEEMED CREATURES, PURCHASED AT SUCH A COST BOWING

DOWN BEFORE HIM AND POURING OUT A FULL HEART IN

APPRECIATION FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE.

WORSHIP IS THE HEARTS OVERFLOW TO GOD IN PRAISE AND

THANKSGIVING. (REV. 4:10,11).

Because of His grace, we have the privilege of all being able to
fulfill

the place where God has put us. There is no joy greater than the
place

where God has put us. There is no joy greater than the joy of a
worshipper of

God. Why? Because the soul is occupied with the Divine Being upon

whom our very life depends. There is no really enjoying life unless
you

are a worshipper of God.

WHO CAN WORSHIP?

Now in order to worship Him you must

KNOW HIM. No proper worship can

be rendered to Him unless you know Him. The basis of worship is

redemption. (Rev. 5:8-10) An unsaved person cannot worship God.

“THE SACRIFICE OF THE WICKED IS AN ABOMINATION TO THE

LORD” (PROV. 15:8) “BE YE NOT UNEQUALLY YOKED TOGETHER

WITH UNBELIEVERS; FOR WHAT FELLOWSHIP HATH RIGHTEOUSNESS

WITH UNRIGHTEOUSNESS? AND WHAT COMMUNION HATH LIGHT

WITH DARKNESS?”(2COR.6:14) . Now, I’m not saying if any
unsaved

person should come to a worship

service you should force him to leave, but

his place would be only to observe believers worshipping the Lord,

not as a partaker. So, who can worship the Lord?

BELIEVERS!

And all believers are priests. 1 Peter 2:5
says, “YE ALSO, AS LIVING STONES,

ARE BUILT UP A SPIRITUAL HOUSE, AN HOLY
PRIESTHOOD, TO

OFFER UP SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES, ACCEPTABLE TO
GOD BY

JESUS CHRIST”. When an assembly
of Christians are gathered together for

the purpose of worship, any brother led by the Spirit may be the
mouthpiece

for the assembly in praising the Lord, leading in a hymn, or
reading a portion of

scripture recalling what our precious Lord has done for us. If
there is a

separate class of men set apart by human appointment for this, it
would

deny the priesthood of all. It wou ld not be a sister’s place to be
the vocal

instrument for the assembly. (1Cor. 14:34) Yet her meditations of
praise in

her heart are of great importance to the Lord, also. Israel’s
worship was a

formal worship-an outward worship-only certain ones could
participate in it

directly-the priestly household. It was restricted. Yet, God had
intended in

the Old Testament all were to be priests, a holy nation but they
forfeited this

place by worshipping the golden calf. (Exodus 19:5,6)

OUR OBJECT OF WORSHIP

God the Father (John 4:23) and God the Son (John 5:23) are the
objects

of worship but not God the Holy Spirit. (John 16:13,14). It is only
fitting

during a time of worship that we have the breaking of bread. (Acts
2:42)

The Father and the Son are

the objects of our thoughts and mediations

during this time. This meeting is especially for united praise and
worship

as we remember our Lord . The purpose of the Breaking of Bread
meeting is

“THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF
ME”(1 Cor. 11:26) and “ANNOUNCE

HIS DEATH” (1 Cor. 11:26) and on
“FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK ” (Acts 20:7)

Who administers it?

Any brother led by Spirit to do so. (1 Peter 2:5, 1 Cor.11:25).

How long do we do this? “UNTIL HE COMES” (1 Cor. 11:26).

The Lord’s Supper is instituted in Luke 22:19, expounded in 1 Cor.
11:23-34,

and celebrated in Acts 20:7.

OUR POWER OF WORSHIP

Our power of worship is the Holy Spirit. (Eph. 2:18, Phil. 3:3).
Any ritual

or preplanned order of service denies the power of worship. The
Holy Spirit

has power. “YE ARE THE CIRCUMCISION
WHICH WORSHIP GOD

BY THE SPIRIT, REJOICE IN CHRIST JESUS, AND
HAVE NO CONFIDENCE

IN THE FLESH”. The power for worship is the Spirit of God. He
is quite

competent to furnish every bit of

leadership that is necessary apart from

any precedent of men, or any formal appointment. The Spirit of God
is quite

sufficient. But, dear friends, if you are going to worship the
Father-if I am-it

must be in truth and thus how we need to know the truth about His

person and made known in the Person of Christ. “FOR NO MAN

KNOWETH THE FATHER SAVE THE SON AND HE TO
WHOMSOEVER

THE SON SHALL REVEAL HIM”.

We must know Him in order to know

what is suitable to Him. We must know what our relationship is to
Him, in

order to worship in spirit and truth. If we are not enjoying Christ
and the things

of God the spring of worship will be dried up. You may go on
serving, but I’ll tell

you it’s a lot easier to preach than it is to worship, it’s much
more simple

to teach than it is to worship. But the Father seeks worshippers
and whatever

is of concern of God should be of vital interest to us. And without
exception

every child of God is part of that priestly family and should be
engaged

in worship both individually and collectively.

OUR MATERIAL FOR WORSHIP

Our material for worship is “IN SPIRIT”
and “IN TRUTH”. “In
Spirit” we

can see the contrast with Judaism (2 Chron. 5:12-14) with the New
Testament

scriptures (1 Cor. 14:15, Eph. 5:19, and Col. 3:16). “In
Truth” means we

worship God according to the truth of who He is as revealed in the
Word. (John 14:9)

Worship today is only to be in Spirit and truth.

