 Okay, so we're in the class now in the book in the time of December in a class of corporate worship and we're looking at different aspects of corporate worship. Last week Pastor Rick covered an overall view of worship so some different elements that are included in corporate worship. What were some of those elements that were included in the class? Let's see if Ron could you mention one of the elements from last week. I'm not going to be like Pastor Rick. He kind of waits for people. I'm going to start to pick people out because I know your names and I'm not afraid to call you out. That's okay. Jack, can you help him out? Okay, so the focus is on God and Christ. What are some of the elements that Pastor Rick went over? Like what was the category? Surgeon? Okay, so giving thankfulness. What was the other one? Gratefulness. Okay, there's a number of other categories. Jack, tithes and offering is a part and element of corporate worship. So how do we worship the Lord when we get together? We're going to be thankful. We're giving tithes. What else? Humility. Yes, we should express humility together as a people. Jen, prayer is certainly something we do for corporate worship. Yes, you got that one right. I'm trying to remember if he covered that one, but it's okay. Either way, it's right. Jesse, yes, learning the word of God, the law of God and obeying it. Very good. Very good. Okay, so now there should be some copies coming of the this week's lesson. So be on the lookout for those. Edgar's going to come in for those in a few minutes. By way of introduction, let's think about how the corporate worship reflects our understanding of the gospel. Okay, so the way we worship corporately, historically, it represents how a church understands the gospel. Okay, so for example, give me some elements when you present the gospel to someone. What are some of the key themes to go over and the order in which you go over them? Okay, judgment of God. We have one, and so before we get to the judgment of God, why does judgment of God come? Sin, okay, sin, law. So we're going to have, we have the law of God which shows us our sin, and in turn the law also reflects God's character. So for example, sometimes when we come to somebody, begin to speak to them about the gospel, we're going to tell them about the law of God and how it shows them their sin, or another way we may do that, instead of going through the Ten Commandments, we may talk about the character of God. How can you talk about the character of God and to show sin? Keith? So God's faithful and then in comparison, we're not. Jack? Yes, the holiness of God, how God's separate and other. He's not anything compared to, can be compared to us, and he's completely pure from sin. Christian? Yes, the truth of God in comparison to we have many lies. You see how the law of God reflects God's character? It's an outworking of his character because God is true, because God is holy, because God is faithful. Therefore, do not lie, do not commit adultery, do not steal. You see? Okay, so we have God's character, the law, what's another element in the gospel presentation? Yes, the justice of God, so there's going to be conviction. Conviction is something that's felt and conviction is something that's legal. You can say, oh, I feel convicted. And that is because it's a truth, right? It's a truth because you are guilty, is why you feel convicted. It's not just a feeling, it is also a legal reality before God. Okay, so the conviction, the guilt, the sin. Okay, what's something, the next point that we go to in a gospel presentation? Sergio? Okay, that is going to go in with the conviction, the judgment of God. That's quite the J. Okay, yes, it goes in with judgment. You guys are good on breath and punishment. I'm looking for some good news here. It's not like a, it's not a trick question. In the gospel presentation, what comes after the solution? Yes, and so we'll look to Christ and what are we going to say about Christ? What's that? How he's the Savior? Yes, so we're going to look at his work and we're also going to look at his person. Both of those are key and for somebody to be saved, you must know who he is, you must know what he's done on the cross. Okay, and so then what we do is, what do you tell them about the work of Christ? What's the next point? Okay, the response and what we say repentance and faith. Yes, repentance, faith, it will cost you. Okay, so now look at our worship service. Okay, and think about how our worship service goes. We have a call to worship and what does the call to worship do? It's supposed to draw you to the character of God. It's supposed to say, because of what God has done, because of who he is, therefore get your attention on him. Draw your eyes off yourself, get your attention off yourself and begin to think about who God is and what he's done for us. Okay, so the call to worship and then we're going to worship the Lord in song. What's the next element that we do? We have something before offering. What's that? Corporate repentance. Yes, and the skinny pastor, he leads that corporate repentance fire. So we have a time of repentance and that's going to reflect our conviction. Do you see what happens after the time of repentance? Okay, so we think about some of the promises, the promises of pardon. You see how it's beginning to line up with the way that the worship service flows. It actually is to reflect the gospel to you and in the sermon we're thinking about our response. As we worship in song, we're communicating all these things. The sermon communicates all these things and the flow communicates all these things. Do you see that? It should connect some