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Topic: Worship (05/03/04)
TITLE: Worship God By Sylvia Huffnagle 05/08/04 |
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Revelation 13: 11-17 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Revelation 14:6-12 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
There is worship where one places himself in a humble position and does homage to an object, beast or person. There is worship where people gather together and pray to and sing to and about the object of worship. But I want to emphasize the worship of the third kind. The worship where one feels adoring reverence and regard for and therefore lives to please the object of their adoration, in this case, God who sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
The above verses of Scripture depict the paying of homage to the beast and God’s great displeasure of it. But the worship called for toward God, in the Scripture above, is a lifestyle. Note the last verse.
We refer, also, to Matthew 15:8,9: This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
We can clearly see from these verses that the worship God calls for is supposed to motivate people to hearken unto His voice. In other words, do things His way. Actually when one repents, it was supposed to be repenting of doing things our way and turning to do things His way. It was man who made it into a repenting of being an awful sinner into being a forgiven sinner.
Jesus said, in John 4:23: But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. This verse, also, shows that it is walking in Truth that makes one a true worshipper of God.
This is clearly the kind of worship that will save a person from receiving the mark of the beast, as stated in II Thessalonians 2:10-12: And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the Truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
That they all might be damned who believed not the Truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
I will finish with I John 5:20,21: And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.