And so, God does not in that

respect use physical things. Instruments and choirs deny the
material

for worship. It’s a question of the reality of the heart, that
which comes

forth from the heart. I venture to say that you will search in vain
for anything

in the New Testament scriptures that will give you anything formal
and

detailed as to how you should proceed in a Christian service. We
don’t even

read of what the Lord Jesus said when He gave thanks at the time of

the institution of the Lord’s Supper. If we knew, we ‘d all be
repeating is as a

prayer, wouldn’t we? We don’t know a single prayer that the
apostles made

when they gathered together with the Lord’s people to the Lord’s
name. Why?

You see it isn’t constricted within the narrow limits of a formal
system

–IT’S IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH.

WHERE DO WE WORSHIP

When our Lord talked with the woman at the well she said “OUR FATHERS

WORSHIPPED IN THIS MOUNTAIN; AND YE SAY, THAT
IN JERUSALEM

IS THE PLACE WHERE MEN OUGHT TO
WORSHIP”. She knows God should

be worshipped. Now she glories in her fathers. She glories in
antiquity.

Most people follow in what they are brought up in.

But dear friends, just following

what you are brought up in isn’t enough. She doesn’t say a single

word about what was the right place to

worship. All she says is “Ye say that

in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Are you and I
concerned

about the place where God wants you to worship? It’s not a question
of what

you say or I say or anybody else says.

The whole question is what the

Word of God says. The Word of God is plain. Certainly she could
find no text

of Scripture to indicate that they should have been worshipping in
Mount

Gerizim–the place where Samaritans worshipped..

Oh, you see, how antiquity,that which is ancient,

that which has been handed down from one to another

may get a grip on our hearts. I believe that under similar
circumstances today

you can almost see people using these same words.

Oh, I know that they wouldn’t talk about Mount Geriaim

but they would talk about this

establishment or that establishment -that’s the way I was brought
up and I don’t

intend to change. In all solemnity, God has a place where He wants
men to

worship and His word shows what that place is. Are you concerned
about

the place that He has chosen? Are we sufficiently concerned to
learn what

pleases Him to stay ignorant no longer ? You see there is a guilty
ignorance.

But nevertheless, our God is very gracious and He unquestionably

recognizes all sincerity of heart. OUR PLACE OF WORSHIP IS THE
PRESENCE

OF GOD (HEB. 9:24, HEB. 10:19) NOT IN ANY CONSECRATED BUILDINGS

OR ALTERS.

We are to “WORSHIP THE LORD IN
THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS”

If God is to be worshipped,

He must be worshipped in the beauty of holiness.

He cannot change those terms. It’s absolutely essential to the
nature of

His being that He be worshipped in holiness

Unjudged sin can

find no place in His presence. And what is holiness as far as we

are concerned. It’s the knowledge of sin and refusal of it. In Psalm 99:9

it says, “EXALT THE LORD OUR GOD, AND
WORSH IP AT HIS HOLY HILL,

FOR THE LORD OUR GOD IS HOLY” He
tells us here not only what the

character of God is, which must be met if we are to worship Him–HE
IS TO

BE WORSHIPPED IN THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. You see, God

has left some choices up to us–that is the choice of Where He is
to be

worshipped, He has not. Where are divine worshippers, where is the
place

of worship? In the heavenlies, within the veil. “LET US DRAW NEAR WITH

A TRUE HEART” That’s one of the
most important exhortations in the

New Testament, “LET US DRAW NEAR’ and “IF WE DRAW NIGH
UNTO

GOD, HE WILL DRAW NIGH UNTO US” . And so He would have His
people,

purged worshippers appearing before Him in the heavenlies,
worshipping in His

sphere. But you want to know what earthly place you should go to?
It’s very

striking the Lord never gives any indication in the New Testament
of a physical

location. In Matthew 18:20 He says, “FOR
WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE

GATHERED UNTO MY NAME,THERE AM I IN THE MIDST
OF

THEM”. Dear friends, the only
place that you and I will find out where we

should be worshippers together with the Lord’s people is to follow
Him, according

to the Word. And it should be a place where there is no human
precedence

for worship, a place where the Holy Spirit is free to use
whomsoever He will,

to offer up the praise of His people or to give opportunity for all
to join

unitely in a song of praise, those songs which we are privileged to
sing already

but which will ring throughout eternity, throughout heaven. It will
be the wonder

of the universe, “UNTO HIM THAT LOVETH
US,THAT LOOSED US FROM

OUR SIN,IN HIS OWN BLOOD’.

This is true worship, begun, now and

continued forever. (Rev.5:10)

“GIVING UNTO THE LORD THE GLORY DUE UNTO
HIS NAME”. Are

you doing that? Am I? “THE GLORY DUE UNTO HIS NAME” Oh
what glory

is due to His name! You know He has a glorious Name, a Name beyond
all

competition. Now He says, “GIVE UNTO HIM THE GLORY DUE UNTO
HIS

NAME”. May I say it again? You are not, dear friend,
fulfilling the purpose

of your being here unless you are GIVING UNTO THE LORD THE

GLORY DUE TO HIS NAME!