What Does God Want?

Thank you again, David. Good afternoon, brethren. Happy Sabbath to all of you.

If you go into virtually any store this time of year, or if you turn on the radio, you are surrounded by something that reminds you that we are entering a time of year when most people celebrate a holiday that's known as Christmas. Now, surprisingly, originally, it was intended to be a religious holiday. For many children being born today, they wouldn't even know that. They wouldn't even recognize that because it has been mass-marketed to the world as a secular celebration with all the trappings of non-religious symbols like Santa Claus, and like reindeer, and ornaments, and bright colors, and ribbons and bows. It has basically morphed into a huge mass-marketing program, a time of year to sell stuff. Even to the point, that struck me as kind of funny, is that Japan now celebrates Christmas. Most Japanese are not Christian in any way, but it's been so secularized with Santa Claus and the whole thing. It's a time to go out and buy toys and buy yourself that gift that your spouse has never bought for you. So that is what for much of the world the celebration of Christmas has become. My favorite, and I keep waiting for this, it hasn't happened, is the brand new Mercedes Benz sitting in your driveway with a big red bow on top of it. Have you ever seen that commercial? And the person walks out, honey! Well, every December 25th, I run out to my driveway, and there's a minivan sitting there. It's like anti-Mercedes Benz. It's just a minivan. But that, unfortunately, is what Christmas has become for our Western world today. It's a time to buy stuff. It's become very secularized. Some of the most popular Christmas songs today were written by a Jewish gentleman named Irving Berlin. Some of the most affectionate Christmas songs we know. And he certainly wasn't thinking of Jesus Christ when he wrote those songs. He was thinking of the secularization and memories and warm feelings of family and things that people tend to associate with this holiday. But underneath all of the materialism, underneath the facade that's been created around this time of year when the retailers all salivate, hoping people will come in and make their day, behind that is the core of a religious celebration with its origins in paganism. Now, today, I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about the history of the pagan customs of Christmas, because that is so easy today compared to 40 years ago when I first came into the church. You can find it on the internet. You can find it virtually in any encyclopedia. A lot of television shows, the History Channel, and a lot of others are very frank and honest about the pagan origins of Christmas. So I'm not going to go into a lot of detail or technical things about how customs evolved into Christmas. You can read about that easily on the internet or by watching TV. This sermon is centered on a simple, single question, and this should be what is really asked. Aside from the stuff of fond memories, aside from the stuff of custom, aside from the stuff of tradition, this is the question that should really be asked. It's the only important question in life, and that is, what does God want? It's not what I want. It's not what you want. It shouldn't ever be what our culture wants, what society wants, what a church wants.

The only really important question that should ever be asked about virtually anything we do is, what does God want? The question of what does God want and expect should be foremost in our minds. If we or anyone doesn't do what God wants us to do, then whatever we do is in vain. We can say it honors Him. We can say, I'm doing this for God, and if it isn't something that God wanted, if it isn't something that God respects, we're just kidding ourselves. We are deluding ourselves, and we are doing it in vain, no matter what it tends to be. Actually, the same question should be asked about having any healthy relationship, because what we want to have with God is a healthy relationship. To have a healthy relationship with another human being, whether it's your spouse or a close friend of the same sex, maybe your best buddies, your pals, or whatever, the same question needs to be asked if you want to have a healthy relationship. It's what does the other person want? What pleases them, not what pleases me. Why do so many relationships break up to the 50% of marriages and in divorce? Well, the problem is that at least once, sometimes both parties, wake up every day and say, it's all about me. It's all about my pleasure. It's all about what I want.

But a guaranteed, fail-safe way to have a long-time committed relationship is for one person to say, the question is, what does this person want to be happy? That's what I'm going to do. And the other person says, what does this person want to be happy? That's what I'm going to do. And if two people do that, you're going to have an incredibly fulfilling relationship. The problem comes when one starts saying, it's all about me. It's about my thrills, my pleasure, what makes me happy, rather than giving to the other person. So that's a surefire way to have a great relationship.

