 Then let's turn to Psalm 27 and follow along as I read verses 4, 5 and 6. This is a psalm of David. One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple, for in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion in the secret place of his tabernacle he shall hide me, he shall set me high upon a rock and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tabernacle. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. There was a mathematician in the 14th century named Machiavelle and he said this, we cannot have a greater sign of the ruin of a people than to see the worship of God despised. 700 years ago, it appears more and more that true biblical worship is despised, or at least ignored and rejected in favor of things that are man-centered and popular. In this last session, I want us to examine what a passion God's true people have for his worship. So the first point is that the passion to worship is an all-consuming passion. Look at verse 4 again. One thing I have asked of the Lord, that I shall seek. When we were kids, we used to think about Aladdin's lamp. Not the one with Robin Williams, but the old old story. When Aladdin rubbed the lamp, a genie came out and gave him a wish. So part of the game we would play was to say, what would we wish for if we were given the same opportunity as Aladdin? Think back, if you've ever played that little game with yourself, what would you wish for? I decided if I ever got one wish, I'd ask for 20 wishes. So I wouldn't blow it on the first one. But if God were somehow to appear to you and tell you he was going to give you one request, and he most certainly would grant that request, what would you ask him for? Health for a loved one, salvation of someone in your life, more money, better job, better pay, different spouse. Look what David asked for. One thing I've asked God for. And that's what I'm going to seek. What was the one thing that drove David? What was the one thing that motivated David? That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple. Let me paraphrase that for us. Lord, there's really only one thing I want out of life. If you don't mind, I'm going to set up a cot here in the back of the church. And I'm going to spend the rest of whatever time I have left in this life, beholding your beauty. And I'm just going to stay here in church until I die thinking about how great you are. Is that what you would wish for? The word translated beauty also means delightfulness. Who among us thinks of God as being delightful? David wanted to behold the delightfulness of his God. Back in Psalm 4, the Psalmist says, I'm more giddy about worship than a man who's drunk on wine. That's how David felt about worshiping God. It would be hard to imagine that there are many people here who haven't at one time or another in their life been drunk or at least had a buzz on. Before I was saved, I had my share of alcohol. Well, that's not really true. I had my share and a whole bunch of other people share too. And one of the effects it had on me was to turn me into someone who could dance. I'm not that coordinated. I was a lineman. We don't have to be coordinated. But I was John Travolta in Greece and Saturday night fever if you put enough liquor in me. And when I had too much to drink, I was Michael Jackson and MC Hammer combined. Try to imagine that kind of euphoria connected to going to the house of God for public worship because that's what the Psalmist is saying in Psalm 4. What a drunk man experiences with his wine, I experience when I think about worship. Imagine that. Or Psalm 122 verse 1. I was glad when they said unto me, Let's go to God's house. The word translated glad there literally means my whole being celebrated and jumped for joy when they said, Let's go to the house of the Lord. Psalm 26 verse 8. Lord, I love the habitation of thy house, the place where thy glory dwells. You see what David called the house of God, the place where his glory dwells. I love that phrase from the church. But doesn't God's glory dwell everywhere? Yes, but in a special way in his own house. According to Psalm 42, it's a panting, thirsting, deeply emotional longing as the deer pants for the waterbrooks. So my soul thirsts for God. In this day of water bottles where everybody has five, ten at their house, ready to go at any given moment, we don't know what it's like to be thirsty. You can't even go to church anymore. People got to have water. Get a drink outside. There ain't only bottles of water into the worship service. You can't go an hour. I got so thirsty. Oh please. After I finished seminary, after I finished getting my master's degree in seminary, I spent two summers digging swimming pools in Southern California. And a lot of those were out in the Riverside Barstow area, which is the desert. So it would be 100 degrees, 105 degrees. Yeah, well, it was dry heat. Oh, shut up. 105 is hot. I don't care what it is. And we get thirsty. Now, the guy we worked for would feed us lunch and bring us cold drinks, but not till about 10.30. Well, we started to work at six. We wanted to get in and done before the heat really got bad. And if we got thirsty, there was no etiquette. You see some people pick up a teacup and they drink it with their pinky. Not on this crew. We went over to the hose, turned on the water. We didn't care how wet we got, how soaked we got. When you're thirsty, you don't care about stuff like that. And that's what David said. That's how thirsty I am to be in God's house. He says, when do I get to see the face of God? And to use David's imagery, the time out of church was like a drought. Those are the people of God had that kind of passion today that they saw the six days between Sundays like a deer sees drought. According to Psalm 63, it's a soul thirsting passion. But he says that his flesh yearns for God every bit as much as does his soul. And he says, this is where I beheld him in the sanctuary. And this is a physical longing as much as a spiritual one. One of the premier Old Testament commentaries were by