Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore

Our Lord said the worship God accepts is worship in spirit and truth. As a church, worship is an eternal duty, privilege, and priority. The most serious activity anyone will ever do is worship. It not only affects our life now but also all eternity. It is going to be an eternal work. To offer the wrong kind of worship will not only get us Cain’s curse in this life, but it will also send us to eternal destruction. So, nothing is more serious than worship.

Today’s churches’ main focus is on how to get more crowds, increase attendance, and maximize revenue. Because the main rule of church service is not to worship God according to the Bible, but pragmatism rules today, meaning, “do what works,” what will get crowds, what will interest young people; what will give us an increase, and bring more money, whether it is right or not. The more pragmatic they become, the more people come and grow, and now they have grown to be mega-churches in our country. The only thing that happens there is man-invented worship. Worship has become frivolous, superficial, shallow, and trivialized. There is a great deception that goes on there. People participating in such worship don’t even realize they are under deception and God’s terrible curse and will experience terrible punishment, as we will see in chapter 10, which is what happened to Aaron’s two sons when they brought strange fire into God’s worship which he didn’t command. Serine is one of my gospel partners, and we decided to do regular posts just on one objection they give and a Bible answer to that.

Today, we will focus on chapter 9. I have titled chapter 9 as “Blessings of God-ordained Worship.” The next chapter is “Curses of Man-invented Worship.”

In redemptive history, after humanity completely destroyed themselves by sin and made them unfit to come into God’s presence, in this early book of the Bible, God is revealing to the Israelites in types the secret of how sinful men can come, find acceptance in his holy presence, and worship him. Leviticus chapters 1-10 show that there are two primary means revealed to find acceptance with God: 1-7, Sacrifices, and 8-10, Priesthood. Any man can come to the true God only through these two means. These are the only God-ordained means to come to God. Anyone who tries to come some other way, we can say, is doing a Cain/vain worship, worshiping the true God in a wrong, man-invented manner, which is not only unacceptable to God, but results in the curse of God, as we will see next.

We have already studied sacrifices, and we saw the anointing of the High Priest’s ministry in chapter 8. Now in chapter 9, we have the inauguration of the first assembly church Tabernacle worship of the people of God. In this chapter, we are shown the foundation stones for all God-honoring, God-accepting worship. This chapter beautifully shows that when we come to God according to his appointed means, we see the high point of the chapter in verse 23: God’s acceptance of the worship by fire coming from and consuming the burnt offering, and God’s Shekinah presence and blessing revealed in the midst of his people. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. Wherever people worship God as per his ordination, God’s presence truly comes into their midst with all his redemptive blessings. May God help us to build our worship on the rock of these perpetual truths.

Let us understand this chapter with three headings: Obedient Preparation, Goal, and Result of God-ordained worship.

Submissive Preparation

Submissive preparation is found in 9:1 through 21. I say submissive preparation because the most striking and outstanding feature of this worship is its fastidious, very attentive, careful accuracy and detail, and submission to the commandments of God. Just review with me, turning to chapters 8-9, we find 10 times the phrase “just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” Verse 4 says, “So Moses did as the Lord commanded him.” Moses gathers all the nation in verse 5, and “And Moses said to the congregation, ‘This is what the Lord commanded to be done.’”

So Moses did just as the Lord commanded him. It says in verse 9, “And he put the turban on his head… the holy crown, as the Lord had commanded Moses.” Verse 13 says, “Then Moses brought Aaron’s sons and put tunics on them, girded them with sashes, and put hats on them, as the Lord had commanded Moses.” In verse 17, the bull was burned “just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” The burnt offering and the aroma went up before God, “just as the Lord commanded Moses,” in verse 21. In verse 29, the wave offering was done “just as the Lord commanded Moses.” Verse 31 describes the boiling of the flesh “just as the Lord had commanded.” In verse 34, “the Lord has commanded to do as has been done this day,” and in verse 36, “Thus Aaron and his sons did all the things which the Lord had commanded through Moses.” It’s a drum beat. Throughout the passage, there was to be submissive obedience to the commands of God in this worship. But now we find that after having had that day of submission to Moses and then seven days, remember, in the Tabernacle of the offering, these sacrifices were to be repeated. How? “Just as the Lord has commanded Moses” so that the anger of the Lord would not strike out against them and they would die. This is all preparation.