dots to you. Why do we do what we do? Think about it. Who had a Catholic background? Okay, so some of you former Catholics, tell me like some order of the service. Like, do you remember how it went back in the day? What's that? Any former Catholic? Oh brother, could you help me pass these out if anybody needs them? I'm not sure if everybody got one. And maybe we'll make more copies. Okay, raise your hand if you would need an outline. Actually, I need an outline. I have my chicken scratch here. It would be nice to have what you guys have. Okay, so if you think about some of the order that in a Catholic service there is some elements that reflect the gospel, their good news of works. For example, and some of the false doctrine that they have. For instance, the mass is a major part of the service. Okay, where you come and you get the Eucharist, you get the bread. Instead of talking about promises, there's a kind of a t'absolvo. Okay, if you confess, then you can get absolved of your sin by the priest. You notice, we would never say in our service, okay, you confess, so I grant forgiveness to you. What would be wrong with that? For somebody to stand up here and say that? Yeah, I'm not God. There is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, right? So we don't grant pardon to you, but what we do is we hold up the promises of God. You see how in Catholicism there's a lot of elements of some sort of truth, that they have some sort of understanding of sin, some sort of understanding of the Trinity, some sort of understanding of Christ, some sort of understanding of the need for Christ to pay for sins, but a lot of those things are perverted. In the same way, the worship service has a flow to it that reflects something of their understanding of the gospel and how you have to have the sacraments to come to the Lord. Okay, we're gonna say, Keith? Yes, yes, and we'll get into that. And that's true about every element of corporate worship. Just like the confession may not be, it becomes genuine when it's genuine inside of you. For example, you can sing the songs, right? You can sing the songs and you can sing the songs and sway and dance and not think about the Lord. I remember being in church in Guatemala and it was a big church. It fits thousands and thousands of people. It's like a stadium. And I remember I was in like an upper balcony, you know, where you need binoculars to kind of look out. But one thing I saw clear was this one guy with a white suit. He was like on the front row and dancing all around and moving on. I'm like, wow, what a show. You know, and he knows he positions himself at such a spot in where the entire stadium can see him. You know, he's not up speaking, but he's putting on display. Now he's singing, but it's, is it from a right heart? He's showing off before men. Now it can be the same with any time of corporate worship that you have to, you have to make it real before the Lord. You have to do it out of the gospel heart. You got to do it out of thankfulness for the gospel. Beloved, let me, before we get into some of the details of this, please understand that this is the heart of worship. You can, somebody can preach a great sermon. You can listen and take notes in a wonderful way. You can articulate the sermon in all the points of the sermon, and it can be dead worship. You can sing and sing so beautifully that people all around you are, you know, come to the point of tears. How beautiful. But if it's not genuine worship because of the gospel, genuine love for the Lord, because of how he died for us, it can be a dead ritual. It's so easy to get into the routine of a dead ritual. Even now, as you listen to Sunday school class, right? Isn't it easy for your mind to wander? Isn't it easy to get into our ritual that you're comfortable? You've been here for five years. You come to the same spot. You sit in the same seat, and it's a comfortable seat, and you know how every point goes just like a clock. It's very easy to sit back and forget, right? You've got to be engaged in the worship. Okay, let's get to some of the texts that show a, some of the corporate repentance and forgiveness, okay? So let's think about the overall understanding of the character of a Christian and how this reflects how a Christian acts. Let's look at Matthew 5. We'll look at some of the marks of a Christian here. What I want you to tell me is where is there the marks of repentance in here? Chapter 5 verse 3, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God. So tell me, where are there elements of repentance in there? Go ahead my love. Okay, so poor in spirit, how is that connected with repentance? Okay, so a right understanding of sin, what else? Humility, how is the humility expressed? In repentance, that's right. Perhaps in the mourning, blessed are those who mourn. You don't find a proud person mourning over their sin. So do you see how if this is the nature of a Christian, that they are poor in spirit, mourning over sin, what else is the nature of a Christian in verse 4, besides the mourning? Comforted. Okay, well that sounds a lot like confession, repentance, pardon. Do you see that? It's in the very character of a Christian, so it should be in your very practice. How can it be practiced throughout the week for you individually? How do you, how can you do that? How do you practice verse 4 throughout the week? Do you, you know, some people that are unconverted, they think, well you just must mourn all the time and be like a, how do you do it, Anita? Yes, we don't just stay mourning, we stay, we're comforted by the word of God. So we, we have a time where you should have a time throughout the week, perhaps