Heavenly Father, we do come before You today with all humility and come to praise You and to glorify You, because You are awesome and holy and beyond our comprehension. Lord, I do pray for grace and wisdom that You would give to me. the words of life, Lord, that you would help me to speak your very words and to think your thoughts, Lord, by grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through your own word, Lord, I do pray that you will edify us and enlighten us and help us to see your glory first and foremost and above all, in Christ's name I pray, amen. So today we're going to consider the biblical doctrine of worship. Thomas Manton referenced a story in which the Roman Senate, hearing of the miracles being performed in Judea, debated on whether to decree divine worship to Christ. But Emperor Tiberius blocked it when he heard that he would be worshiped alone. This is the controversy between Christ and the world. The Christian religion doesn't interfere with any man's liberty, but leaves every man's conscience free and accountable only to God. Yet it has no tolerance for false doctrine, and does not make a compact or truce with error. It does not claim to be one form of truth which exists side by side with a dozen others, but it reveals Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. We do not believe in many ways to heaven, for we know that there is only one way. As Jesus said, no man comes to the Father but by me. And we do not acknowledge two foundations for faith, for we know Christ to be the one and only foundation. And we cannot say otherwise, for Christ is not one among many saviors. He is the one and only Redeemer of men. The first word, the first use of the word worship in the Bible appears in the story of Genesis 22, in which Abraham is commanded to offer up a sacrifice and his son Isaac as sacrifice. And in Genesis 22, five, it says, and Abraham said unto his young men, abide ye here with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. Abraham's remarkable statement here indicates all the elements of true worship, knowledge, belief of the gospel, fear of God and love of God. the lad and I will go worship," he said. Abraham knew that God had commanded him to sacrifice his son, the son of the promise of the gospel, but accounting that God was able to raise him up again, Hebrews 11, 19, Abraham asserts his belief that the lad will come back with him alive and well. He is, Abraham is cheerful and willing to give over even his own beloved son because of his knowledge of God, his trust in the Word of God, that Isaac was indeed the son of promise. His fear and love of God are obvious in his willing and cheerful obedience. We will go and worship. My goal in the study is to try to open up the specific nature of biblical worship throughout the study to see the true foundation of it so that we can see more clearly how we should each individually think about worship and how we are to engage in it. And if you guys wanna turn to John chapter four, I'm gonna read verses 21 to 24. Jesus saith unto her, Believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship what ye know not. Oops, ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such worship. God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4, 21 to 24. The right exercise of worship is founded on and rises from the spirituality of God. The first ground of the worship we render to God is the infinite excellency of his nature. which is not only one attribute, but the resultant of all his attributes. It is to worship God as God, as he is the object of worship. The notion of God does not consist in thinking of him to be wise, good, just, et cetera, as accidental properties, but all those understood infinitely beyond any conception and joined into a simple incomprehensible glory It follows here that God is an object infinitely to be reverenced and loved. His forgiveness is sometimes spoken of in scripture as a motive of our worship. Psalm 130 verse four says, there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. The fear of God in the scriptures signifies the whole worship of God, as in Acts 10.35. Now it is impossible to honor God as we ought unless we know him as he is. And we could not know him as he is without divine revelation from himself. No one but God can acquaint us with his own nature. You know not, you worship what you know not, because unless there be knowledge, it is not God that we worship, but a phantom or an idol. All good intentions, as they are called, are struck down by the sentence as if by a thunderbolt. For we learn from it that men can do nothing but go astray when they are guided by their own opinion without the word or command of God. That's Calvin from his commentary on this verse on 422. It is therefore as much every man's duty to worship God in spirit as it is their duty to worship him. Worship is so due to him as God as that it denies that whoever denies worship to God in spirit denies his deity and disowns his deity. And spiritual worship is so due that whoever denies that denies his spirituality. It is a debt of justice we owe to God to worship him. and it is as much a debt of justice to worship Him according to His nature. Worship is nothing else but a rendering to God the honor that is due to Him, that is grounded both on His nature and on His command. Only that which is on His command is perpetually due. A rational nature must worship God. With that in which the glory of God most shines, we must give him our bodies, but as a living sacrifice. But if the spirit is absent from God when the body is before him, we present a dead sacrifice. It is morally dead in the duty, though it may seem alive in the posture and in the action. If the divine nature is the object of worship, So then the divine perfections are to be honored in worship. We do not honor God if we do not honor him as he is. And we do not honor him as spirit if we do not think of him as worthy of the ardors and ravishing admirations of our own spirits. If we think the devotions of the body are sufficient for him, we contract