Do Our Ways Please God?

That was beautiful spelt your music. Thank you very much to members of the choir for all of your work in preparing that. Hello again, and hello to those on our webcast. It's good to have you here. It's good to have you join us. Last week, I spoke about faith through three steps of faith about fearing not, standing firm, being still. I'd like to have you turn over to Hebrews 11, verse 6 to kind of build on that. Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter. We didn't turn to Hebrews 11 last week. But I want to read something from there that I think is important as a launching point for today's message. Hebrews 11, verse 6, it says, but without faith, it is impossible to please God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. And so we know that faith is an important element in pleasing God. It's impossible. In fact, it's vital. And if you look up one verse from that, when it talks about Enoch here, it says, by faith Enoch was translated so that he did not see death. And we've talked about translated and what that means and so forth and other messages. And was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony. This is what they said about him. This is what people said about Enoch before this event occurred. That he pleased God. Enoch pleased God. Wouldn't we love to have our name in Scripture that says, Tim Peworth pleased God? I mean, that's a beautiful thing to say. That's a powerful statement. We know about being a friend of God or about a man after God's own heart. But I think each of us would want to truly know that we had that testimony about us. That we please God. If you look at 1 Thessalonians, go over to 1 Thessalonians 4. We'll see that pleasing God is really the culmination of so much instruction in the Bible. The Apostle Paul here in his letter to the Thessalonians had at this point, by the time he gets to this point in his letter, had shared a lot of teaching, a lot of instruction with the people there, the congregation. And he sort of summarizes a lot of what he says in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 1, by saying, finally then, that is, in conclusion of all the things that I've shared with you thus far, the culmination of all my instruction, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more. That is, you should do these things. You should abound in these things. Just as you received from us how we ought to walk and to please God. Pleasing God. It's sort of this capstone of all these things that we do, all these things that we are, all these thoughts and emotions and physical actions and the pursuit of spiritual things that we desire. We won't turn there, but Proverbs 16, verse 7, you can put that in your notes. Proverbs 16, verse 7 says, when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. This is a powerful thing to please God. How do we please God? And do our ways please God? That's the title for my message today, Do our ways please God? How can we be counted like Enoch? How can we have that testimony? How can we live a life that is like that? I want to go through two examples today of how we can please God. And then I want to conclude with a story from the life of David. Two ways that I want to go through today are worshipping God and fearing God.

I want to talk about worshipping God and fearing God as two ways that we please God. If we ask ourselves, do our ways please God, I would hope that after we review what it means to worship God and what it means to fear God, that we would be able to better answer that question. So let's start in John 4, in verse 23, with the first point of worshipping God. Because when we worship God, we please God. God desires to be worshipped. God desires to be worshipped. In John 4, verse 23, we see an amazing story of Jesus having a discussion with this woman by the well.

This is a whole sermon in itself, just an amazing story of the Samaritan woman here by the well. And after they've had this exchange, Jesus makes this profound statement. But the hour is coming, verse 23, And now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. So if God is looking for people to worship Him, and we are those people, then God is pleased. He's pleased to have us worship Him, because He's seeking people to worship Him. But not just in any way. He's seeking people to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

It just isn't any way. Many, many people say, Lord, Lord, and they say these amazing things, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they're worshiping God in spirit and truth. Same for us. We might think we're worshiping God, but if we're not worshiping God in spirit and in truth, as is the example here where the Samaritans were worshiping God on a particular hill, because they thought that this mountain over here was the place where God said, God said you should worship, but the Jews wanted to worship in Jerusalem, and Jesus said, let's not focus on the place.

Let's not focus on the place. Let's focus on the spirit and the truth. Let's focus on the how. This word, worship, here comes from the Greek word proscunio. Proscunio. That's the Greek word here for worship. You might recognize the word pro. Pro is a word that is made into our English language. The word pro is this word which means towards. It's towards something. So if you're going towards something... And cunio is an interesting word. Somehow that word didn't make it into the English language, but cunio is basically the word kiss. So it's like going forward to kiss. That is, you are expressing some affection. You are expressing adoration.

You are expressing a special bond that you have towards someone. Webster's dictionary defines worship as coming into the English language in the 12th century. It comes from the word worthy. Worthy. And it's defined as a reverence offered to a divine being, or an act of expressing reverence. So we are commanded to give reverence to God because He is worthy. And we have a song in our hymnal called Worthy of Worship.

