Real Faith Worships

Introduction

By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. If our faith in this unseen God is strong enough that He becomes as real to us as the person that’s sitting next to us, if our faith is that He had the power and the wisdom and the knowledge and the understanding to create this world as it is, and if we can truly believe that He created us so that we could live in this world and prepare ourselves to live with Him forever. And if our faith is strong enough to believe that He is with us this morning, that we are in His presence, then such faith inevitably will cause us to worship Him.

If we went into the presence of the President of the United States, whether we agree with Him on policy or not, we would be awestruck. But how much more when we arrive in the presence of Almighty God, this God in whom we believe.

But I could not fail to respond to those very kind words that Brother Bob has said about me and about my wife and our family. It’s been a joy to serve the Lord through the years, and it’s a joy to be here with you this morning. I feel very much challenged because I know the quality of preaching that you listen to here from time to time, but I’m thankful that we’re not in competition. We’re all working together to try to advance the cause of our Lord. I remember being here some years ago, and a few of you seem to remember that too, and I’m glad you do. In the meantime, we’ve had a grandson here who came to love you very, very much, John Trimble, and you were a great encouragement to him as well, and we’re grateful for that.

We have a good bit of coming and going between here and Ember Hills, and we hear good things about the church here, and we are always glad to have any of you visit with us. Faith does worship. But there are many people who seem to think somehow or other that just any worship offered to God is entirely acceptable to him. Well, one of the very first episodes in the history of mankind demonstrates that that is not true. Adam and Eve were the first human beings, as you know, and Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering to the fruit of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. That means God accepts some worship and he does not accept other worship. He rejected the worship of Cain. He accepted the worship of Abel. And this example of Abel is held up for us in the New Testament as something that we are to emulate. What was it that made Abel’s faith worship ideal? We might talk about the ideal worship service. If you go to a church and there’s a worship service, how do you judge whether it is ideal or less than ideal?

Was it the fact that it was in a fine building? Some people seem to feel that they can worship better in a great cathedral, high, lofty ceiling, than they can in perhaps in a rented hall or in someone’s home. Was it because of the huge crowd that was present? People are often excited. We were singing with 700 people. Well, that’s all right. But is that what makes the singing really acceptable to God? Was it the fact that the music was thrilling indeed? Was it the fact that the worship leader of Abel’s worship was so very, very skillful? Was it the emotional high that that he attained as he worshipped God? Was it maybe the fact that the worship lasted less than an hour? I don’t know how long it last works.

Was that it? That’s what many people would use as a as a standard of judgment. These are the things really that seemed to indicate how people really feel about a worship service. What really impresses them, what they talk about, perhaps a little bit later along the way. Hebrews 11 4 says that it was by faith that Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous. We talked about that just a moment this morning. Abel was not righteous. No man is righteous who has ever committed sin. He cannot be righteous in his own right. But when we come to God in faith, God accepts our faith and considers us or accepts us as righteous. We do not deserve it, and that’s the reason it is said to be by grace through faith.

But because he offered this sacrifice in faith, he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and through it he being dead still speaks.

Well, faith does cause us to want to do the right things. But even the right things can be done without faith. And if they’re without faith, they’re condemned. Jesus said in Matthew 23, verse 23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anis and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. They had neglected faith. They did not act by faith. Now, what were their actions acceptable? Were their actions correct, I should say? Yes, their actions were correct. Jesus said these ought you to have done, but you shouldn’t have left the other undone. I think many times we feel when we leave a service that it was surely acceptable to God because we did the right thing.

We sang, we prayed, we uh had the Lord’s supper, we gave of our means, we had teaching. Well, those are the right things. And it’s good for us to do the right things, and it’s good enough for us not to add to the right things. But the question is, were these things done by faith? It’s possible to do the right things, not by faith. How did Abel’s faith affect his worship? Well, let’s use our text and add to it what we read from Genesis. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat, and the Lord respected Abel and his offering. Now, putting these things together, let’s just see what we can learn about the worship of Abel that was offered by faith.

