WORLD WIDE WORSHIP

"...and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters:" Revelation 14:7

"But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that HAVE NOT MADE the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them." Jeremiah 10:10-14

Question: Who is God that He should require worship from humankind?

Answer: God is Creator

He has made all things; therefore as the Creator of all things, including Adam and Eve in the beginning, He has the right to call for worship from His creation. In the end time, in the last days, the issue will be over who is the true God, who has the right to demand worship? That is the issue and World Wide Worship will be the worship of the true God or the worship of the beast and his image. See Revelation 14:7 and 14:11

"By causing men to violate the second commandment, (which has to do with the worship of false gods, images, and idols). Satan aimed to degrade their conceptions of the Divine Being. By setting aside the fourth, (which has to do with the seventh-day Sabbath and Creation) he (Satan) would cause them to forget God altogether. God’s claim to reverence and worship, above the gods of the heathen, is based upon the fact that He is the Creator, and that to Him all other beings owe their existence." (Patriarchs and Prophets, p.336, E.G. White)

Biblical preaching will produce true worship that is acceptable to God, but Biblical preaching is missing in so many religious circles today; therefore true worship acceptable to God is also missing even in the ranks of evangelical Christianity.

"The duty to worship God is based upon the fact that He is the Creator and that to Him all other beings owe their existence. And wherever, in the Bible, His claim to reverence and worship, above the gods of the heathen, is presented, there is cited the evidence of His creative power. ‘All the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.’ (Psalm 96:5) ‘To whom then will ye like Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things.’ ‘Thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it: ...I am the Lord; and there is none else.’ (Isaiah 40:25,26; 45:18) Says the psalmist: ‘Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves.’ ‘O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.’ (Psalms 100:3; 95:6) And the holy beings who worship God in heaven state, as the reason why their homage is due to Him: ‘Thou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things.’ (Revelation 4:11)

"In Revelation 14, men are called upon to worship the Creator: and the prophecy brings to view a class that, as the result of the threefold message, are keeping the commandments of God. One of these commandments points directly to God as the Creator. The fourth precept declares: ‘The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God:... for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.’ (Exodus 20:10,11) Concerning the Sabbath, the Lord says, further, that it is ‘a sign,... that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.’ (Ezekiel 20:20) And the reason given is: ‘For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.’ (Exodus 31:17).

"‘The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of creation is that it keeps ever present the true reason why worship is due to God’ -because He is the Creator, and we are His creatures. ‘The Sabbath therefore lies at the very foundation of divine worship, for it teaches this great truth in the most impressive manner, and no other institution does this. The true ground of divine worship, not of that on the seventh day merely, but so all worship, is found in the distinction between the Creator and His creatures. This great fact can never become obsolete, and must never be forgotten.’ (J.N. Andrews, History of the Sabbath, chapter 27) It was to keep this truth ever before the minds of men, that God instituted the Sabbath in Eden; and so long as the fact that He is our Creator continues to be a reason why we should worship Him, so long the Sabbath will continue as its sign and memorial." (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 436-438, E. G. White)

Let us look at three points in our context of World Wide Worship. First, let us see the place of worship. Secondly, let us look at the PERSON to worship, and thirdly, we will see the purpose of worship.

"Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say, that Jerusalem is the place where we ought to worship." (John 4:20)

Some worship here in this place; some worship there; where should we worship? With this very brief discussion Jesus had with the woman of Samaria, He forever settled the place of worship, the person to be worshiped, and the purpose of worship.

The Samaritans had been instructed where to worship and they knew about the worship in the mountain and they knew that the Jewish people worshiped in Jerusalem, but they knew nothing of true worship. The place where the Samaritans went was what the woman at the well knew. The location of worship immediately came to the forefront and it seems that there was more interest in the place than in the Person to be worshiped.

Jesus stated: "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews." (John 4:21-22)

Jesus knew what to say and how to say it. He put things in their proper place. How many times have we heard the church organization or some denomination stressed instead of or in place of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ preached as Savior/God?

Daniel: He worshiped the true God. "Then said these men, we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God." (Daniel 6:5)

"All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counselors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O King, he shall be cast into the den of lions." (Daniel 6:7)

Friend, Daniel knew his place of prayer, but far much more than that Daniel knew his God. He put his God above the decree made and written by King Darius.

