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Turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 
2. You'll know, of course, we're 
going through the epistle to the Galatians in our evening 
worship. Last Sunday night, we considered 
the works of the flesh. The Sunday night before that, 
the command that we walk in the Spirit. God willing, we're going 
to look at the fruits of the Spirit next Sunday night and 
how they apply in our individual lives. I thought, however, it 
would be helpful and instructive for us to see what it looks like 
when a church, corporately gathered, walks in the Spirit. What it 
looks like when a church of Jesus Christ is, in fact, Spirit-filled. Now, Acts is a wonderful book. It's a historical narrative of 
God's work in terms of disciple-making and church planting. Now, it 
is descriptive in nature. That means Luke, by the power 
of the Holy Spirit, as he writes, as he narrates, he is describing 
what's going on. It's a little bit different than 
a prescriptive or a prescribing. In other words, not everything 
in the book of Acts is prescribed or commanded for us to go and 
do likewise. However, tonight, the description 
that Luke gives of the spirit filled church at worship is what 
we find prescribed in the remainder of the New Testament. So it serves 
to illustrate for us. It serves to picture for us what 
this church will look like if, in fact, we are filled with the 
spirit. So I just want to read beginning 
in Acts chapter 2 at verse 36. I know that's sort of an interesting 
place to drop into, but I just want to start there and read 
to the end of the chapter. Therefore, let all the house 
of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom 
you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard 
this, they were caught to the heart and said to Peter and the 
rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then 
Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized 
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you 
shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise 
is to you and to your children and to all who are afar off. as many as the Lord our God will 
call, and with many other words he testified and exhorted them, 
saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly 
received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand 
souls were added to that, and they continued steadfastly in 
the apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and 
in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, 
and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together 
and had all things in common and sold their possessions and 
goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing 
daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from 
house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity 
of heart. praising God and having favor 
with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily 
those who were being saved. Amen. Well, let us pray again. 
Father, we just come to you now and we pray that you would lead 
us into an understanding of this passage. We pray, Father, that 
we would appreciate the work of God, the power of Jesus Christ, 
the power of the Holy Spirit when he comes upon the church. 
We pray, Father, for conversions. We pray that sinners would pass 
from death to life, from darkness to light, that you would be well 
pleased, Lord God, in this place and elsewhere, to save by your 
powerful grace. And we ask through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. Well, the day of Pentecost 
was a very unique day in the history of redemption. You'll 
remember back in Chapter 2, beginning in verse 1, the coming of the 
Holy Spirit. The Spirit came in a powerful 
way. Men began to speak in other languages, not gibberish, not 
things that people were not able to understand, but rather people 
were able to understand in their own language The wonderful works 
of God. And then there was some wonder, 
some curiosity, if you will, about this phenomena of the Holy 
Spirit. So the apostle Peter stands up 
to explain what is going on with reference to the outpouring of 
the Spirit. We see his sermon in verses 14 
to 36. And basically what he does is 
he highlights that this is consistent with what the prophet spoke. 
In fact, he says this is that which was spoken by the Prophet 
Joel, that in it shall come to pass rather in the last days, 
says God that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. So Peter 
says this is fulfillment. This is the time. This is what 
Joel was writing about. And then Peter embarks in a sermon 
expounding, explaining, expositing the person and work of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. He highlights Jesus' life and 
ministry in verse 22. He points to his death in verse 
23. He then sets forth the resurrection 
of Christ in verses 24 to 32, and then his exaltation to the 
right hand of the Father in verses 33 to 36. That's why we read 
beginning in verse thirty six. That's the end. That's the conclusion. This is Peter bringing it on 
now. Notice, he says, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know 
assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both 
Lord and Christ. He wants A response. He wants 
them to believe. He wants them to not just nod 
their head and say, yes, this is what the prophet Joel spoke. 
Yes, Jesus was a noble man, but rather with that data, having 
that truth, he wants them to come to the Lord of glory. So 
we're going to look at two things this evening. First, the response 
of the people on the day of Pentecost. And then secondly, the worship 
of the church. In some, verse 42 describes for 
us what a spirit-filled church looks like. They are a worshiping 
body. They take seriously the injunction 
to come before God with praise, with thanksgiving, with adoration. And so that's what we'll look 
at this evening. But let's first look at the response 
on the day of Pentecost, beginning in verse 37. There is, first 
of all, conviction. They are convicted of their sin. Notice in verse thirty seven. 
Now, when they heard this, they were caught to the heart and 
they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, 
what shall we do later on in the book of Acts and Acts seven? 
It says that there was a similar response. They were caught to 
the heart when Stephen preached. But instead of crying out, men 
and brethren or Stephen, what shall we do? They gnashed at 
him with their teeth, they drove him out of the city, and they 
stoned him to death. There is a marked difference 
between these two responses. They had come under the conviction 
of sin. Notice in verse 23, Peter does 
not let them forget their responsibility, their culpability, their liability 
in the death of the Lord Jesus. He says, whom you crucify. In order for the Spirit to bring 
conviction, we have to make known sin. We're not some sick, obsessed 
weirdos here that like to talk about sin for its own, just as 
a matter of course. But rather, it is that which 
the Spirit uses to bring conviction to people. You need to come under 
conviction. They were cut to the heart. Notice, 
the conviction then follows this call to repentance and faith. 
When they say, men and brethren, what shall we do? Peter has the 
answer for that. Peter tells them what they should 
do. Very intriguing what he doesn't 
say. He doesn't say, well, just keep 
seeking. He doesn't say, pray the Lord for a new heart. He 
says, repent. Remember, John the Baptist began 
his ministry with that emphasis. The Lord Jesus began his ministry 
with that emphasis. Remember that repentance is a 
change of mind. You're caught to the heart. You're 
convicted of sin. The answer is repentance. Get 
rid of it. Stop thinking about it. Stop 
engaging in it. Repent from it, turn from it, 
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the emphasis. So upon the heels of conviction, 
Peter is right there to tell them how to deal with their sin. 
Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus 
Christ for the remission of sins. The idea, again, is believe on 
Him, repent from your sins, go through water baptism, which 
is a picture or a sign or an illustration or the means of 
grace that God has ordained to demonstrate what has happened 
to you on the inside. This remission of sins is the 
thing needful. This is what the gospel brings 
you. If you've not come to Christ, there is a sense where you have 
no understanding of this blessed phrase. It says repent and be 
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. 
That means the washing away of sins, the forgiveness of sins. We have a lot of sin. All of 
us have come short of the glory of God. All of us, like sheep, 
have gone astray. What will we do with this sin 
if we don't deal with it? If it isn't dealt with by God, 
we will die in our sin and we will go off to everlasting punishment. So Peter here highlights that 
one thing needful. Close with Christ. Believe the gospel. Turn from 
your sin. Cast your soul upon Him. The 
language of the hymn. Venture on Him. Venture holy. He will receive all those who 
draw nigh unto Him or unto God through Him. And then Peter highlights 
the promise that is to be received when they believe. And you shall 
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Not the gift Like you'll 
be able to teach people, you'll be a liberal in your giving, 
or you'll be a nice person. The gift of the Holy Spirit. 
When we believe the gospel, we are justified freely by God's 
grace, and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then 
he highlights the graciousness of God, the extensiveness of 
his promise. It says for the promise, this 
gift of the Holy Spirit is to you and to your children and 
to all are all who are far off. Now, notice it's modified as 
many as the Lord our God will call. Not to everybody, without 
exception, but from each of those categories, you, your children, 
those who are afar off, the ones whom God calls, receive the gift 
of the Holy Spirit. Verse 39 does not teach paedo-baptism. It does not teach paedo-sprinkling. It teaches the blessed reality. that all those who are called 
by God's sovereign grace, all those who believe the gospel, 
all those who repent from their sins receive the spirit of the 
living God. So that's the response on the 
day of Pentecost, in terms of conviction, call to repentance 
and faith, and then notice the specific conversion. We see in 
verse 40, and with many other words, he testified and exhorted 
them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. Then those 
who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about 
three thousand souls were added to them. Isn't that a beautiful 
picture? Notice the order, it's conspicuous. It wasn't that they 
were baptized first. They gladly received the word 
and they were baptized. They gladly believed on the Lord 
Jesus and they were baptized. Baptism is a sign of the new 
covenant. Unto the party baptized. of his death, of his burial, 
of his resurrection with Christ. It is for the person who, by 
God's grace, is a participant in the new covenant. So that's 
the response. Let's move on, secondly, to their 
worship. Notice in verse 42, they continued 
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the 
breaking of bread and in prayers. That's a pretty simple picture 
of worship, isn't it? They updated the website. They 
had the media files ready for anybody that wanted them. They 
got the band in there. They got the tubas. They got 
the guitars. They got everything set up. They 
got the contemporary leader coming in to do his thing. This is a 
picture of very simple worship. Very simple worship. Notice, 
however, how they respond to it. This idea of continuing steadfastly. The verb indicates, or the participle 
rather means, to be firm, to persevere, to remain faithful 
to a person or a task. They continued steadfastly in 
each of these four elements. They didn't do them haphazardly, 
they didn't do them once in a while, they didn't do them as they had 
felt need, it was a matter of course. God saved them, God filled 
them with the Spirit, and this is how they responded in worship 
to the living God. In regard to prayer specifically, 
the idea is constant diligence, effort that never lets up, confident 
waiting for results. So, that disposition framed the 
worship of God with reference to their spirit-filled lives 
as a local church. Let's just pull out each of these 
elements and inspect them. Notice first, they continue steadfastly 
in the apostles' doctrine. They wanted preaching. They wanted 
teaching. They wanted the Word of God. 
They wanted to understand Scripture. They knew that man shall not 
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth 
of God. They would not have an altar in the center of their 
place of worship. They would have a pulpit in the 
center of their place of worship. Remember, at the Reformation, 
that was precisely one of the emphases was to get the altar 
off of the off of the stage of the front or whatever you want 
to call this area platform. I don't know what it's actually 
called this place. Get the altar out of there. Get the pulpit 
from the side and put it in the center. Why? Because we want 
the doctrine. We want teaching. We want to 
know what God has to say. We want sound truth. They were 
not looking for experience. They were not looking for entertainment. 
They were not looking for ecstasy, but they were looking to sound 
doctrine. This is crucial. You know, God 
knows what we need better than we know. Who's supposed to define 
what goes on in worship, we the worshipper, we know, like a little 
this, I'd like a little bit of that. I'd like a little bit of 
this. I'd like a little bit of that. 
No, God has designed what we need specifically to bring him 
glory, to bring him honor, to bring him praise. And lo and 
behold, it brings great benefit to our hearts and joy and blessing 
to us. They wanted the truth of God's 
word. They had just witnessed a great 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit with the visible manifestation 
of tongues. Now, what they want, or what 
they steadfastly continue in, is not a class on how to speak 
in tongues. They didn't have little focus 
groups on how you can speak in tongues. No, they wanted the 
exposition and the application of God's holy word. They were converted to Christ, 
and the response of the worshiper of Christ is give me the truth 
of God's holy word. Secondly, it says the fellowship 
of the fellowship. They continue steadfastly in 
the apostles doctrine and fellowship. Point O'Neill. I'm sure you've 
heard that word before. We all know a certain amount 
of Greek words, and I'm sure point O'Neill is one of those 
great words. It means fellowship. Calvin defines 
it this way, excuse me. He says, I do rather refer it, 
koinonia, unto mutual society and fellowship, unto all's giving 
in worship, and unto other duties of brotherly fellowship. In other words, when we come 
to worship our triune God, we come corporately. We don't come 
as a bunch of individuals. We're not here to express ourselves. We're not here to display or 
demonstrate our creativity. We are here to bow before the 
triune God as the corporate body that he has saved. He wants us 
to gather before him in unison. He wants us to praise him and 
to edify one another. Fellowship is a marked part of 
New Covenant worship. We are not Christians in isolation. This is why very often you'll 
get admonished and encouraged to come to church. As good as 
the Internet may be and we live stream, I could say hello to 
all the people that are listening right now to my voice through 
their computer. It's no substitution for being 
with the people of God. Fellowship. I guess everybody, 
I'm not picking on them, I know there's providential reasons 
why people can't be here at night. I guess they could email one 
another or have some live chat too to encourage one another 
while we're, you know, listening. There's something about the corporate 
gathered body. There's such an emphasis on individualism 
in North America. What do we do? We build great 
big fences in our backyard so nobody can see in. On the West, 
it seems even more like that. In the East, they've got big 
porches and sometimes people sit on their front porch and 
they talk to their neighbors. Not us, man. Let me have a wall 
that's so high I'll never even know my neighbors there. That 
spills over into the life of the church. We don't want anybody 
to know us. We don't want to know anybody. 
We want to just come and do our thing and we want to leave. I 
had a friend who mentioned one time at a big church that he 
went to. After the sermon was over and the prayer was offered 
and the amen was rendered, he said it was like a football player. 