These words come from the same place. Worthy and worship. They come from the same root in English. And in the Greek it means to embrace. To go forward to embrace. Going to church in that sense is like giving and receiving a hug, you can imagine, to God. We come to church to worship, to hug, to embrace, to lean forward in reverence. That's what we do when we come to church and worship God.

That's what it means. But it must be done in spirit and in truth. Go over to Matthew 5, verse 21. And let's explore this concept of spirit first. How do we worship God in spirit? Matthew 5, verse 21 is a part of the Sermon on the Mount. And in this discussion, Jesus contrasts the law as it is written, the letter of the law, with the spirit and intent behind the law.

He says in verse 21, You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder, and whoever murders shall be in danger of the judgment. Pretty obvious. Somebody who murders is going to go to jail. It was then and it is now, and it is the letter of the law, and it is one of the Ten Commandments.

So that's the clear letter of the law. But now Jesus, in verse 22, is going to give us the spirit and intent behind that. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. So he is equating animosity and anger, hatred towards your brother, to be a type and a form of murder which is in the same way going to cause you to have committed some type of crime or sin or punishment and be in danger of the judgment.

And whoever says to his brother, Raka, that is, you fool, shall be in danger of hellfire. Now, this is really the intent behind it. This is a type of murder, slander, you can say, you know, in some way. You fool or you are worthless. Now, notice verse 23. Because of this instruction, because now of this contrast between the letter and the spirit and intent of the law, Jesus is now going to bring an object lesson.

Therefore, verse 23, if you bring your gift to the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift.

Now, it's interesting. It doesn't say if you come to the altar and realize that you are angry with your brother, go and be reconciled. It says if your brother is angry with you, so you might have caused that anger or maybe you didn't cause that anger, but that anger exists nonetheless. You have to leave your gift at the altar and go and be reconciled to God.

Could you imagine how many of us, if we were really following this, would end up coming to church at all? Imagine like next week, nobody's here. Well, you said I had to go be reconciled with my brother, and I'm not. He won't call me back. This person won't get back to me. This won't happen. That's the standard that God is looking for. That literally we cannot come before God, whether in this case he's using the term the altar. We don't have a temple.

We don't have a physical temple with a physical altar. We come before God here, as commanded by Leviticus 23, in a holy convocation to come before God and worship Him with song, with thanksgiving. And we hear these messages and we have fellowship. We, according to this, should be reconciled with our brother before we come to church. If we have some issue with our brother, we have to go deal with that. And it can't just be our issue. It could be their issue, too. Why are you so upset with me? What have I done? What have I done that has caused such problem? That's worshiping God in spirit, because that anger, or that slander, that foolishness, whatever we might be referring to, it's a type of murder.

It's a type of sin. And sin separates us from God, and God cannot see that sin before Him. He would rather you go deal with that sin before you come to see Him. This is a high standard. We really have to ask ourselves, are we truly reconciled with God and with our brother when we come to church? That's what God is saying about worshiping Him in spirit. Look over a few verses in Matthew 15, a few pages, I should say, in Matthew 15 and verse 1. Let's talk about truth for a moment. Matthew 15 and verse 1, we see here that the scribes and the Pharisees were in Jerusalem, and they came to Jesus, and they had something to say to Him.

They said, why in verse 2 do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. So now we have traditions, and see what Jesus said in verse 3. He answered and said to them, why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your traditions? You see, traditions and truths should not be confused with one another. Traditions are not necessarily truth, they're just traditions. There may be some kernel of truth that came from the start of these traditions. We have almost 90 years of tradition in the Church of God.

I was looking, doing some reading. Mr. Herbert Armstrong, who was a key person who was used by God in the 20th century to preach the gospel and to restore the truth of so many things in Scripture, was baptized in 1927. That's 90 years! 90 years! Over 90 years you can develop traditions. And then you wonder, why am I doing these things? Why do we do these things? So we have to make a distinction between tradition and truth.

There are obvious examples. Why do people rest on Sunday? Why do people go to church on Sunday? When even the Catholic Church will very clearly tell you that Saturday is the seventh day of the week. You can go look that up. The Catholics, the definitive people on the subject, will tell you. And they will tell you that they changed it to Sunday. By their own authority, they will say that.

