As we come to the preaching of God's Holy Word, our first text shall be Exodus chapter 20, verses 1 through 6, which are the first two commandments, and this is God's Holy Word. And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. Thus far the first text, and the second one is Leviticus chapter 10, the first three verses. 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 before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord spoke, saying, By those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy. And before all the people I must be glorified. So Aaron held his peace. Congregation, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Amen. Please be seated. Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, you may ask yourself of all the possible topics that he could choose to begin a new church, he has chosen worship. Why in the world did he do that? And I hope that by the end of this sermon you will understand why this is, because if there is An area, or I should say, if there is one area that is being neglected both in seminary curriculums and also in the church practices of this day, it is the area of biblical corporate worship. Add to that the fact that proper biblical worship is not only widely neglected but that it is at the same time immensely, immensely important and you have the reason why I am beginning with a series on exactly this topic. This shall be our first point, the importance of corporate worship. In order for us to understand the immense importance of worship, we first have to understand what worship really is. And I shall begin with a very, very basic question. What is the main difference between a man and an animal? And several differences have been suggested, many of them true, of course, but not all of them. But the main difference is not that man is homo erectus, that he walks uprightly. It is also not primarily that man is homo sapiens, that he is a thinking being, although that is true. But the main difference spiritually is that man is homo religiosus. That man has the innate depressing desire to worship. Animals do not have that at all. The remaining image of God will always drive man to worship. Although unredeemed, this worship always results in false worship or idolatry. Worship is, by the way, man's way how he seeks to relate to God. And there is only one proper and countless improper ways of doing that. We also have to keep in mind that only truly redeemed persons are even able to worship God properly as true worship must, must, must come from a truly redeemed heart redeemed in Jesus Christ, otherwise it is an abomination to God. And as we are considering the importance of true worship, let me begin by stating my thesis or the premise. which I believe is the thesis and the premise of the Bible when it comes to worship, that worship is the most important thing that we will ever do in this life and in the life to come. Again, worship is the most important thing that we will ever do in this life as well as in the life to come. And I will now make the case for the truth of this thesis. In Psalm 27, David writes from a situation of severe trouble and danger. And he begins the Psalm by strongly declaring his firm trust in the Lord. He says, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? But the psalm is not over. We have heard these texts and I'm sure to many of you, texts like this one have often been a strong encouragement in dark times. But David goes on to describe the danger that surrounds him. And then in verse 4, he shares his ultimate hope, his longing, his desire when he says, "...one thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek." And here it comes, "...that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple." That is his chief desire, again in verse 5 of the same Psalm 27. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion, In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me. Beloved, in the midst of utter danger and trouble and enmity, David has only one desire and it is not the desire that we in our first reflex have when there is any danger or hardship, for the hardship to mitigate. That's not his primary desire, although that's what he hopes for because There's a reason why he hopes for this danger to pass, not because he wants to feel better, of course he does, but his primary desire is to worship God in the temple. He has only this one longing that he wants to be in the house of God and he wants to worship God together with the people of God. I don't want to dig into this whole drama around Covid, but the example that the church of Jesus Christ has given was pathetic to say the least. All we wanted was it to end, end it, whatever the cost, end it, we feel so bad. We cannot socialize. We cannot do the things that we like. We can have no camp out. Oh Lord, end it. And David would have said, yes, end it. or not, I will still worship the Lord in the house of the Lord." That would have been the proper response and we have failed utterly and pathetically. Thank God for His mercy in Jesus Christ. Considering how often we fail, it is a wonderful example of God's grace that we are still here. And it shows us His love that He has in Jesus Christ for us. But David longs only for one thing. Corporate worship with the people of God in the house of God. He says the same thing in Psalm 63. During a time of exhaustion and discouragement, he says, Oh God, You are my God. Early will I seek You. My soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for You in a dry land where there is no water. And here it comes in verse 2. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and your glory." So where does he go when there's trouble? Where does he go when he doesn't know what to do? Where does he go when things are dark or unclear? He has this propensity, he has this reflex, he has this instinct to draw to the house of God, to draw into the presence of God, to draw among the people of God in order to find clarity, comfort and peace. Beloved, in a nutshell, David has his priorities right. His chief end is, as the shorter catechism said already in this worship service, his chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. That's what it means. The reflex in trouble is not me, me, me. The reflex in trouble must be God, God, God. There we find our joy. There we find our peace. There we find our relief. Why do you think the world around us is so unhappy? Why the world around us is increasingly filled with anxiety and fear and depression? Sadly, an increasing number in the church. because we have become me, me, me people. And we seek the solution for our problems in the me, in the immediate improvement of my circumstances, instead of looking away from us and exalting God and seeking His presence. That shall be our joy. This is what we were made for. To glorify God and if we go the other direction and glorify man, the only possible logical destination will be anxiety, depression and unhappiness. Man's chief end is to glorify God. and to enjoy Him forever. This is what we are made for. And the most concentrated form of glorifying God, where it all comes together in the most concentrated way, is corporate worship of God's people in God's house. That is the most concentrated, most pure form of glorifying God. And of course, we must distinguish three kinds of worship. There is individual worship, There is family worship and there is corporate worship and God loves all three. And while God loves all three of them, there is one among them that He loves most. And I will show you where it is described and told to us by God. For example, in Psalm 87, verses 2 and 3. where God expresses or the psalmist expresses God's love for our worship, all of it. But one stands out. It says, the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. So God loves the gates of Zion. What is that? That's the temple of Zion. He loves the dwellings of Jacob. He loves our dwellings. He loves our homes. He loves our families. He loves it when we in the morning and in the evening seek His face and reading and meditating and prayer. He loves all that. He loves the family worship when the father teaches his family the ways of the Lord. But one thing he loves more. when they all come together on the Lord's day as a picture of eternity in His presence and corporately worship Him together in spirit and in truth. Corporate worship is one of the main themes in the Bible, in case you haven't seen it. The five books of Moses are full of worship and instructions for worship. Leviticus is a book that almost exclusively refers to corporate worship. The historical books in the Old Testament describe many occasions of worship services. And the Psalms are God's major songbook, inspired songbook for worship. And although most instruction for worship is found in the Old Testament, there are manifold instructions in the New Testament. The book of Revelation, for example, describes worship in heaven in chapters 4 and 5. There's many examples for worship also in the New Testament. So our corporate worship is utterly important to God, and thus it should be utterly important to us as His people. Now, because worship is so important, The way we worship says a lot about the spiritual temperature in a church. In other words, you can tell a lot about the church and its theology and its relationship to God when you look at their worship services. Corrupt worship is always an indication of a corrupted faith. Let me give you just one example. Israel's faith when they created or made or built the golden calf in Exodus chapter 32 was clearly corrupted. And you see it in their mindset, they were rebellious, they were impatient, they had a low view of God, they had a high view of the meat pots of Egypt. Their faith was corrupted and immediately it shows in their worship and they create the golden calf. Beloved, in the same way we can show an individual's faith being corrupted by how he looks at worship. A person's spotty attendance to corporate worship might be an indication of either a compromised faith or no faith at all. So, worship shows us, it helps us to take the spiritual temperature in a church. But there's another element of corporate worship. Not only does our corporate worship expose our spiritual state, but it also goes the other way around. The way we worship also shapes us. So, this can become a good thing, this can be a good thing, but this can also be almost literally a vicious circle. We worship wrong, it affects our theology, it affects our view of God. You know, if you always, for example, sing songs like... I don't know, I'm not an expert on contemporary worship music. Those who know me know that I never listen to anything like that, or Hillsong or whatever. If you just look at the hymnody, how it has changed just over the last hundred years. In the past, we have sung about the attributes of God, the glory of God, His omnipotence, His omniscience, His kindness, His mercy. And now we sing to God all the time how we feel. as if he was a therapeute or a counselor, in the way that we just unload on him and let him know, this senile old man in his rocking chair, how we feel. And for him, it's just the cutest thing. to hear all the time how we at this particular