two German theologians named Kyle and Delich. And they said, quote, this is an ardent longing that consumes the very last energies of a man. So David Clarkson said, come with hearts hungering after the enjoyment of Christ in his ordinances. This affection has the promise of Matthew 5. He filleth the hungry with good things. The rich he sends away empty. Our souls should stretch forth themselves wide open in earnest longings after God. This is the way to be filled with rich blessings from spiritual ordinances. I believe there are four elements to a passion for worship. First of all is a love for the day of worship. Isaiah 58-13, if because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honorable and shall honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own words, then you will take delight in the Lord and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. Did you notice the inescapable relationship between seeing the Sabbath as a delight and taking delight in the Lord? You won't do one without the other. And notice the things that biblical Sabbath observance calls for. One, turning your foot from doing your own pleasure. Two, desisting from your own ways and seeking your own pleasure. Three, speaking your own words. And according to the text, only then will you take delight in the Lord and only then will God make you ride on the heights of the earth. Or is your attitude that of the people in Amos 8-5 who ask, when will the Sabbath be over? George Swinnick said, as the ordinances are heaven in a glass, so the Lord's day is a map of heaven. This is to be greatly valued because therein we enjoy all the means of communion with God in the highest degree and measure without measure and without interruption. The Hebrews call the weekdays profane days, but this is a pious holy day. The Greeks call them working days, but this is a day of sweet rest. Other days are common and ordinary handmaids, but this is fitly termed by the Jews, the queen of days. On this day, Christ carries the soul into his wine cellar and his banner over at his love. On other days, he feeds his members. On this day, he gives them a feast. On this day, he brings us living water, his finest wine. On this day, he met two disciples and made their hearts warm and even burn but a fire of his words. On this day, the Holy Ghost descended on the apostles. On this day, John had his glorious revelation. On this day, Christ burst the sunder the bands of death and broken pieces the gates of hell. On this day, he led captivity captive, trampled upon principalities and powers and triumphed over the grave, sin, the curse of the law and Satan. O blessed day, how many thousands of souls have known thee as the day of their new birth. Blessed art thou among days, blessed be the Father who made thee, the Son who bought thee, the Spirit who sanctifies thee and blessed are all who prize and apply thee. You do not have a drop of true holiness if you do not bless God at the coming in and going out of this holy and blessed day. So first, there's a love for the day of worship. Secondly, there's a love for the place of worship. You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. Or listen to Psalm 84 and hear how David felt about the place where he worshiped God. How lovely are thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts. My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. The bird also has found a home in the swallow and nest for herself where she may lay her young. Even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God, blessed are those who dwell in thy house. So the house of the Lord was no insignificant place to David and that's because he felt safe there. He compared it to a bird who finally found a place to make a nest for herself. I wish that we saw the place where we worship in such terms. In 2 Chronicles 29, it tells us that Hezekiah did right in the sight of the Lord because he did these things. First of all, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Then he consecrated the priests. Then he consecrated the building and he demanded the removal of all wickedness all because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord and forsaken him. And they did that by turning their faces away from his dwelling place. It's no wonder that in Hebrews we're commanded, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as in the habit of some. Don't do it. Man, because we're the kind of people we are, we always want to say, well, how often do I have to go? Not how often do I get to go. How often do I have to go? It doesn't say. It doesn't say once a month, once a week, twice a month, 54 times a year, it doesn't say. But it does say this. It's to be habitual. Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as is the habit of some. It's their habit not to be there. Your habit is to be there. Your attendance is to be habitual. Nobody should ever say, hey, I haven't seen you in a while. That means you're habitually not there. Or it means they're old and cranky like me and we can't remember anything, including our names. But more often than not, it means that your attendance is not habitual. We grew up in a small town in Central California. My dad was a member of the California Highway Patrol. And after he graduated from Police Academy, first in his class, I'm my dad, he wanted to move to this little town. It was a Portuguese dairy farming community. But there was no church that we felt comfortable attending. There was the Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Lutheran Church and the Southern Baptist Church. We tried the Southern Baptist Church for a while. They had the quarterly revival meetings with a guest speaker and a gospel quartet. And there was the obligatory invitation given each week. The minister's name was Reverend Easterday. So we didn't take to that much. Although I did ask my folks a couple months ago, why did we stop going to that church? Because after church all the men went out and smoked. That was it. We were fundamentalist, legalists, I'll just say it up front. So then for a while, we used to drive over the hill, leave at 7 a.m. after the cows were milked and the milk was on the street. And we'd get in our 40 conaligned van with two bucket seats up front, a bent seat and another bent seat. And some of you who don't remember this, some of the Yoloans will, the mention was between the two front seats. It wasn't in the front. It was inside the car. The car got hot. But we had to be there so we could be on time for Sunday school at 9 a.m. We weren't allowed to be late even though we were driving an hour and a half each way to get there. We'd have lunch after church with my dad's parents one Sunday and then my mom's parents the next Sunday. And then we'd have to drive home because we had to be home at 5 to milk the cows again. Well, as you can imagine, that got pretty taxing on everyone after a short period of time. So the only thing to do was to start our own church, which we did. And the congregation consisted of several other highway patrol men and their families. The sanctuary was our living room. The pulpit was our ironing board. The pews were our couch and sofa with some folding chairs. But by golly, we were dressed in coats and ties even though we were meeting at our own house. Why? Because it wasn't our house for that hour. It was church. What made it special was the use, not the building itself. I mean, even if you were meeting in a lodge building for that hour, that's the house of God. And it deserves all the respect you can give it. After a few years, we moved into a house in town. We live six miles out of town on a farm. We have to drive six miles to church. But the people bought a house and renovated it inside into an actual church building. My grandfather built us a pulpit. I still have that pulpit. In fact, it's at your dad's house. It's now the West Side Community Church of Las Banas, California, where my brother's church meets now in Eureka, California is a Knights of Pythagoras Lodge building. And just down the street, about 100 yards away, there's another building that looks like a church. And that's because it was at one time. 100 years ago, it was the Methodist Church of Eureka. And in 1925, my grandpa and grandma Christopher got married in that building. We have a lot of history there which has nothing to do with anything. But I find those stories interesting. And I'm under contract to be here till 3 o'clock, so I got to fill in with stuff. What is the significance of the term God's house? Let me read to you a list of things the Scripture gives us. It is the Gate of Heaven. It is the place where God's glory dwells. It is a place of blessing and goodness. Don't write these down. You won't be able to keep up. I'll give this to Mark and he can copy it for you if you want. It is a place of refuge. It is a place to cry out to God. It is a place where God speaks to us. It is a place to behold His power and His glory. It's a place to receive understanding. It's a place where God's name is remembered. It's a place to meditate on God's loving kindness. It's a place of security and rest, a place of eternal praise. It's a place to find goodness and mercy. It's a place dear to the heart of God and a place dear to the heart of God's people. And those are just a few. And shouldn't we say then of such a place? I was glad when they said unto me, let's go to that place. William Beverage said, what blessings does he bestow on those who meet together in his name? All sorts of blessings. They were purchased by him with the price of his blood. He blesses them with spiritual blessings in heavenly places. He gives them a true sight of sin with a hearty sorrow and repentance for it. He fills their souls with a sense of God's mercy. He opens their eyes and turns them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. He enlightens their minds. He directs them how to work out their salvation. He grants them whatever they ask in his name. He strengthens and refreshes their souls. He pours down a measure of his grace and spirit and makes them fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Other than that, not much happens here. Third, a love for reverent worship. We showed you in Matthew 21, Jesus guarded the sanctity of God's house. Psalm 5 verse 7, I'll bow in reverence for thee. Psalm 211, worship God with reverence. And remember that the worship service is our opportunity each week to tell God how much we think he's worth to us. And our reverence certainly makes a statement to that effect of God. Fourthly, a love for God's glory. Psalm 29, everything in his temple says glory. John Downame, one of the early Puritans, said, what you do in public worship, do it with all your might. Take off that slothful, indifferent lukewarm temper that is so odious to God. Let your whole man offer this worship. David says, not only my flesh longs for thee, but my soul thirsts for thee. Then will the Lord draw near when our whole man waits on him. Then will the Lord be found when we seek him with all of our heart. George Swinnick, those that worship God rightly given their hottest love, their highest joy, their deepest sorrow, their strongest faith, and their greatest fear, as when Abraham gave Isaac, he gave all. So the character of God, the command of God, the worthiness of God all confirmed the words of the hymn writer. We're the whole realm of nature of mine. That were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine. What's the next word? Demands. My life, my soul, my all. May God give us a passion to worship them right. And from now on, let's stop saying we're going to church. Rather, let's say we are going to worship. Let's close in prayer. Father, I trust that our minds have been opened and enlightened to what true biblical worship is. Write these things on our heart. May we be fervent and passionate about worship, biblical worship as you have dictated. May you be pleased with us. And may we show you how much we think you are worth. We ask all of these things in the name of Christ. Amen.