True in human plane? It's true in the spiritual plane. What does God want? Even on a human plane, I know that I'm guilty of this. Have you ever received a hideous gift that you didn't want?

I've given some of those gifts.

Why does that usually happen? I gave my mother once a gift, once that absolutely stank. I mean, it was a terrible gift. And you know why I gave her that gift? The more I thought about it after she died. She didn't die because of that gift, by the way. But after she died and time went on and I thought about it, you know why I got her that gift? Because I wanted that gift. I gave her the gift that I wanted. I didn't stop and say, what does mom want? What's going to make her happy? So that's a human tendency for us, even to give gifts that excite us. You're so excited. I can't wait to see them open it. Why? Because it's what I want. Rather than stopping and saying, what did they want? To be pleasurable for them, to be happy and meaningful for them. Let's go to Genesis chapter 4. You know, this issue goes way back of this question, what does God want? It goes all the way back to the first family. Adam and Eve had two children, Cain and Abel. And the question of Christmas is an old one because the idea and the question of what does God want goes all the way back to the very first family. Genesis chapter 4 beginning in verse 1. Let's see how early in scripture that we learn that we need to worship God in the way that he desires to have the right kind of a relationship with him. Genesis chapter 4 beginning in verse 1. Now Adam knew his wife Eve and she conceived and she bore Cain and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. And the name Cain literally means I have acquired through birth. I'm sure the first birth, I'm sure that was quite an experience for Adam and Eve's. Maybe they didn't know what to expect who was going to drop out of there. But sure enough, it's a little boy and they named him Cain. Verse 2, then she bore again and this time Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep but Cain was a tiller of the ground and in the process of time he came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Doesn't even say it's his best fruit. Doesn't even say it's his first fruit. The choices. It says he brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Here's what Scofield Bible's note says about this particular verse and Cain's offering. Scofield Bible note, Cain is the type of a mere man of the earth. His religion was destitute of any adequate sense of sin or need for atonement.

This religious type is described in 2 Peter chapter 2. Seven things are said of him. As again this is Scofield Bible notes number one. He worships in self-will. Two, he's angry with God. Three, he refuses to bring a sin offering. He brought fruit instead of something that had blood in it that would be a sin offering. Four, he murders his brother. Five, he lies to God. Six, he becomes a wanderer. And seven, he is nevertheless the object of the divine solicitude. So God has to punish him by separating him from everyone else. But the point is this, that his offering wasn't what God wanted because there was nothing in his offering that represented the shedding of blood. That represented the fact that someday there would need to be a substitute for his sins and the sins of his parents Adam and Eve. Verse 4. Abel also brought of the first born of his flock and their fat. And the Lord respected Abel. By the way, Abel's name means that which ascends. So his very name means someone who looks upward, someone who respects God, someone who thinks beyond this mere physical plane and looks up into the heavens and says, who is there? I acknowledge that something greater than me is there. His name means that which ascends.

And God respected Abel in his offering. Again, I'd like to go back to Scofield Bible notes. It says, Abel, or meaning that which ascends, is a type of the spiritual man, his sacrifice, in which atoning blood was shed. They refer to Hebrews 9.22, what Jesus Christ ultimately did, was therefore at once his confession of sin and the expression of his faith in the interposition of a substitute. Hebrews 11.4. In other words, he brought something that was an animal, something whose blood would be shed because he knew that he needed forgiveness of sin.

And his offering said to God, I prefigure what your own son is going to have to do someday so that my sins can be forgiven. Verse 5, speaking of God in his reaction to Cain's offering of fruit, but he did not respect Cain and his offering, and Cain was very angry. What, God? You don't like it the way that I choose to worship you? You don't like it that I'm doing it my way? That's basically what his attitude is. Instead of saying, I'm sorry, God, how would you choose? What should I have done differently to give you honor, to give you glory?

No, he's angry because he's right. He thinks he's smarter than God, and he thinks that his offering should be as acceptable as one that was included the shedding of blood. So Cain is very angry, and his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? If you get with the program, Cain, and if your offering reflects what pleases me, then I'll give you as much commendation and accolades as I give your brother.

It's not really that complicated. It's very simple. You either have a sacrifice that honors me and does it how I want it, or you can do it your own way. You can pick up a bunch of fruit, fell off the ground, and put it in a basket or on a blanket, and bring that fruit to me and say, okay, God, this is yours. Here you go. God says it's your choice. What was the difference between the two offerings? His heart and his attitude. Again, verse 7, if you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not well, sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.

You know, God says, you know what? You are this far from being consumed by evil. What's in your heart and what's in your mind? It kind of reminds me of what Jesus told Simon Peter in Luke chapter 22. He said, Simon, Simon, he says, Satan wants you. He's told me he wants you. He wants to sift you like you're just wheat going through a sifter.

He wants to manipulate you and have you become his slave. But Jesus said, I have prayed for you that you will have the faith and endure and return to me, and that you will be an example within the church of God. So God is basically also telling Cain that you are this far from being consumed with sin, and sure enough, he hated his brother enough that he killed him. So again, I want to say and ask the question, what's the difference between the two offerings?

It was heart and attitude. Cain did not bring a living sacrifice. He was only doing it out of duty, ritual, motion. It doesn't even say they were his best fruit. He was worshiping God how Cain wanted to worship God. Abel, on the other hand, brought God a living animal who shed blood would prefigure Jesus Christ. He brought his best. It says, the firstborn of his flock. Notice the difference between the two attitudes.

He worshiped the way that God wanted to be pleased. So when we ask this question and we look at the holiday that's being celebrated in our Western world today, the question of how does God want to be worshipped is not a recent one, is it?

It goes all the way back to the very first family. And people have been disobeying. People have been struggling. People have been ignoring the way God chooses to be worshipped ever since that time. Now let's go to the book of Exodus.

If you will turn there with me, we'll go to Exodus chapter 20 in verse 1. And we'll see, as history goes on, the people of Israel had been immersed in the culture of Egypt for generations. And in Egypt, of course, there were many false gods who were worshipped in various attractive ways. And Israel eventually was going to a new land where many of its inhabitants had interesting and attractive worship practices towards their local gods. Knowing this in advance, God in his very own commandments, and we're going to read the first three, his very own commandments wanted to warn the people about not blending, not compromising the true worship towards him by bringing in something else.

Exodus chapter 20, beginning in verse 1. It says in God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. Now we tend to think of jealousy as a negative trait, don't we, in our culture today.

But God says boldly that I want you all to myself. The word jealous here is from the Hebrew word kana, spelled q-a-n-n-a, and it means protection of one's own possession or position. God says, I want you all to myself. I am not willing to share your love with anyone. I'm not willing to have 90% of you. I'm not willing to have part-time believers and worshippers. I want you to dedicate yourself in complete and direct love towards me. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children of the third and fourth generations of those that hate me. I want you to know that he defines hate as someone who puts another God before the true God.

That's his own definition. He just said, you shall have no other gods before me. And then he says that I will visit the iniquities of the fathers and the children of the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. His definition of hate, since he is a jealous God, is that you give your divided attention.

That you blend in pagan practices to worship Yahweh. That you compromise and borrow things from other religious practices and say, yeah, I think I'll just relabel it. I'll just rebrand it. And I'll call it worshiping God.

