Mark chapter 7 beginning 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. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. 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 asked him, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands? And he said to them, well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites. As it is written, 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, yet leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men." He said to them, you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition. Oh, God. We look to the condition of our souls today. We ask, Holy Spirit, that you might shine the light of your word into the very recesses of our hearts, that we might know the truth and see where we stand before a holy God. Lord, we don't want to be people that honor you with our lips. We want to worship You in spirit and in truth. We want our lives to be lives of worship. We want Your people to be a people of worship. Teach us today, God. I pray that You would lead. Lord, if we don't have You, we have nothing. And we need You. And we're hungry for You, God. We are desperate for You. And we are lost, God, without you. As we study the subject of worship and examining this text, I would like to emphasize that if you don't believe your worship, then it's false worship. And we know in our hearts of hearts whether we really believe what we're seeing. In the quiet places, at home, When we're alone with God, we know in our heart of hearts whether we really believe. And I've thought about hindrances. When I've been hindered in my worship and some of the reasons why there are these hindrances, the main thing that God spoke to me about this week concerns the matter of pride. The Bible says pride goes before destruction. And God teaches us that He resists the proud. But the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a humble spirit and save such as be of a contrite heart. And so, when Jesus quoted these words from Isaiah, And he says, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. I have to ask you to examine with me this morning the condition of your soul. What is the condition of your heart this morning? Because we really don't care what you do, We don't care what you say. And it doesn't matter to God. Your profession does not matter to God. Only God and you know that it's been a divine transaction. And so that's what I want to talk about this morning. Because I'm concerned for your soul. The one who is lost. And he knows that he's lost and there are doubts in his mind. And he knows that as we sing these songs, he's not quite sure if he believes that it's all applicable. He really doesn't know. And so I don't want to know this morning when you have joined a church or when you said a prayer or when you were baptized. If that is all that you have done, then, friend, you are on your way to hell. You will never see God. You're fooling yourself. I want to know if you know that you know that you are saved and that you are safe. I want to know, did God come into your life? through the convicting work of His Holy Spirit, convicting you of your lost condition? Has God ever brought home to you the awful thought that you were doomed and damned and without hope, separate from a holy God? Did God ever awaken you from the dead and change your life in such a way that you are simply no longer the same person. You are altogether a new and a radically different person. I'm not talking about renovation. I don't want to know if you're a better person. I don't want to know if you simply don't do the things that you used to do and now you go to church and try to be a good person. If that is you, if you die tonight, you will be separated from God forever and you will burn in hell. I want to know, have you ever been lost? I don't want to know when were you saved. Because if you simply grew up in church and you simply said a prayer one time and God never brought home to you the fact that you were doomed and damned and separated from the Holy God, and if you were to die that moment, you would be forever separated from God. You are still in your sins this morning. You are lost. And someone prayed correctly this morning. And we're not here to judge your soul's condition. That's between you and God. But this we know. that we've been guilty for years of preaching a false gospel and convincing people that when they would simply make a decision and pray this prayer that they would be safe. And the fact is, they were never changed by God. God never saved them. And they are still lost. And our churches are full of lost people. And I don't know if that's you or not. I know that just a few years back when I had been a pastor for some 15 years, God awoken my wife to the fact that she was lost and on her way to hell. And God brought home the gospel to her after she had lived all these lives being a good woman, a church member, a pastor's wife. And yet God brought conviction and it dawned upon her as she heard the gospel that she had only assented to some facts. about the gospel, but that God had never opened her eyes and she was still blind. She was lost. Have you ever been lost? In other words, was there ever a time that you remember that you knew that you were lost and without Christ in this world and on your way to hell? If not, my friend, this morning, you are yet in your sins and lost and separated from God. Did God ever, in a miraculous way, give you the faith to believe that Christ actually died for your sins and that His atoning work on Calvary satisfied the just demands of an angry, wrathful