We can turn back to Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 12, for our introduction to our sermon, Deuteronomy chapter 12. I'll read verses 29 to 32. Deuteronomy 12, beginning in verse 29, When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, 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.
You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. For every abomination to the Lord, which he hates, they have done to their gods. For they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it.
You shall not add to it, nor take away from it. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we pray again for the guidance and the power of the Holy Spirit as we move through the various passages of Scripture tonight.
We pray that You would guide our thoughts and our minds and cause us to reflect upon the necessity to worship You aright. You are the Lord God of truth. We are to worship You in spirit and in truth. Certainly that means obedience on our part and an understanding of what Scripture teaches in this particular regard.
So guide us and bless us and help us, Lord, to glorify You, and we pray through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Introduction
Well, this morning I mentioned the regulative principle of worship and how appointing women as elders or pastors in churches would be a violation of that regulative principle of worship. Basically, the regulative principle of worship is simple. We do what God commands us to do in Scripture. So we looked at that a couple of weeks in a row at 1 Timothy 3, verses 14 to 16, under the head, the regulation of the church's worship.
Well, we're gonna expand that theme, the regulative principle of worship, and we're gonna look at some Old Testament passages tonight. Basically, I have a twofold aim. I wanna highlight first, the divine appointment of worship, and then secondly, the covenantal context of worship. Now some of these concepts will probably be new, some of them will probably be repetitious for those who attend the Confession Studies and the Wednesday Night Bible Study, but nevertheless, I want to lay a foundation so that if we make changes to corporate worship in the coming months, there is biblical warrant and ground to do so.
We're not going to make changes away from Scripture, but hopefully changes in conformity to Scripture. So, again, there's going to be a leaning on my part on the confession of faith and theology. I'm more comfortable just starting in a book and preaching through that book. Topical series are not my forte, so I'm in a bit of a quandary on how to approach this particular subject matter, but I definitely think we need to get in our minds the divine appointment of worship and then the covenantal context of worship.
The covenantal context of worship becomes very important when you read, say, for instance, the Old Testament versus the New Testament. In the Old Testament, you have tabernacles, you have a temple, you have a priesthood, you have sacrifice, you have incense. You have a lot of things that we don't utilize in the New Covenant. Well, how do we account for that?
Is there a way to explain the change in our approach to God in accordance with His Word? Well, yeah, it's the covenantal context. So that's why I think that's an important add. Not sure we're going to get there tonight.
I want to focus primarily on the divine appointment of worship. So remember, the Puritan view is what's called the regulative principle of worship. That simply means we do what we are commanded in Scripture. We're not permitted to do that which is not mentioned.
We are to do what God says. So only what is commanded is acceptable in worship, and anything outside of what is commanded is prohibited. Then you've got what's called the normative view. The Anglicans, the Roman Catholics, the Lutherans, they all operate according to this principle.
What is commanded is acceptable, plus anything not expressly prohibited is acceptable. Only what is expressly condemned or forbidden is prohibited. So in other words, they say we're free to do that which the Bible doesn't forbid. Well, we could have a pony up here.
We could have a puppet show up here. We could do all manner of things up here because the Bible doesn't expressly forbid such things. When you adopt the normative principle, basically anything goes. And ultimately it's that church or those elders that make the determination about the public worship of God.
I think Benjamin Keech summarizes well for us what the regulative principle means or entails. Whatsoever we do in the worship of God, we must see we have a command from God to warrant our practice. And also we must not add to, nor diminish from, nor alter anything. If we do, God will not hold us guiltless.
And then our confession of faith, chapter 22, paragraph 1, it says, But the acceptable way of worshipping 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. So in other words, it does encapsulate what we find here in Deuteronomy 12, 32. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.
That is a wonderful summary statement of what the regulative principle of worship is. Now, when we talk about worship in this series of messages, it's going to be dealing with public worship. This is not a negation of private worship when you read your Bible in the morning and when you pray to God. It's not a negation of family worship when you gather the children around and and you read scripture and you engage in catechism and you sing some hymns with them or some children's songs.
But the primary emphasis as we move through this material is on public worship. It is the people of God gathering together at a specified time on the Lord's Day to worship God. And when we come down to it, this is one of the most important aspects in our religion. Why did God make man?