They get their Bibles and run right out the door. That's not 
the way it's supposed to be. We can talk to each other about 
the things of the Lord. We can fellowship. We can encourage. We can try and exhort. We can 
look for that brother or that sister that may be hurting and 
try to minister unto them. This is what new covenant worship 
looks like. Notice, thirdly, they continued 
steadfastly in the breaking of bread. I don't believe this refers 
simply to the taking of meals together, but rather it is the 
Lord's Supper. Having been baptized upon their 
entry into the life of the church, the brethren then participated 
in the Lord's Supper. It is a time where we commune, 
first and foremost, with God. We participate with Jesus Christ. But again, we don't do this solo. 
We don't do this in isolation. We do this corporately, the gathered 
body of Christ's church. First Corinthians chapter 10, 
the apostle speaks of this. He says, the cup of blessing 
which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? 
The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body 
of Christ? For we, though many, are one 
bread and one body, for we all partake of that one bread." It's 
that time when, by the power of the Spirit, He brings us into 
a lively contact through these tangible elements with the risen 
and exalted and glorified Lord Jesus. It is a time for remembrance. It is a time to ponder. It is 
a time to think in terms of gospel. And it is a time to do so corporately, 
the gathered church, the people of God. We've got doctrine, fellowship, 
breaking of bread, and then fourthly, prayer. Does anything surprise 
you in this list? Wow, imagine that. I mean, it 
may surprise us that we don't continue as steadfastly in these 
things, right? I don't feel like going to prayer 
meetings. I don't feel like going to worship. That's not continuing 
steadfastly in something. I just don't get anything out 
of it. Prayer meetings are kind of dull. Prayer meetings aren't 
the most exciting times in the world. Wednesday night, I mean, 
I just don't want to be there for an hour and a half or whatever 
it may be. Is that to continue steadfastly 
in something? I'm not trying to bind anybody's 
conscience. I'm simply trying to open up a view, a window, 
if you will, onto the life of the early church. They continued 
steadfastly. Prayer was a priority among the 
early church, and it must be today. The context indicates 
that corporate prayer is in view, not private, personal prayer. 
Yes, you should be praying in your closet. Yes, you should 
be coming before the Lord as families. But the Church of Christ 
must pray. Paul, when he writes to Timothy 
on how he ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is 
the church of the living God, says, first of all, I exhort 
that prayer, supplications, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made 
for all men. That's the first order of business 
that Paul addresses with reference to the gathered church. Pray. 
Pray. There's a man up here leading 
prayer. That doesn't mean you're wholly passive. You enter into 
the life of the prayer. The man up here is praying. He 
is our spokesman, collectively, corporately. You need to engage 
the mind. You need to work at it. You need 
to labor. You don't use that time to think 
about what you're going to do on Wednesday. You don't think 
mentally about how you're scheduling your particular week. Worship 
takes effort, brethren. Worship takes commitment. Worship takes active involvement. And prayer was something that 
marked the early church. Notice in Acts 4 at verse 23. Acts chapter 4 at verse 23. And 
being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all 
that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they 
heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord 
and said. Now, I doubt that everybody raised 
their voice at the same time, and they all happened to pray 
the same thing. I really doubt that's what's 
in view there. I think one of the brothers began 
to address God thus. The other brothers entered in 
with him. They actively engaged. They sided 
with him. They were apart with him. So 
that it could be described that they lifted up their voice with 
one accord and said, Lord, You are God, who made heaven and 
earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth 
of your servant David hath said, Why did the nations rage, and 
the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their 
stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and 
against his Christ. For truly against your holy servant 
Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with 
the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 
to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before 
to be done." Isn't that amazing? They are striving absolute sovereignty 
of God. Instead of killing prayer, it 
finds its way to vent in their prayer. People say, why pray 
if you believe in predestination? Why pray if you don't believe 
in predestination? How could you possibly pray to 
a feeble God who has not executed all things according to the power 
of his own will? It goes on. Now, Lord, look on 
their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness 
they may speak your word. It's a God-centered petition. 
That's what they want, is the boldness to speak the word of 
truth by stretching out your hand to heal, and that signs 
and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant 
Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled 
together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy 
Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Going back 
to Acts 242, and they continue steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine, 
fellowship, the breaking of bread, and in prayers. That was their 
activity. Gordon Ketty, in his excellent 
little commentary in the Well-Went Bible series commentary, says 
this. He says, these add up to an experiential 
reference for every Christian's involvement in church life. The 
Christian wants solid teaching and more of it, wants to share 
the wholehearted fellowship with brothers and sisters in the church. 