him into the lower condition of our own being and not only deny him to be a spiritual nature, but trample down all those perfections which he could not possess if he were not a spirit. So the main idea of this passage is to worship him in spirit and in truth. And Jesus said that we must know, he implies that we must know what it is that we worship. So we must have the truth about God first and foremost, if we're going to worship him correctly, The question of knowing what we worship causes us to begin with the revelation of God. And it's important to understand the nature of that revelation correctly in order to properly appreciate it and handle it. Theologians normally divide the revelation of God into general and specific and special revelation. General revelation is like the heavens declaring the glory of God, such that all men certainly know about the eternal power and Godhead, as in Romans 1.20, of the Creator. This knowledge certainly is a basis of condemnation, since by it men know that there is a God, and by their experience of the goodness and kindness of God, in that the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike, They certainly know that there is a God and that they are responsible and should be thankful to Him. But the knowledge of God through the creation is marred by the fall. Not just man himself is fallen into sin, but the whole creation itself is cursed. and and there is no way a lot of people try to argue or prove the existence of God from the creation. But what you can only really prove from the condition that we are now is that there that God made a fallen world somehow that it's just it doesn't truly and fully right now reflect the glory of God in it as it did in its perfection in its original condition of creation. So here the confession reads, the light of nature shows that there is a God who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is just, good, and does good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served with all the heart and all the soul and all the might but the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself and so limited by his own revealed will that he may not be worshiped according to the imagination and devices of men or the suggestions of Satan under any visible representations or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures. Jesus quotes Isaiah when he says, but in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, Matthew 15, 9. And from this, we learn that first, it is possible to worship God in vain. And second, that replacing the word of God with the teachings of mere men leads to vain worship. Thus we must be extremely careful in our worship to base everything on the Word of God. And that's where I'm going to start actually for this topic today. The Scriptures. If you want to turn to 2 Timothy 3.16. That's where we read, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3.16. And when we read in this verse that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, we must not take the word inspiration to be comparable to the so-called inspiration of a poem or a painting or a piece of music, as we might say, that was an inspired performance, maybe because it moves us emotionally or because we perceive some excellence in it. And that idea of inspiration, we envision some divine influence flowing into an otherwise human work. On the contrary, the Greek word in 2 Timothy 3.16 is theopneustas, theos meaning God and pneustos meaning breathed out. So actually it says that the scriptures are God breathed or God exhaled. You might on a cold day breathe out outside and see your breath. Well, if you were to imagine that God exhaled and what we see is the written word of God as it was written down by the original authors, God working through their personalities and through every providence of their daily lives and choice of words and every single thing. But God, what finally was written down is exactly the very words of God. A lot of people have said, well, the scripture contains the word of God. That's sort of the first idea of inspiration, that there's some excellence in it. The scriptural doctrine of Scripture is that every single word, every jot and tittle, as Jesus said, is the very Word of God, breathed out and written down precisely as God intended. This is the lofty claim that Scripture makes for itself. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1.21. And David said, the Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. 2 Samuel 23.2. And he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began." Luke 170. God spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, and hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2. The Lord Jesus said, it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail. Luke 16, 17. And heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. Luke 21, 33. For the grass withereth, the flower faded, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Isaiah 48. Jesus said the scripture cannot be broken. John 10, 35. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself, because all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning him. Jesus said, thy word is truth. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure. Excuse me, making wise the simple. Psalm 19, verse seven. For the word of the Lord is right and all his works are done in truth. Psalm 33, verse four. To the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Isaiah eight, verse 20. Scripture is the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2 15 all thy commandments are truth psalm 119 verse 151 Thy testimonies are very sure Thy word is true from the beginning The words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times This is the scripture doctrine concerning itself Consistent with the teaching of Scripture regarding itself as being God-breathed and altogether true, is the biblical teaching that God is a God of truth and knowledge. He is, quote, a God of truth and without iniquity. Deuteronomy 32, verse 4. The Lord is a God of knowledge, verse Samuel 2, 3. And there is no searching of his understanding. Isaiah 40 verse 28, because his understanding is infinite. He is the Lord God of truth. His understanding is infinite. Psalm 147 verse five. He is the Lord God of truth, the God of truth, the spirit of truth, the spirit of truth. So many verses. I am the truth, Jesus said, John 14 six. The Lord liveth in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness. He is the King of heaven, all whose works are truth. Daniel 4.37 Thus thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge. Job 37.16 The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, 1 Samuel 15 verse 29, and God cannot lie. Titus 1 verse 2. Now we don't accept the authority and truth of a collection of writings merely because they claim to be the very words of God of truth. The simple believeth every word, but the prudent man looketh well to his going. So in addition to the self-testimony of scripture, which is critical, you won't find that in any other book. You won't find that in the Quran, where the book itself testifies to its own perfect truthfulness and its sources in God. But beyond that, there's even more. We're moved and induced by the testimony of the church, to a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scriptures, the Church has not defined the Scriptures, but has received them from God through men who were undeniably attested in their time as being ordained by God. As in, the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book, Exodus 17, 14. And thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, write thee all the words I have spoken unto thee in a book." Jeremiah 30 verse 2. And to Habakkuk he said, write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it. And to John he said, what thou seest write in a book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia. And all these men were well known in their time as being prophets of God and accepted. And we receive the scriptures historically attested by them. We don't receive other books like Deuterocanonical books because they were never attested. In the beginning, they were known not to be scripture right from the very beginning. We don't receive the Book of Mormon or the Koran because they're not attested to us. And furthermore, when we consider the agreement of all the parts of the Bible, the consistency of the doctrine taught throughout, the written prophecy, and the precise fulfillment separated by hundreds and even thousands of years, the vast network of cross-references linking these books written centuries apart, we have to realize and come to understand that the Bible is unlike any other collection of writings known to man. The Bible says that God is not a man, that he should lie, neither the son of man, that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Numbers 23, 19. And I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Isaiah 46, 10. This is the only viable explanation for fulfilled prophecy. Quote, now all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet. that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah, Isaiah is the prophet, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. This is repeated in the New Testament many times. All this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled at least 10 times that's written in the New Testament to emphasize the sovereignty of God, the truthfulness of God. And still further, when we recognize the heavenliness of the material, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, and the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God, we are compelled to the full persuasion of the absolute truthfulness and divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. we come to our initial realization of our entire dependence on the Word of God and the Holy Spirit for our understanding of God. And thus we find ourselves humbled right from the very beginning. We must be extremely careful to handle the Word of God with great humility. As the Lord said, to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembleth at my word. So let us tremble before every biblical text and seek out the whole counsel of God and humbly ask the Holy Spirit to grant us the understanding of the scriptures through the proper methods of interpretation so that we may worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. Now with that foundation, I want to jump into the nature of God and an attempt at understanding the full biblical revelation of God. And as best I can here, I will start with the unity and simplicity of God. And the point of this is that God is the object of our worship. And we must know and understand who, what we worship or else we worship an idol. and the scriptures are the way that we have to understand who God is. And so I will start with God's first naming of himself to Moses, where God said unto Moses, I am that I am in Exodus 3, verse 14. Behold, God is great, and we know him not. Neither can the number of his years be searched out. Job 36, 26. He is the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. Isaiah 57 and verse 15. He dwells in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see. 1 Timothy 6, 16. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1, 5. God is love. 1 John 4, 8. The mystery of God's nature is signified by the name that God gives himself at Exodus 3, 14. I am that I am. That is, God is a simple, pure, uncompounded being without any created mixture, is infinitely above the being of the creatures, as above the conceptions of the creatures. It's touching the almighty. We cannot find him out, Job said. God is glorious in holiness, and his holiness is that which angels adore, as in Isaiah 6.3. But God's holiness is incomprehensible because of its simplicity. The idea of simplicity, what is taught in the confession, is being without parts. And we might suppose that something is simple, it must be easy to comprehend. As in the case maybe of relative simplicity, that's true. Like a jigsaw puzzle with 20 pieces is much simpler to understand than one with 2,000 pieces. And if we wanted to understand the nature of an automobile, we would probably proceed by breaking it down and analyzing it in terms of its constituent parts. We know that a car has an engine and tires and seats and windshield and all of that. And by understanding each of those parts and those parts, how they're made, how they fit together into the composite nature of the car, we can understand what a car is. But in the case of absolute simplicity, we are simply left dumbfounded. With God, there are no parts. There's nothing in God, which is not altogether God. God is not composed of knowledge and goodness and love, but each of those things encompasses all the others. And just as God's holiness is the unity and consummate glory of his nature as an infinite, morally pure, active, intelligent spirit. So God's knowledge is essential. God's goodness is essential. God's love is essential, such that we can say that God is light. God is good. God is love. All that God is, is one in God. God's essence and his existence are one and simple. I know this is hard to understand because that's the idea. It is impossible to understand. To whom then will you liken me or shall I be equal? Sayeth the Holy One. Isaiah 40 verse 25. To whom will you liken me and make me equal and compare me that we may be like? Isaiah 46 5. This is hard. John Owen wrote, now, if God were of any causes, internal or external, any principles antecedent or superior to him, he could not be absolutely first and independent. Think about this. If he were composed of parts, accidents or manner of being, he could not be first for all these are before that which is built of them. So there would be something before God. If God were composed, then there would be something before Him which composed Him, or each of those individual parts would be before Him. But in God is before all things. The attributes of God, which alone seem to be distinct things in the essence of God, are all of them essentially the same with one another, and every one of them the same with the essence of God itself. For first they are spoken one of another as well as of God. As there is his eternal power, so there is his Godhead. I know that's really hard to understand. We worship God because he is the most high, infinitely glorious, utterly beyond our finite comprehension. Only by the self-revelation of the infinitely glorious and incomprehensible God are we permitted to know Him at all, and so to worship Him properly. Revelation has been progressive over time, but has now been given its most fulsome expression in the gospel, in which a fulsome revelation of the Trinity has been made known, and by which sinners are not only reconciled to God, but are brought into the very condition and state by that revelation to be made capable of worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. Keep this in mind, the simplicity of God, it's a mind boggling thing. You may meditate on it and it's easy to think about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But when you think about the unity of God, your mind just kind of becomes overwhelmed. And as my friend told me a long time ago, that good theology always leads to doxology. So when you think about these things, think about the awesomeness of God and let it lead you to glory and praise of God. Now, for the three persons, we should ask ourselves why it would be that such an independent, eternally blessed and glorious God would stoop to behold things that are in heaven and on earth. As it says in Psalm 113, verse 5 and 6, it says, Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth? Why would God create anything at all? He's perfectly blessed and happy in himself. To quote Jonathan Edwards, the external glory of God consists in the communication of his attributes. The communication of his knowledge is chiefly in giving the knowledge of himself. For this is the knowledge in which the fullness of God's understanding chiefly consists. And thus we see how the manifestation of God's glory to created beings such as ourselves, and their, our seeing and knowing it, is not distinct from an emanation or a communication of God's fullness Himself, but is clearly implied in it. The communication of God's virtue or holiness is principally in communicating Himself and the love of Himself and the fear of himself. And thus we see how not only the creature seeing and knowing God's excellence, but also supremely esteeming and loving him belongs to the communication of God's fullness. The communication of God's joy and happiness consists chiefly in communicating to the creature that happiness and joy, which consists in rejoicing in God and in his glorious excellency. For in such joy, God's own happiness does principally consist. And in these things, knowing God's excellency, loving God for it and rejoicing in it. And in the exercise and expression of these consists God's honor and praise. So that these are clearly implied in the glory of God, which consists in the emanation of his internal glory. Now, I don't know if that made sense or not, but this is from Jonathan Edwards, the end for which God created the world. And the idea here that I'm going to try to express now is that God's internal glory is the foundation of his external glory. And the external glory is expressed in the gospel, as we will see in the full Trinitarian revelation of himself. and that God's internal nature is one of pure worship, one of pure reverence and love and knowledge, and that the external revelation of God captures us and catches us up into that internal revelation of God. So when we worship God, we are participating in the self-glorification of the Godhead itself, And so bear with me here as I try to go through this. Christian worship is marvelous and not like we go to church and we come home, but we should think about what it is we're doing. So I'm going to begin with the personal distinctions of the persons in the Trinity. This is everyone probably knows all this already, so I'll go through it somewhat quickly. We know that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the