God towards you. I've heard folks say, I just don't remember. I just kind of grew up in it. Neighbor, When God comes into your life and saves you, you might not be able to save the day, but you remember that there was a work of God and not a work of man. And so many because of us. Oh, I confess to you, there have been so many that I have led in a simple little prayer. And I've told them and assured them with the authority of the pastor who knew this book, that they would just repeat this prayer. That they would go to heaven. And with the authority of the church at large in America, we have told people to just come down this aisle. And what a grand idea. And what a grand scheme of Satan to cause the leaders of the church to tell people that if they would simply join the church and say this little prayer, they would be safe. And to know that there are hundreds and thousands that are going to burn for eternity because of us. And they know, but they look back to that time when they prayed that prayer. And they did good, but they can't testify that they know in their heart of hearts that an Almighty God came down and brought the dead to life. They were dead in their sins and God miraculously raised them from the dead and they're alive to God. They can't remember it. And they can't remember it because it never happened. They only became church members. And that is why for the last 40, 50 years, we've had hundreds and thousands of church splits and infighting and bickering and backbiting and wars, biting and devouring and consuming one another and closing churches. And there's no joy in the midst of such an unregenerate people because there's no reality. Do you remember that God changed your life. It has begun, my friends, by a miracle. Everybody's experience is not the same. But God always saves in the same way. He raises the dead to life. I taught my kids how to say that little prayer. And remembering back when I knelt down and they said, Daddy, I don't want to go to hell. And I said, just say this prayer. Just pray with me. Do you believe this? Of course they believe it. And they said this prayer this past January when God impressed me. He said, Bob, I want you to begin to fast and pray for your kids. And boy, when that first boy called me, I'll never forget it. I'll never forget the laughing and crying on the other end. I said, this is a different boy. This is different. Faith and I went out to eat a couple of weeks ago and those boys sat there and spoke for two hours about God. Two solid hours about God. We had never done that in our family. We had chatted somewhat. We couldn't get the boys to sit down and have a conversation about God. It was boring to them because they were lost. They were all on their way to hell. But God did a supernatural work and opened their eyes. They understood the gospel and God saved them. Boy, I'm about to do some crazy things here. A lot of people have just kind of always been saved. They don't really remember a miraculous work. They said, oh brother Bob, you were just a real bad guy and so when you got saved, of course there was radical change. My friend, everywhere Jesus goes, He changes things radically. Except in today's modern day church. They just kind of stopped doing a lot of things, but pretty much continue going their way. And there's all kind of inward sins. All kind of pride, jealousy, resentment. They don't really love the brethren. I know this. I've been loving these people for years and talking to them and seeing the evidence of the lack of love for the brethren. Even the bitterness and the spite and the hatred of people who call themselves Christians. I remember going from bar to bar We'd be in the Navy, and I remember getting knocked off my chair. We'd fight and getting slapped off my chair and pick myself up off the ground, and we'd start fighting. And before the end of the night, we'd sit there and pat each other and laugh. Wasn't that a good old time we just had there? Nowadays, I got mortal enemies. I got preachers who absolutely hate me. I can't figure it out. And I know the condition of our churches is sad. Sad. People that just kind of grew up in church. And that's wonderful. Thank God for our Christian families who teach our children that please don't tell your children just to say this little prayer. or come down this aisle or go talk to the preacher and we'll settle this and we'll baptize you because you're unconverted and we'll simply help in the deception and you'll die and go to hell. And you'll send your kids to hell. But mom and dad, you better get on your face before God and begin to cry out that Almighty God comes down and regenerates your kids because if He doesn't, they won't be saved. No matter how good things seem to be at home. Do you understand, church, that Christianity is not a religion? Do you remember the day is what I'm asking you. Can you define it as a miracle? It had to be God. Or did your mom or daddy or the preacher just save you? Did they lead you in this simple prayer telling you to just trust Jesus and you would go to heaven? And there was nothing miraculous or mighty. It was kind of a ho-hum day. But if you can't say, Brother Bob, there was a time when God came in. It was the greatest day of my life. God changed me and saved me. And I'm a new person. And I hate sin. And I love God. And I love God's people. I love the church. And I love to worship. If that is not you, you're lost this morning. Just like my kids who had all prayed this prayer, I'd baptize them all, a couple of them a couple of times. It's a lie. It's a lie. It's a