What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. We see that in the garden. Why did God make Adam and Eve?
Not because he had a need, not because they completed him. He does it according to his own good pleasure. They don't add anything to God. They don't diminish anything from God.
But God, according to his good pleasure, makes man, makes him in his image, and makes him to commune with him. And we see that communion take place in the garden. We see that interaction between God and Adam and Eve. We see worship.
And so man's chief end is to glorify God, to enjoy Him forever. And worship is a period of time that is set apart exclusively for the purpose of communion with God by the means which He has appointed. Some suggest the regulative principle of worship, it's too restrictive. All of life is worship.
Well, brethren, that's not the case. All of life isn't necessarily worship. When you're engaged in work, you should be focused on your work. Of course, the general sense, you do it to the glory of God, you do it for His honor and for His praise, but that's not the case that all of life is worship.
That's like saying in your marriage all of life is a date night. No, it isn't. There's a lot of bad breath. There's fights, there's arguments, there's interactions that aren't date night sort of quality.
If everything is worship, then nothing is worship. And so the regulative principle of worship applies specifically to the people of God meeting in the house of God on the day of God for the worship of God, communing with Him, glorifying Him, and enjoying Him.
Divine Appointment of Worship
Now having introduced, let's look at the divine appointment for worship, and there are three things to observe. First, the books of Exodus and Leviticus. Secondly, the command in Deuteronomy 12, and then we'll end with an emphasis in the book of Chronicles. But first, with reference to the books of Exodus and Leviticus,
Exodus: Moral and Ceremonial Law
you can turn to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. Again, I'm laying groundwork, certain categories that we need to be mindful of, specifically with reference to the law of God. It is God's law that is the regulating principle behind our worship.
In other words, we're not free to create, we're not free to innovate, We're not free to just deliberate on how it is we're going to approach the living and the true God. No, we're free to obey. That's what we are called to do. We're to obey God relative to His command on how we approach Him in worship.
So notice specifically in the Ten Commandments, the first commandment emphasizes the object of worship, and the second commandment emphasizes the manner of worship. Note the preface in chapter 20 at verse 2. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage. So a bit of a historical review in terms of what Yahweh had done in bringing liberty to the children of Israel and he brings them out now to Sinai to speak to them his law.
And the first commandment is there, verse 3, you shall have no other gods before me. So that is a definition of the object of worship. You're to have no other gods before God. You're to have no other gods besides God.
You're not supposed to add gods to the list of gods that are authorized to worship. One true and living God, and we worship Him specifically. And then verse 4, the second commandment, deals with the manner by which we worship that true God. You'll see subsequent to this in Israel, they would say they were worshiping Yahweh, but they would do it in a manner that betrayed the second commandment.
Like when Jeroboam builds those calves so that the people of God don't go to Jerusalem. He puts them in locations where they will not go back to Jerusalem. And he says, behold your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. That was not the case.
But it was suggesting by Jeroboam that this was Yahweh pictured as a calf. So if you have the right God, good, but you need to worship the right God in the way that the right God commands. And that's the emphasis in the second commandment. Notice in verse four, 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. So there is appended to the second commandment on how we're to worship the true and living God, a threat of curse, a promise of blessing, but a threat of curse. So if you worship the true God in a false manner, you are subject to God's judgment.
So
Moral Law and the Decalogue
when we look at the Ten Commandments, we would call these or we would categorize this as moral law. It is moral law. It reflects who God is. It's always binding upon all men everywhere, whether Jew or Gentile, whether Old Covenant or New Covenant.
Basically, it is a summary or a codification of what God gives to Adam in the garden. Oftentimes in Reformed theology, it's referred to as natural law, that which was written on the heart by God in creation. And so man knows intrinsically and inherently, because he is God's creature and God's image bearer, that it's wrong to disobey him. Man knows inherently and intrinsically that it's wrong to murder, that it's wrong to commit adultery.