1. Offered to an Invisible God

In the first place, it was offered to an invisible God. Abel had no more seen God than you and I have seen God. And yet he felt inclined to come before God and bring a sacrifice to worship God. And if you and I have worshiped as we should this morning, we have been aware of the invisible God, even more aware of him than we are of the people around us, the speaker, the song leader, whoever it may be. I believe it’s possible for us to come to a service like this and not even think of God. I’ll tell you why I believe that’s possible. I’ve gone through at least a portion of service, sometimes a fairly long portion of service without thinking of God. Have you been guilty of that?

Have you ever done that? Not even think of God. But worship offered in faith is worship primarily offered to God with an awareness of God. And if we’re not aware of God, we may do the right things. But it’s not worship in faith.

2. Doing What God Wants, Not What We Want

It was an acceptable sacrifice. It was what God wanted. And if we come to honor an individual, maybe on his birthday or on some time when he’s being honored, we do what he wants. We try to decide if it’s going to be a dinner maybe in a restaurant somewhere. What does he like? Where would he like to go? What food would he like to eat? What kind of entertainment would he like? We’re honoring that person, so we do what he likes. What will Jesus like? What does God like? Well, you say, I like something, so if I like, no, that don’t that doesn’t even more work with people, doesn’t it? I might like fish, but somebody else that we’re honoring might not like fish, and so I have to learn what he likes.

3. He Brought the Best of What He Had

And certainly the fact that we like something doesn’t prove God likes it. God has to tell us what he likes. And he’s told us in his word. And worship in faith is doing what God wants, not what we want dog. But furthermore, he brought the best of what he had. It says that he offered the firstborn of the flock and of their fat. The very best that he could offer, he brought to God. And that’s a part of worship and faith. Not only that, but he said that he looked to God for his reward. He obtained testimony from God that he was righteous. There was no reward from Cain. In fact, he got killed by Cain. I don’t know that his father and mother even approved.

We don’t have any record of that.

4. He Was a Righteous Man

And that again is the purpose of good worship. And finally, he was a righteous man. All kinds of worship can be offered, but if our lives are not consistent with our words and our deeds in worship, then our worship is not acceptable. First John 3 and verse 12 tells us that his work were righteous, whereas the deeds of Cain were unrighteous, evil, wicked. The life we live determines the kind whether God accepts the worship that we offer or not. Now, if the worship is not in this manner, this form, then God is not going to accept it. Israel at Sinai made a golden calf, as you recall. And Aaron even said, These are the gods that brought you out of Egypt. They were claiming to worship the true God, but they had an idol that they were actually worshiping.

And God rejected it, and they suffered greatly because the worship was not acceptable. Nadab and Abihu, whom you would recall, brought strange fire before the Lord. I’ve sometimes had people said, I’m so tired of hearing it, Nadab and Abaih, well, no wonder. The story of Nadab and Abihu demonstrates the fact that God doesn’t accept just anything in worship. He was particular even about the fire that was offered. And he said, I’ll be revered, I’ll be respected. And that’s the reason he struck them with death, so that it would be understood that God is to be respected in worship, and it’s not to do simply what we like or what we think. The Jews in the days of Malachi were rejected because they did not bring good things to God.

They didn’t bring the best they had. In Malachi 1, verses 11 through 14, we have a record of the fact that God did not accept their sacrifice. Beginning with verse 11, he says, From the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. In every place incense shall be offered in my name and a pure offering. For my name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it, in that you say the table of the Lord is defiled, and its fruit, its food is contemptible. You also say, Oh, what a weariness, and you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts, and you bring the stolen and the lame and the sick.

Thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your hand, says the Lord? But cursed is be the deceiver who has in his flock a male and and and makes makes a vow, but sacrificeth of the Lord what is blemished. For I’m a great king, says the Lord of hosts. My name is to be feared among the nations. I remember when I was in high school, we had a celebration at the end of the second world war. That kind of dates me, doesn’t it, just a little bit. But uh I was I was on a a quartet to sing at this celebration, and the governor of Tennessee was going to be there. And we practiced and practiced and practiced. Why? We wanted to do the very best we could because the governor was going to be there.

Now we were commonly singing to large a large assembly. We’ve had a big high school, and they all we had an assembly every day. We had chapel every day in that high school, public high school. But that day the governor was there. And oh what a difference it made. As I recall we sang flat, we didn’t do very well, but we sure did try. And and it’s not it’s not how well we do in leading prayer or leading songs or or even singing in the pew. It’s how hard we try. Out of a recognition that God is a great God, and he deserves the very, very best that we can do. The Pharisees prayed, but they didn’t pray for the approval of God. They prayed to be heard of men, Matthew 6 verse 1.

And ungodliness actually causes worship to be rejected. I I’d like to turn with you to the first chapter of the book of Isaiah. It’s it’s such such a marvelous statement regarding what God is looking for in the lives of those who worship him. Beginning with verse 10. He says, Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. Well, I thought Isaiah lived a long time after Sodom and Gomorrah. He did. But the people of his day were the same kind of people that lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. And so he addresses them as people of Sodom and Gomorrah. And then he asks, to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord.

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or lambs or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who required this from your hand to trample my courts? Bring no more feudal sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to be. The new moons and the Sabbaths and the calling of assemblies. Lord, isn’t that what you asked for? Exactly. Exactly. But he said, I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. You’re a trouble to me. I’m weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

5. When Faith Fails, It Changes the Worship

Your life speaks louder than your worshipful words. And how often may that be true of you and of me? You know, when faith fails, people sometimes keep on worshiping. But faith has failed. Faith has failed. And when faith fails, it changes the worship completely. Now it it’s still called worship. But when faith begins to grow weak, things are changed. People still worship, but not God. Romans 1 verses 21 and 22 tell about those who, though they knew God, glorified him not as God, but they became vain in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened, and they began to worship other things than God. You say, Oh, we still worship God. What God? That’s the question. When we bring our first, give the best we have to, well, sports or entertainment, or food, or popularity, or whatever it may be, when we bring the first of what we have to something other than Jehovah, then we have brought it to what is truly our God.

I think we need to rethink this thing. Where is our emphasis? What are we spending the most money for? What do we think about most? I I I these these these uh uh advertisements for gold kind of disturbed me a little. If you want to really be secure, be sure you get gold. Well, I don’t have the objection to buying gold if you want to buy gold, but that’s no security even the I I’m not I’m not gonna get in into the discussion of the gun question but when people think like giving up their guns is losing their security they’ve their idea of security is all confused we do what we can do for ourselves but our security is in God and if our security is in gold then gold is our God if our security is in guns then guns are our God it’s mighty easy for us to worship something other than the true God and when worship begins to fail people do what they want to do and it doesn’t that really really describe many of the activities in which people engage in so-called worship to God I I was driving down the interstate just yesterday and I saw an advertisement for a church and and that church on its sign was offering and I I I I went by it took me a minute to really think what they were saying and consequently I didn’t get all of the six things they were offering one of them I know was Spanish who wouldn’t learn Spanish they’d teach Spanish the second was dance I guess that’s what really caught my eye dance another one was karate my wife supplied that one she saw the same sign and I’m I can’t I’m not there were two more that I don’t really recall, but in the to their credit, one of them was Bible.

And and really I I got an advertisement from a church where I had preached a long time ago, where I actually lived and preached. And the advertisement was offering a Saturday afternoon get acquainted with the church for the neighborhood. And it offered how to change a flat tire, how to buy your first house, how to make sourdough bread, how to be a cheerleader and said we’ll have cheerleaders with real poms. Oh, there was a Bible class too. Do what you want to do and offer it to God and think God’s going to think, oh, isn’t that nice? That’s not doing what God wants. That’s not worshiping God. That’s doing what we want to do. And when faith grows weak and God is forgotten, then we do what we want to do instead of what God would have us to do.