And yet Protestant groups like, yep, I worship on Sunday because the Catholic Church said I could. People don't make these connections. Oh, well, you know, I'm adoring God. I'm giving God a hug on that Sunday morning worship service. But you're not worshipping Him in truth. Because the truth of the Scripture is the Sabbath. It's the seventh day. And that is the day where we come before God in a holy convocation.

How can we observe a winter solstice celebration, which will be coming up? Pretty soon they're going to be playing Christmas music right after Halloween. That's when it starts. Oh, we've got Black Friday and there's somewhere too. But pretty soon they're going to start playing. How can we celebrate Christmas when any historian will tell you that it has nothing to do with the birth of Christ? It was a created holiday to get people to stop observing the Saturnalia.

And yet people think that that is okay. That is not worshipping God in truth. Worshiping God in spirit and in truth. So what's an example of worshipping God here? A positive one here. Let's look at John 12 and verse 20. John 12 verse 20. Here we see that people worship God by keeping the feast of unleavened bread. You say that word in the general public, sometimes you're like, what? And I tell people, well, you know what? I hear about Diwali all the time. How many people heard of Diwali? A lot of people have heard of Diwali. It's a very famous Indian festival of lights.

So if somebody can walk up and say Diwali to me, why can't I say unleavened bread, right? I mean, you know, Diwali sounds like a funny word. But that's a very serious celebration by millions of people. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, John 12 verse 20. We should not be ashamed to say Feast of Unleavened Bread, right? That's a perfectly legitimate thing to say. Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.

If you look at the commentaries, the scholars will say these Greeks were not Hellenized Jews. These were not Jewish people coming. These were Gentiles. These were Greeks, people who had no background with the Jewish faith, but understood something about the Feast of Unleavened Bread that it was important to worship God during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And so they came up, and they came to Philip, verse 21, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, sir, we wish to see Jesus. So these Greeks came up, and they wanted to see Jesus Christ. Now, what's interesting is John does not tell us whether they saw him or not.

We don't know whether these people received an audience with Jesus, because the focus of the story changes. But the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the feasts of the Eternal, are not feasts for Jews. They're not feasts. These are feasts for all people. And these Greeks understood that. And that's where we worship God. We're worshipping Him in truth. We worship at the Feast of Tabernacles, and at the Feast of Tabernacles, and at the Feast of Trumpets. And we should be attending the feasts. We should be going out of our way to attend the feasts. We should be coming to do these things.

And the first feast, what's the first feast that's mentioned in Leviticus 23? Leviticus 23. We know this very well. This is a closed book test. What's the first feast mentioned in Leviticus 23? It's the Sabbath. We worship God on the Sabbath, on His feast day. The webcast is great. My mom is at home recovering, and so it's great that she can join us on the webcast. Mr. Spears is recovering.

The webcast is a beautiful thing, a great piece of technology that allows us. But it cannot replace coming to church if you can come to church. People need to come before God on the Sabbath and worship God. Just like these Greeks came before God on the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Look over at Hebrews 10, verse 25. These are things that are pleasing to God when we worship God, because God wants people to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Hebrews 10, verse 25, we read here, We should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. If there is a congregation of the Church of God that you can attend within a reasonable driving distance, then you should attend that assembly.

It is a commandment. It is worshiping God. It is what God desires in terms of worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. In ancient times, our spiritual ancestors worship God by bringing sacrifices to the temple.

Let's go over to Leviticus 1, verse 1. Let's go back and see what they did.

Leviticus 1, verse 1, This is the very beginning of a whole list of instructions regarding sacrifices. It says, Leviticus 1, 1, When any of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the livestock, of the herd, and of the flock. He's going to go through the burnt offering. He's going to describe the burnt offering here in chapter 1. Then in chapter 2, he's going to describe the grain offering, chapter 2, verse 1. When anyone offers a grain offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of a fine flower, and he shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it. These are instructions for providing a grain offering to the Lord.

Then in verse 3, we come to the peace offering. It says here, When this offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers it of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord. It's going to go through what's involved. Notice in verse 5 how God describes the peace offering.

And Aaron's son shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is on the wood that is on the fire, as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. A sweet aroma. This was a sweet thing. This was how people worship God. But there's a distinction that's made with the peace offering versus the burnt offering and the grain offering here. The peace offering was an extra special offering. If you look over in Leviticus 7, we read a little bit more about the peace offering. Leviticus 7 and verse 11, it says here, This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer to the Lord.

If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, 11 cakes mixed with oil, 11 wafers anointed with oil, or cakes of finely blended flour mixed with oil. One of the peace offerings was an offering of thanksgiving. You came before God with your peace offering, and you said thank you. It was a thank you offering. We can see in verse 16 that there were two other reasons for peace offering.

But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offers his sacrifice, but on the next day the remainder of it also may be eaten. So there were three reasons for a peace offering. Thanksgiving, a vow, and just because. Just because you were so pleased and happy to give it. It was a voluntary offering. And this offering, this peace offering, was a sweet aroma to God. The peace offering was specifically called out in that way. Paul picks up on this theme in Hebrews 13. Let's go over to Hebrews 13.

When Paul talks about the types of sacrifices that Christians make, because we understand that sacrifices in the way that was done in ancient Israel are not required of Christians today because Jesus Christ is that sacrifice for us. But we make other types of sacrifices, and we offer other types of sacrifices. Hebrews 13 verse 15, Therefore, by him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. This is how we worship. We offer a sacrifice of thanks.

We say, thank you, God, for the things that you've given me. And I've preached on this before, where we have to even thank God for the difficulties that come upon us, the difficulties in our life. We thank God, thank you, God, for this difficulty, because I know that I'm learning so much from it. And I know that it is your will that it is happening. And I accept your will. The fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But it's more than just saying thanks. Verse 16 says, But do not forget to do good and to share, For with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

So, you see, God is pleased when we sacrifice and we praise, but he also says to do good and to share. Are we ready to give? Are we ready to share? Are we ready to serve? That's what's being described here. These are forms of worship, and these are pleasing to God. We just don't come here to listen to a sermon, fellowship, and enjoy ourselves. We come to worship in spirit and in truth. And part of that worshiping through our lives is not just sort of one day or a couple hours, but it is a way of life that involves service, that involves giving, that involves sharing.

And you know, in some ways, people outside of the Church of God can put us to shame in this way. You know, I'm amazed by what I see, and I've shared this before, of where people go and they put themselves at personal risk to go work in places like the Tenderloin in San Francisco, or Skid Row in Los Angeles, or travel to other countries to help people. And I think the Church of God can learn some lessons.

That doesn't mean those people have the truth. It just means that they understand a little bit more about serving and giving than we might. And again, that doesn't mean that if we do all those things that we're going to be saved, okay? It doesn't mean that if we do those things, then we're better than other people.

I think one of the things that we don't want to confuse is that when we walk in the door, there's a sign that says, good work's done here, right? Oh, okay, well, I must be good because I'm part of that. No, we have this in context. This is about sacrificing in a way that is pleasing to God and how we worship God. So, worshiping God in spirit and truth is pleasing to God.

Are you worshiping God? Are you worshiping Him in spirit? Are you worshiping Him in truth? Are you at that level? Are the sacrifices that we make, that I make individually, are these the sacrifices that are pleasing to God? Or are they just the duties that we might make in terms of some of these other things? You see, Israel had to sacrifice. They had to sacrifice in other areas, right? There was a burnt offering and there were different other sacrifices that they, you know, had to bring. But this peace offering, this was a special sacrifice.

The second way that we please God is to fear God. Let's look over in Psalm 147, verse 11. Psalm 147.

Fearing God is something that is often talked about. But fearing God pleases God. Psalm 147, verse 11 says, the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him.

Wouldn't that be wonderful, you know, to be so pleasing to God?

The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy. We hope in His mercy. We know that God is merciful. We trust in Him completely. We trust in Him so much that we know He's merciful to us. He's going to take care of us. He's going to guide us. And we just fear Him and know that He is the Lord. You know, in Proverbs 1, verse 7, which is just across the page in my Bible. Maybe you have to turn the page in yours. It says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It's the beginning of knowledge, of understanding.

But let's dig a little deeper, because Paul had something interesting in this concept of fearing God and pleasing God.

Let's go over to 1 Thessalonians 2 and see what Paul says when it comes to the subject of pleasing God and doing the right thing.

1 Thessalonians 2, verse 4. So as we think about fearing God, and the aspect of fearing God, which comes out here, is that fearing God means being tested by God.