Now, I realize they suppress that truth in unrighteousness, and I realize they act against that, but there is a conscience that does accuse them according to the Apostle Paul in Romans 2, 14, and 15. So the Ten Commandments here in Exodus chapter 20 are referred to as the moral law of God. But
Threefold Division of the Law
as you continue in the book of Exodus, you'll notice that there's other types of law. And in the Reformed tradition, we speak of the threefold division of the law. So you've got the moral law, which we have here in Exodus chapter 20. Then you have what's called the ceremonial law.
And ceremonial law specifically governs worship. We might also call that positive law, which we'll deal with a bit later. Positive law is something that is commanded by God for a time. It's not moral law that's always relevant to everybody in every situation.
Positive law is the prohibition against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. Positive law is the reason why in the Old Covenant, the Jews worshiped on Saturday. Positive law is the reason why in the New Testament or New Covenant, Christians worship on Sunday. Positive law is what governs worship in the particular covenant you find yourself in.
So we've got moral law of God written on the heart of man at creation, delivered by God to Moses in Israel at Sinai. And it's written on the hearts of believers according to the prophecy of Jeremiah 31 in redemption. And then this ceremonial law. Turretin refers to it this way.
The ceremonial law is the system of God's positive precepts concerning the external worship in sacred things prescribed to the ancient church either for the sake of order or signification. Our confession says that it does a few things. that this ceremonial law given by God to Israel prefigured Jesus. When you get to Leviticus chapters 21 and 22, thank Jesus. Leviticus 21 specifies that the priest cannot be handicapped.
That's not because God is anti-handicap. That is because God is glorious and God demands that those who come nigh to him in that public activity is fit for service. And so in Leviticus 21, you see the premium put on the priest that is qualified to engage in priestly service. And then in Leviticus 22, it deals with the animals.
The animals that are to be sacrificed. You don't get the defective one out of your flock and drag it to the house of God because you're not going to make any money off it, and you're certainly not going to eat it, so you're going to go ahead and give it to God. No. What we find in Leviticus 21 and 22, along with much of Leviticus as a whole, and much of the book of Exodus, is prefigurement, or typology, pointing us forward to the Lord Jesus Christ.
So the ceremonial law is realized by John the Baptist when he says of Jesus, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. All those lambs, all those bulls, all those animals in the Old Testament prefigured the Lamb of God. They typified, they pointed forward, they were announcements that God is going to send one that will save his people from their sins. There are certainly moral duties involved in the ceremonial law, but then the ceremonial law was abrogated, it was temporary.
It came to a conclusion. In fact,
Hebrews: Ceremonial Law Fulfilled
leave your pencil there and turn to the book of Hebrews, just so you can see that those old covenant laws, relative to worship, relative to prefiguring the Lord Jesus, containing some moral duties, was in fact abrogated. Better, it was in fact fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ as the sum and substance of what those things typified. Notice in Hebrews chapter 9, specifically at verse 6. Hebrews 9 at verse 6.
Now, when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle performing the services. But in the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the people's sins committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time, in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience.
Concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of Reformation. It had a built-in obsolescence, It was going to come to an end. Its typical function would be completed when the antitype came. When the Lamb of God arrives on the scene, to go back to the temple or tabernacle and present animal sacrifices is to go backward in redemptive history.
Notice in Hebrews chapter 10, specifically at verse one, for the law having a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of the things can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins." And then he goes on to highlight that the glory of Jesus, who took a body to himself, was a sacrifice and thus fulfilled all that was typified in that old covenant system.
Tabernacle Instructions and Obedience
So go back with me to the book of Exodus. So you've got this emphasis, the moral law, chapter 20, ceremonial law, which governs worship, priesthood, tabernacle, temple, incense, sacrifice, and then you have what's called the judicial law. And the judicial law, and again, there's not a quiz after this message tonight. I'm thinking that I'm gonna genuinely confuse everybody.
Just stick with me. I'll try to make it as less painful as I can possibly make it. But again, these concepts are necessary. How do we not allow incense and sacrifice and priests into New Covenant worship?
Have you ever thought that? Have you ever read through the Old Testament and said, why don't we have priests today? Why don't we have incense? Why don't we have the sorts of instruments that were utilized in temple worship?