Verse 6, but showing mercy to thousands and to those who love me and keep my commandments, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, who takes his name in vain. Now, we don't oftentimes read these scriptures the way that we just did, but the inference here of using God's name in vain is if you take a practice that does not honor him and you say, I am using this, this is worshiping God. God says, that's taking my name in vain. I'm going to borrow something over here and put a new dress on it, some ancient custom that worshiped another God, and I'm going to call it God. I'm going to call it the Feast of Yahweh. I'm going to call it something that sounds religious. God says, that's using my name in vain. You have no right, you have no authority to do that. God makes it very plain here that he is the one and true creator, and he will not be shared with anyone else. He is jealous in that he wants us to idolize and to worship him directly. It's one-on-one. Or congregation. This congregation is one. That's one-on-one worship to God. And in our own homes, as an individual, that's one-on-one. We don't need a mediator. We don't need a priest. We can go directly to God. He wants us to idolize and worship him alone, directly. And only he doesn't want us to worship him through anything made by men, either carved or painted or ornamented or glowing or borrowed. And you see, that's the glitter that Satan has behind these practices that have all been borrowed and brought in the mainstream Christianity. There's glitter there. There's bling. There's attraction. There are lights. There's goodies for me. Toys. Or whatever. That's attractive. That's appealing. That's what is behind these holidays. God wants to be worshiped exclusively and directly. And much like a healthy marriage relationship, he will not accept being shared. It shouldn't be that hard for us. In a healthy marriage relationship, I mean the right kind of healthy marriage relationship, your spouse will not endure you sharing yourself with someone else, would they? To have a healthy relationship with God, God will not endure us sharing our worship practices with another God and simply relabeling them, rebranding them and saying, ah, these are Christian.

I might also add again that to worship God in a way that doesn't please him while claiming it is acceptable is using his name in vain. Well, that was Exodus 20. It doesn't take long. Let's go to Exodus 32. It's amazing how quickly these things happen among human beings because we are going to see that sure enough, this is exactly what happens to the nation of Israel. Moses is going.

He's gone for a while. He's receiving the law and the people get restless. Again, we'll pick it up in verse one. Now, when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, come, make us gods that shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the light of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And Aaron said to them, break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me. And the reason I mentioned that is someday when a gentleman walks through that door and has an earring in his ear, we should not see raised eyebrows. We should not be judging that person. Right here in this scripture, men were wearing earrings. We've got to stop making our own cultural considerations. The commandments of men as if somehow they are biblical or the commandments of God. But nonetheless, verse 3, so all the people broke off their golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron, and he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and he made a molded calf, just like we had in Egypt. And oh, I'm sure it was really a good-looking calf. He was quite talented. And they said, this is your God. And the Hebrew word is Elohim, or familiar with that word. This is your God's, oh Israel. This here literally represents the Elohim who brought you out of the land of Egypt. And again, Egypt worshiped calves, and Aaron was imitating the culture of Egypt where it was considered a fertility god. And they proclaimed that this is your God. This is a representation of the true God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. So is God pleased with relabeling paganism? I had someone tell me once in all sincerity, he said, Mr. Thomas, you don't seem to understand that God converts holidays like he converts people. You see, he converts people from paganism to Christianity, and he converts holidays from being pagan to being relabeled into Christian into something that honors and worships him. And I said, well, that might sound nice in theory, but usually when God converts you, you change. You give up adultery. You give up lying. You give up stealing. You give up the pagan lifestyle. So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it, and he made a proclamation, and he said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. So not only do we make something that we now say represents the true God, this golden calf, now I have the authority to proclaim feast days, my own holidays, maybe something like Christmas. No, that one's already taken.

No, that one's already taken. Hallelujah! No, that one's already taken. Anyway, they created a new feast day to the Lord the next day. It says, and he rose up early in the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Now, the word, this is a family show. I'll just say that the Hebrew euphemism to play means there was an awful lot of heying and sheen, illicit heying and sheen going on within the people. Verse 7, and the Lord said to Moses, I love this, get down for the people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. I told this to my wife and she laughed. She says it was like being a parent. When the child does something dumb, it's your child. When the child does something brilliant, it's my child. So God says, get down there for the people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf and worshipped it and sacrificed to it and said, this is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. The Lord said to Moses, I've seen this people and indeed it is a stiff-necked people, meaning stubborn, block-headed. You can't tell them anything. They don't listen. It's like they're in their own little world. And they were. It's called the world of carnality. It's called the world of human nature. Verse 10, now therefore let me alone that my wrath may burn against them and I may consume them and I will make of you a great nation. And thankfully Moses talked God out of his inclination to destroy the entire nation. The Treasury's scriptural knowledge says, quote, no doubt at this feast they sacrificed under the manner of the Egyptians. So they took the Egyptian worship practices and they relabeled it and said, this is all for you, God. This is just borrowed and repackaged and the calf, it just represents the true God who brought us out of the land of Egypt. But that doesn't make sense to God because the message is clear. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig.