moment feel and how we want to feel. So you see, you have a different picture of God. There's nothing awe-inspiring, there's nothing of God's holiness, but it can also go the other way if everything is always super fear-inducing. When you have an organ that is three times the volume that it should be, an organist who plays like Dracula rather than a church organist, you can get a completely false view of God as always being fear-inducing, never gracious, never reachable, never close to us. So you see, it can go wrong in so many respects. And in this way, our worship is very important to show us who God is. Worship shapes us. It shapes us in the way how we see God, how we see ourselves, how we see the world. A corporate worship with all its pictures and content paints a picture of spiritual realities, tells us the story of redemption and thereby shapes generations to come through worship. It shapes us in these spiritual realities. Worship, beloved, will leave its mark on us and on our children. There's another function of worship. Worship prepares us for heaven, and it gives us a glimpse of how heaven will be. When we worship corporately, we get a taste of heaven, since all worship in heaven, if you look at it, is always corporate worship. Just read Revelation chapter 4, Revelation chapter 5 and you will see how wonderful corporate worship in heaven will be. And if we worship together, this is a glimpse, it is just a glimpse of how wonderful, how marvelous and how glorious and how majestic it will be in heaven. And therefore, beloved, worship truly is, clearly, the most important thing that we will ever do in this life or in the life to come. This, of course, brings a contrario, a danger. If worship truly is the most important thing that we'll ever do, then a contrario, in the opposite, this must mean that denying proper worship must be among the gravest sins there are. And this is something to ponder on. This is not a light thing. I'm sometimes really worried, concerned and puzzled. By otherwise solidly Christian, mature Christian people, Reformed people, they move to another town and there is a Reformed church that seeks to worship in spirit and in truth, but it's small. no programs, maybe not many children, and then they go to the megachurch because it's somewhat reformed, but it's far more exciting. I don't understand. If we understand that worship is truly the most important thing in our life, that it is our most concentrated form of glorifying God, you cannot just leave it alone and say, well, the worship is a little strange, but the people are great. You know, we got our priorities wrong. We need to be interested. We need to be students of proper worship. That is the importance of worship. Secondly, let me now give you the biblical foundations for worship. How do we even begin to research and study the issue of worship? We now understand its importance, but now we will look where we can go to to find things or teachings about the content in general terms. We have to begin with the general and then work our way into the specific. We are now looking at principles and principles only. The sermon is called only the introduction to biblical worship. This is not a one-off sermon. It cannot be, there needs to be more in order for us to understand it. Now, let us for this turn to our old friend, the Heidelberg Catechism, which in question answer 96, refers us to the second commandment when it asks this question. What is God's will for us in the second commandment? And listen to this answer, that we in no way make any image of God, nor worship Him in any other way than has been commanded in God's Word. Those of you who grew up with the Heidelberg, you know, see it's always been there. It's always been there, you must not, you cannot worship God in any other way than He has prescribed. Just by way of comparison, here Westminster Shortly Catechism question answer 51, where it asks the very similar question, what is forbidden in the second commandment? And the answer is, the second commandment forbiddeth the worshiping of God by images or any other way not appointed in His Word. Do you see how close they are? They're teaching the same thing. You know why that is? Because it's the same truth. It's the same Bible. It was the same Bible in Scotland at the British Isles as it was in the Netherlands. And that's why I keep saying, and you will hear me say this often, we will not start a war here between the Westminster standards and the three forms of unity. Let it be said here. Both of them represent the truth faithfully and we love both of them in this church. And therefore we will refer to both of them just to show you how they dug from the same well. The truth of God's Holy Word and you will see how wonderfully these two sets of standards agree with each other. By the way, you have both in this Trinity Psalter hymnal in the back. You have the three forms of unity as well as the Westminster standards and I'm very glad for this fact. Now here we are taught something that is of a profound and utmost importance when it comes to biblical worship. And that is that it actually has to be, you guessed it, biblical. Biblical worship has to be biblical and that's a newsflash for many. Biblical worship has to be biblical. In other words, God decides how He wants to be worshipped and He does so exclusively in His Word. That's how He reveals His will to us about all things including worship. But here we can also learn something else. through the Heidelberg Catechism, through the Westminster Confession, and of course, first of all, through God's Word, that we can learn how to