He wants to sit at the Lord's table in celebration of his salvation 
in Christ. He wants to pray in secret in 
the family and with the church. These are every Christian's basic 
personal spiritual goals. If they are not your goals, you 
need a change of outlook. We need to align ourselves with 
God's word. We don't manipulate God's word 
to align itself with us. That's a fundamental problem 
in the church today. Notice, not only their attitude, 
but their disposition. The fear of God was pervasive 
in their midst. Verse 43, then fear came upon 
every soul. It's a great description. Two 
types of fear in the Bible. There's the fear where you run 
and you hide underneath the piano. I don't think that's the kind 
of fear that's in view. It is that reverence. It is that 
awe. It is that recognition of who 
God is and probably a little bit wanting to run and hide underneath 
the piano. Recognizing God as glorious, 
as awesome, as majestic, as the one from everlasting to everlasting, 
sovereign in creation, sovereign in providence, sovereign in salvation. How better to respond to him 
than with fear. trembling, rejoicing, praise, 
adoration. So, fear of God, love to one 
another. Verses 44 and 45. Now, all who 
believed were together and had all things in common and sold 
their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone 
had need. And then Luke gives us a summary 
description in verses 46 and 47. He says, so continuing daily 
with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house 
to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity 
of heart praising God and having favor with all the people. And 
the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Brief exposition, couple applications 
and then we'll close. First thing I want to point out 
is what our confession refers to as the elements of worship. 
Those things that are commanded activities in the house of God 
for the worship of God. The elements in this particular 
instance are doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. 
The Confession of Faith, Chapter 22, Paragraph 5, says, The reading 
of the Scriptures, preaching and hearing the Word of God, 
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and 
spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord, 
as also the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper, 
are all parts of religious worship to God, to be performed in obedience 
to Him with understanding, faith, reverence, and godly fear. So, 
not only describe those elements, they also prescribe a form. We ought to do them in obedience 
to him, with understanding, with faith, with reverence and godly 
fear. The confession then goes on to 
speak, or prior to that, speaks of who regulates worship. It's 
a big debate today in what they call the worship wars. People 
would call our church traditional worship as opposed to contemporary 
worship. Now, traditional worship itself 
could be wrong. We should prefer the term regulated 
worship. Confession of faith speaks of 
what's called the regulative principle of worship. That means 
God prescribes what we do in worship. We would all say, yeah, 
that's right. Think about you as the household 
owner, the owner, the manager, the one who's in charge in your 
house. You don't generally let people come in and dictate what 
they're going to do in your house. When somebody comes over to visit 
and says, hey, I'm going to put this CD on, I like death metal. 
You say, wait a minute, I don't like death metal. But you didn't 
say I couldn't do it, but I didn't tell you you could. That's what it's about in the house 
of God. Something has happened in the history of the church 
where we think that we're smarter or wiser or more innovative or 
more creative and we get to dictate to God how it is we'll worship 
him. I think if we get the wisdom 
of the confession here will understand its beauty and its biblical consistency. It says 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 worshipped according 
to the imaginations and devices of men, nor the suggestions of 
Satan under any visible representations or any other way not prescribed 
in the Holy Scriptures. In other words, we do what God 
says. We do nothing more, nothing less, 
and nothing else than what God has commanded us to do. John 
Calvin comments on this particular idea of the regulative principle 
of worship. He says, first, it tends greatly 
to establish God's authority that we do not follow our own 
pleasure, but depend entirely on his sovereignty. And, secondly, 
such is our folly that when we are left at liberty, all we are 
able to do is go astray. And then, once we have turned 
aside from the right path, there is no end to our wanderings until 
we get buried under a multitude of superstitions. You say, wow, 
that's really overdoing it, Brother John. No, I don't think it is. We introduce a little bit of 
this and a little bit of that and a little bit of this and 
a little bit of that, and soon we look like the northern kingdom 
after the Assyrians resettled other peoples in that land. We're 
to do what God says in this in this matter. As well, the confession 
speaks to the circumstances of worship. Circumstances are those 
things that the Bible doesn't specifically legislate and that 
the church agrees upon. Do we meet at nine thirty for 
worship or eleven o'clock? Confession speaks to that the 
light. There are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, 
government of the church, comedy, human actions and societies which 
are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, 
according to the general rules of the word, which are always 
to be observed. You see certain things like that 
in the scriptures. Again, not necessarily prescriptive, 
but descriptive. They met daily. Are we supposed 
to meet daily? Might have been a circumstance. 
We are specifically commanded on the Lord's Day Sabbath to 
meet. We cannot alter that. We cannot change that. We cannot 
corporately decide. We like Tuesday better. You know, 
there's good TV on on Sunday, and I want to make sure that 
I'm home then. So we want to meet on Tuesday. No, we're not 
free to do that. God the Lord has spoken and instituted 
a particular day as the context for the worship of God. So the 
elements of worship, the circumstances of worship, but again, the form 
of worship. This idea here of fear. Fear. And it's not the 
fear again where we hide under the piano, but that fear mingled 
with joy. That fear mingled with trembling and rejoicing at what 
God has done in our lives. The Prophet Jeremiah asked this 
question, who would not fear you, O King of the Nations, for 
indeed it is your do. John Newton wrote, was grace 
that taught my heart to fear. Fear of God is a good thing. 
This isn't only associated with old covenant worship. Remember, 
in the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews, chapter twelve, verse twenty 
eight, we saw that in our one of our last studies in the book 
of Hebrews. Therefore, since we are receiving 
a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we 
may serve God acceptably, acceptably with reverence and godly fear, 
reverence, godly fear. That is how we are supposed to 
approach this God. One man commented on contemporary 
worship. He says that often times, not 
always, it often times creates a tone that is casual, comfortable, 
chatty, busy, humorous, pleasant, and at times even cute. This 
man goes on to suggest that if the seraphim assumed this Sunday 
morning mood, they would be addressing God not as holy, holy, holy, 
but as nice, nice. Nice. Our God is a consuming 
fire. That's New Covenant worship. We don't come in with less reverence. We come in with as much or more 
reverence as the worshipper in the Old Covenant. You hear often 
times of a style of worship. Well, that's not my style. That's 
not the style that I prefer. Worship has a style, it's God's. And it's about reverence, it's 
about awe, it's about praise, it's about worship, it's about 
adoration, it's about recognizing who we are in his sight and coming 
through the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. And finally, I 
want to direct our attention to the occasion of worship in 
this particular chapter. Arguably the most spirit-filled 
church congregation ever. Pentecost. That's the benchmark 
for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. A whole denomination 
calls themselves Pentecostal as a result of this particular 
chapter. The Spirit comes mightily. The 
Spirit comes powerfully. The Spirit comes in revival, 
awakening, blessing, saves 3,000 people. And what do they do? They continue steadfastly in 
the apostles' doctrine, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and 
in prayers. What's God saying to us? that 
the means that he has instituted is for our good. They didn't 
break off and have special seasons of whatever. They didn't have 
drama. They didn't have mime. They didn't 
have skit. They didn't have production quality stage shows. They went on simple or they went 
and applied themselves to simple means, to simple application, 
to growing in the grace and in the knowledge of God in the manner 
in which he has ordained. Reformed doctrine of the regulative 
principle is often said to stifle genuine worship, to restrain 
genuine worship, to limit genuine worship and the creativity of 
man. It is precisely a simple use 
of simple means that characterizes the most spirit filled church 
ever in the book of Acts. I think we need to realign our 
priorities. I think we need to understand 
what worship is about. And I think we need to worship 
by the book. The Lord God Almighty is not 
looking for our creativity and worship. He is calling us to 
worship him in spirit and in truth. He has ordained it. He 
has prescribed it. We need to obey. And if you don't 
know the Lord Jesus, you've never worshiped in your life. You may 
go through the motions. You may come to church. You may 
sing the hymns. Do you ever think of what a hypocritical 
statement it is to sing some of these hymns of redemption 
by the blood when you know nothing of that blood? Let me call upon 
you to believe the gospel, to worship God aright. There is 
nothing better than to enter into the presence of the high 
and holy God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, to 
come with boldness beforehand, and to know that he accepts you 
in the beloved. There is no greater privilege 
on this side of heaven than to worship God. in spirit and in 
truth, and that by the blood. You come to Christ, believe on 
him, and then continue steadfastly in these four things that the 
Bible sets forth before us. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for your Word. We thank you for the truth. We 
thank you for the simple worship that we find in our Bibles. We 
just pray now, Lord God, that you would cause us to rejoice 
in you, cause us to see what a spirit-filled church looks 
like, and cause us, Lord God, to appreciate those things that 
you've ordained for the growth of our souls. We just pray now 
that you would go with us again for the physical needs in our 
congregation. We pray that you would undertake 
on behalf of your people, that you would bless your people with 
peace, with strength, with great grace, and cause us to effectively 
shine as lights in this community and to hold forth your word of 
truth. And we pray through Christ the Lord. Amen.