Matthew chapter 15 verses one through nine. Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus saying, Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. He answered and said to them, why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded saying unto your father and your mother, and he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death. But you say, whoever says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God, then he need not honor his father or mother, thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying, these people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. and in vain they worship me, teaching us doctrines, the commandments of men. And then turn over to Colossians chapter two, verses 18 through 23, page 1,592, 1,592, page 1,592 in your Pew Bible, Colossians chapter two, starting in verse 18 and going to the end of the chapter. Colossians chapter two, page 1,592, Colossians two, verses 18 through 23. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why? as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations, do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using, according to the commandments and doctrines of men. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. My friends, tonight, as you know, we continue our series on the doctrine of worship. We continue our series on the doctrine of worship, and tonight we're dealing with the prescription of worship. The prescription of worship. We're going to be using three particular passages, Deuteronomy 12.32, Matthew 15.7-9, and Colossians 2.23. And we're going to be considering these verses under this theme, worshiping God properly means worshiping according to his commands. Worshiping God properly means worshiping according to his commands. Now over the past couple of weeks, we have considered that we can think about worship with three initials. S, D, P. Special, dialogical, and prescribed. Special, dialogical, and prescribed. Two weeks ago, we talked about worship being special, that it means coming into the special presence of God. Not that he's not everywhere present, but there's a special sense of it, and we're invoking the very presence of God. We are coming into his throne room and before his throne of grace. And so worship is special as we come into his presence, sing psalms to him, in his presence before him, Psalm 95. And then worship is dialogical. That is to say, that's just a fancy way of saying that worship is a back and forth conversation in which God speaks and we respond. God speaks fundamentally by the reading and the preaching of the word. He speaks to us in these ways. How do we respond in the praying a prayer and the singing of praise. We could also look at the occasional elements of worship, oaths and vows, fastings and thanksgivings. These are our responses to God as well. And we looked at the sacraments as sort of a special category. because that dialogue is within the sacraments, particularly in the Lord's Supper. In both sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper, we have the promise of God, then we also have the response, do we not? Of course, in baptism, we are passive, but we're at least responding in terms of the oaths and vows that are affiliated with the sacrament. But in communion, in the Lord's Supper, We see visibly the word enacted in front of us as well as hearing the words of institution. God is speaking to us. God is conveying to us both through the word and the visible word, if you will, these signs and symbols he has given, and then we respond to him in that time of communion. And so worship is a dialogue. It's a back and forth. God speaks and we respond. And then tonight then, we look at worship as being prescribed, the prescription of worship. I said a couple of weeks ago, y'all know what a prescription is. It's something your physician writes in illegible handwriting that you take to the drugstore, to the druggist. But it's interesting. So your physician writes it out pre, ahead of time, scribed, writing it out. But not only is there the prescription in the sense that it's written out ahead of time, but the druggist, the pharmacist, had better fill it out exactly. Those of us who know pharmacists know about that, right? He had better not get into trouble. He had better follow exactly what's on the prescription. And the same is true with regard to the prescription of worship in terms of God having written it out for us ahead of time. So how then are we supposed to worship? We know we're supposed to worship. We're called to worship. We're called into God's special presence. We know that worship is in the form of a dialogue between God and his people, but how do we know how we're supposed to worship? Well, very simply, It is according to God's word. According to God's word. So, we are not to add to what it says with respect to worship. We are not to take away from what it says with respect to worship. We are not to add to it. We're not to take away from it. The foundational law with regard to what is referred to as the regulative principle of worship. Let me pause here just a moment. Sometimes you see the initials R-P-W, children, R-P-W, the regulative principle of worship, which basically says if God has commanded it, do it. If he's not commanded it, don't do it. The regulative principle of worship. The foundational law for that regulative principle of worship is the second commandment, by which we are not