Being open to that, being willing to accept that. 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 4 says, But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so, we speak, not as pleasing men but God.

What that means is we're not pleasing men, but we're pleasing God. When we preach the gospel, we do not please men by the things we say.

The things we say actually probably offend some people. They got stoned, they got run out of town. They were not pleasing men by the things that they were preaching. Many of the things that we say do not please people. You can't please people. That's a fundamental principle. Abraham Lincoln talked about how you can't please all the people all the time. You just can't do that. But instead, we please God. But then after he says that, he says, who tests our hearts? It's interesting that he would just put that right at the end. God tests our hearts.

You know, in Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13, it says that after all is said and done, we have to fear God and keep His commandments. And this is the whole duty of men. But when we fear God and do keep His commandments, sometimes that can be a test.

I talked about that last week, because sometimes we don't want to actually do those things. And so if you think about Paul, he was preaching the gospel. Do we preach the gospel? Do we individually preach the gospel? Well, we're a light to the world, right? People might come up and say, what's this thing you do on Friday night? You leave early when the time changes. What's that all about?

I noticed that you kind of go out of your way to not eat octopus. Do you not like octopus? Can you tell me about that? Actually, I don't eat it because it's a biblical command. A biblical command. Wow! That's very biblical. Follow the Bible? What denomination are you? These things kind of come up, right? We're sharing our light. In that sense, we're preaching the gospel. Now, it's not our job to necessarily take those moments to give them a one-hour lecture. If they're open to that, I mean, go for it, but often they're not. They just want to understand. As the relationship builds, you can share more. But if we're going to share the gospel, as Paul describes here, we're going to be interested to share that message. We have to be understanding that God is going to be working with us. He's going to test us because he doesn't want just any old representative out there, right?

When you represent a company, if you're a salesperson or a customer service agent, if you walk around with some sort of T-shirt that has the company logo on it, you're representing the company. That company doesn't want representatives doing things which are distasteful. We see that all the time. Somebody does something that's contrary to the law, and they're fired from the company. Because companies don't want their brand sullied by some person who's doing nefarious things. God is that way. He doesn't want to have his representatives, people like Paul, out there preaching their own ideas. He wants to know that they're preaching what he wants them to preach, and so he's testing them. And he's testing us. We have to be tested as we go through this.

Look at Deuteronomy 8. We can see this very explicitly described by Moses in Deuteronomy 8, verses 1-6.

As God's people, physically here in Deuteronomy, spiritually today, God tests us to see where we stand, to see whether we really are with him or not with him, whether we're going to please him or whether we're going to please men. Deuteronomy 8, verse 1, This is an example for us. God is testing us. We are going through our period of testing and to see whether or not we will keep God's commands. So he humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna. He allowed them to be hungry. Imagine, he actually allowed it. God allows us to suffer that he might see where our heart will turn.

And then he feeds us. As it says here, Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Somebody quoted that scripture. Yeah, very famous quote from Jesus Christ that was recorded in the Gospels. This is where it came from.

Verse 4, God miraculously took care of them. We read that last week, right? Don't worry about what you're going to wear. Don't worry about that. God's going to take care of that. So you should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord God chastens you.

God is chastening me. He's chastening me. He's chastening you. He's chastening his church.

Here it is. So this is what Paul talked about in Thessalonians. To walk in his ways and please him. To walk in his ways and fear him. This is what we do.

To walk in his ways and to fear him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land. A land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs that flow out of valleys and hills. A land of weed and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates. A land of olive oil and of honey. And he goes through all these things. And this was a physical inheritance that they received. And our inheritance is much greater.

Much greater. These are the things that we will receive. So there is a test that's going on. And it's been said that God will test us on a subject and an area until he's comfortable and confident that we are going to pass that test. So if you're having a continual recurring test in something, God might be trying to tell you something.

Maybe that's an area that he's looking for you to say, Okay, I'm going to keep your commandments in this case. I'm going to do the right thing and not what I want to do. Perhaps God is telling you something.

Let's go to Romans 8, verse 28.

You see, I don't think we have any right to represent ourselves as lights to the world if we're not right with God.

That's just hypocrisy. That's what that is. It's just hypocrisy. Because we're not right with God. How can we be representing God? How can we be preaching the gospel as Paul was describing? Romans 8, 28, probably one of the most famous scriptures, if anybody looks into the word.

Romans 8, 28.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

You know, I heard this verse explained by a mainstream Christian pastor once.

In fact, it was the associate pastor of one of the largest congregations in the United States.

It was about an hour.

And he spoke powerfully. He was so articulate, so interesting to listen to, captured your attention. You're just like, wow, amazing. That's why so many people like to listen to him.

But you know, in that whole time, I never once heard him talk about what the apostle John said in 1 John 5, verse 3. I think many of you might know that one. 1 John 5, verse 3, I won't turn there, but it says that this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.

I never once heard that in that entire discussion of Romans 8, verse 28. People go along and they say, all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. So I know that God's going to work those things out for me. Well, no, it doesn't say that. It says, for those who love God. Well, how do you love God?

Well, 1 John 5, 3 says, this is the love of God, that you keep My commandments.

So if you don't keep the commandments, then you're not loving God, and all things don't work together for good for you.

Now, God is merciful on who He is merciful, right? I mean, it is none of us to judge where God is going to have mercy. But this scripture is what it is, and it says that all things work together for good to those who love God. So we have to love God the way God wants to be loved. He wants to be worshipped in spirit and truth. Right? He wants worship, again, to be embraced. He wants that hug in spirit and in truth. He wants to be reverent in spirit and in truth. He wants us to keep His commandments. He is going to test us to see whether we're going to keep those commandments or not. That's when things work together for good. And if things are not all working together in your life, it might be because you are not keeping the commandments. That could be happening. I'm not saying it is. We're going to talk about Job here in a moment. We know that Job kept all the commandments and things weren't working out very well for him. So it's not a direct correlation. It doesn't work that way. It also says in Revelation 14 verse 12, why don't we turn to that one? We'll turn over to that one.

Because Revelation 14 verse 12 was also not in that amazing, articulate, charismatic, riveting, one-hour discussion of Romans 8.28. Revelation 14 verse 12 says here, Here is the patience or perseverance of the saints. This is what we persevere through. This is who we are. Here's the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. We keep the commandments. That's the patience of the saints. This is what we do. We keep God's commandments. So being tested by God is a sign or a way or a side effect or a part of fearing God. Fearing God also means seeking God's praise. Have you ever thought about that? Seeking God's praise, not the praise of men. Have you ever thought about the fact that God would actually praise you? I mean, it's kind of obvious, right? And so we don't think about it that way. But a parent says to a child, hey, that's great. Great job. Thank you. Thank you for doing that. That's praise. Why would God not praise us? Why would he not say, you know, that's really good. That means a lot that you did that. I'm thankful that you did that. Thank you. Look over in Job 1, verse 8. Maybe some of you might have thought that. Here's an example where God does exactly that. He praises Job. And if he praises Job, why wouldn't he praise us? Job 1, verse 8, then the Lord said to Satan, had you considered my servant Job? And there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil.

God praised Job. He praised him. And of course, you know, Satan is there. And, you know, it was God in heaven and all the angelic beings around him all hearing this. Everybody's hearing, you know, have you seen this person Job? He's amazing. He's blameless. He fears God. You know, that would be a wonderful thing that God would praise us. I think many of us would appreciate that.

Look over in John 12, verse 42.

Here were people that would prefer the praise of men to the praise of God. I think it's an interesting verse because it just shows how powerful Jesus' teaching was. But even as powerful as that was, it was not enough to convince people to change what they were doing because they preferred something else.

And I think sometimes people will say, well, you know, the Church of God just doesn't seem to be, you know, where are all the people who are coming and so forth. Well, you know, Jesus was three and a half years and he preached powerfully. And he couldn't overcome this because this is where these people were. John 12, verse 42. Nonetheless, among the rulers, many believed in him. Right? We know Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. We know Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man who came and said, here, let's put him in my tomb. Right? So rulers of the people of that time believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. They were not ready to jeopardize their position in society over Jesus, despite how powerful he was in his preaching. Verse 43, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. They did not fear God enough. Maybe they feared God in some ways, but they did not fear God enough that they would truly have confessed him because they didn't want to lose their positions because they were more interested in what people thought about them than in what God thought about them. And they'd rather have the people praise them than God praise them, which again is an example of the fact that God praises us. God does praise us. Let's look over in 1 Corinthians 4. 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 3.