in a time of prayer where you consider your day, you consider what you've done before the Lord, you confess your sin, and then you're comforted by turning back to the Lord with his promises. Somebody quote 1st John 1, 1, 8, 9, or turn there and read it to us. Yes, you see how that's the, the heart and the practice of a Christian? Verse 8 talks about it, if you, you know, if you say you have no sin, your liar and the truth isn't in you. But if you confess your sins, right, he's faithful and just, forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all in righteousness. That's a, that's something that a Christian practices. A Christian practices what we do at corporately. So then when we come together corporately, you see how it's just an expression of the gospel lived out, an expression of, of mourning over sin and then being comforted by the promises of God. What happens if you just mourn? Sergio? Yes, depression? Yeah, you won't serve the Lord because you just be focused on yourself. Keith? Yes, the promises won't be held to and believed and that in God commands you to believe upon them. Okay, what happens if you just are comforted and only comforted? You won't repent? Is that what you said Linda? Yeah, just a licentiousness. So you're gonna, it's gonna lead you to a wicked life. If you only think about, well, comfort, comfort God's, God's, only God's promises and you don't think about why you need them. Do you see how both of these go together? Hand in hand, they both must come together and that's why you see, you see, I'm trying to get you to see the big picture of why this is a part of corporate worship. Our time of repentance and confession and for, and thinking about the promises of God is a part of corporate worship because it's a characteristic of a Christian. It is something a Christian does, it's a reflection of the gospel. So let's begin to look at some of the examples of that in the scripture. Okay, let's look at 1 Kings 8. So in 1 Kings 8 we have the time of the temple and being dedicated in verses 10 to 13, read and see about how God's presence comes to the temple. And it came to pass when the priest came out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the Lord. What's the, what's the cloud? Yes, the glory. Verse 11, so that the priest could not continue ministering because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Then Solomon spoke, the Lord said he would dwell in the dark cloud. I have surely built you an exalted house and a place for you to dwell in forever. So this is a very important time. This is the presence of God has come. So when the presence of God comes, how do people usually react in the scripture? People fall on their face. What else? They cover their ears. Yes, they respond in worship. It's a fearful thing because the Lord is holy. It's a joyful thing. It is a solemn thing. Okay, see verses 14 to 26. They're going to talk about God's promises. Solomon begins to speak verse 14. Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel. While all the assembly of Israel was standing and he said, blessed be the Lord God of Israel who spoke with his mouth to my father David. And with his hand has fulfilled it. You see when it has fulfilled it? Fulfilled what? Verse 16, since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house that my name might be there. But I chose David to be over my people Israel. Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless, you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come for your body, he shall build a temple in your name. So the Lord has fulfilled his word. You see that again about his promises, which he's spoken and he's fulfilled, he's fulfilled the position of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised. You see that in verse 20? And I have built a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. And there I have made a place for the Ark in which is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers, which he brought them out of the land of Egypt. Now continue to look all the way to verse 26. You see verse 24, how does it start? You've kept what you promised, okay? And what about verse 25? Now it's a prayer to keep the promises to come. Therefore, Lord God of Israel, now keep what you promised, your servant David, my father. So what's the future of promise? Christ fulfilled in the Davidic covenant that there would be someone who would reign on the throne of Israel forever and ever, okay? So then what we're looking at it is in verses 27 to a big section in verse 50 is the time of corporate worship. What we're looking for is instances of repentance and pardon. Okay? So he begins, the Solomon begins his prayer and he has seven different parts to it and he's going to refer to different sins and then talk about the promise of pardon, okay? So let's see in verses 31 to 32, Brian, can you pick out the sin that's in verses 31 to 32? That should be repented of. That's all right? Okay? So Lee helps us out and says that when anyone sins against his neighbor, so then what is he to do? In verse 32, then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants condemning the wicked, bringing on his head and justifying the righteousness by giving him a core into his righteousness. Okay? So when he hears in heaven let's see with verses 33 to 34, what's the sin in verses 33 or verse 33? Or what happens as a result of the sin? Okay? Israel's defeated because of their sin and then in verse 34, the promise of pardon. Then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land. Okay? Verse 35, what's the sin? Or what happens as a result of their sin? Okay? No rain? Okay? Then how are they to respond? They're to confess it and Solomon's prayer is that God would hear in heaven and forgive the sin. That's right. Confess and turn from it. What happens as a result of sin? Or what happens is the sin in verse 37? Okay? Famine? What else? Okay? Pestilence? Okay? And sickness? Yep. And besieged by the enemy? Okay. Then how are they to respond corporately? Yeah. Then hear from heaven in verse 39, forgive and act. Okay? Do you see the pattern that's happening here? You see how that he's talking to a corporate people to say when this happens, what are you supposed to do corporately? Yes, we're supposed to repent. Okay? So let's think about, we do this through an exhortation where we talk about how to repent from a particular sin and then we talk about a promise. Let's think about how do the songs do that? Let's think of some of our songs and how they talk about sin and then a need for Christ. Can you think of any lines in any of the songs that we sing where they talk about sin? Worship team, who knows the song, you know, especially the people who sing the songs, but you know, this is a corporate worship class. So let me say, put that off the worship team and say, you're supposed to be singing the words too. They don't have the words like right in front of them sometimes, right? Very good. Very good. Rebecca? Yes, the sin that promised joy in life had led me to the grave. You remember another? Yes, I believe the lie. And then do you remember how it goes on? Yes. So it's in the fabric of the songs that we sing. There's one by Robert Robinson, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Remember the Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. I won't try to sing it. That'll be bad. I'll hum it. The words go is prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, take and seal it. Seal it in their courts above. Is that how it goes? Okay, Robert Robinson was a guy in England who was in the street gangs and in the 1700s. And he happened to go to a time where George Whitfield is preaching the gospel. And then he hears the gospel and becomes converted and saved by the Lord. And he ends up writing this song. I believe he becomes a pastor too. If I remember the story, right? About this Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. I think I was thinking as well as like Rebecca with All I Have Is Christ is one that came to mind with me with the sin that promised joy and life. Let me do the grave. But that turns you to remember your sin, the life you used to have, and to turn from it, and to trust in the promises of Christ. You see how it's done in song, it's done in sermon, it's done in a time where we just focus on it. And it's done here corporately in the book of First Kings as an example to us. What are some songs that really highlight your mind about the promise of pardon that help you think about the forgiveness of sins? Amen. Amen. Yes, that was the first one that I was thinking of too, Before the Throne of God to Buff. Go ahead, Barbara, you can still say it. Okay, so I got a question for you. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blow, Jesus. That's it. That's an old Tim Miller thing, right? He'd open up that song. I got a question for you. And then, and then start the song. What can wash away my sin? Okay. Is there another song that brings to your mind the pardon of forgiveness? Yes, amazing grace. I had that on my list too. Amazing grace. I also think of, there's another oldie, I grew up on the oldie, sorry, where it's, I've forgotten the name, it's where I looked at my wife to help me out, see if she can read my eyes and tell me what I'm thinking. She does this sometimes. No, no, not Jesus, Jesus painted it all. That's a good one. It has to do with the where at Don's funeral, the one that you was on, a flute solo. Yes, be still my soul. One of the ending lines is about, he's paid for my sin not in part, but the whole. He nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord all my soul. Yes, it is well with my soul. See together as a corporate, corporately we worship together. Isn't this good? Okay, so let's begin to, we'll look at another example very quickly before we close. Let's look at Psalm 32. So we look at a historical example where there's corporate worship. Now we're going to look at a song in the Bible of worship and we're looking for repentance in this Psalm, in this song, and we're looking for pardon. I'm going to read verses one to six and then you tell me where do you see in the verse confession of sin, repentance, where you see pardon. Psalm 32, one, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old, though my groaning all the day long, for a day and night your hand was heavy upon me, my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. For this cause, everyone who is godly shall pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely in a flood of great waters, they shall not come near him. So tell me, where do you see some of these elements? Confession, pardon, repentance? Pick one out. Go ahead Sergio. So we see in verse one the promise, the blessing of forgiveness, angel, what's one that you see in the psalm? Which verse is that? That you're my hiding place, you shall preserve me from trouble, you shall surround me with the songs of deliverance. So we can sing about the forgiveness and the deliverance that the Lord gives us. Okay, Lee? Confession is verse five. How so? Yes. Brian? Yes, where there's pardon, confession of sin, where there's repentance? Yes, sin is covered. Okay, now for the final five minutes, think with me, how do we practically apply this? How do we help ourselves to focus on the corporate worship and repentance? When we do it corporately, how can you practically prepare yourself? What are some things to do? Attendant group? Yes, there are lots of practical things like that throughout the week. But particularly thinking about this time of, yes, if you're practicing this, if you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, so if you're practicing in your time of prayer, time of reading the word, you're thinking about conviction, you're thinking about forgiveness, you're thinking about worshiping him because of those elements, then when you come here, then it'll be naturally flow out because it's not something once a week, it's something that you practice, it's just part of who you are. You see that, Barbie? So coming early in prayer, participating in some of the corporate prayer, that will prepare your mind, thinking about the things of God. You know, a mind is kind of like a motor, you just can't jump from first gear to fifth gear and just, you have to be like headed in a direction. For example, you don't have a wonderful time of worship with the Lord with you know, a five minute reading of a scripture, right? Have you ever tried that? Where you read a scripture and you're like, trying to think great thoughts about the Lord in five minutes? You're like, come on! And then you get the pressure, you're like, I only have this five minutes to think great thoughts about the Lord. It just can't happen, right? You need time. It's kind of like, I want to think wonderful thoughts about my wife and how much I love her, and then only five minutes. Okay, time's up. It doesn't work, right? You need to spend time with the Lord. So that's, that's expressed in the, in preparing yourself for it. Yes, yes, you most focus on the Lord privately and that will prepare you for corporate worship. So a few more, oh, Leah? Yes. So thinking of the good of the corporate body, that's what's happening is for the good of everyone towards the Lord. So we can be praying about that. In particularly in the time of corporate repentance and forgiveness, focus on something from the text that will convict you. When we go over one of those passages, you're supposed to be convicted. Your week has not been sinless, your thoughts have not been perfect. It is good and right to examine yourself for the truth. So each time with each text, whoever leads this time of worship, look at the text and what you're looking for is, Lord, how are you going to correct me? And then look to see in the text about the blessings of forgiveness. So you're supposed, with all your heart, hate your sin. And with all your heart, love the Lord. You need to do this. You can't, like, I can't feed you like, I can't even say it. See, I can't depend on me. I can't even say it. I can't spoon to feed you. You know, your particular sin every week, I can only say, have time to say one or two, and then we got to move on, right? You have to look at the text. You have to think, Lord, correct me. You know, I've been a Christian a little while now, and I've seen in the past, people say, you know, I go to church and I don't learn anything new. What am I getting out of it? And I'm saying this from even years before in different churches, right? And they say, I'm not getting anything out of it. And, you know, once you've been a Christian for a while, you know, you're not learning new, it isn't about learning new things. Like, 99% of what you hear isn't like a new flashy thing. Wow, I didn't even know that. It's like, no, I know that, and I need to hear it again. I know that, I need to hear it again. You know, everybody's been a Christian for over 10 years, right? You kind of, well, you don't really learn that many new things anymore. You just begin to read, I need reminders of the old things, again and again and again. Haven't you ever met a lost person who says, you read your Bible so much? Haven't you read it by now? As if it's like a novel that you read one time, right? Have you ever had somebody ask you that, or say that to you? You're like, no, it's not, it's not a novel that you read one time. Get to the end. Oh, that was a good book. And put it on the shelf. It's bread. It's water. You need it. It's life for your soul. And what you need is this conviction. You, the point is, you need to come to the Bible on a regular basis and say, Lord, correct me. Correct me. Correct me. Correct me. And, Lord, I want to hear your promises. I want to hear your promises. I need your promises. I'm dependent upon you. I'm desperate for you. If I don't have you, then I will, I will fall and fail. You need both. You need both privately. You need to both corporately. It's practice in the scripture. This particular Psalm that we looked at is David and in all likelihood because of the sin of Bathsheba, another Psalm that he writes. And he doesn't just turn, he turns this, this horrible time into worship for the Lord. His, in his repentance, he makes it now so that corporately he knows that people will sin. And so he writes this song for corporate worship so that people, when they sin, they can do the same thing. They can hate it, admit the truths of it, and look for the promise of forgiveness from the Lord when they genuinely follow him, generally repent. So let's pray. Dear Lord, please help us to practice these things privately and corporately. We need to be corrected. We need to be rebuked. We need exhortation. And Lord, we need your promises. We need to hear good news. We need to get our eyes off of ourselves and think about how you're the savior. Help us, Lord, to repent and believe in the gospel privately, corporately, daily. Please help us to worship you in a way that's worthy of you, Lord. Amen.