to make any graven image or any likeness in terms of the worship of God, nor are we to worship by means of that. Why is that the foundational law? Because like so many of the commandments, what they are doing is they are holding up for us to see what is the worst example of a foundational truth. And worshiping a graven image, worshiping an idol, is the worst example of unauthorized worship. And so God is holding this up to us, just like, thou shalt not commit adultery. Well, there are many other sexual sins that aren't adultery. Adultery is the worst. But it's...so God is holding that up to us, thou shalt not kill. Well, there are other sins whereby we can violate the sixth commandment without actually murdering somebody. But killing, murdering somebody is the worst example. In a similar way, in terms of the second commandment, this is the worst example, this is the most awful thing of unauthorized, non-commanded, non-ordained, non-prescribed worship. And that's the point. Now, let me give you a couple of illustrations, if I may, with regard to the regulative principle of worship. Now, if I said to Miss Penny, I love you so much, I'm going to rent a billboard out on the interstate to proclaim my love for you. And she says, no, dear, I really don't want you to do that. I said, no, no, no, no, no, I want to do it because I really love you so much, therefore, I'm really going to do it. And I go ahead and do it. Now, the question, the question in that regard is not how long would I be in the doghouse. The question is would I ever get out of the doghouse. That's the question. Now, what is that really saying? It's really saying if I did that, no matter how much I proclaim it's because I really love her, it's really that I love myself. It's because I want to do what I want to do. Right? If that's true, in terms of my showing love to my dear wife, how much more true is that principle in play when it comes to the worship of God? Or think of this, think of soldiers who've come back from battle who want to honor their hillbilly war hero commander who's from the hills of Kentucky, let's say. But these fellow soldiers who want to honor him are from places such as Manhattan in New York City, Beverly Hills, California, and Buckhead in Atlanta. And they don't exactly understand their leader's tastes. Well, they know that he likes music, so they get the best classical music played by a chamber orchestra. They know he loves to eat and really wolf down food. So what do they do? They serve shrimp cocktail with asparagus. And they know that he likes a libation, so they get the best exquisite French champagne they can find. Now, what's wrong with that? Well, yes, he enjoys music, but it's more the hand-clappin', foot-stompin' variety done to the tune of a banjo, a guitar, or fiddle. Yes, he enjoys eating, but shrimp cocktail with asparagus, really? He'd much prefer pork butt, as in pig picking, that great barbecue in the hills of southern Appalachia. And yes, he enjoys a drink with his meal, but champagne, he would much prefer Mountain Dew. And of course, we're not referring to the product from Pepsi-Cola. Well, you get the point here. If they had really wanted to do, If they had really wanted to honor him, what would they have done? They would have found out what his tastes were, what things he was interested, what would have pleased him. And notice something very important here. It is not merely principles or categories like food, music, drink, but it's the actual items, it's actual things which are in view. And that leads us to consider, again, by way of introduction tonight, to the whole concept of what we call the elements of worship, the elements of worship. Now, element, the term element is a figure of speech for a part of worship, a distinct action. Now, each element is distinct, is different, from every other element. Each element of worship has different characteristics, just like if you go into the chemistry lab. I've been in a few chemistry labs. I still have a scar on my hand from where a test tube blew up on me. So I have some fond memories of chemistry labs. But I'm sure some of us have other memories as well. Well, I mean, think about it. Think about all the elements, sulfur, copper, iron, tungsten, oxygen. They're all elements, but each one is different. Each one has a particular characteristic, does it not? And so it is true with regard to worship. We have to take each element by itself. In general terms, each element of worship has form, purpose, and content. Form Purpose and content. Think about the form just a minute. Reading. Preaching. You can tell the difference between reading and preaching. You sense it, you know it. You know when I'm reading, you know when I'm preaching. Praying. Crying out to God. Versus singing. Yes, they're similar, but they're not the same. I remember years ago living in New York and the, one of the local TV stations around December, the end of December, would go around with microphones and have people sing carols or seasonal songs. It was not a stellar performance, shall we say. But it was fun. And you could tell that they were singing. You could tell it. You could sense it. You knew that they were singing. There was a difference between praying or speaking and singing, the administering of oaths and vows, the administering of the sacraments. These are all forms, if you will. And then the purpose, what? What's the purpose of the word of God? It