And that's how God feels about borrowed religious practices that are used to worship him.

Exodus chapter 34 verse 12. Exodus chapter 34 verse 12.

Again, take heed of yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you were going, lest it be a snare in your midst, but you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, for you shall worship no other God for the Lord, whose name is jealous. A lot of people get all worked up about the name of God. Well, actually God has many names. One of his names right here is jealous. He will not be shared. He will not share himself with another God, whose name is jealous is a jealous God. I'm going to read this verse 14 from the translation God's Word for today. Never worship any other God because the Lord is a God who does not tolerate rivals. In fact, he is known for not tolerating rivals. Again, that's the translation God's Word today. So again, I want to emphasize that God states that one of his names is jealous. Shallow and part-time worshipers do not impress God at all. He is telling his people not to compromise with pagan forms of worship. He says, as a matter of fact, as much as is within your control, in your own home, on your own property, as much as is within your control, destroy it! Wipe it off the face of the earth because if you leave one standing, as was evidenced by the history of ancient Israel, if you leave one standing, people will gravitate towards that and they'll begin to worship it. They'll multiply it. They'll blend that worship into the worship of the true God. Now, I'm certainly not saying to go into Coles tomorrow and start tearing down the Christmas debris and rip the CD out of the player and tear down the... I'm not asking you to do that at all. I'm saying that within your sphere of influence in your home, in your own personal environment, that we should not have things that compromise the true worship of God. Why? Because eventually they'll be blended, there will be compromise there, and he'll be worshipped in vain. Sure enough, that is exactly what happened in mainstream Christianity. Just one paragraph from the article, Christmas from the Microsoft in Carta Encyclopedia, 2009. Microsoft in Carta, Encyclopedia 2009. Quote, Christmas originated in the fourth century as a Christian substitute for pagan celebrations of the winter solstice. Very clear. Not too much debate on that. Bold statement. Haven't we been talking about that all along? Continuing. Before the introduction of Christmas, each year, beginning on December 17th, Romans honored Saturn, the ancient god of agriculture, in a festival called Saturnalia. This festival lasted for seven days and included the winter solstice, which usually occurred around December 25th on the ancient Julian calendar. During Saturnalia, the Romans feasted.

Maybe sounds like something that's done today during a holiday that I can think of.

They postponed all business. Wow! It sounds like something I'm familiar with this time of year. They exchanged gifts. Wow! It kind of sounds like something that I'm familiar with, except I don't ever get any gifts. It says they temporarily freed their slaves. Many Romans also celebrated the lengthening of daylight following the winter solstice by participating in rituals to glorify Mithra, the ancient Persian god of light. These and other winter festivities continued through January 1st, the festival of the Calens, where Romans marked the day of the new moon and the first day of the month and the year. So, sure enough, what happened? Decide all of these warnings in the Old Testament, what happened? Well, what happened is this is a classic example of tolerating compromise in a culture. The truth is that the Catholic faith accommodated conversion of many pagan peoples, not by going in there and having them clean up their paganism, but by redressing their paganism and calling it something that honored God. A classic example, of course, would be the Christmas tree, which comes from Germany. It was a pagan celebration by the Germans long before they were ever converted to Christianity. I will not even tell you what the little round balls represented on Christmas trees. It has something to do with fertility. But when the Catholic Church came in and converted the Germans, it was simply relabeled as something acceptable to celebrate the Mass of Jesus Christ. Let's now go to Deuteronomy chapter 12 and verse 28.

As God inspired Moses, observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God. What is God saying? He's saying, you want to have a good life? Ask yourself this deep question. What does God want? Not what I want, not what a church wants, not what a culture wants. Ask yourself, what does God want? And then you'll know what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God. Verse 29, when the Lord your God cuts off from before you, the nations which you go to dispossess, and when you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you and that you do not inquire after their God saying, how did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise. He says, don't do that. Don't be sucked in by the glitter.