persons within the Godhead. Jesus sets forth the distinction of the persons in John 14, 16. He says, and I will pray to the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with you forever. So here, The son is speaking of praying to the father that he will give them the Holy Spirit. There's the three distinct persons. And a little later, Jesus said, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. So here again, we have the Son mentioning the Father and the Holy Spirit as clearly three distinct persons. Jesus is eternally begotten of the Father. We've talked about this recently. He proceeds from the Father and is the express image of his person. Therefore, the Son is the only possible revealer of him. As Jesus said, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Just a brief mention of this one point that this word declared here is actually the word that we get our word exegete from. In the Greek, that's the basis of the word. So when we talk about exegesis, which is like holding things from Scripture and making them known. What the pastor does when he's preaching, he first performs exegesis to understand what it is that the Bible is saying. What Jesus says, He's exegeting the Father. He's explaining Him to us. He knows Him. And He's the only one who can explain Him to us. He said, I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. And again, I leave the world and go to the Father. All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son. and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." Matthew 11, 27. There, that just says it straight out that no one knows the Father except the Son, and no one can know the Father except the Son will reveal Him to that person. And then finally, the Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son, and proceeds from the Father and the Son. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." John 15, 26. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you. John 16 and verse seven. And then finally, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his. Now here we have the spirit of God, which in this case refers to the spirit of the father. But in the next verse, it's the same spirit is referred to as the spirit of Christ. So the Father and the Son have the same Spirit, and that Holy Spirit is indeed a third person of the Trinity, who is sent by the Father and by the Son, and proceeds from the Father and from the Son. This is all so incomprehensible, but the Scriptures are clear. And this is the heart of what I want to show you today, the very heart of the Godhead itself. and how the interpersonal relations among the members of the Trinity, the persons of the Godhead, are the true foundation for our worship. Our worship of God cannot be in accordance with any imaginations of our own minds, but must be a participation in the personal self-glorification of God through union with Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Again, Jesus said, all things have been delivered to me by my father, and no one knows the son except the father, nor does anyone know the father except the son, and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him. Matthew 11 verse 27. Think about this with me for a second. The idea of self-knowledge, what does it mean to know yourself? The idea is problematic, as you might attest if you were to engage in some introspection. If you think about yourself and try to search your own self and seek to know yourself. If you think about seeking to know the thing that is doing the knowing, you kind of come upon a little problem, right? Like, it's like your eye trying to see itself without using a mirror. It's impossible, right? And as anyone also who is married might attest, oftentimes our spouse can see things in us and about us that we do not see ourselves. We might not even want to admit them about ourselves, but our spouse could be honest with us and tell us the truth about something that we do or think or say or whatever. Jesus said, why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but consider it's not the beam that is in thine own eye. Right? Because it's so much easier for us to see the flaws in other people and much harder for us to see them in ourselves. And because self-knowledge is so difficult, even from a fundamental point of view of just trying to see your own eye, as it were. But here the beauty of the Trinity is this, that Jesus said that he knows the Father and the Father knows him. An infinite eternal person cannot be known except by another infinite eternal person. Like we can know God to some extent, but we're like swimming in the ocean. We can only, we're so small. All can do is really swim in the ocean of God's knowledge of God. But the son says he knows him and the father knows the son because they're both infinite, eternal persons. And one, the infinite, eternal person of the father knows the infinite, eternal person of the son. And there is no obstacle to their mutual knowledge of each other. The father sees the son before him. He sees him fully, completely. And the son is the exact representation of the father. So the father knows himself in the son, and the son knows himself in the father. And they have perfect knowledge of each other. And in the Trinity, there's also the witness of the Holy Spirit. Thus there are two witnesses for each person, as scripture calls for, in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. Second Corinthians 13 one, Paul wrote, even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God. Here the full knowledge of God to the uttermost is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. He searches all things of God and has exact, exhaustive, and personal knowledge of the Father and the Son, being Himself the Spirit of each." This is marvelous, right? So we have these three persons, each of them has exact and precise and exhaustive knowledge of each other. And what's next? Reverence. One of the most overlooked characteristics, I think, of the persons of the Trinity is their reverence for each other. We read this prophecy of the Messiah in Isaiah chapter 11. If you wanna turn there, this is a bit longer. Isaiah, I'm gonna read Isaiah 11 and one and two. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Excuse me. It is rather amazing, I think, to read of the character of the Son of God in terms of the spirit of God, being the spirit of the fear of the Lord. So here we have a description of the sun, the branch that will come out and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. And that spirit is called the spirit of the fear of the Lord. This is marvelous. The idea of verse three is that he delights in the fear of the Lord. The Hebrew is a verbal form based on the noun of a delightful odor and indicates a pleasurable and an all-consuming delight. The Son, His delight, is in the fear of the Lord. Why? Because the fear of the Lord is the root and ground of all the other attributes listed there. Quote, unto man, he said, The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. Job 28, 28. Quote, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments. Psalm 111, verse 10. And we read, then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Psalm 40 verses seven and eight. This passage is referred to in the book of Hebrews chapter 10 verses seven to nine. It refers these verses to the son. The son not only delights to do the will of the father, his law is said to be written within his heart. This is an expression of the fear of the Lord. Jesus said, I do always those things that please him. And this is an expression of the full and perfect fear of God in Christ. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. Proverbs 14, 27. And the fear of the Lord is his treasure. It's a beautiful verse, Isaiah 33, 6. In each of these cases, the fear of the Lord is equated with God himself. Christ is the fountain of life. Christ is the treasure. But here, these blessings are wholly expressed in terms of the fear of God. It is true then to say that Christ is the fear of God, as we read in Genesis 31, 42, a very interesting verse says, the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac. He is that holy one named the fear of Isaac. He is the fear of God perfectly expressed in perfect reverence and obedience. Alex Mott, your comments to fear him, with a true fear is not a human emotion worked up, but a gift he has in store for those he delights to bless. You may never have thought of the fear of God as a gift given to bless, but if God is the fear of God, then the fear of God must be the greatest blessing that one could pray for. Likewise, the father reverences the son saying, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Psalm 45 verses 6 and 7. And this is applied to the sun in Hebrews 1 chapter 1 verse 8. There it says, but unto the Son, he sayeth, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. And the context makes it clear that it is the Father speaking, referring to the Son as O God, which is obviously a term of utmost reverence. And in the high priestly prayer recorded in John 17, Jesus said, and now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self. with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." So the son is glorified with the glory of the self of the father. The person of the father glorifies the son. And Mark just preached through this verse not long ago. He said, for the father judges, for the father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." And here is the Father glorifying the Son to the highest possible degree. No one can be honored or reverenced more than what the Lord here is claiming, to honor the Son as they honor the Father. That's the highest possible honor. And then I also want to talk about this verse here, which is normally taken and discussed in a completely different context, but a brief mention of it, I think is interesting. Wherefore, I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. There's an interesting verse that we normally will come and talk about because people are worried about the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and whether they might have committed it either accidentally or intentionally and so forth. We spend our time thinking about that. But from another perspective, what's being said here is that the Father and the Son are saying that we will absorb, forgive blasphemy against us, but against the third person of the Trinity, we will not forgive. So, indeed, it seems to me that this is a high reverence and honor being given to the Holy Spirit, saying that we will not tolerate any kind of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. And what that exactly is, I don't even want to talk about it. I just want to say that the idea that the Father and the Son here reverence and honor the Holy Spirit, I think is correct. So that's something that we normally don't talk about is the reverence of the persons among themselves for each other. But if you think about it, each one is glorious and infinitely worthy of honor and reverence and glory. And so indeed, the persons simply must honor and glorify each other given the positions in the Godhead, of course, it all works out perfectly and harmoniously. And then the final aspect I want to talk about is love. This is commonly discussed. We know, we think about the love of the Father for the Son and the love of the Son for the Father, not clearly as stated, and the Holy Spirit as love. So I will cover this kind of quickly. We know that the father loves the son and has given all things into his hand, John 3, 35. And the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself does, John 5, 20. And Jesus said, you loved me before the foundation of the world. Eternally, there's an eternal love between the Father and the Son. And the Son loves the Father as well. Jesus said, but that the world may know that I love the Father, as the Father gave me commandment, so I do. John 14, 31. So in this verse, we see that the obedience of the Son to the Father arises from both fear and love. And in fact, the two are one in our and a godly fear and a godly love are one and the same in Christ. In general, it is not hard to understand that each of the persons of the Trinity would be enraptured by the other persons. Do they not perfectly express the law to love your neighbor as you love yourself? Each person is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. And so as each one of those is loved in the highest degree, the persons therefore must love each other. So there is a perfect love among the persons because each is love for all the things that the others expressed in highest perfection. Okay, I have a few more things to talk about, but I want to just briefly summarize here that the idea of God's revelation, the biblical idea of God is quite beyond our ability to comprehend. God is one and simple and utterly transcendent. He is the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. But this one exists in three persons in such a way that God is altogether self-glorifying and yet with perfect humility. There is perfect knowledge, perfect reverence, and perfect love expressed among the persons of the Trinity in a way which simply cannot be exceeded or even comprehended by us fully. So the purpose of God in creation is to glorify himself. God must glorify himself because God is the highest good. God cannot glorify a lesser good. And God will not share his glory with another. As he said, I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another. Isaiah 42 verse eight. And the communication of his knowledge is chiefly in giving the knowledge of himself. For this is the knowledge in which the fullness of God's understanding chiefly consists. Thus, in order to worship God rightly, we have to know him. But in knowing Him, we are, in fact, coming in a way to worship Him. Because if we know Him and love Him and fear Him, those are the three main components of biblical worship. So with that, I just want to, I want to move to, that's our essence. That's our foundation of our worship is the inter-trinitarian relationships of the persons. And so now I want to show and kind of go a little over time, but I want to show the substance of worship. I call that first part, the essence of worship. This is the substance of worship, and this is where we come into the picture. So based on the preceding view of the inner glory of the Trinity, there are three aspects which we must pay attention and worship. The first is light and knowledge. It is the first foundation because we can only rightly worship what we know, as Jesus said in John 4. We must worship in truth. Faith cometh by hearing. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth and God is a God of knowledge. We need to know the gospel because in the gospel is the full revelation of God. And God is glorified in the revelation of himself. So if we are to worship him, we must first of all worship him in truth. Second, we must worship him in fear. The fear of God is a right reaction to the knowledge of God. If you have no fear of God, then you are unregenerate. Romans 3.18. The fear of God, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. Psalm 19.9. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life. Proverbs 16.6. The fear of the Lord is his delight, Isaiah 11, 3. Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil, Proverbs 3, 7. And let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, Hebrews 12, 28. Third, we must worship him in love. Truly, we love him because he first loved us and because the Holy Spirit has poured forth the love of God into our hearts. And surely we must love him if we are to worship him rightly. But this love is not an emotion, but a wholehearted dedication and commitment and giving of oneself over to the beloved. This love must be tempered by knowledge and fear. And our fear must be tempered by love. It must be first known by him as a son before we can come in love and be welcomed onto his lap to hear our prayers. So a bit of summary, and then one more point. We worship the marvelous, incomprehensibly glorious, triune God. We worship the Father of lights, exalted in glory beyond all comprehension. In ourselves, we cannot worship the Father. The unregenerate person does not know Him, and they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Romans 1.18, you cannot suppress the truth in unrighteousness and worship God. And having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, Ephesians 4.18. There's no knowledge of God there that is sufficient for worship in the unregenerate person. And the unregenerate person does not fear God. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart that there is no fear of God before his eyes. Psalm 36 verse one. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. And by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. Proverbs 16 verse six. And the unregenerate person does not love God. Jesus said, I know you that ye have not the love of God in you. He said to the Pharisees, John 5, 42. And the carnal mind is enmity against God, Romans 8, 7. And if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 1 John 2, 15. So before we can worship God or write, we must first of all be born again, and we must come into union with Christ. We need a mediator to be reconciled with God. Job complained, neither is there a day's man betwixt us that may lay his hand upon us both. Job 9, 33. And Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the father but by me. We must come to the father if we're going to worship him, but we can only come through the son because If we try to go on our own, the Lord will strike us down because he is holy and we are wicked sinners. But through a mediator, we can come. And that's the whole purpose of the gospel is to catch us up into the worship of God through the mediator and through the work of the Holy Spirit. And we need a personal interest in the mediator. It's not just enough to know about him. The knowledge has to be made personal to us. as you that were sometimes alienated in enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he hath reconciled, Colossians 121, we need to be reconciled with the