When faith grows weak, we are not aware of the awesomeness of the God we’ve come to worship. And we can get pretty laxity. We can get pretty casual with it. It bothers me just a little bit, frankly, for song leaders to get up and be cracking jokes in between songs about the death of Christ. Or preachers that have too many jokes to tell.

And people laugh. I don’t have any problem with that at all. But the point is that we are to put across the truth of God and not just to entertain the people. And though in many occasions, casualness is fitting and suitable, it’s not when we come to worship God. We’re before Him. And we need to remember that fact. We become more concerned with pleasing men. What’s going to help the church grow? What do you mean by grow? Well, bring in more numbers. Get more people. Is that what we’re trying to do when we assemble together? I’m a little, I knew one church particularly that put the whole emphasis on the unchurched, on these people we we can get to come in. And the whole service was arranged to try to bring visitors back again and back again.

Well, if you bring them back again and back again and back again, and they don’t learn anything, they don’t see any difference in what we’re doing and what others are doing in relation to what the Bible teaches. What have we done for them? We may get large numbers, but we’ve done nothing for them. There must be a distinction based on the fact that we are believers walking by faith, whereas much of the religious world has lost sight of God and of his word and of the instructions that he has given. It’s not a matter of pleasing men. Now, we will please people who are looking for God. Jesus said, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. And if visitors come who are hunting and seeking to the righteousness, then we should satisfy that by offering them the word of God and the truth of God and the practice of God’s will and the offer of the grace of God to make us righteous.

We should please that kind of visitor. But if a visitor comes who takes pleasure in unrighteousness, and the Bible describes that kind, 2 Thessalonians 2, doesn’t it? We don’t have what he’s looking for. We don’t have it. And we should not be ashamed of the fact that we don’t have it. We’re here to please God and to please those who ought to please God, but not to please the world. We’re not here to grow large numbers of unbelievers. And as worship is offered with less and less faith, it becomes less and less spiritual. Worship in spirit and truth is what God wants. Worship for his approval. And as faith grows weak, worship becomes less spiritual and more human, more materialistic, more appealing to the senses. I really believe when Jesus said the time was coming when men would worship in spirit and in truth.

6. Acceptable Worship Only When Right With God

Our worship is in spirit. And there is nothing material about our worship except, well, the bread and the fruit of the vine, and it’s in a very small quantity. Because even then it’s a spiritual feast and not and not a material feast. We can only offer acceptable worship to God when we’re right with God. John 14, verse 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Doesn’t matter how impressive a worship service may be if we don’t go through Christ, if we’re not in Christ, and we’re not acceptable. Righteousness, forgiveness, holiness, these are in Christ when we’ve been forgiven by his grace and by his mercy. And unless we’re in Christ, we’re lost, we’re unholy.

We’re guilty of every sin we’ve ever committed.

God cannot endure the approach of unholy people. But how can unholy people become holy in Christ? In the beloved, we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins. And as Abel’s sacrifice was accepted, and he was declared righteous, when we come in faith into the relationship with Jesus Christ, our faith is counted for holiness. It’s there we’re sanctified in Christ and consequently can enter into the presence of God. And the question I would ask of you, are you in Christ? Hebrews 10, 21 through 22. Having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith. Full assurance of faith. Based on what? Our perfect life? Never. Based on what? The perfection of the things we’re doing?

Conclusion

Never. Never. Based on the faith in God, but that faith is expressed when we come to have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Isn’t that exactly what Jesus said when he said, He that believes and is baptized shall be saved? If you be saved from sin, you must put your faith and trust in the Lord, not in yourself, not in your own goodness, not in your church, not in doing all the right things, but your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as the sacrifice that makes possible our righteousness, our holiness before God. And having put your faith in him and his plan and his way, you’re baptized and washed in his blood. Is there someone here this morning who would enter into that relationship with the Lord that your faith may be accepted as righteousness?

If we can assist you in that this morning, we’d urge you to let your desire be known as we stand and sing.