has to do with teaching and application, explaining, explaining the text and applying it in terms of preaching. Prayer, what's the purpose? It's petitioning, it's offering up of our desires before God for things according to his will. Praise, praise also is directed to God as well. But praise, again, different from petitioning. And then, of course, not just form, purpose, but also content. Content, that is to say, that is to say, the substance itself. That is to say, the substance itself. The substance of worship. the substance of each, the substance of each of the elements of worship. For example, I dare not say, I dare not say this is, you know, here now the Word of God as it comes to us from my sermon or from the confession of faith. We must only, we must only say that the Word of, that the Bible itself is the inspired Word of God. Similarly, there's a difference between the content for the praying of prayer and the singing of praise. So, form, purpose, and content. Or we can say it this way. We can say it this way. Each element comes as a package deal. Each element comes as a package deal. Just like an element in chemistry. An element is the basic unit. An element is the basic unit when you go into a chemistry lab. In the same way then, each element is the basic unit. It comes as a package deal. It comes with its own characteristics. So, for example, you preach a sermon, but you do not dance a sermon. Although I've had you laugh, there are seminary professors I have had who would maintain that. In my estimation, it's heresy, but these are ordained Presbyterian elders who have maintained that view. It's wrong, totally unbiblical. You don't dance a sermon, as some have said, you preach a sermon. Or you don't show a video clip during service nor engage in drama. You don't do that either. You only use the elements that are there. Now, there are, of course, circumstantial matters which are not prescribed. That is to say, which are not particularly ordained. For example, how long of a scripture passage should be used? Or how many psalms should be sung? Two, three, four. What tunes should be used? or the precise order of the service or the time for the service. Should it be 1045 or should it be 11 or should it be 530 or 6 o'clock or whatever? These things are to be governed by the general light of nature and Christian prudence or Christian wisdom. These circumstantial matters are to be governed by the general light of nature and Christian prudence. Now, having said these things by way of introduction, let us look tonight at Deuteronomy chapter 12 in terms of the approval of God-ordained worship. The approval of God-ordained worship. Now, as we turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 12, as we turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 12, We notice several things here. Look at verse 32, which is our key text. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it. So we are not to add to the worship of God. We see this also in Deuteronomy 12, verse 8. You shall not at all do as we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes. We are not to devise our own worship. And we are not to think that we know better than God does as to how he wants to be served. So not adding to and not taking away from. That is to say, we are not to refuse to engage, we are not to refusing to engage in the worship which God desires. We are not to ignore his law with respect to worship and the elements thereof. And we see this, for example, in Deuteronomy 12 in terms of, for example, verse six, the burnt offerings, the sacrifices, the tithes, the heave offerings, and so on. Verse 11, the burnt offerings, the sacrifices, the tithes, the heave offerings, and the choice offerings. All of those particular services are spelled out particularly in scripture. And so that's what God is saying here. Don't take away from. Observe all of those things. Observe all those things that constitute the worship. Or we could put it this way. We are to keep God's worship pure and entire. We are to keep God's worship pure and entire, or pure and unadulterated. Just like in Revelation 22, 18 and 19, we are not to add to the word of God, nor are we to take away from it, nor are we to add to the practices of worship, nor to take away from that. All of the worship practices for the new covenant should be and must be used, but anything else must be disallowed. And as I mentioned a moment ago, the theological term for this idea of keeping God's worship pure and entire is the regulative principle of worship. If God has ordained it, commanded it, we do it. If he hasn't, we don't. It's just that simple. So the approval then of divine worship, God-ordained worship, but now secondly, the disapproval, the disapproval of man-made worship. Here we look in the first place at Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15. In Matthew chapter 15, Jesus is dealing with the Pharisees. And he does not mince any words, does he? As he often says, hypocrites, two-faced people, hypocrites. Well, did Isaiah prophesy about you? He is now quoting Isaiah 29 verse 13, prophesy about you saying, These people draw near to me at their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." The basic condemnation by Jesus here is that of hypocrisy. And there are several examples that he is giving in terms of this hypocrisy, including mere lip religion rather than heart religion. He also talks about, for example, in terms of honoring father and mother, but really getting around it, trying to get around it, trying to find the loopholes so you don't really help your parents, you don't really honor them. And then, of course, the same thing here with regard to worship, lip religion, rather than heart religion. And children, young people, listen to me. Listen to me carefully. You can say all day long, I love God, but the question is, do you really? You go out here on the street, I promise you nine out of ten people you run into, maybe more percentage-wise, will say, oh, I love God. Yeah, right. Why aren't they in church? Why are they watching the Falcons on the Lord's Day and so forth? Why are they living the lives that they're living? It's easy to say, I love God, right? That's easy to say. But Jesus now is getting to the heart of the matter in terms of lip religion rather than heart religion. But one example that he gives then, one example, when he goes on to say, verse nine, and in vain, it's vain, it's futile, it's worthless, and in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. One example then of what Jesus is getting at is adding to divine worship that which man has devised and commanded and imposed. And then we turn to Colossians chapter two. We turn then to Colossians chapter two. In verses 18 through 23, Paul dealt with several examples of man-made worship and religious devotion. He talks about false humility, worship of angels, intruding into invisible matters which cannot be known. All kinds of human regulations which are really superstitious and of no use. Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, seem so pious, so holy, so religious. As Jesus said, as Paul here says, which all concerned things which perish with the using. Notice what he says, verse 22, according to the commandments and doctrines of men. It is man-made devotion. And then he goes on in verse 23. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Now that word, that term, self-imposed religion, It's an interesting word, it's a compound word in the Greek. It is ephelothreskia, ephelothreskia. The threskia is like with regard to devotion or worship. The ephelo, phelo, is in terms of will, in terms of will. And so what this term is, it means self-made worship. will worship, as the King James puts it, what I will, what I want, what man wants, what man will impose, what man will make, what man desires. Chapter 10, Leviticus chapter 10, verses 1 and 2. Leviticus chapter 10, verses 1 and 2. In Leviticus chapter 10, verses 1 and 2, we read, then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire or strange fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. Doesn't say which God had prohibited, but it says which God had not commanded. Is God pleased with this? No. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them. and they died before the Lord. And then look at 1 Kings chapter 12. 1 Kings chapter 12. This has to do after Israel, the 10 tribes, the northern tribes there of Israel rebelled against the rule of Judah, the two southern tribes. And so those northern tribes called the nation of Israel had a king called Jeroboam. What did Jeroboam say, verses 25 and following? He said in his heart, now the kingdom may return to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord of Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their Lord, Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam, king of Judah. Therefore, the king asked advice, made two calves of gold and said to the people, it is too much. for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods of Israel which brought you up from the land of Egypt. And he set up one in Bethel and the other he put in Dan, so north, south. Now this thing became a sin for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. He made shrines on the high places and made priests from every class of people who were not of the sons of Levi. Jeroboam ordained a feast on the 15th day of the eighth month liked the feast that was in Judah and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves, golden calves he had made. And at Bethel, he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. So he made offerings on the altar, which he had made at Bethel, on the 15th day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense. You see, we might be tempted to say, well, he was doing the best he could, right? I mean, after all, he was trying to worship, right? It's not the way the Bible looks at this. And not only is he condemned in terms of setting up the golden calves, of course, and making priests from every class of people who are not of the sons of Levi. And not only was he condemned in terms of setting up the places of sacrifice of his own devising, Dan and Bethel, but notice in verse 33, so he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the 15th day of the eighth month in the month which he had devised in his own heart. Even according to the month, This is man-made worship, and God says no. And you read all throughout the history of Israel, this northern kingdom of Israel, every king of Israel is condemned for his wickedness, even the one who reigned only seven days, because it says that every king followed according to the sin of Jeroboam. And one more, Jeremiah 7, verse 31. Jeremiah 7, verse 31. Jeremiah 7, verse 31, we read, and they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire. which I did not command, nor did it come into my heart." Now, my friends, let us be clear here. To kill babies, including unborn babies, is horrible, it is wicked, it is cruel, and there are many politicians including those who aspire to high office in this great state of Georgia and in other places, who will give answer on the day of judgment for it. But what is interesting about this passage is that although God regards such sacrifice and such cruelty, such killing, such murder of children, as in here, burning their sons and their daughters in the fire, Although God certainly condemns such things, notice what the emphasis is. It doesn't say, which is so cruel. He says, which I did not command, nor did it come into my heart. You see, we think in terms of ourselves. God thinks in terms of himself. and his glory, and he is jealous for his glory. He is jealous for how he is to be worshiped. I have two observations. I have two observations tonight. Number one, we do not determine our worship according to anything other than what God wants. We do not determine our worship according to anything other than what God wants. is a command performance. It is a command performance. And therefore, the key question is not, is it entertaining? Or is it lively? Or will it attract visitors? Or even, will it edify or instruct? The key question, rather, is, Is it commanded? That's the question. So we do not determine our worship according to anything other than what God wants. Secondly, let us consider the relationship between worship and culture. The body of Christ transcends culture. It transcends culture. And no cultural baggage, therefore, should adhere to the church other than circumstantial matters such as language. If we were in Brazil, we presumably would worship in Portuguese, unless we just happen to have some English speakers around us, and then we'd worship in English. If we were in France, you would expect the worship to be conducted in French and so forth. Those are circumstantial matters, even the time of service. Is it better to do it at, nine o'clock in the morning or 11 o'clock in the morning. Those are matters which are determined to some extent by the culture, by the customs of the people and what their occupations are, if they have to milk the cows or whatever. But other than that, in terms of the substance of worship, the body of Christ transcends culture. There is, as Paul says, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, That is to say, one authority structure, one doctrine, and one way to worship. And therefore, unity does imply uniformity with regard to the elements or the practices of worship. But not only is it true that the body of Christ transcends culture, but the church and her worship should affect culture, not the other way around. Appeasing a culture by means of innovation is wrong because it makes a mockery of worship, which is, after all, for the glory of God. But it is also wrong because proper worship bears testimony against a pagan and secular society that is all about entertainment. it bears testimony against it. Why are we gathered here tonight? Why are we gathered here in the presence of God, in this dialogue between God and man? Why are we gathered here and what do we do as we're gathered here? We are gathered with reverence, with respect. We are gathered according to God's command and we do what He commands. And by doing that, the very fact of doing that is a condemnation of the society around us. The church and her worship should affect culture, not the other way around. And I have two points of application tonight. Number one, make sure, children listen, make sure that you seek to worship God as he has commanded and in no other way. Don't think to worship God according to your own ideas and imagination. Rather, worship God in accordance with his word And secondly, remember that it is the Lord Jesus who has enabled you to worship. It is the Lord Jesus that enables you to worship. He has paid the penalty for all of your improper worship. We were reminded of that again as we read Deuteronomy 12 tonight. All the sacrifices, all the blood of those animals that was shed but they were all pointing to the one perfect sacrifice of the Son of God. He has paid the penalty for all of your improper worship, all of my improper worship. He has kept the laws with regard to worship perfectly on your behalf. He has fulfilled all righteousness for you. And he ever lives to make intercession for you. May God give us the grace in accordance with his word and in light of the sacrifice of Christ to worship God properly, which means, of course, worshiping according to his commands. Amen. Will you please stand for prayer? And Father, we do thank thee for this message. We pray that it might be applied to our hearts We pray, Lord, that the spirit of God would take it, would etch it deeply on our memories, and not just that, but in our minds and in our hearts tonight. We pray, Father, that we would not be guilty of lip religion rather than heart religion. Keep us from hypocrisy, and keep us, O God, from idolatry. For we pray in Jesus' name, amen. In closing, please turn to 84B. As we sing 84B, advancing still from strength to strength, they go where other pilgrims trod, till each new Zion comes at length and stands before the face of God. And so, 84, selection B, and after we sing this pronouncement of blessing, then we'll sing 134B as a closing doxology. But right now, Psalm 84, selection B.