Father through the Son by the work of the Holy Spirit. And for this cause, he is the mediator of the New Testament, the new covenant that by the means of death, the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament that which they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance so that's what we need in christ as mediator we have the knowledge of the father given to us second corinthians 4 6 we have the knowledge of ourselves given to us of our wickedness, Romans 7, 15 and following. We're reconciled to the Father, Romans 5, 10. Our guilt is removed, Romans 3, 26. We have the imputation of righteousness, and we have adoption and access to the Father. And he is made unto us knowledge, righteousness, wisdom, and love. And through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Christ is implanted in us, and it is the Spirit who gives life, and that life is in His Son, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. And He gives us understanding of His Word, John 16. He instills godly fear in us, and He leads us in paths of righteousness. and he sheds the love of God in our hearts, Romans 5, 5. All right, this is my last point, almost done. I think I wrote too much. Just some quick ideas about the idea of holiness and humility as they relate to worship. What I will say is that they're like opposite sides of the same coin. Let the coin be called godliness. Holiness, when considered in itself, has the idea of separation. from impurity and we might not be able to define exactly what holiness is or what white is, but we are certainly able to detect a stain on a white garment and we separate from that. The perfect holiness separates from all stains or impurities. The humility, the opposite side of the coin, has the sense of lowering and emptying of oneself as right and proper before the infinitely holy God. We humble ourselves before the Holy One in knowledge, fear, and love by receiving His truth, His fear, and His love as our own, because we have none of these things in ourselves. So when the knowledge of God, we reject all false doctrine and all untruths, and we learn only from God, And the fear of God, we separate from the fear of man. We separate the fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. And holiness separates us from the love of the world, the flesh and the devil. And humility loves God alone. We love him because he first loved us because of his great love with which he loved us. We do not love the world or the things of the world because God loved us and we love his humility and we're saved by his humility. So his perfect humility is what we love. Our humility is grounded in his humility and our love flows from his love. All right, final point. The main instruments of public worship, therefore, are most importantly public reading and preaching of the Word. The fundamental importance of knowing God and understanding the Gospel is the very heart of God's glory. God is glorified by the revelation of Himself. God's glory is most accomplished in the reading and preaching of Scripture. God is the ultimate good and the full revelation of the triune God in the gospel is the way in which God glorifies himself in worship. As we give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, we grow in knowledge of God and in the truth of the gospel. And if we are hearing rightly, that ought to generate in us both godly fear and godly love Jesus said, take heed, therefore, how you hear, for whosoever hath to him shall be given, and whosoever hath not from him shall be taken, even that which he seemeth to have. So when we go to church and when we listen to a sermon, we should be careful how we hear. Some people hardly listen at all. Some people listen merely to be entertained. Some people listen to find fault. But some people listen to obtain true wisdom and to put it into practice. The proper hearing of the word of God is worship. It is worship in the spirit and in truth. And if the spirit and the word of truth are joined together in our hearts and our minds in belief of the gospel, then godly fear and godly love will be formed within our hearts. And that is true worship. And finally, some words about prayer. I know we talk about prayer a lot, so I just wanted to say very quickly that prayer is the entrance into the presence of God. And for prayer to be an act of worship, we must enter in with the utmost serious and engage with knowledge, with fear and love. One does not enter into the presence of the thrice holy, most high God with a frivolous attitude or with a sense of familiarity. A knowledge of scripture includes a recollection of Nadab and Abihu and other instances where men approached the thrice holy God in an unworthy manner. So we must understand that prayer is the consummation of all the types and shadows of the Old Testament in which a priest would enter into the holy of holies. He was only permitted to go once per year and would go with great fear lest he be struck down before the Lord. Well, we do the same thing when we come to God in prayer and we have such a privilege that we can scarcely express it and comprehend it. We are coming to the Father of lights and appearing before his throne. We must be careful how we come and this we must enter in through the person of the mediator. We come to the Father as his children adopted in Christ and accepted in the beloved. We come through His perfect righteousness imputed to us, and we appear in His beauty, which clothes us in perfect white. We come through the moving of the Holy Spirit, who works in us and intercedes in prayer with us. And thus clothed and enabled, we come in knowledge of God's incomprehensible perfection of glory, in fear and in love. And this is how we ought to go to God in prayer to glorify him with praise and honor, first and foremost. Not that he even receives glory from men, but it is our duty and our proper position before him in all humility. And we ought to be thankful in all humility for the things which we take for granted. And we ought to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.