Paul says here to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 4. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. I'm not worried about what you think of me. And of course, he was telling them some pretty tough things. Corinthians had a lot of issues. He says, in fact, I do not even judge myself.

For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord. Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts, and then each one's praise will come from God.

Each one's praise will come from God. We should desire to receive praise from God, not from men. We should not be worried about what men will think. God knows our weaknesses, and like a loving parent, he will properly praise us when we do the right thing.

Even in modern business philosophy, there is a phrase that is well understood. Respect before love. People may not love you as a leader, but they should respect you, because you're going to do things sometimes that they don't like, and so they may not like you. But as long as they respect you, that's what's important. That's a fundamental human principle. It's not about being loved by people, but respected. And respect can go a long way. It can actually change somebody's view of you and of them. We see this example in 1 Peter 3, verse 1, where somebody is more concerned about maintaining the praise of God than the praise of men.

This is the example of a believing wife with an unbelieving husband, where the wife remains firm in her convictions, in the truth of God, to do what we've been talking about, to keep God's commandments, keep the feast, tithe, do all the things that are in her power to do.

And her example is so powerful that even though her husband may not necessarily appreciate what she's doing, he will have a certain degree of respect. 1 Peter 3, verse 1, Likewise, you wives be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Again, here we have it.

The wives feared God, and they did what God said to do, even if their husbands didn't like it.

And over time, that respect becomes so powerful that the husband's conduct begins to change.

Now, we're focusing on wives and husbands, but the same could be said for husbands versus wives as well.

A husband may set an example to an unbelieving wife, and over time, that example can earn the respect of the wife that her conduct herself may also be changed.

We should be circumspect and not judgmental. That's what Paul talks about. God will judge the world in His time, and we cannot allow peer pressure to dictate our actions.

You know, we just this last week, we concluded Halloween, right? All Saints Day.

Dia de Muertos, right? The Day of the Dead here in Southern California, where we have a significant influence from Mexico. These are popular holidays, but that doesn't mean it's okay to dress up and go trick-or-treating, or to allow our kids to do that.

If the adults want to go to a Halloween party, or be part of Halloween festivities at work, right?

There's a certain way, politely, kindly, and a non-judgmental way, to bow out of those things. And that's what we should do. That's what we should do. There's ways that we can participate, and we should be getting advice on how we participate in those things, if we're going to participate. But dressing up and following along with these types of things is not pleasing to God. It's pleasing to men. It's pleasing to us. It's earning praise from our co-workers, but not praise from God. New Year's Eve is a popular party time. But that doesn't mean that we participate in New Year's Eve parties. Because New Year's Eve is just an extension of Saturnalia. It's just the end of that one-week period that began with Christmas, and ended with the beginning of the year. It was instituted by Julius Caesar, right? So it's how it all kind of came together. It's fine to mark the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, because we have to change the date we write on our checks, right? I mean, it's just a reality of where we live. But the Roman holiday and parties and drinking and traditions that go along with that are not part of our culture. Our culture is godly culture, and it's not part of that. Same can be said for Valentine's Day. Oh, these things are just harmless. Well, to some degree, but they set an example. They say, yeah, yeah, that's it. I'm just part of that long tradition stretching back about 4,000 years of New Year's Eve celebrations that were formally instituted by the Romans. The Babylonians, by the way, if you go look at the story of New Year's Eve, that's really kind of a Babylonian thing that goes way, way back. The Romans just institutionalized it in a way that we keep it today. So I've shared with you worshiping and fearing. And to some degree, I'm probably not sharing things that you've probably heard these things before. I'm maybe bringing these things to mind. But I want to look at the example of David to sort of wrap this up and conclude this discussion, because if you look at 1 Samuel 11, verse 2, there's a phrase in there that I think should just give us all shivers as we think about worshiping God, fearing God, and pleasing God. Because I think we would all say that David is a man after God's own heart, because that's what the Bible says. David is going to rule over the 12 tribes of Israel. David is an important individual both in history and in the future. 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel 11, hold on. One more. One more. I think I meant to say 2 Samuel. Yeah, 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel, sorry. 2 Samuel 11. Start in verse 1. Now it came to pass in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel. And they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Raba, but David remained a Jerusalem. Verse 2, and then it happened. Then it happened. That's the phrase I want you to think about. Then it happened. And we know that something very bad happened that would have a huge impact on the nation, on David, on the child that would be born from that. Then it happened. And as I've shared with you before in other sermons that this was not something that just instantaneously sort of occurred. It says here, one evening David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing.

