Will you please turn to Exodus? Exodus Chapter 20. We read from verses 1 through 6.
And God spake all these words, saying,
I am the Lord thy God, who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor 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:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate Me;
And showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
Deuteronomy Chapter 6, verses 4 and 5.
Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord:
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Matthew, the Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 4. We read from verses 8 through 10.
Again, the devil taketh Him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
And he saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.
Revelation Chapter 22, verses 8 and 9.
And I John am he that heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel that showed me these things.
And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them that keep the words of this book: worship God.
May we look to the Lord.
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee that we may come to Thee through Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Father, we do praise and thank Thee that through Thy Son we can worship Thee, adore Thee, love Thee, and serve Thee.
We thank Thee for this high privilege Thou hast given to us. We only pray, Lord, that we may really worship Thee as we ought, because Thou art so worthy. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We have been considering, these days, this matter of worship. Now, the word worship in Hebrew means to bow oneself down. You bow yourself down.
The word worship in Greek means to kiss—to kiss the Son. And, of course, the English word worship is from the old form worth-ship. That is, He is so worthy that we must worship Him.
Now, this morning we come to the end of our meditation, this time, on worship. Of course, there is no end to worship. And that is worship and warfare.
We know that worship is the issue of the conflicts of the ages. God and His adversary, Satan, fight over this issue of worship. Who is to be worshipped?
We human beings are the battlefield. We are not only the battlefield of worship, but we are the deciding factor in that battle. Will men worship God, or will men worship the adversary?
We are all created as worshipping creatures. The instinct of worship is within us. We know that we are inadequate. We know that we must worship Someone who is outside of us, and yet is greater, higher, and mightier than us.
Being created by God, it is but right and natural for us to worship God. If we worship God, we will find our fulfilment.
But unfortunately, there is an enemy. This enemy is trying to steal that worship which is God’s due. He is trying to lead us away from worshipping God into worshipping him. That is the reason why, today, worship is the centre of a tremendous conflict going on in this world.
After God created Adam, He put man in the Garden of Eden. He gave everything to man for man to enjoy, but on one condition: man must obey Him.
Of all the trees in the garden, God said, “Thou mayest freely eat,” and that included the tree of life. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat; because in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.
Now, why did God put this limitation upon man? Of course, there are many reasons. But one reason is that God put man under a condition of obedience to show man that God is God and that God is to be worshipped.
In obeying the commandment of God, man worships God. We know that obedience is a form of worship. How do we worship God, if not by obeying Him, by obeying His commandments?
So God put man under that one condition of obedience because man was created as a worshipper.
But we know Satan came in. He himself was one who tried to share God’s glory and God’s worship.
You remember Isaiah Chapter 14, verses 13 and 14, those words concerning Lucifer, that archangel: how he fell from heaven and was cast out from the presence of God because he said:
I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will be like the Most High.
In other words, this archangel aspired to be equal with God. He wanted to share God’s glory. He wanted to receive the worship that was God’s due. Because of that, he became Satan, the adversary of God. He was cast out from heaven.
Now Satan came into the garden to tempt man. Outwardly, he was suggesting to man that if they ate the forbidden fruit, they would be like God. In other words, they would receive the glory. They could worship themselves; they did not need to worship God.
But actually, if man began to worship himself, man was actually worshipping the devil. How subtle was that temptation?
Outwardly, Satan was trying to say, “You do not need to worship God. You can be sufficient in yourself. You do not need to obey anybody. You are the master. You can worship yourself. You will get all the glory.”
What a temptation it was. But falling into that temptation was falling into the trap. Why? Because you think you are worshipping yourself, but you are actually worshipping Satan, the devil.
Unfortunately, man fell. Because of that, throughout the ages, this matter of worship—whom will man worship?—has become an issue. From the day of Adam until our day, worship is the issue of the universe.
Will men worship God, or will they worship Satan by worshipping themselves? If man is to worship God, and that is what man should do, Satan will try every way to take that worship away. He will attack. He will use every trick he has, trying to deceive man into giving him worship instead of giving God worship.
In the Old Testament, you find case after case. When man is on God’s side and worshipping God, he will be attacked by the enemy. But thank God, God’s grace is sufficient.
For instance, Job was a man who was upright. He feared God.
One day, Satan appeared before God, and God said, “Where have you been?” He said, “I am going to and fro throughout the whole world.” Now, he was not just travelling as a tourist. He was observing very carefully, as a devouring lion trying to devour.
God said, “Did you notice My servant Job—upright, fearing God, abstaining from all evil?” In other words, Job was a worshipping person. He was one who worshipped God.
Satan said, “Is there no reason why Job will worship You? It is because You put a hedge around him. You protect him. You bless him. You give him much. If You take these things away from him, see if he will curse You to Your face.”
God said, “All right. I will take the hedge from Job. You may do anything you want to, except take his life.” And you remember, in one day Satan attacked him again and again and took everything away from him—not only all his property, but even all his children. He was left only with himself and his wife.
But Job said:
The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Then another day Satan again appeared before the Lord. Satan said, “Skin for skin. If You touch his body, he will curse You.” God said, “You can do it, but you cannot take away his life.”
So Job was attacked with grievous boils from the head to the heel. He sat in the ashes and scraped himself with a potsherd. Even his wife said, “Curse God, and die.”
Job said, “We receive good from God. Shall we not also receive evil?” Here you find a man who worshipped God in prosperity and worshipped God in adversity. Why? Because God was worthy to be worshipped.
You remember the story of Daniel’s three friends. God revealed to Nebuchadnezzar that he was the golden head. But somehow Nebuchadnezzar took it wrongly. He made a golden image of himself and made a proclamation that all nations and all people, when the music was played, must bow and worship the image.
In other words, by worshipping the image, they would be worshipping Nebuchadnezzar. He did not know that it was Satan who really received the worship.
But Daniel’s three friends—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—would not do that. Why? Because they worshipped the one and only God.
They were reported to the king. The king called these three men to him and said, “Did you not hear the music? I will give you another chance. When the music is played, worship the image. If not, you must be thrown into the fiery furnace.”
The three friends of Daniel said, “Concerning this matter, there is nothing to discuss or negotiate. It is already settled. We cannot worship your image, because we worship only God. We believe that God is still able to save us, to deliver us from the furnace and from your hand.”
The king was so angry that he made the furnace seven times hotter and threw them into it. But the fire only burned up their bonds, and the Son of God appeared in that furnace, walking with those three men.
And you remember Daniel too. In the time of King Darius, people were envious of Daniel. They could find no fault with him. He was one of the prime ministers, or perhaps the prime minister, and yet they could find no fault with him.
Finally, they said, “There is only one way to find fault with him: in his worship of God.” They persuaded King Darius by working up his ego. For thirty days, nobody could ask anything from anybody but King Darius. No one could pray to God or ask favour from anyone else.
Daniel heard about it, went to his room, opened his window toward Jerusalem, and prayed three times a day. His enemies were watching. He was thrown into the lions’ den, but God shut the lions’ mouths.
Dear brothers and sisters, throughout the ages worship is the issue. Who is to be worshipped? Is God to be worshipped, or is Satan to be worshipped? If anyone is to worship God, Satan will try every way to take that worship away from God and bring it to himself.
But thank God, one day one Man came into this world, and His name was Jesus. Our Lord Jesus was driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
The scene was so different. Adam was in the Garden of Eden, a beautiful garden, a garden of planting, a garden of pleasure—the best environment that God had provided for man. Christ was in the wilderness, with nothing, only animals there, in the worst of all environments.
But Adam failed when he was tempted. Yet the second Man, Christ, when He was tempted by the devil, brought the temptations to their consummation. The consummation was worship. All the other things were only the fringes. The real issue was this matter of worship.
Finally, Satan came out with boldness. Satan showed our Lord Jesus the whole world, all the kingdoms of the world, and said, “All these are mine”—of course, that was a lie—“Just bow down and worship me, and You will have them all.”
And you remember what the Lord said: “Get thee hence, Satan. It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”
There you find that our Lord Jesus overcame Satan in this matter of worship. He declared that God alone is to be worshipped, not Satan. Dear brothers and sisters, this is the declaration of our Lord Jesus: God alone is to be worshipped.
This is the testimony of the new man. We who are in Christ Jesus have this testimony with us. Our testimony is simply this: God alone is to be worshipped.
Go back to the Old Testament. You will find God delivered His people out of Egypt and brought the children of Israel to Mount Sinai. There God gave them the Ten Commandments.
As you read the Ten Commandments, you find that the first tablet of stone is really concerning this matter of worship. The first commandment says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” The second commandment says that thou shalt not make any graven image and bow down to worship it.
Why? Because God alone is to be worshipped. God redeemed a people in order that they might be a worshipping people, that they might worship God as they should.
Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one Lord.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.
God gave everything to His people. But there is one thing that God will never give away: His glory, or His worship.
Brothers and sisters, our God gives us everything. There is nothing that He will not give us. But there is one thing He will never give up, which He will not share with us: His worship, His glory.
This is the controversy between God and His people Israel. If you read the history of the children of Israel, you will find that the controversy is always upon this matter of worship.
The children of Israel should have worshipped God, and yet they became unfaithful. They became idol worshippers. It was an abomination in the eyes of God. God pleaded with them and disciplined them over this one matter of worship.
Where did they fail God? They failed God in worship. What was God’s controversy with them? It was just over this matter of worship. It was not over many issues or many things; it all centred upon worship.
Finally, they were taken into Babylonian captivity because they committed abominations—that is, they worshipped idols. But thank God, in Babylonian captivity, the children of Israel were healed of their idol worshipping.
By God’s grace, a remnant returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Now, what is the temple? The temple is a symbol of worship. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, remember that worship is the issue.
You come to the New Testament, and you find the same thing. With the children of Israel, God gave commandments and demanded worship from them. They should worship God, and nobody else and nothing else.
But in the New Testament, with the church today, we are not only given the command to worship God; we are given the life to worship God.
The children of Israel were under law. They knew they should worship God, they were commanded to worship God, and they tried their best to worship God, but they were not able to keep from being tempted away from worshipping God. They failed.
But we who are in the New Testament are under grace. What is grace? Grace means that God not only demands, but He gives us the life first. Because He gives us the life, we are able to respond to God’s demand.
The life, dear brothers and sisters, that we receive when we believe in the Lord Jesus is a worshipping life. Remember, the life we receive is the life of Christ. The life of Christ is a worshipping life.
How our Lord Jesus worshipped God throughout His life! Not only when He was tempted in the wilderness did He say, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve,” but throughout His life, the life of our Lord Jesus was a life of worship.
Whether in His action or His reaction, in His relationships, in His daily life, in His deeds, you find that the whole life of our Lord Jesus was a worshipping life. He worshipped the Father in spirit and in truth throughout His life.
No matter how He was tempted, no matter how He was attacked, He worshipped God in all circumstances and at every time. Especially, you find what worship it was when He was on the cross.
First, the enemy tried to give our Lord the whole world. “If You worship me, You get the whole world.” But our Lord Jesus said, “No. The Father is worth more than the world. The Father is to be worshipped.”
How often Satan tries to use the world to get our worship. What is the world? The world is not just what you see. The world is not just things that attract the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life.
The world is not merely a society or an organisation. We know the world is a kosmos, a system. Satan has organised a system in order to get our worship. That is what the world is.
That is the reason why the Bible says, “Love not the world,” because if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. Whatever you love, you worship.
If you love the world, you worship the world; but in worshipping the world, you are worshipping Satan. If you love the Father, you worship the Father. Satan tried to use the world to get worship from our Lord Jesus, but he failed.
