Isaiah 6:1-8
6 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up, and his train filled
the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and
with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth
is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in
the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken
with the tongs from off the altar:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is
taken away, and thy sin purged.
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then
said I, Here am I; send me.
NOTE: IF WE ARE TO BE INVOLVED IN AND MAINTAIN TRUE WORSHIP, THERE ARE CERTAIN REVELATORY TRUES THAT MUST BE A REALITY IN OUR LIFE.
I. CONFESSION AND REPENTANCE
When Isaiah tried to worship the angels, he discovered two things. He realized he was undone, and his sins separated him, and when he tried to utter words of praise, he realized that because of his sins, his words were not really words of praise. But when angels touched his lips with the coals of fire, he experienced atonement and forgiveness of sin.
Note: So, what does this tell us? Isaiah's experience became worship when he experienced forgiveness of sin; then, he could hear God and receive his call. (Therefore, the conclusion is since the beginning of worship is the forgiveness of sin, only born-again Christians can truly worship.
So, how often should we repent if confession and repentance are the beginning of worship? For you to continue to experience true worship, you must have daily times of confession and
repentance; the lord taught this in his prayer.
Let’s take a look at the lord's prayer; it begins with the expression hallowed be thy name; this is a statement recognizing that his name is sacred and sanctified; it’s not an expression of worship. The expression of worship comes at the end from thy is the kingdom, power, and glory. However, an expression in the prayer lets you know this is a guideline for your daily prayers.
Gives us our daily bread; this term is based on the Old Testament teaching of manna (where
Israel was instructed to collect only what they needed for that day, they had to believe God for the next day). This means that Christ intended for the meaning of this prayer to be prayed
every day, not necessarily the prayer itself.
So, the words forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors are an expression of confession
and repentance of sin. Now notice the order of the statement; confession and repentance are
before worship.
This tells us that a renewal of your confession and repentance of sins needs to take place
before you can experience true worship.
Psalm 51
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the
multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be
justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing
aloud of thy righteousness.
15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not
despise.
18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and
whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
There was true worship under the old covenant, but it was based upon the blood of animals
pointing to Christ. There was always a sin consciousness that they could not get rid of. But
under the new covenant, the Lord brought freedom through true worship. But you cannot walk in true worship without the doctrine of repentance; because we are not perfect and require constant cleansing, this is one of the principles that the lord was teaching in the Lord's prayer. Did you notice the first 17 verses are about confession and repentance, and the last two were about worship or temple worship?
We have looked at confession and repentance; let's take a look at another aspect of worship the fruit of our lips.
II. THE FRUIT OF OUR LIPS
Hebrews 13:15
15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our
lips giving thanks to his name. (So Christ is the one that makes it possible for us to even worship
our Father in spirit and truth)
This verse lets us know a born-again Christian, once cleansed and sanctified, should be
constantly uttering words of appreciation to Christ for being the one true sacrifice. So, your
words should give thanks in an expression of worship which should be directed toward the
Godhead.
The expression fruit or our lips means that the words spoken or thought in worship are a fruit,
and the source of life in fruit does not come from the fruit itself but from some other source. So this means worship as a fruit is an expression to our F/S/H of the quality of life in your inner spirit. So born-again Christians who are forgiven of sins and sanctified can give forth
expressions of true worship.
Psalm 24:3-4
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully.
This phrase refers to temple worship in the Old Testament; even though the atonement was
through animal sacrifices, only those with hearts purified from sin could enter into true
worship. (According to Ezekiel, our hearts have been washed with pure water, or we have been given a new heart, but our soul keeps defiling it, and the result of that defiling over the years leaves stains of sin, chronic sickness, and bondages that Joel calls locust and cankerworms. This is what the seraphim burn out when they come. No, they don’t cleanse from sin repentance does that; they cleanse what the results of sin have left)
Note: When we have unconfessed sins in our inner life, and that is anywhere we choose to go against God's known will. The spirit energy we release in worship is not true worship, we must make sure that the fruit of the spirit in our life has not been defiled by unconfessed sins in our life or that worship goes to Lucifer. Another very important thing along with confession is sanctification. It must be a part of our life if we are to have true worship.
III. SETTING OUR LIFE APART IS TRUE WORSHIP
John 17:17
17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (This is what the seraphim do; they sanctify us holy, that is not removing sin but the results of it, which is removing darkness)
What does it mean to sanctify? Remember, Jesus is the truth, so firstly, it begins when one
receives God’s forgiveness of sin; this continues as you remove every action and attitude from your life that is not like Christ. (Now the lord knows this is a process) and secondly, you change your life priorities; it should no longer be what you want but what he wants. We set ourselves apart for his purpose.