We come to the 9th chapter. The first temple worship starts. It starts with a set of four sacrifices: a sin offering, a burnt offering, a grain offering, and a peace offering. Aaron gives for himself, indicating he is not perfect, and then a set of sacrifices he gives for the people. First, these sacrifices are given, and we see the High Priest’s intercession and blessing. Then in verse 22, “Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and peace offerings.”

So we see two acts in the first worship: four sacrifices and the High Priest’s ministry. How was all this given? It was with the same theme of careful submission. Look at 9:5: “So they took what Moses had commanded.” Verse 6 says, “Then Moses said, ‘This is the thing which the Lord commanded you to do, and the glory of the Lord will appear to you.’” We find in verse 7, concerning this burnt offering, at the end of the verse it says, “just as the Lord had commanded.” In verse 10, “The fat and the kidneys and the smoke went up just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” Verse 21 says the breasts and the right thigh were a wave offering “just as the Lord had commanded.” These were offered for the atonement of their sin.

The first outstanding feature of the first corporate church worship of the people is that everything was based on what the Lord had commanded. In other words, it was 100% regulative worship. This is God-ordained worship. There were two prominent things: sacrifices and the High Priest’s ministry, all done according to the command of the Lord.

Imagine this was the first institution of God-accepting worship. Every worship that always goes forward should follow this pattern. How wonderfully this is all fulfilled in the New Testament.

This was all pointing to New Testament worship. The very first verse says which day this was instituted: the eighth day. Isn’t the seventh day the Jewish Sabbath? This day itself indicates that it is talking about a future fulfillment. That the Lord Jesus Christ will rise from the dead on the eighth day, and it will become the Christian Sabbath, which will be the first day of the week, and the church will gather on that day and fulfill this worship.

Think of sacrifices. All these sacrifices were fulfilled in our Lord’s atoning work, so we don’t have to come with any animals. We come to God only through the sacrifice of Christ. We have to come with a deep recognition of our sin and unworthiness, which is what makes Christ’s sacrifice very precious to us. See how that is reminded to Aaron in verse 8: “Aaron therefore went to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself.” But if you remember a big position like the High Priest, Aaron’s sin offering has to be a bull, so why a calf here? I think it is a reminder of another calf, a reminder of Aaron’s sin when he made a golden calf, and he should have been burned, but his guilt is transferred to that calf.

When you come to God to worship, do you come with a deep recognition of your sin that was laid on Jesus Christ to make you acceptable? Every time you sin and confess those specific sins, imagine, like an Old Testament Jew, that you can only be forgiven when you place your hand on Jesus’ head and transfer your sins, as if Jesus did those very sins, whatever horrible sin you committed. You transfer it to his head, and Jesus lays his hand on you and transfers his righteousness to you, and you become acceptable righteousness before God. Oh, this is what crushes and breaks our hearts and makes us contrite in heart.

You know that is the acceptable way to come to God. You don’t come strutting your peacock features like a Pharisee, talking about how godly you are, how much you love him, how devotional you are, or how you fast and tithe. No, you say, “God be merciful.”

Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Isaiah 57 says, “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are those who mourn.

It is these people who come to God not interested in feeling good, praising themselves, or thinking how good they are. They want to hear what God will give, blessings, blessings. But they come to worship the Lamb. They come to praise the Lamb who took all our sins and was cursed and who gave all his righteousness and made us blessed. Their worship, singing, and sermons are all about the sacrifice. That is acceptable worship. Acceptable worship is when we come to God recognizing what sinners we are and not deserving to come before his presence.

Not only do you see the Lamb, but you also see the High Priest’s ministry. Verse 22 says, “Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them.” Do we see a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus in this, both in sacrifices and in the High Priest’s work? All these sacrifices point to Christ’s work on the cross. After he offered himself, we studied in Luke 24 that he lifted up his hands and blessed his people as he ascended to heaven. His last posture before leaving this earth was blessing. He continues to bless us as a High Priest, Prophet, and King.

We see the outstanding features of sacrifices and the High Priest here. So all God-ordained worship should come with the recognition that we are sinners who do not deserve to come to him, and the only basis for coming to him is by the sacrificial atoning work of Jesus Christ and his present High Priest work. It is not our self-righteousness, feelings, or our devotion; it all has to be based on his work and his person. You see, even in the shadow worship, it is all about the sacrifice and the High Priest’s ministry. It is Christ-centered worship.

Can you imagine what horrible worship must be happening in these churches with songs all about their feelings, their love, their righteousness, and sermons about their lives and blessings? There is no place for the Lamb there.