Why don't we do that? Well, there are reasons why, and there's arguments why, and there's answers why. We need to lay the groundwork in terms of who God is and what his law reveals. So basically, in judicial law, ganturitan, the forensic or judicial law concerned the civil government of the people of God under the Old Testament and contained a body of precepts concerning the form of that political rule.
In other words, how is Israel supposed to conduct itself when it goes into the promised land? Well, that's that body of legislation given by God through Moses to deal with how they're supposed to conduct themselves when they go into the land. Now, behind judicial law is moral law. When you have, for instance, the command to build a fence on the top of your flat roof so somebody doesn't fall off and kill themselves, I think that's an application of the Sixth Commandment in civil society.
And the general equity of that abides today. You should have a fence around your swimming pool so your two-year-old neighbor doesn't come over and drown, because that would violate the principle of trying to actively promote life and make sure you do no harm to your neighbor. So judicial law governed the nation of Israel during their tenure in the land. And it was that which regulated their conduct in the body politic.
Now, when we ask the question, is this threefold division of the law biblical? Guess what many have answered? No, it's not. It is a Reformation imposition upon the text of Scripture.
It isn't. It is a Reformation—actually, it goes way back even to the patristics who saw the threefold division of the law. But look at chapter 20 in the book of Exodus. You've got moral law.
Look at chapter 21. You've got verse 1, now these are the judgments which you shall set before them. Here you've got laws concerning slaves, you've got laws on homicide, you've got distinctions between murder and manslaughter, laws regarding bodily injuries, laws concerning property damage, laws concerning society as a whole. In other words, It's judicial law.
How do we apply the general principles of the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments, the moral law of chapter 20, into life in society? Well, chapter 21 at verse 1 all the way to chapter 23 at verse 9 indicates that emphasis. This is how Israel is supposed to conduct herself as a body politic in her tenure in the land. And then we have ceremonial law.
So the covenant is ratified in chapter 24 and then the emphasis falls on ceremonial law beginning in chapter 25. Those laws that regulate the worship of Old Covenant Israel. And essentially, what you have is the instructions for the tabernacle, chapter 25, beginning in verse 1, all the way to chapter 31 and verse 11. And right kind of in the middle of that, in chapters 28 and 29, you have legislation concerning the priesthood.
So see, it's not, how do we live in society with reference to bodily injury? How do we live in society with reference to property disputes? It's rather, how do we worship this living and true God? Will this living and true God ordain that you have a tabernacle?
This living and true God ordain that you had a priesthood? This living and true God ordain that you brought sacrifice because he's holy and without the shedding of blood there is no remission? So this living and true God knows what man is, and in order to facilitate communion and union with him, he provides a system, he provides a mechanism, and again, typical of what Jesus is going to do as the yea and amen of all the covenant promises of God. So you've got the instructions for the tabernacle, chapters 25 to 31, and then you've got the construction of the tabernacle in chapters 35 to 40.
So much of the book of Exodus is taken up with ceremonial law. Much of the book of Exodus is taken up with that particular emphasis of God's dwelling with his people. The first part of the book is God's deliverance. The second part of the book is God's demand.
And the third part of the book is God's dwelling with his people. And then notice the purpose. Look at 25.8. We asked the question, why the tabernacle? 25.8, let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.
Isn't that beautiful? God Most High wants to dwell with us. God Most High provides a mechanism by which He can dwell with us. So again, with reference to worship, when we come to the house of God, there ought to be a gladness that punctuates our heart.
Why? Because the Most High is going to dwell with us. We have to understand what's happening in public worship. God himself is with us.
God, as it were, communes with us. It is a blessed privilege. It's not something we say, I'm just too tired. I don't want to go to church.
I've got sports today. I've got other things to do today. No, the apex, the pinnacle, the high point of your week is the Lord's day in the Lord's house with the Lord's people, because God is in the midst of his saints. Notice as well in chapter 29, just the purpose behind this. 29, 44, so I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar.
I will also consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to me as priests. I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord, their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord, their God.
So you've got the instructions with reference to the building of the tabernacle. And then you've got the construction of the building of the tabernacle.