Don't be sucked in by the festivities, by the warmth, by all the things that make that day look so attractive and don't say, well, I think I'll just borrow that. I'll go and do likewise. I will take that and rebrand it into something that honors God. He says, verse 31, you shall not worship the Lord your God in that way for every abomination to the Lord which he hates. And that's how God defines any type of idolatry. He hates it. They have done to their gods, for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it.

You shall not add to it, nor shall you take away from it. So don't go into the land and say, oh, this is kind of a cool holiday. Everybody gets gifts. And it's just so easy to take all of these people who are pagan in background and say, we're just going to call it the Mass of Christ, and you can do the same thing you always did. You can keep the same day. You can keep the same customs and celebrations which all have a background in some type of pagan worship. You can keep all those, but we're just going to name it differently. We're going to put a new name on it. He says, you shall not add to it or take away from it. So God warns them not to worship him with borrowed pagan rituals or standards, yet that's what we find in the winter holiday celebration that is called Christmas. Deuteronomy chapter 29, I'm going to read this from the translation God's word. Quote, the Lord your God will destroy the nations where you are going and force them out of your way. You will take possession of their land and live there after they've been destroyed. Be careful. You aren't tempted to follow their customs. Don't even ask about their gods and say, how did these people worship their gods? We want to do what they did. That's exactly what happened in history. In every nation that the Catholic Church went into and found pagans doing something within their own culture, whether it was in Ireland, whether it was in Germany or Britain, or in South America. Many of the Catholic countries, the Indians to this day, have local traditions that were borrowed from paganism that have Christian names or analogies to them because the Catholic priest found it easier to do that because the people would not give up their pagan celebration. So that is exactly what happened here. Verse 31, never worship the Lord your God in the way that they worship their gods because everything they do for their gods is disgusting to the Lord. He hates it and even burned their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods. So God knows the human mind and He knows our basic nature. He knows that we will be attracted to pagan customs and we will want to adopt them to worship the Creator of the heaven and earth. But God says, you can't do this. It is disgusting to me. So God is not pleased when people copy or borrow religious customs from pagan observances and relabel them in an attempt to worship Him. Let's go to Jeremiah chapter 10 and see an example of this. Now, contrary to some old literature, this is not literally talking about a Christmas tree. The Christmas tree wasn't developed by the pagans until long after Jesus Christ had died. It is Germanic. It comes from German origins. As a matter of fact, in early America, the times of the Puritans and in parts of America, there were no Christmas trees. It was the German immigrants as they came to the United States who brought the Christmas tree with them. And that's how the Christmas tree became used as part of the celebrations. But the principle is here about not borrowing something out of paganism. Jeremiah chapter 10, verse 1, hear the word of the Lord, which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord, do not learn the way of the Gentiles. Don't copy this. Don't imitate these kinds of things.

Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. They're always looking into the skies and looking for stars and omens and things that tell them what's going to happen. Verse 3, he says, For the customs of the people are futile, for one cuts a tree from the forest with the work of the hands of the workmen, with the axe. They decorate it with silver and gold. They fasten it with nails and hammers, so that it will not topple. They are upright like a palm tree, and they cannot speak. They must be carried. Why? Because they're a stupid piece of wood, and no more. That's why. Because they cannot go by themselves. They don't have any legs. They're not real. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil. There's no spooky thing inside of them. They're just stupid and ridiculous. Nor can they do any good, inasmuch as there is none like you, O Lord, you are great, and your name is great in might. So again, this isn't literally speaking of a Christmas tree, but the principle here is very clear. It's futile and worthless in the eyes of God to observe the religious practices of other people, no matter how much glitter or glamour or skilled workmanship or craftsmanship make that particular practice attractive looking. God says we should not learn. We should not emulate those kinds of practices. They can't do any good. Now, let's go to the New Testament, Matthew 4 and verse 8, and take a look at one of the temptations that Jesus had with the devil. And when we read about this particular temptation, it centers around idolatry.

And in context, we must understand that Satan does not tell him to abandon worshiping the Father. He does not tell him to abandon God, but he just tells him to add something to it.

Along with honoring and worshiping God, if you do this, I'll give you something. Matthew 4 and verse 8.

I want you to notice he doesn't say that you have to stop worshiping God. You don't have to do that. All you have to do in addition to your lifestyle now is right now, fall down and worship me.

Again, I want to emphasize that Satan didn't tell him to reject the Father or abandon him. He simply suggested that Christ also worship the devil. The Son of God could not do this because God is a jealous God. He will not share us with anyone. He does not want us to blend the way that we worship him with pagan practices. And I might also add that the kingdoms of this world were Satan's to give. He is the God of this age. So Satan wasn't kidding. When he took him on a mountain and he said, all of these kingdoms are yours, he had the right and the authority to give those kingdoms to Jesus Christ. Let's go to John chapter 4 and verse 19. John chapter 4 and verse 19. I'm going to go to the New Testament now because, as I said before, this question is an ancient one. And the question, again, is how does God want to be worshipped? What does God want? And in the discussion with a Samaritan woman, the woman basically says to Jesus Christ, well, you see, this is what I want. This is what we, my people, the Samaritans do. You have your opinion and I have my opinion. And Jesus Christ says, I don't care about your opinion. Let's take a look at here. John chapter 4 and verse 19. The woman said to him, sir, verse 20, our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and that's our way of doing it. And you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. And Jesus said, dear woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the father. You worship what you do not know. He says you are worshipping God in vain because you haven't asked the crucial question, what does God want?

Not what's convenient for you, not what your culture tells you to do, but you haven't asked the key question. You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. God gave us the instruction in his word, and we know how we are supposed to worship God. He says, verse 23, but the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers worship the father in spirit and truth, for the father is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. And the woman said to him, I know the Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. So what is Jesus Christ saying here in spirit and in truth? Well, first of all, in spirit is having a right heart, a right attitude of coming before God humbly, coming before God simply, with wanting to have a relationship with God. It's all about spirit. It's not about crosses. It's not about stained glass. It's not about steeples. It's not about all these things we tend to think of in mainstream Christianity. It's about spirit. It's not about physical material things that have been created in wood or mass produced in a plastic shop. It's about worshiping God in spirit, having the right heart, the right humble attitude as a child of God to learn from him, and also in truth, not blending any worship practices, not falsifying something and saying, okay, this represents God, but worshiping God in truth. That is the way that God says he wants to be worshipped. Jesus tells the woman what he feels about proper and acceptable worship. People simply can't worship God the way they want to. It is not honored or respected by God. We must worship God the way he instructs and desires if our goal is to honor him, if we want to give God pleasure. So what we've read so far, the scriptures can be paraphrased in this way. I'm going to give you a paraphrase. God says, I am the true God. I am not honored. By the way, mere men decide to worship me. My awesome greatness cannot be polluted by a religious practice borrowed from the things that I despise. I'm going to give you the same analogy I gave you a couple of years ago to relate to how God feels about these things. I want you to imagine that your first spouse died. Your first spouse's name was Pat, and you remarried. And you say to the person you remarried, I have a birthday gift for you. The person thinks, it's not my birthday, but it's Pat's birthday. Interesting. You receive a card, and the card says, I love you with all my heart, Pat. Oh, then it's crossed out, and your name is written in. You pull out a gift that doesn't fit.

But you know what? It was Pat's size. It's the same exact size that Pat used to wear.

You think the color is hideous, but it happens to be what was Pat's favorite color. On the gift is imprinted to Pat with all my love. I adore you. The word Pat is crossed out, and your name is imprinted over it. On your wedding night, you come out with PJs that have Pat embroidered on your PJs.

Now, if you received a gift like this, would you feel honored? Would you be made to feel like you have a personal, precious relationship with your spouse? Would you feel special? Neither does God. And that's what happens when we take these pagan practices and relabel them, put the lipstick on a pig, and say, I am going to use these practices in an attempt to honor or worship the true God. Romans chapter 11 and verse 5, our final scripture today of Romans chapter 11 and verse 5. So I want to ask the question, what should our attitude and approach be towards those who observed Christmas? We all have family members who observed Christmas, loved ones. We obviously live in a society where most of our co-workers observe Christmas. So what should our attitude be towards them? What should our approach be?