"Now when Daniel heard that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime." (Daniel 6:10)

The three Hebrew children: They had no second thought about the place of worship; nor the worship of the golden image. Their minds were made up, they were settled in the truth of God. Friend, is your mind made up? Are you settled in the truth that God alone is to be worshiped. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The first Commandment of the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 20:3)

Jesus stated: "and Jesus answered and said unto him (Satan), Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." (Luke 4:8)

"Then Nebuchadnez in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the King. Nebuchandnez spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods; nor worship the gold image which I have set up? ...but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O King." (Daniel 3:13-15, 17)

And in Daniel 3:18 the Hebrews gave their final answer. "But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods; nor worhsip the golden image which thou hast set up."

In Daniel, we see clearly that it’s not the place, but rather the person. The person is the true Creator God.

In the last days just prior to our Lord’s return, people all over the World will be worshiping the true God, Our Creator. Not in some small remote place, not in secrecy, (some will be in the mountains and wilderness) but in the big populated cities. During the loud cry, the coming of the Holy Spirit, people will be worshiping God every where. The place to worship will be put in the background. The Person to worship and the Purpose of Worship will be brought to the forefront.

II. The Person To Worship

The Angel who flew in the midst of heaven with the everlasting gospel, said "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." (Revelation 14:7)

The angel proclaimed with a "loud voice" to "Fear God." Many have gone through life without the slightest fear of their Creator, but now the time has come for the "final reckoning." It’s a time for concern. Even men standing in an earthly court, stand with fear and trembling to hear the verdict of judge and jury. Yet, how much more when you stand in the Supreme Court of the Universe. This sentence if freighted with eternal consequences. This sentence determines your final destiny-your endless life with God, or your eternal destruction in the Lake of Fire.

There is no evolution here. This is a call to worship the Creator of heaven, earth, sea and the fountains of waters. This call is to worship the One who brought everything that is into existence, and this at a time when the beast and his image are clamoring for the worship of all people.

Paul writing to the Romans, said that men worship "the creature more than the Creator." Today, men worship the god of "sports," the god of the "theater," the god of "television," the god of "lust," the god of "selfishness." Yet, the angel of the "everlasting gospel" calls men back to the worship of the true and living God, the Creator of heaven and earth.

III. The Purpose of Worship

In returning to the worship of the Creator-God, we must return to the observance of the "sign" of God’s creative power, that is, the creative Sabbath. "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth...and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." (Exodus 20:11)

It is quite impossible to separate creation and the Sabbath. God’s creative act of making the Sabbath occurred at the end of His six days of making material things. On the seventh day He rested and was refreshed. Binney wrote of it:

"God’s blessing and sanctifying the day, meant that He separated it from a common to a religious use, to be a perpetual memorial or sign that all who thus observe it would show themselves to be the worshipers of that God who made the world in six days and rested on the seventh." (Binney’s Theological Compend, pp. 169, 170)

"He that observes the Sabbath aright holds the history of that which it celebrates to be authentic. He therefore believes in the creation of the first man: in the creation of a fair abode for man in the space of six days; in the primeval and absolute creation of the heavens and the earth, and as a necessary antecedent to all this, in the Creator, who at the close of His latest creative effort, rested on the seventh day. The Sabbath thus becomes a sign by which the believers in a historical revelation are distinguished from those who have allowed these great facts to fade from their remembrance." (James G. Murphy, quoted in The Moody bible Institute Monthly, Nov. 1930)

God made the Sabbath for man-made it as a day upon which His creatures were to turn aside from ordinary pursuits, to the worship of the God who brought them into existence. God made the Sabbath as a "sign" of His creative power, and commanded man to observe it and keep it holy.

"It was to keep this truth ever before the minds of men, that God instituted the Sabbath in Eden; and so long as the fact that He is our Creator continues to be a reason why we should worship Him, so long the Sabbath will continue as its sign and memorial. Had the Sabbath been universally kept, man’s thoughts and affections would have been led to the Creator as the object of reverence and worship, and there would never have been an idolator, an atheist or an infidel. The keeping of the Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to the true God, ‘Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.’ It follows that the message which commands men to worship God and keep His commandments, will especially call upon them to keep the fourth commandment." (The Great Controversy, by E. G. White, pp. 437,438)

Edward Perronet wrote the song, "All Hail The Power of Jesus’ Name"

And that is the song, we will use to close our sermon of the month. In December, we will continue our series on Revelation 14: 6-12. Next month, we will have the sermon on the World Wide Fall of Babylon.