Spirit-Filled Artisans and Commanded Construction
Turn to chapter 35. Chapter 35, we'll see something similarly when we look at the book of Chronicles, but here in chapter 35, notice specifically when it comes to building this tabernacle. Find a couple of unemployed guys at Home Depot and see if they want to, you know, get their hands dirty for a day. Just get a couple of derelicts that don't have anything better to do and hand them a hammer and just have them start, you know, building.
That's not what happens here. God fills artisans with the spirit of the living God to construct the tabernacle. Why? Because God is to be worshipped in an appropriate manner.
Notice in 3530, and Moses said to the children of Israel, see, the Lord has called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. And He has filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and understanding and knowledge and all manner of workmanship to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting jewels for setting and carving wood, and to work in all manner of artistic workmanship. And he has put in his heart the ability to teach in him and Aholiab, the son of Ahissamak of the tribe of Dan. He has filled that with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and the designer and the tapestry maker in blue, purple and scarlet thread and fine linen. and of the weaver, those who do every work, and those who design artistic works.
And Bezalel, and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whom the Lord has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, shall do now notice according to all that the Lord has commanded. He doesn't choose Bezalel and Aholia because they're creative, because they're innovative, because they have good minds and they're good architects. No, he fills them with the Spirit of the Lord so that they will obey him and construct the tabernacle in the manner in which he specifies. And that emphasis on obedience. in terms of the building of the tabernacle comes out in several places.
I will just read them off. Chapter 35 and verse 29, back up there, which the Lord by the hand of Moses had commanded to be done. 36 one, we've already seen, look at 39 one. 39.1. Of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, they made garments of ministry for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as the Lord had commanded Moses. Drop down to verse 7.
As the Lord had commanded Moses. Over at verse 21. As the Lord had commanded Moses. Verse 26.
As the Lord had commanded Moses. Verse 29, as the Lord had commanded Moses. Verse 31, as the Lord had commanded Moses. You get the point.
Do you think we go in the New Covenant and then it's a free for all? Well, you know, you're the New Covenant believer. You just come up however you want. You just figure out whatever strange fire you want to offer up, and you just do that.
You do you. Absolutely, positively not. The same argument from Deuteronomy chapter 4 as to why we ought not to engage in idolatry is utilized by the Apostle in Hebrews 12 when he tells us we are to come to God and offer up acceptable worship. And that acceptable worship isn't acceptable to us.
The Bible doesn't ask the people of God, what is it that's acceptable to you? Well, I don't like long sermons. I don't like a lot of theological concepts. You may not, and that's okay, but you're not asked in Scripture how you want worship to function.
It's acceptable to God. And then it's punctuated in Hebrews 12 with this, for our God is what? He is a consuming fire, just like in the Old Covenant. The God of the New Covenant is the same.
He hasn't changed. He doesn't say, well, it's okay, just bring whatever it is that you feel like bringing. No, it is the regulative principle of worship, whether you're in the Old Covenant or you're in the New Covenant. And then several other times in chapter 39, chapter 40, we see this emphasis.
And then, with reference to the implementation of corporate worship, I think I've explained to you, no, I know I've explained to you many times.
Glory Fills the Tabernacle
They finish the tabernacle, look at chapter 40, they finish the tabernacle, and then notice what happens, according to verse 34. Then the Lord covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. This is what they wanted. This is what God had commanded.
This is what God had said. Have them build a sanctuary for me that I may dwell in the midst of them. So that dwelling place concept has been achieved, but not meeting place. In other words, they can't go in when God is there.
Look at it again, verse 34. Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle and Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested above it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. What does that mean? That means God's holy.
It means when Paul says what Paul says in Hebrews 9.22, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. That is a principle that transcends whatever covenant you happen to be in. If you're a filthy, vile sinner, you don't just wander into the presence of God. Your filthiness and your vileness and your sinnership needs to be cleansed, needs to be washed, needs to be purified by the blood of Jesus Christ, so that you may then enter into the presence of God.
So the book ends with tension. God's Shekinah glory comes down and fills the tabernacle. He's dwelling amongst them. But Moses himself can't go in.
Why? Because Moses himself is a wretch. That's what the book of Leviticus comes to resolve. In Leviticus chapters 1 to 9, you have an emphasis on sacrifice.
You have an emphasis on blood. You have an emphasis on priesthood. In other words, to make this dwelling place a meeting place, Israel is taught that the only way to God is through a bloody knife and a smoking altar. You don't just wander into the presence of God unwashed or uncleansed or unsanctified.
You must be washed. You must be cleansed. You must be purged. And that's precisely what the book of Leviticus responds to in the first nine chapters.
So you've got the laws concerning sacrifice and priesthood in Leviticus chapter 1, verse 1 to chapter 7 and verse 38. You've got the institution of the priesthood and subsequent worship in Leviticus 8, 1 to 10, 20. And if you turn with me to chapter 9, you'll see an example of God's approval. God's approval.
In other words, the dwelling place has become the meeting place because the children of Israel obeyed the command of God, offered up the proper sacrifice through the legitimate priesthood, and thus realized the blessing of God upon them in terms of communion and worship. So
God's Approval: Leviticus 9
notice in chapter nine at verse 22, it says, then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
This was God's approval. This was God's blessing. This was God's encouragement. This was God saying, yes, good job, as it were.
I've accepted you and I'm going to manifest my glory to you. And then
God's Disapproval: Nadab and Abihu
right on the heels of that, in chapter 10, we see an instance of God's disapproval. So after this particular exercise of religious obedience, And the resultant communion with God, we learn in 10.1, 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. Whatever their particular crime was, some suggest it was because they were intoxicated, others suggest that they were trying to peer behind the Holy of Holies on what was not the Day of Atonement. I favor that latter interpretation, but whatever the particular issue is, this is fundamental, which he had not commanded them.
You got that? You mean God actually does demand obedience when it comes to public worship? He's not okay with Pastor Susie? He's not okay with sacrifice and incense and a priesthood and all these sorts of accoutrements that we find in Old Covenant worship?
He's not okay with that in the New Covenant? No, of course he's not! So notice what happened. So fire went out from the Lord.
It just went out according to the end of chapter 9. But in chapter 9, it goes out to consume what? It goes out to consume their sacrifice. It goes out to consume that which was acceptable to God.
Not so for Nadab and Abihu. When they offer up profane or strange fire, that fire goes out from the Lord and devours 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. Doesn't sound like a God who gives you the freedom and the leeway to be innovative when it comes to worship.
Deuteronomy 12: Central Sanctuary
Now turn to Deuteronomy, the text we started off with. We're gonna come to a close soon. Deuteronomy chapter 12. The emphasis in the chapter is on a central sanctuary.
In other words, where the children of Israel are supposed to go to worship God. God didn't want them just breaking out in a worship sense any old where, because they might bow to Baal, they might bow to Asherah. Central sanctuary was somewhat fundamental in preventative maintenance in Old Covenant Israel to prohibit them from engaging in idolatry. If you got the hankering to worship in Old Covenant Israel, typically you were at a Baal service, or an Asherah service, or at Moloch.
And so God develops, or God has this central sanctuary where the children of Israel will meet. Now, up until this time, it's tabernacle, and then later it will be temple. But notice in chapter 12, the passage that we read, there's an occasion given in verse 29. When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess and you displace them and dwell in their land.
Remember the conquest. All the instructions are given in the book of Deuteronomy and then they go out under General Joshua and they begin to engage in this activity. They dispossess the land of the Canaanites. Why?
Because God's mean to the Canaanites? No, God's justice is opposed to Canaanite religion and irreligion. And this was a promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So God says, when you go into these nations, note the warning of 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. That's not a good thing. When you look at the pagans next to you and say, well, how are they worshiping their gods?
I think I'll go thou and do likewise. That's kind of how we're led to believe that new covenant worship functions. If the world's doing something and it works in the church, well, let's do it. Well, what does God authorize?
What does God command? What does God demand? What does God say? What do the documents of the New Testament, which regulate New Covenant worship, what do they say?
Do we just ape whatever the world does and it works and bring it into the worship of God because we want it to work? There's something more important than things working. Truth, God's glory, God's majesty, God's honor. It's not about utilitarianism.
Well, whatever works is what we utilize. No, we do what God commands. So look at the pagans, or rather look at the Israelites looking at the pagans. Then there is this command in verse 31.
You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. Remember? Object, commandment one, manner, commandment two. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.
For every abomination to the Lord, which he hates, they have done to their gods. For they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Now they do a lot of lesser things that are wicked and sinful and evil and vile, but God shines the light on one of the apexes of their wickedness and evil. That's what you did when you worshiped Molech.
Molech was an idol with arms outstretched. He was standing in a bay of fire, surrounded by fire. You threw your baby into his arms, and because he had arms but couldn't catch, the babies would drop into the fire and be burned to death. And Israel would get caught up in that kind of religion, much to the absolute rebellion against commandments like these.
And then it's in this context that we find verse 32, which is a corrective. See, the regulative principle of worship is not a straitjacket. It's not binding us. It's not, well, in one sense it is.
It's keeping us from idolatry. It's keeping us from aping the pagans. It's keeping us from the sorts of things that go on in the name of Christian religion or Christian worship that are not Christian worship, brethren. And this isn't just an intramural, well, I don't like the way they're doing these things.
Have you noticed what's happened in the churches over the last few years? It's a free-for-all. It's horrible. It has no sort of resemblance to what you find in the pages of the New Testament.
And to suggest that we actually regulate our worship according to the written word of God, well, that's antiquated. That's old-fashioned. That's puritanical. That's not what God wants.
God wants us to be happy. Jesus wants you to have, you know, lots of fun when you come to worship. No, he doesn't. Where did that come from?
Lots of fun when it comes to worship? It bugs me when the pagans use Jesus against us. Open your borders because Jesus wants you to. Well, it bugs me when ecclesiastical authority uses Jesus to bat us down as well.
Well, Jesus wants everybody to be fulfilled in worship. Well, what's more fulfilling than worshiping God the way that God commands? That's where fulfillment, if that's an actual thing we ought to pursue, comes. So notice the principle in verse 32, whatever I command you, be careful to observe it, you shall not add to it, nor take away from it.
Application
So, in conclusion, we'll get to the emphasis in Chronicles, God willing, next time, and then the covenantal context of worship next time, but just a couple of thoughts. One, man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. And one of the ways that God has facilitated that in this present evil age is with the church. It's with the people of God, blood bought by Jesus, called out of darkness into marvelous light, given the grace to believe on Him, to be forgiven of our sins, to be cleansed in His blood, and to receive His righteousness.
And then we find each other in these places called church, And we gather together and we use the simple means enjoined by God to us in the covenant documents called the New Testament on how we're to approach Him. The same living and true God that was the consuming fire in Old Covenant Israel is the same living and true God that is a consuming fire in New Covenant Israel. And so we are to approach Him obediently. We are to approach Him in a way and in a manner that is consistent with His holiness and that is in response to His revealed word.
Secondly, just ponder the thought in terms of the privilege involved. I realize, brethren, probably right now, it's warm, it's late, I've droned on a long time, it doesn't feel like God's right here in the midst of this place. But he is. Christ is in the midst of the lampstands.
When you turn to Revelation chapter 1, the lampstands, the seven lampstands of the churches of Asia Minor. Christ is there. Christ is communing. Christ is blessing.
Christ is encouraging. Christ is strengthening. Christ is with His people. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us.
That is a general overarching theme that we can hold on to on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. It is especially manifested on the Lord's day when He comes to His own and He encourages us and He builds us up in our most holy faith and He causes us to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. So God, in His mercy, has brought us together, through the blood of the Lamb, to be a worshiping people. And when it comes to worship, we're to be obedient, not creative, not innovative, because God is indeed a consuming fire.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the clarity of it concerning worship and the command of God and the necessity to follow that. I pray that you would help us and help other churches, help the people of God throughout the world to take the documents seriously, to take the commands of Christ seriously, and seek by your grace to implement those things. I pray for your blessing upon this local church.
I pray for all of the brothers and the sisters here. Again, tonight, we remember Mr. Faber. We just commend him to you and to the word of your grace and pray that all would go well in this surgery.
Please bless Wilma. Please bless all of the children. And may you, in the midst of these things, comfort and encourage them. And we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation.