Let’s resume this short series of messages on “A Call to Pure Worship.” In our first message, “The Corruption of Worship,” we considered the absolutely greatest evil of all time, namely, that while God desires pure worship, man offers corrupt worship. God the Father seeks true worshippers who worship him in spirit and in truth. However, man the sinner will not and cannot worship as the Lord wishes, but instead corrupts his worship with all kinds of things which are offensive to God. The whole biblical history is littered with corrupt worship. During the Old Testament period, true worshippers were virtually nonexistent among the Gentiles, and were the exception to the rule, even among those identified as the people of God. One particularly glaring example of corrupt worship is the case of Jeroboam, first leader of the North in the divided kingdom period, and symptoms of his spiritual plague were seen in all his royal successors until the line of northern kings ended with the Assyrian captivity as an expression of God’s wrath. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son into the world to redeem a people from all nations for his praise, and the hour now is, when the true worshippers are worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth, thanks to the Savior who was crucified, buried, rose again, ascended to heaven, poured out his Spirit, and ever lives to make intercession for his people.
Continue reading A Call to Pure Worship II
The Standard of Worship Part I