modern day lie of Satan to confuse the masses and has crept into our churches by the scores and we are preaching a false gospel. Millions of people will be swept off into hell because they were deceived into thinking that simply believing in Jesus and praying a prayer of forgiveness would be enough to guarantee them heaven. But it is all a lie. Jesus said even the devils believe and tremble. That is not enough. You can't give a mere assent to the facts. You say, well, what do I do? I think I'm lost. My friend, you need to just go home and cry out to God. And wait for God to save you. Because you can't save yourself. You cannot do it. You might say, I'm scared to hell, so I'm going to go down the aisle and get somebody to pray with me. And I want to pray right now. I'm going to do it. You can't. That's our problem. Too many people have done it, and it's not really done. There are merely religious people. Salvation is of the Lord. You will know when God saves you. You can't simply explain it as hearing a message from the Bible and you decided to agree with what the preacher said and come down the aisle and say this prayer. If that is what you did, more than likely, And I'm saying before God and heaven this morning, more than likely, 99% for sure, you are certainly still in your sins and lost without God. And you know it, and your heart knows it. In your heart of hearts, you know that you're lost, but you're too proud. And that pride is going to send you to hell. And Satan is going to laugh all the way as you perish in your foolish pride. You know that you're not born again. And I know that this, what I'm preaching, has always made a lot of people mad. But it is the truth. I am speaking the truth in love to you this morning. You know why we're not experiencing a reviving of the church today? It's because there is so little life in the church. In particular, our Baptist churches are chock full of dead religious Orthodox people. The true reason. Their so little life in the church is because the masses have been deceived into thinking they are safe and saved because of that simple prayer or decision they made. But they do know in their heart of hearts that there's never been a divine transformation in their lives which is the result of a supernatural work of God waking a sinner from the dead. opening their eyes to their lost spiritual condition. God granting them repentance whereby the awakened sinner actually from his new heart repents of his sinful condition and of his sins and he casts himself on the mercy of God and believes that God has called him in particular to himself and he rests in the gospel. Oh, my friend, Are you resting in the finished work of Christ for your sins? And has Jesus become the Lord of your life where He is your absolute Master and everything is changed? I am pleading with you to examine your heart. Have you ever been born from above? And is pride right now keeping you from confessing to God that you are lying and that you have never been saved. And you know it. But in your pride, you want to continue on in this facade of religion. And it is going to take you straight to hell. You are still in your sins. You're lost and without hope. You're blinded by religion. and will perish. You are dead in your trespasses and sins. You are the enemy of God and a child of wrath. There's no life in you. And if you die today, you will perish. And you can no more worship God than a blind man can see or a deaf man can hear. A.W. Pink said true worship is the adoration of a redeemed people totally occupied with God Himself. The first time the word redeemed occurs in Scripture is in Exodus chapter 15. And it is there also for a first time we see a redeemed people singing and worshiping and adoring God Himself. Right there on the shores of the Red Sea, that nation which has been brought out from the house of bondage and delivered from all their enemies, they're united in praising Almighty God. Worship is the new nature in the believer, stirred into activity, turning to its divine and heavenly source. We preached the last time, it is that which is Spirit turning to Him who is Spirit. It is that which is the workmanship of Christ turning to Him who recreated Him in new life. It is the children of God spontaneously and gratefully turning in love to their Heavenly Father. It is the heart crying out to God. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. It is sinners cleansed by blood, examining and proclaiming, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. That is worship. Assured in our regeneration in the atoning work of Christ, adoring God for what He has made Christ to be unto us and what He has made us to be unto Christ. A divine revelation takes place whereby God miraculously and supernaturally opens the eyes of the blind, dead sinner to God and He is born from above. Heaven comes down, the Spirit of God comes down and snatches that sinner from the mighty clay and opens his eyes and he's alive to God. Has it ever really happened? And do you know it? And is it thanks being to God for His unspeakable gift? Or, be underground for his unspeakable gift. We're saved. Safe. I heard the story this week in closing. The woman who broke the alabaster box of ointment. We're such an unbroken people. To see this woman get up having wiped the fragrance from the feet of Jesus' dirty feet with her hair matted and oily and disgusting. We would not dare to humble ourselves and to be so broken. as to show up in church outwardly. Sometimes I think, you know, the heart's condition is so wrong that we all just show up in