This is not something that was just sort of random, and it just happened. Who is that woman? What is she doing out there anyway? As I've shared with you before, Bathsheba was the granddaughter of David's trusted advisor at Hithafil.

So David knew exactly who this woman was. There was a reason she was living close enough that he could see her, because he surrounded himself with his mighty men and his advisors. He knew exactly who this woman was. She was the granddaughter of Hithafil. She was the daughter of one of his mighty men. She was the wife of another of his mighty men. This woman was very well known to him. We could speculate and say he was probably at her wedding. He was probably the guest of honor at her wedding. He knew exactly who this woman was. And we can also probably say that Bathsheba knew exactly where David's palace was, and she knew exactly what he could see and not see.

It's interesting that when you look at the genealogy of Jesus Christ in the Gospel, it actually doesn't even mention her by name. It just says, the one who was Uriah's wife. See, she's culpable as well. So this was not some random thing. And why was David back? Why did he stay back? Everybody's out of town! That's interesting.

Everybody's out of town! Nobody's around! Just the two of them. How long had this been in David's heart? How long had he thought about this woman? How long had he lusted after her? And finally, it happened. It happened. And I can talk about fearing God and worshipping God and keeping His commandments and seeking His praises.

But you know, sometime, if there is some sort of sin that is in us, it's going to come out. It happened. That's what the Bible says. It's going to happen. Don't let it happen. Find that sin. Ask God where that evil is in within me, within you. I can talk about worshipping and fearing God and doing all these things. But as you leave today, I want you to consider what is deep inside of you that's got to come out. Because that's what we're talking about when we talk about pleasing God.

All these other things, right? And it's easy to say, yeah, you know, I would never go to a Halloween party. I am not going to a New Year's Eve party and getting drunk. I've never done that in my life. Most of you are going to be in that situation. But there is something. Just like with David, there is something. And what is that thing? And let's not let it happen. Fundamentally, pleasing God is about the first commandment. The first commandment is to love God and to have no other gods before God.

To love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. And that means that we purge anything in there that's going to get between us and our relationship with God. Jesus said, if your eye offends, you pluck it out. Right? If your hand, if it cut it off, get rid of it. Because it's going to destroy you. And it almost destroyed David and his kingdom.

Literally, David had to go into hiding, right? And his son took over. And, you know, Ahithophel, and I've told this story before, Ahithophel, very likely, thinking of this example here, where David went and committed adultery with his granddaughter, advised Absalom, David's son, later to go and sleep with all of David's concubines and all of his consorts.

Probably having this in mind. It nearly destroyed David and his kingdom. Let's turn over to Psalm 51. Because David, who is such an amazing man, you would think, would have been excluded from God's kingdom over this. He murdered a man. He committed adultery with some young girl who he had known for years. Probably knew her when she was young. Psalm 51 shares David's feelings about what he did.

Psalm 51, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving kindness. You see, this is a very high standard that I've described, but it should not be a standard that discourages us. This should be a standard that we repent into. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

You can almost see the parentheses with the teshiba. It almost wants to just kind of leap off the page from us, to us. And four, I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. It is ever before him because the entire nation was going to find out. Because we can read later that this gave occasion for God's enemies to blaspheme God. Against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight, that you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part, you will make me to no wisdom. This is what I talked about with character. What happens when nobody is around? This is what God wants of us, and this is how we please him when we do the right thing, even when no one's around.

But God, purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with your generous spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted to you. These are the themes that we saw from Paul. Then we can be used. Then Paul can preach the Gospel after he's been tested. Then David can be used by God after these things have been addressed. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God. The God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth your praise. To worship, as we've discussed. For you do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it. You do not delight in bird offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, and a broken and a contrite heart. These, O God, you will not despise. Do good in your good pleasure in Zion.

Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then you shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering, and whole burnt offering. Then they shall offer bowls on your altar. Let's think about these things in that context. These are not academic things we're talking about. This is about rooting out evil in our lives and learning to please God by keeping His commandments and coming before Him, being reconciled with our brother, and being reconciled to God when we come and worship God.