So finally, he stirred up the world to reject and crucify Christ. He thought he had succeeded. But brothers and sisters, review the scene of Calvary.
Our Lord Jesus was rejected by the world. The world was offered to Him, and He rejected it. Now the world rejected Him, and He was crucified on the cross.
But while He was on the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” When darkness fell over the heavens and the earth, He cried, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” And then He shouted, “It is finished.”
With a loud voice He said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” What is that? That is worship. Even on the cross, our Lord Jesus was worshipping the Father.
There is no place where worship is manifested so fully as on Calvary’s cross. Here was a Man who worshipped God even on the cross.
Brothers and sisters, the life we receive from God is this life. We have a worshipping life in us. We have a life in us that worships God, a life that rejects the world, a life that worships God even on the cross.
This is the life with which we begin. Because we begin with this life in us, it is different from the people in Old Testament times. We begin on a higher ground.
In this battle, in this spiritual warfare, we are on higher ground. In other words, we fight from victory unto victory. Christ has already overcome Satan over this issue of worship.
Therefore, we start from the ground of victory in this matter of worship. We worship God, and God alone. This is our testimony.
What is the testimony of the church? The testimony of the church is that God alone is to be worshipped. The world says, “Worship Satan,” but the church says, “Worship God.”
This is where you see the conflict. The conflict is going on not only on earth, but even in the unseen world.
Review the history of the church. You read the Book of Acts, because the Book of Acts is the history of the early church. What do you see there? You see that the church begins as a worshipping church.
How they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread, and in prayer. How they loved one another, exalted the name of our Lord, and rejoiced in the grace of God.
As you look into the church, you find here on earth a vessel—a corporate vessel called the church—and it is a vessel of worship. There you find them worshipping God, exalting Christ, and obeying the Lord.
Would Satan just stand by and do nothing? No. From the very beginning, the Jewish Council—the highest judicial and religious authority in Judaism—began to attack first.
They took Peter and John and forbade the apostles to preach in the name of the Lord Jesus. The conflict was there. You remember what the apostles said: “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God, judge ye. But we cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard.”
The attack came from outside, from the religious world. Then very soon Satan tried to cause problems within: Ananias and Sapphira, the distribution of relief food to the widows, strife, and dissension. He tried every means, both inside and outside, to destroy the testimony and take worship away from God, that he might have the worship.
But, dear brothers and sisters, the church goes on. The church is the church triumphant. Throughout the ages, it has been, and still is, the testimony of the church that God alone is to be worshipped.
The church does not have an easy time. Even toward the end of the first century, you find in the writings of the apostles Peter, Paul, and John a general falling away from first love.
God was not worshipped as He should be. People began to fall into the world. Demas loved the world and went to Thessalonica. Brothers and sisters, here you find the beginning of a falling away.
But thank God, there was always that call to overcomers. Who are all these overcomers? They are those who overcome the world. They are those who worship God as they should.
Throughout the centuries in the history of the church, you find that this is the issue. Many suffer for one reason only: over this matter of worship.
Whoever gives God all the worship can expect to be attacked not only by the world, but even by the religious world.
As you come to the Book of Revelation, you find that it is a book of worship. Why? Because worship is the issue. When you come to the end, that issue will be forever settled.
But before that issue is settled outwardly and forever, it has first to be settled spiritually and inwardly. That is to say, God has to get a worshipping people on earth today.
Their worship will bring down the kingdom of God. Their worship will prepare the way for the kingdom of God to come upon this earth.
That is the reason why our Lord Jesus said that the Father is seeking worshippers—true worshippers—those who worship Him in spirit and in truth.
The Book of Revelation is a book of worship. In the first chapter, John writes this book in a worshipping spirit:
Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by His blood;
And He made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto His God and Father;
To Him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
John wrote this Book of Revelation in the spirit of worship because he saw that God was going to get all the worship.
You come to Revelation Chapter 4, and you find the four living creatures saying day and night:
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty,
Who was and Who is and Who is to come.
The twenty-four elders worship before the throne because God has created all things, and all things were created for His pleasure. When you see the glory of the Creator, you cannot help but worship Him.
When you come to Revelation Chapter 5, you see the Lamb standing in the midst of the throne as though newly slain. Again, you find a new song being sung: “Thou art worthy, because Thou hast purchased people from every people, nation, tongue, and tribe unto Thyself, and hast made them kings and priests unto God.”
This worship is not only offered by those who are redeemed, but by all the angelic host. The call comes to all created beings that they should worship God who sits upon the throne and the Lamb.
You come to Revelation Chapter 7, and you find numberless people, countless people, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They have palms in their hands, and they give God and the Lamb all the glory. They are worshipping.
You come to Chapter 11. When the seventh trumpet is sounded, immediately there is worship in heaven because the kingdom of God is coming.
You come to Chapter 12, and the man-child is caught up to the throne. While the earth is in tribulation, there is singing and worship in heaven.
In Chapter 14, you find the 144,000 standing on Mount Zion, singing the song of the Lamb and the song of Moses. Again, you find worship.
You get to Chapter 19, and you find, “Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,” because the marriage of the Lamb has come and Babylon has fallen. It is worship.
When you come to the last chapter, it is so glorious that John somehow became overwhelmed. The angel showed him all these glorious things, and John was so elated, so taken up, so excited that he began to worship the angel.
Immediately the angel said, “Do not worship me. I am but a fellow-servant. Worship God.” God is to be worshipped. That is how the Book of Revelation concludes.
So, dear brothers and sisters, remember one thing: worship is the issue of the ages.
We are the chosen vessel. The church is the chosen vessel to testify to the world—both the seen and the unseen world—that God alone is to be worshipped.
How effective is our testimony? How sad it is when we find that the church has fallen into the world.
It is not merely a matter of the church being worldly. It is not merely a matter of the church becoming like a great institution in the world. Why? Because behind it there is a matter of worship.
When the church falls into the world and becomes worldly, who is worshipped? God is deprived of His worship, and Satan is worshipped. It is a serious matter, brothers and sisters.
It is not only a serious matter corporately; it is a serious matter personally too. We have to decide before the Lord who is to be worshipped.
You remember Elijah on Mount Carmel. He challenged the children of Israel, the chosen people of God: “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him.” It has to be settled.
Brothers and sisters, is this matter of worship a settled issue in your life? Are you still halting between two opinions—God or the world? No man can serve two masters. You either love the one or despise the other. No man can serve God and mammon.
Where is your heart? Remember, if you choose to worship God, it is natural. Why? Because you have His life in you. If you worship God, you will find fulfilment.
In the world, it is natural for people to worship Satan because that is their life. But with us, it is most unnatural if we still love the world and allow the world to take away our worship of God.
We need to be before the Lord as individuals, as well as a corporate vessel, and declare that God alone is to be worshipped.
It is true: it will be costly. You will find that you will be tempted. You will find that you will be assaulted. But thank God, our Lord Jesus has already overcome, and this overcoming life is in us.
So we will overcome, and we will worship God. Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, we do acknowledge that Thou alone art worthy to be worshipped. Thou wilt not share Thy worship with anybody because Thou art the only One.
Our Father, we do praise and thank Thee because we see in Christ that Thou hast received that worship which is Thy due. He has given it to Thee. We praise and thank Thee that this life is today in us.
Our Father, by the life of our Lord Jesus, we declare that we worship Thee, and Thee alone will we serve. We ask Thee, O Lord, that this may be a settled issue in our life.
Do not allow us to vacillate or halt between two opinions. Lord, we have chosen Thee. We have chosen to worship Thee.
We pray that, as we worship Thee, Thou wilt bless us with joy, with fulfilment, and with fullness. We pray that Thou wilt deliver us from the evil one.
Though we be tempted, yet we shall overcome, because Thou art God, worthy to be praised. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.