Romans 15:16
16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God,
that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
Paul tells us here that the Holy Spirit sets apart or sanctifies what we set apart. So, when Paul set his life apart unto God, this was one of his life's bases of true worship. Remember, Isaiah went through all the proper forms of worship, but he realized that his fruit of worship, his words, and his patterns of worship were unclean. I am saying that having our hearts purified is much more important than any form or activity of worship; we must daily remove the impurities of sin from our hearts to produce the fruit of true worship. (But just like dirty clothes put back on a clean body stain you and cause you to smell, so does the results of sin in your life, which is what the seraphim burns away.
IV. WORSHIP AND SIN EQUAL WITCHCRAFT
2 Timothy 2:13-19
13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive
not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and
overthrow the faith of some.
19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them
that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Now let me ask you a question about these two, do you think they knew they were in error?
They may or may not have but remember that the resurrection of the dead is a doctrinal
principle, and because they didn’t get it right, it overthrew the faith of many. But what is even
more dangerous is when you do not correct yourself quickly, then deception creeps in. If you
attempt to keep worshiping, witchcraft will become a major part of your life. (by that, I don’t
mean you will become a witch; I mean the occult powers in that world will impact your flesh
and manifest its works through your controlled flesh)(for example, you may have a spirit of lust, but it is a spirit of witchcraft that gets you to yield to lust)
1 Timothy 1:20
20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may
learn not to blaspheme.
Did you notice Paul mentions someone else with Hymenaeus this time but what's important about the whole thing is they would never know their deception if Paul had not turned them over to the enemy. This was God's mercy at work; the lord wants them back into true worship.
So, we can see that when a person has a sinful heart or a heart not totally committed to the
Christian life, that person's fruit of worship is not true worship. True worship is seeing Christ with your spirit eyes when you tell him how much you love him.
When you see with your spirit eyes, you know the holy spirit has placed a thought in your mind, and it reveals knowledge and sin can keep us from seeing with those eyes.
Matthew 6:6
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray
to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee
openly.
Part of those many rewards is seeing him as he is. When you talk about seeing God the first
thing that should come to mind is prayer or worship, because prayer is a form of worship; this
verse doesn’t just speak of being away from people but also the privacy of your inner heart
when it comes to worship.
So, let me ask you a question when you think of true worship does the church play an
important role in it today? The angels learned to worship long ago, but every revelation of our
father brings new levels of worship, which is the ability of a spirit to express itself to God. So
that means the angels are also constantly entering into new levels of worship, especially those assigned to humans who are receiving a revelation of their Father and walking in the light of it. The Old Testament and New Testament worship is an attempt to teach us about heaven worship. (Angels learn more about our Father by watching how he deals with us)
Just as the golden lamps represented the seven churches on the earth, we should be a part of some church and fellowshipping with other believers.
John 4:24
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (well jesus
is truth and there is no true worship without being in Christ.)
IV. THE TIME FACTOR OF WORSHIP
Another aspect of true worship is the time factor; when we worship, part of our worship has to do with time, and part does not. The true worship we do in our spirit does not have a time
factor, but the fruit of worshiping our lips, lifting our hands, kneeling, and dancing, has the time factor involved. (so you are actually worshiping in both realms)
You may say why is that important? Well, it speaks to the almightiness of God; he is the ruler in both the natural and spiritual realms. Satan only has some control on earth because God
permits it. God alone has resurrection power; this makes him great. To understand true
worship, this must be a part of knowing that God is almighty and the one and only creator and the blood of Jesus because in his blood was spirit life and no sin.
How did the lord make true worship possible? Let's look at the process play out.
V. TRUE WORSHIP MADE POSSIBLE
Hebrews 9:22-28
22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no
remission.
23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with blood of others;
26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the
end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he
appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Hebrews tells us that there is a heavenly temple in heaven that was designed to receive the
worship of man before the foundation of the world. Because of that, when the man failed, the
place where that worship would be received was contaminated. This is what Jesus' blood purified so that what your human spirit creates in worship, your angels in heaven can receive it and purify it on the fiery altar. (Just as sin contaminated the heavenly temple, it contaminated us, and just as Christ purified the heavenly temple, he purifies us through his blood. His blood is still up there doing its work because we are not yet perfected down here)
True worship also recognizes that Jesus is the healer of body, soul, and spirit; because of this, the penalty of our sin has been removed, and we are in the process of being healed. So, all of these things are part of the new covenant, a covenant that was between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and if our worship is to be true and real, we have to be part of the New Testament covenant of grace.
Let's look at some more revelatory truths that must be a part of your spirit if you are to
maintain true worship. The doctrine of the Trinity.
Matthew 3:13-17
13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil
all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the
heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and
lighting upon him:
17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Here is the triune God plainly seen in scripture at the Lord's baptism, and all three were and are totally God. This again shows the true greatness of God. Even though he's one person, he is three, and at the same time, he is one. (The more we are sanctified, the greater and more meaningful our worship can be to our father, which is expressing true love to him. The more powerful our worship, the greater our threat to darkness and the greater our battles will be with them.