clearly differentiate between the first and the second commandment. Some people have problems differentiating between the two, but there's a clear difference between the first and the second commandment. And it is this, while the first commandment admonishes us to worship no other gods, it warns us not to worship any other gods, but only the true and living God. The second commandment commands us and orders us to worship this true, this one true and living God. in the right way. So the first is who, if you want, and the second is how. Very different commandments and this is how we can differentiate the two. So how can you worship Him? Only according to His precepts. We've seen it in the Word, we've seen it in the Heidelberg Catechism, we've seen it in the Westminster Standards. And I give you now an example from daily life. If I want to buy something for my wife, which does happen every once in a while, although I find myself returning things often, you want to buy something that she likes, and not something that you like. So, let's say you take a walk with your wife, and you come by, let's say, a jewelry store, just to make it very expensive, and she says, oh, I love this necklace. And you say, hmm, but you think I like the other one. Which one do you buy? If you say the second one, please see me after service and I slap you, you buy the first one because you buy it for her. You want to please her and not yourself. And I think that this is a great example for us to finally understand what worship is. All around this land you hear people talking about what they like about worship and why they go to a certain church because their worship clicks with them. But that is not of the issue. Worship is a hundred percent God-centered. I don't want to be rude, but who cares whether you click or not? We should all only care whether God clicks, if I may use this cavalier language, with our worship. So, in other words, seeker-friendly worship is only valid, to say it in Dr. Ferguson's words, if we understand who the true seeker of our worship is. It is not man, it is God. And therefore, worship must be 100% God-centered. And that's why it's so wrong as some churches do. Oh, we like to do this in worship. Oh, I've heard of a church that will change your oil while you're in worship. And I'm sure a lot of people like that. although it violates a whole bunch of commandments. So it doesn't matter how we like it, it only matters if God likes it. That is the secret to proper worship and God is serious about proper worship. And our second text in Leviticus chapter 10 is formidably clear about this matter. How important and how serious the matter of corporate worship is. You have to understand the context. Aaron's son were just ordained as priests of the living and true God. And they begin to lead their first worship service, first worship service. And then it says, and I'm using this text because I'm sure some of you have a hard time digesting it. But once you understand it, you will understand why this text is fully in line with the rest of Scripture. It says, each took his censer and put fire on it and offered profane fire, you could say, strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord. So here's how this went down most likely. These two guys were just ordained and they're so overjoyed to be ordained, to have been chosen to lead worship before God and before His people that they got carried away. And in being carried away, they added something to God's worship that He did not prescribe. In Reformational terms, this was in old times called the sin of enthusiasm. Our enthusiasm goes beyond what God has prescribed. And here they die before the people. before Moses and worst of all, I think, before Aaron, their father. And not to be cavalier about this, this is scary stuff to read as a father or a mother. But it shows us something, there's a purpose. It didn't just happen to God and then He said, oops, I shouldn't have been so harsh. No, there is a purpose. It was decreed to be like this because it shows us not only the importance of proper worship, but also the holiness of God. An issue, a subject that we so often forget. God must be worshipped according to His precepts and not according to our preferences or whims and fancies. Now, that doesn't mean that every time we worship in a wrong way that we are going to be killed or something like that. And we clearly know that this is not the case. We will not die. In fact, other than when the Lord Jesus Christ led the worship service, there hasn't been ever. One worship service that was perfect ever since the fall. So, you got to keep this in mind. But as you might know and see how Jesus Christ, when He walked on earth, approached people. He didn't approach them primarily about the externals, but He approached them about their heart. So what we're talking here about is not that we will ever be able on this side of death to have a perfect worship service, but we must have hearts who are students of worship because we love God and because we understand His holiness and we want to please Him and not us. God looks at the heart. We don't say, well, there's never going to be a worship service that's going to be perfect and therefore we don't even try. That would be utter defeatism. That would be capitulation and the abolishment of God's Word. But there's an aftermath. in verse 3 that I find even more amazing than what happened in the first two verses. It says, And Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord spoke, saying, By those who come near me I must be regarded as holy, and before all the people I must be