Goal and Result of Such Worship

What is the goal of all this worship? It is repeated twice in this chapter. The goal of all true worship is this: all this God-ordained sacrifice and High Priest’s ministry paves the way to this great blessing, toward a particular goal. The end of verse 4 says, “He said, ‘The Lord will appear to you today.’” All this preparation was done with the anticipation that God would visit them. Again, in verse 6, “Then Moses said, ‘This is the thing which the Lord commanded you to do, and the glory of the Lord will appear to you.’”

You see, there was an expectation on the part of the people of God that God would visit. God would come in their midst. Now, the children’s catechism says, “Where is God?” The answer is, “God is everywhere.” That is a scary thing for sinners; he is everywhere and watching all we do. But you know what we need? We need God’s redemptive presence.

In this, He reveals himself not to judge and kill us for our sins, but to deliver us from all our sins, enemies, and troubles. The Israelites experienced God’s redemptive nearness in the past in Egypt when he delivered them from 400 years of bondage, when they were standing on the shores of the Red Sea, hemmed in by the Egyptians who were coming to destroy them, and the sea was on the other side. There was no escape. The Lord redemptively came near and did the impossible miracle of parting the Red Sea and delivered them to go through safely.

We find that this pillar of cloud and fire depicted the presence of God. It led them through the wilderness, fire by night, and a cloud by day. This presence led them to the promised land. This presence gave them victory over all their enemies. This presence made the Jordan part and make way for his people. This presence made the great walls of Jericho fall before them. This presence gave them victory over all their enemies and led and took them to the promised land. This is the glory of the Lord that depicted Jehovah’s profound covenant presence with his people. God is showing himself to be redemptively near to his people.

Here, the expectation is that the glorious redemptive covenant presence of God would come into their midst. And now their expectation is that because they have built the Tabernacle, God graciously comes down and was going to dwell with his sinful people in fellowship, walk, and talk with them. Profoundly in the Garden of Eden, God walked with man in the cool of the day, but man sinned and made himself unfit and was chased from the holy presence. But now God was going to walk among his people. Though they are sinful, he has found a redemptive way to do that. And that is what they were anticipating: that in this Tabernacle, with all of its intricate handiwork and craftsmanship, that God would visit them.

It would not be important to us if it were merely hooks and bars and curtains, no matter how grand the materials, just like today, however big the crowd, however great the rock concert music, the lights, the colorful stage, or however glorious the place is. Oh, if there is no redemptive presence of God, all the Tabernacle and worship are meaningless. All this preparation—the building of the Tabernacle, the sacrifices, and the priesthood—was done with one goal: that God would redemptively visit them.

This is the blessing of God-ordained worship. God would be profoundly and redemptively near to us. That is the goal of New Testament worship. As we come and are gathered, prepared, leading worship, praying, reading his word, and his word is preached, in the dynamics of these means, God would redemptively manifest himself in our midst. A presence which will not just condemn and kill us for our sins, but forgive our sins, accept our persons, and let us experience his love and grace, and his strength and eternal life to live transformed lives. God would appear in spirit and bless us with all the graces of love, joy, and peace, and by his Spirit’s presence and truth, sanctify us. That is the presence we need.

When we gather together corporately, how do we have any warrant to believe that God is going to be redemptively and especially and profoundly near to us as we meet? Jesus promised us in Matthew 18 that where two or three of us are gathered in his name, there he is in our midst. In Revelation chapter 2, we find it is the ascended Lord who walks among the lampstands, his churches, profoundly present. And therefore, brethren, we want the profound presence of God to be among us in our worship.

Result of God-ordained Worship

Thirdly, the result of God’s ordained worship. We see a glorious visitation in 22 through 24.

When his people come to God through his appointed means of sacrifices with contrite hearts and the High Priest’s blessing, as soon as all four sacrifices had been offered up, and Aaron blesses the people in verse 22 with outstretched hands, Moses and Aaron entered into the tent of meeting. They were at this point in the outer court, which was a large, wide-open area where much of the congregation was present. And then they went from the outer court, presumably into the holy place, which is called the tent of meeting, to commune with God.

Behind them, all the sacrifices were burning on the bronze altar in the courtyard, and smoke was rising up. Verse 23 says, “And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people,” with arms outstretched. A stunning thing happens. Verse 23 continues, “Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.”

Wow, the presence of the very living God in the midst of people. Oh, all these are sinful people. Will his holy presence burn them? They deserve to be burned. But this is the glory of his redemptive presence. See, instead of the holy fire falling on the people, where does it fall? The scripture says, “And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat.”

It falls on the substitute. They are saved, they are accepted, they are loved only because of the burnt offering substitute on the altar.

Imagine in your mind’s eye what a staggering scene. The presence of the holy, burning presence of the living God, instead of burning them, falls on the substitute and says, “I accept your sacrifice, I accept your worship, I am the true living God, I am redemptive in your midst.” What is the response of the people?

The people saw it, and they shouted for joy and fell on their faces.

Goosebumps. What a scene. Like 1 Kings 18, Mount Carmel, God visited the nation. Elijah rebuked the nation, “How long will you go on limping between two different opinions? If Baal is God, worship him; if Jehovah is God, worship him.” Elijah said, “I will show you Jehovah is God.” All the Baal prophets became tired of calling on Baal. Elijah put sacrifices on the altar and filled them with water. He prayed. The Shekinah presence of God came down, fire came and burned up all of the offerings. The people saw it and fell on their faces, prostrate, and screamed, “Jehovah, he is God.”

So here, not with manipulated music or drama or anything, people sense God’s presence. There was a spontaneous shout of joy, and all the people saw it and instinctively they shouted. The sight was overwhelming to their human senses. They could not bear it.

God’s redemptive presence is in our midst. We feel the fire of Jehovah’s enlightening truth that burns our hearts. Jehovah’s love kindles a fresh fire in the hearts of his people to love him. His fire of holiness cleanses and purifies and sanctifies our minds and hearts. People of God experiencing all this reflexively shout and fall on their faces, realizing we have received a special token of God’s undeserving favor and God’s presence. This is what the presence of God does to people then and even now.

Notice, brethren, how this glorious visitation of God’s presence among them did not spawn a giddy and light-hearted celebration, dancing, jumping, or whistling. Not at all. But rather, it spawned a reverent and solemn prostration before him. There they were, on their faces in the presence of God.

This is the redemptive presence of God in the midst of people. Oh, it is something that cannot be explained or preached; there are no words. When we experience God in our midst, oh, what bliss. Every God-ordained worship brings wonderful blessings into our life.

• A closer relationship with God: Authentic worship allows us to connect with God in a deeper, more meaningful way.
• Spiritual growth: Regular worship helps us to grow in our faith and become more like Christ.
• Joy and peace: The presence of God in worship brings joy, peace, and a sense of well-being.
• Renewed strength: When we worship God, He renews our strength and gives us the power to face life’s challenges.
• Guidance and direction: God speaks to us and guides us through worship.
• Healing and restoration: God can heal our emotional and physical wounds through worship.
• A sense of purpose: Worshiping God reminds us of our purpose in life and gives us a sense of belonging.
• Unity with other believers: Corporate worship unites us with other believers and strengthens the bonds of fellowship.
• Blessings in other areas of life: When we put God first through worship, He blesses us in other areas of our lives as well.

Do we need the blessings of God-ordained worship? Do we want to experience those blessings?

Come with obedient preparation as these Israelites and come with faith and expectation that God will visit us. Do we come with that expectation and faith? Our meetings are absolutely useless and meaningless without this presence. In fact, they are downright boring without this. Why do we come? No lights, no music, nothing, bare walls. We have great hope that God will indeed visit us.

If we want to experience God’s presence, we have to follow this pattern, determined to do only what God has commanded in worship, nothing else. This is a beautiful historical picture of the regulative principle of worship. What is the principle, brethren? That is to be used in determining what should and what should not be brought into public worship. Oh, if we make a dance skit for children, how smiling and engaged they will be? Music, concerts, orchestras, how do these enhance our worship? What is wrong with music? I couldn’t stop; I was singing, can it be a means of worship?

We follow the regulative principle, not the normative principle. Reformed Baptists and Anglicans fought on this. Anglicans said everything is allowed in the word of God as long as it is not expressly forbidden. If it matches with pragmatism and will increase the stats, it’s acceptable. The regulative principle comes to us in our own 1689 confession, and Chapter 22, paragraph 1 says, “The acceptable way of worshipping the true God was instituted by himself and so limited by his own revealed will. That he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed, not requested, not required in the Holy Scriptures.”

See this passage. Does the Bible teach the regulative principle or the normative? Nothing is allowed in worship unless God requests it, for if it is a human innovation, it is “strange fire,” detested by God as a stench in his nostrils.