Romans chapter 11 and verse 5. The scripture Paul talks about a very special and precious calling that we have. Romans chapter 11 and verse 5. He says, even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace, and if by grace, then it is no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace. Otherwise, work is no longer work. So he's talking about the importance of the fact that we are under the grace of God. Verse 7. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it. I just want to stop right there because you are the elect of God and you are under God's grace. What Paul's saying here is that God has opened the minds of some, a remnant whom he has given his favor and his grace to. And these individuals are those who desire to worship God in a truthful and in a spiritual way. If they seek special days to honor God, you know what they do? They turn to Leviticus 23 and they look for days in which God says, these are my feast. That's what they do. If they want to know what special days honor God, they look at the personal example of Jesus Christ. He's the attendant, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Passover. They look at the original disciples who all assembled on a holy day, called the Day of Pentecost and received the Spirit. They look at the followings and the statements of Paul as recorded by his companion Luke. And they see what Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth regarding one of those holy days. If they want to find out what kind of days will be observed in the millennium, they can look at Zechariah 14 and see that the Feast of Tabernacles will be observed after the return of Jesus Christ. They can go to Isaiah 66 and see where all flesh will observe the Sabbath. This is the elect. These are people who worship God in spirit and in truth. What they do is they say, I think I'm going to open this up and find out what God wants.

I think I'm going to discover what God says pleases him. And I'm going to set aside maybe what I want. Maybe I'm attracted to the glitter. I'm going to set aside my culture. I'm going to set aside religious customs. I'm going to set aside what other people expect me to do. And I'm going to open this book and I'm going to get back to that one central question. Actually, the central question of all human life. What does God want? So those are the elects. Let's pick it up now and continue it. Verse 7. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written, God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear to this very day. So the rest are blinded. They're not able to see the spiritual truths of God because they're blinded. Many of them are very sincere. Many of them look forward to Christmas because for them it's a time of family memories. It may have been one of the few times a year as a child when the whole family got together and actually did something together as a family. So for many of them it's sentimental feedings. It's Irving Berlin songs, Bing Crosby, and the whole situation that our culture has developed around this holiday. They can't help it. They simply cannot see or comprehend spiritual things.

They're incapable of worshiping God in spirit and truth because God has left the blinders on their eyes. And the good news is there will come a time when God will remove those blinders. And we must understand this is how most people observe Christmas. In our understanding, we don't need to be rude. We don't need to be obnoxious. Trust me, they'll figure out in a short period of time that you are not with it, that you are not at work. They'll figure out that you're not part of the celebration. Your family members will figure out that you're not into it like you used to be.

And again, there's no reason to be rude or obnoxious. We need to let our examples shine and be ready to explain the hope that lies within us when we're questioned or we're challenged about why we're not observing Christmas. But we should not be in people's face. We should not be lecturing them. We should not be condemning them. We should not be judging them. The one person we should be judging is ourselves, not everyone else. We have to allow God to remove the blinders because until he does, it's all going to sound like gobbledygoop to them. It's all going to sound like self-righteous Old Testament nonsense scenarios until God removes those blinders.

So again, we need to be ready to patiently and calmly explain why we have chosen not to participate in Christmas festivities or celebrations. But do it in a positive way and do it in a way in which we have a great example that helps others to see that we are different but we are refreshingly different. So brethren, we again are at this time of year when we are surrounded by music, by sights and sounds that tell us that the Christmas festival, the holiday that the world calls Christmas is upon us. But soon it'll be over. Just a few more weeks and it's amazing. There's so much money to be made, but about December 26th the trees come down, the music stops, and we're back to just hearing regular music and radio about abusing other people all the time. So the culture throws the switch off, quickly gets beyond this God stuff, and goes back to being the way of the world. So thank you for attending this Sabbath and thank you for desiring to worship God in spirit and in truth, and we'll continue to do that in God's church. Have a wonderful Sabbath.