glorified. Here is God's explanation for what just happened. They have violated my holiness before the people in the very first worship service that they ever performed. And then comes the most stunning sentence. So Aaron held his peace. That's the one I cannot wrap my heart, my mind around. This man... within a moment from being utterly proud, in the best sense of the word, of his sons being priests of the living God, being full of joy that they were so joyful in worshiping God, sees them being barbecued to a crisp. But when he hears God's explanation, he holds his peace. That's holiness. That is maturity, that is an understanding of who God is. As a pastor over the years and decades, I can say now, I have seen many fathers losing their integrity, defending their children, even deep into the land of unrighteousness, lie and sin, even ministers and elders. But here is a father with integrity. There is no doubt in my mind that this man loved his sons at least as much as we fathers love our sons. But there's one difference between him and many of us. He loved God more. And this is where we have to come. This is where we have to be. We have to love God more than anyone or anything. Aaron understands. the holiness of God. In the 12th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, when second generation desert wandering Israel was on the verge of entering the promised land, Moses gives them several warnings at this most critical juncture. They are about to take the promised land for which they have waited for so long. Deuteronomy 12, verse 2, this is what he says, You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess serve their gods. on the high mountains, and on the hills, and on every green tree. You shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire. You shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things. Continues in verse 13, take care, says it again, take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, but at the place that the Lord will choose. In one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings and there you shall do all that I am commanding you. And finally, verse 30, take heed to yourself, that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise. Warning after warning. to worship God only according to His precepts and not according to the pagans around them. Beloved, here is a spiritual principle, and it's the most basic and profound principle when it comes to corporate worship, to worship God only according to His own commands, according to His own precepts. And this principle is not only in the Old Testament, it has not changed at all as a principle in the New Testament. Because we are in the New Testament in the same way in John chapter 4, verse 24, to worship Him in what? In spirit and truth. So some means might have transformed from the Old Testament to the New Testament, but the principle and the narrative of worship has remained the same. And we can therefore extract three basic principles. when it comes to the worship of God. Three principles. First of all, whatever is prescribed in the Word of God is required. So whatever God describes in His Word when it comes to worship is required. That's the first. Whatever God has not prescribed is forbidden. Whatever God has not prescribed is forbidden. And here's the difference to our life. This is the big difference. In life, it is not like that. What God has not prescribed is allowed as long as it's not forbidden. So here's the great difference. But in worship, if God has not actively prescribed it, you must not do it in worship. And the third principle is a very logical one again. Whatever is forbidden is forbidden. So, what is prescribed is required, what is not prescribed is forbidden and whatever is forbidden remains forbidden. These are the three principles, basic principles for worship. And this principle is called the regulative principle of worship. God alone regulates how He wants to be worshipped. God alone regulates worship. Now, what this means in detail as to the elements of our New Testament worship, we will see in weeks to come. But we have one point left, brief point that I have to make this morning. What is the purpose of biblical worship? Why do we meet twice on the Lord's Day? to do what we call worship. And if we made a poll around Christians or churchgoers in Grand Rapids, we would get all kinds of replies when we ask about the purpose of worship. Some would say fellowship, others would say evangelism, teaching, experience of God, praise, etc. Now, why all of these things are good in their proper place, They are not at the heart of corporate worship. You might be surprised. Fellowship is a very pleasant, most of the time, very pleasant side effect, but not the main purpose of worship, since worship is first directed towards God. and not directed among each other. That's why I do not ask you to shake each other's hand before we start the worship service, although it's not forbidden, it's not formal worship yet. I do not even want to go there, that we have the idea that worship is about having fellowship, although having fellowship is a pleasant side effect as we worship God together. We do not meet down here. We meet up there in worship. What about evangelism? So many people see evangelism as the main purpose of worship. Now, you have to understand evangelism is man-centered. in the best sense of the word. It is man-centered. I bring a man the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in order for him to be saved. It's man-centered in a good way. But worship is not a gathering for evangelism. In fact, I go a step