Brethren, we drift off, cutting ourselves off from this anchor into a sea of pragmatism. Scripture allows only seven things in worship: singing, prayer, public reading of Scripture, preaching of the word, offering, and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. This is the only recipe for our worship, only seven things. Do it orderly, earnestly, and full of the Holy Spirit, nothing else. The recipe is not determined by the wills and the wants and the appetites of men. If we bring anything else, even with good intentions, we will see next what happens.

Many today with good intentions in the church growth movement have brought in strange fire. Pragmatism has replaced God’s regulating word in worship. And what’s happening in the church? The church is competing for the attention of unbelievers with worldly rock concerts and sports movies. You have a band music; we will give that, come to church. So now worship leaders are punk rockers, a loud, fast-moving, and aggressive form of rock music, and ventriloquist dummies and special music and clowns, magicians, comedians and dancers, rap artists and knife throwers and humorous skits and even professional wrestlers and weight lifters and bodybuilders, actors and show business celebrities all fill the worship stage in what they call the house of the living God. And it is all strange fire. God’s estimate of it, though they may be a mega-church with a big crowd, is that it is a stench in his nostrils. So beware. This passage in its principles ought to be remembered for all time among the people of God.

First: Don’t look for outward things which God has not commanded to help you in worship. Come only through sacrifice and the High Priest’s ministry, not based on anything. Today, if we have to come like that, the only way we can come is through faith. We wish worship was more lively with a rock band, big lights, a dance choir, and whole surround music. All that makes us feel, but that is strange fire.

Because all of it is a distraction to faith in the sacrifice and the High Priest. That will divert our attention from the Lamb and the High Priest and focus on our feelings. Hebrews 11 says in verse 4, “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” It is impossible to please God without faith. Faith itself is not what I feel, or how the music band makes me feel, but to focus on the Lamb and the High Priest.

Don’t look for outward things which God has not commanded to help in worship; come in faith.

Second: Coming in faith is not easy. We have to come with obedient preparation. With all our worldly responsibilities and distractions, we can become very weak in faith and our focus goes away from the Lamb and the High Priest. We come with unprepared and distracted minds, and we can never experience that redemptive presence.

So, it is very important that before we come, we spend some time to prepare our hearts with obedient preparation. We have to take coming to church very seriously, that we come to worship the ascended Lord Jesus who is at the right hand of The Majesty on high, who descends down and visits with us through his Holy Spirit, walking among us and doing his High Priest, Prophet, and King ministry.

With this goal of God visiting, we should submissively prepare our hearts, examine our hearts, and confess the specific sins we committed. With a true sense of sin, confess it to God, and realize the horror of sin, as if transferring it to the head of Jesus Christ, and he suffered for those sins, and realize it is only his atoning sacrifice and High Priest ministry that we can come to God.

Those leading should come with a cleansed conscience, faith, and joy from the presence of God, so they can lead others to that, expecting God to come into our midst. Those reading the scripture should prayerfully prepare and read, “I am going to read with the help of the Holy Spirit, it should hit people’s hearts.” Preachers should prepare carefully with that goal, and people participating should come with prepared hearts. Oh, if we come with prepared hearts in faith, we will see the result.

Joy and Fear: When we come and we sing, pray, and hear God’s word, something the Holy Spirit uses to touch our hearts, we should hear shouts of joy and Amen. There should be spontaneous, heartfelt praise that would erupt from the mouths of the people of God. Our faces as we worship God should not be as if chewing ginger or lime; they should be pleasant and full of joy.

Fear: But there should also be among us profound expressions of awe-filled prostration and holy fear. We see that in New Testament worship: they were all filled with joy and awe. Fear and joy are strange, contrary feelings, but God’s presence brings both of these. When the Corinthians came to church unprepared, even for communion, God punished them because of their irreverence. This is why our services are characterized by solemnity and not by backslapping, nonchalant, casual, and relaxed behavior. That’s why in the stage, as much as possible, we avoid silly, careless jokes and drama. We say only what is related to the topic and engage people only as needed.

That’s why growing churches make it a practice to come in here for five or ten minutes before the service starts so that the heart may be prepared so people are not tripping in and skipping. So we don’t irreverently enter the worship of God in a cavalier way without having prepared.

We want to make it a practice for our children to sit and listen. It is a big testimony and commendation among the people of God when people come and visit and say, “I’m really amazed at how the children sit in such a way and listen to the message.” In our church, we throw them all in children’s care and come.

Children, when you are sitting quietly, not just people appreciate it, but God sees it. Even though it is sometimes boring, if you sit quietly and obediently, God will open your spiritual eyes and save you and give you grace to enjoy messages.