dirty blue jeans and dirty t-shirts, ragged, like our own righteousness truly is, and just confess the truth. These disciples, when she broke the ointment on Jesus' feet, their response was, Indignation. We could have sold this and given it to the poor. Brother Will, thank you for the exhortation. And we need to do that. But friends, my great-grandfather owned a whorehouse and several saloons. And he gave a lot to the poor. Al Capone was known for giving a lot to the poor. You can do all these things. And when your heart stops its beating, and God snatches your life from you, and you close your eyes for the last time, you can open up your eyes in hell for all eternity, and there's no hope. Oh, how we need to pray for our kids. Mom and Dad, if I had it to do over, I wouldn't wait until my kids were 20 to start fasting and praying. And if I thought in my heart that more than likely my kids have unregenerated parents, I would not let a day go by until I would cry out to God and that He would confirm to me, that He would confirm to me, not Brother Scott, not Mom, not Dad, but that God, He's able. God, who cannot lie, will give you the assurance you need. If you can be assured. If not, he won't give it to you. Because he loves you. And you'll be unsure. And you might say, well, bro, Bob, I only doubt here and there once in a while. What if that's the day? There's no hope without that. I wouldn't go on doubting and not sure. And you know you're one of those masses who simply came down the aisle. You said, well, sure. I mean, I'd do it if somebody told me you're going to hell for all eternity. All you had to do is walk down the aisle and say this little prayer. But there's nothing supernatural going on, and you know it. You're glad for the security that you think you have in Christ. But there's nothing supernatural that ever took place. Christianity is not religion. You're still lost. And as far as I know, God prompted me to give this message this morning just for you. I don't know. He's God. He's the one that calls the shots. He's the Lord. He orders these things. I was planning on going a whole other different direction. I've got a list of hindrances to worship. But as I was studying last night and I thought that I had prepared what I was going to preach, God said, this one, this one, this one, this one right here, this one, this and pride. He said that the two go together. The deception of easy believism today and pride are two of the greatest tools that Satan has ever brought together to deceive the masses. And I say masses because nowadays we meet, even now, and we get them in other countries by the hundreds and thousands. And us Americans go there and tell them all they've got to do is come down the aisle. Sometime all they've got to do is touch them on the forehead. Just say this prayer. That was God. That's God. And it is all man. And it stinks. And God hates it. He loathes it. And the Holy Spirit is working right now. Across our nation, there is a reviving sweeping through young people and causing them to see and open their eyes that what the church has today stinks in the nostrils of God. And they are being genuinely converted. And many, many of our older folk are sneering and looking down. Because after all, this is what we Baptists have always done. You might wonder sometime why we don't have an invitation. Well, we sing a song. But we don't beg and plead and tell you to close your eyes and raise your hand. And I see that hand and all this sort of ungodliness and filthiness. Because all that is a work of God and we're not here to do the work of God. You heard what I said, right? We're not here to do. We're not here to try to do God's work man's way. That's iniquity, but we're here to be available for God. And church, with all my heart, in my heart of hearts, I don't understand it. I've been doing this for a long time and I still don't understand it. And I don't know why God led me to preach this message, but I know He's sovereign and He had a purpose. And it was for you, I beg you, to respond and to cry out. We're just gonna sing a song and then we're gonna close the service and go down to eat and You may die and go to hell if you ignore what God has said your heart this morning You may or God might turn you into a worshiper God we thank you We thank you for Calvary and for taking our sins upon Yourself and for calling to Yourself a people of God. Oh God, how grateful we are! We thank You, Jesus, for Your unspeakable gift that You wrought in Christ when You bore the wrath of God for us. God, we pray for the church. We pray for our children. Lord, we pray for Lord, for someone who's never been saved and today they're blinded and they can't see it. They can't see. They're lost. They're wondering in their sins and they can't see God. You're not a reality to them. It's a figment. Oh God, save the lost this morning. Open blinded eyes. Open the ears that are deaf and dumb. Raise the dead to life through the preaching of the gospel. God, I thank You for saving my wife. I thank You for saving me. I thank You for saving my boys. Continue to pray for my other family members. Oh, there's so many, Lord, that tell us weekly they have family members who are lost. God, how can we get lost people saved when we have people in the church who are lost? Lord, we're not here to condemn but to plead and to preach and to ask Holy Spirit that you might work and that there would be an awakening of lost sinners. How we would rejoice when a prideful sinner repents of his religion. Oh God, have your way this morning. Let's stand together.