further, if you allow me. Worship is primarily, if not only, for the people of God. Therefore, I'm saying something very revolutionary here, which was not revolutionary 200 years ago. We do not evangelize in a worship service. We evangelize on the street. We evangelize in people's home through street preaching, through speaking with people, through inviting people through our home. This is not a venue for evangelism. If God brings somebody in and he gets saved, fine, great. Praise the Lord. But when I prepare a sermon, I have you before my eyes, before my spiritual eyes, and not unbelievers who just wander in. This is the people of God gathering to worship their God. Now, what about teaching? Well, teaching is a significant part of a worship service. I mean, a sermon has elements of teaching, but it's not the main purpose. Teaching is not the main thrust. There is a difference between teaching and preaching. We do not need to be taught. In fact, I again say something revolutionary, which I'm sure many of you know, responsible. Mainly responsible for your teaching, for the teaching of the families here is the father, not the pastor. He is the one who teaches his family. The pastor is not responsible for your family. He will help you as much as he can. But if you go to texts like Ephesians chapter 4, where it talks about the main purpose of the ministry of a minister, it says the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. I'm equipping you and you do the ministry. I'm your coach. I'm in your corner. And when there's a break in this boxing match out there, I massage your shoulders spiritually. I will give you advice how to do the work of the ministry. But you do it. What about the emotional experience? Now, it is easy for us, Reformed, to kind of shrug that off and act as if it was something ridiculous. It must be clearly said, brothers and sisters, that our emotions are a part of our nature. And they were a part of our nature even before the fall. And therefore, our worship must speak to the whole man. to the whole woman, to the whole child, including their emotions. But again, the emotions are not the main thing. The main thing that we approach is the mind. The Word of God approaches the mind. If the emotions become the principal part, then the tail wags with the dog. We are not here primarily to have an emotional experience. Although if God gives it to us, praise be to God. It might very well be that you walk out of a worship service. I've been there. You walk out and you know we've been lifted up into the heavenly places. God was in this place. I realized it. We were united into the heavenly places. But it's again not the purpose. The purpose is to glorify God. So what is worship really? I've told you first what it is not. So what is it? And you might hear this for the first time, but there was a time when everybody knew this. The main purpose, the thrust of every corporate worship service must be covenant renewal. Worship is covenant renewal. And one key to understanding this is a special worship service in Exodus chapter 24. I will not read it, I will just describe it for you. After more than 400 years in Egypt, Israel was just delivered from the Egyptians. After God had brought 10 plagues upon them. Again and again, Moses pleaded with Pharaoh in God's name. What did he plead? Let my people go that they can worship in the desert. Have you ever asked yourself what that really means? Because at first sight, it might seem like he asks just for a worship service and then we will be back. No. He knew what he meant and Pharaoh knew what he meant. He meant that this will be an important worship service because worship means covenant renewal. We renew our covenant with God that we are His and not Pharaoh's. This was the formal emancipation from Pharaoh and their commitment again to God. Let my people go that they can worship in the desert. Eventually, by God's grace, they leave and God gives them His laws in Exodus chapter 20 through 23, mainly called what? The Book of the Covenant, verse 7 of Exodus chapter 24. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, all that the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient. Covenant renewal. These were not new laws. This is not a new covenant. This is the covenant that was initiated with Abraham in Genesis 15, Genesis 12. No new covenant. They were renewing the existing covenant with God as a people. It was the nation of Israel renewing the covenant with their God. And Moses and the elders, on behalf of the people, reaffirmed this existing covenant on behalf of the people. And they responded then with sacrifices and that was called worship. And the general form of this worship service, this covenant renewal ceremony, resembles our worship. And in weeks to come, you will see how this transfers over into New Testament worship. And how this exactly looks, we will see, hopefully, in weeks to come. But may we worship God, not according to our own whims and fancies, but in spirit and in truth. May God help us in this. Amen and Amen. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You how deep we can dig and dig and dig and draw jewels, gold and silver and diamonds out from it. And yet we're only scratching on the surface. Oh, Holy Spirit, take our hearts in Your grip and guide us in order to be obedient to Your Word in all areas of life. Help fathers to take up their duty to teach their families, to be examples to them. and to lead them in family worship. Let this be a new beginning. May your name be glorified and your people be blessed. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen.