Learning Family Worship

We'll be right back. ...given primarily to the home. Welcome to Love Word Binding, featuring the powerful dynamic lessons of Adrian Rogers. The Ten Commandments are wonderful laws to live by for all time, eternal and universal. When we build our families upon them, they become our strength. The First Commandment tells us to worship the one true God. The Second Commandment tells us how to worship. When we understand this concept, we can begin learning family worship. If you have your Bible, turn to Exodus chapter 20, verse 4.

Once again, here's Adrian Rogers. Listen to God here. Not me, but God himself in Exodus chapter 20, verse 4. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, nor 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. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.

Let me tell you something. Beyond the shadow of any doubt, the best thing you can do for your children, beyond the shadow of any doubt, the best thing you can do for your children is to teach them how to worship. The title of our study today is Learning Family Worship. What a privilege.

What a responsibility to learn family worship, to learn how to worship God together as a family because these commands are given primarily to the home. Some years ago, there was an incredibly gifted concert violinist. His name was Fritz Kreisler. Fritz Kreisler had ability like few people ever born to play the violin. He had a Stradivarius violin and a Stradivarius violin, you know, is a very rare and beautiful instrument.

Let me tell you how he got it. It at one time belonged to an old Englishman. Kreisler heard about it and offered to buy it. The old man said, the violin is not for sale, sir.

Fritz Kreisler was rebuffed. But one day he ventured to the old man's house and he said, if I can't buy it, may I touch it? The old Englishman invited him in. Kreisler picked up that violin and then he tucked it under his chin and began to draw the bow across the strings. And when he did, you could hear the laughter of little children. You could hear babies crying. You could hear the birds singing in the trees.

You could hear the voice of angels. He played as only the master could play for about 20 minutes. The old Englishman sat there and great tears began to well up in his eyes and course down his cheeks.

And Kreisler saw that and thought maybe he'd gone too far. He said, I'm sorry, but I would so much like to buy this instrument. The old Britisher said, it is not for sale, but it is yours. You may have it.

It belongs to you. You are the master. You alone are worthy of it. That's what worship is all about. He is the master and he alone is worthy of our lives.

Nothing else. He alone is worthy. And the very word worship means worth ship. He is worth all that we have and are. And the best thing you can do for your children beyond the shadow of any doubt is not a college education, not a legacy in the bank, not vitamin enriched food, all well and good. But the best thing is to teach them to worship.

Why? We become like what we worship. The Bible teaches us that when a man worships an idol, he becomes like the idol. When we worship God, we become like God. First the family molds the idol and then the idol molds the family. Everybody is going to worship something. Man is incurably religious.

Nature abhors a vacuum. How important it is therefore that we learn family worship, that we learn to worship as God has commanded. First of all, it is our duty, our joy, our privilege to give our children a proper conception of God. A proper conception of God.

If you have a warped conception of God, you're going to have a warped life. Idolatry for example is so wrong because it gives a warped or false conception of God. An idol is a material thing. And no idol can represent the spiritual God.

I want to tell you something friend. God has a monopoly on being God. He has cornered the market. There's only one God and his throne is not a duplex and he is not a part-time king. He is God.

He is a jealous God. You have no right to worship anything or anybody but him. It's so important that we give to our children a proper conception of God. But I want to remind you of something, that all idolatry does not consist of merely sticks and stones.

Very frankly, most Americans today don't make graven images. Very few of us have some molten God that we worship. But Martin Luther as well said that whatever the heart clings to and relies on, that is your God.

Anything you love more than God, anything you fear more than God, anything you serve more than God, anything you value more than God is to you your God. Did you know that idolatry is the greatest sin? Greater sin than rape or murder.

Why? Because the greatest commandment is to love God with all of your heart. That's what Jesus said. To love God with all of your heart. And therefore idolatry breaks the greatest commandment. It must be the greatest sin.

Idolatry is a renunciation of the whole purpose of life. Why did God make us and why did God set us in families? To love him. It's in him that we live and move and have our being.

That is why we exist. Now you can have idols in your heart without making them with your hands. In America we made gods of ourselves. And meology has replaced theology and Paul warned the last days men will be lovers of their own selves more than lovers of God. Some are made a god of money. Many people worship at the shrine of money.

God is gold. Their creed is greed. Their theology is get all you can and can all you get.

Sit on the lid and poison the rest. That's the way a lot of people are in this world. And very frankly they do worship at the shrine of material things.

They do. There are people who will not unite with the church because they think that church might ask for some of their money. The Bible says that covetous people will not inherit the kingdom of God. Some make a god of their family. You ought to love your family. You ought to adore your family. You ought to sacrifice for your family. But never make a god of your family. The worst thing you could do would be to put your family first.

The absolute worst thing you could do would be to put your family first. Because whatever is first is God. My wife knows she is not number one in my life. I know I'm not number one in her life.

And I'm glad I'm not. Because she loves me with a love that she could not love me with if I were number one. And by being number two I'm loved more than I could ever be if I were number one. Your children will be loved more if God is number one than they can be if they are number one. Jesus Christ said, He that loves father and mother, houses land, brother and sister more than me is not worthy of me. That's what our Lord said. God must be first. To put him first does not mean that we love our loved ones, our family less.

It means really that we love them more. But you can't make a god of these things. We are to have a proper conception of God.

Now let me say this. Not only is there to be a proper conception of God, number two, there needs to be a persuasive communication of God. You need to communicate this to your children. It's not enough for you to be orthodox. Again I say the greatest thing you can do for your children is to teach them to worship. And we do teach them by the way that we worship. Why does God give this stern warning? Listen to verse five. Thou shall not bow down thyself to them nor serve them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. God says that wrong worship is iniquity.

Iniquity. Don't get the idea that you can just choose however or whatever you want to worship. False worship corrupts the minds of the children and you reap the result of false worship in your grandchildren. The iniquities of the fathers, false worship, show up in the sons, the grandsons and the great grandsons and daughters of those who worship in a false way.

That's the reason it is so terrible. God visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children. Now that doesn't mean that God holds the children guilty. Oh no, not the guilt of that sin but the result of that sin and we see it in the natural realm when a parent is a user of crack cocaine. The little baby is born with certain impediments where the sins of the parents are visited upon the children and so forth.

It's a terrible, horrible thing but you can see it illustrated so much. I want us to have a little Bible study right here. Take your Bibles and find 2 Chronicles chapter 26. I want to illustrate this with a story right out of the Bible.

We're talking about the iniquity of the fathers visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation. There was a man, a godly man whose name was Uzziah. He was the king. But one day, Uzziah was filled with pride and he decided he would worship God in his own way rather than God's way. 2 Chronicles 26 verse 16 tells about it. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction for he transgressed against the Lord his God and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. Suffice it to say that it was not his right, his privilege to burn incense in the temple of God and it was false worship. He had no right to do it. No matter what his motive was, he worshiped God in the wrong way.

Now fast forward down to verse 21 in the last part of that verse. For he was cut off from the house of the Lord and Jotham his son was over the king's house judging the people of the land. Now here's a father who's worshiping God in the wrong way. Now he has a son who's going to take his place and be the king. And what was his son like? Well read in 2 Chronicles 27 verses 1 and 2.

Verse 1, and Jotham was 20 and 5 years old when he began to reign. Verse 2, and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Was he a good man or a bad man? Verse 2 says he was a good man according to all that his father Uzziah did. Was Uzziah a good man or a bad man?

A good man. But now watch this and put a circle around this word if you don't mind writing your Bible. How be it?

How be it? He, Jotham, entered not into the temple of the Lord and the people did yet corruptly. Now here was his father Uzziah who did not worship God in a proper way and was cut off from the house of the Lord. Here's his son who said, well dad didn't go to church. I don't see why I ought to go to church and I'm using the word church here synonymous with the temple though you understand they're two different institutions. And he says, my dad, he had trouble down at that church.

Well, children, listen, let's go down to the lake today and have a picnic, bring your Bible along because we're going to have Sunday school down at the lake. We don't have to worship God in a building with other people. My daddy loved God. He was a good man. He had some trouble with the church.

I just think we'll, we'll have a little homemade religion. So he didn't go to the house of God. A father with false worship, a son with neglected worship.

Now let's look at the grandson. Now comes the grandson, 2 Chronicles 27 verse 9. And Jotham slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead. Now turn to 2 Chronicles 28 verse 2 and let's find out what Ahaz was like. For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and made also molten images for Balaam. Who was Balaam, the sex god? Ahaz is worshiping Balaam. And then look if you will in 2 Chronicles 28 verse 24. And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God and shut the doors of the house of God and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

Can you believe this? This is the grandson of good king Uzziah. Here's Uzziah who's worshiping God in the wrong way. He's cut off from the house of God. Here's his son Jotham who has no use for the house of God although he loves God. But here's his grandson Ahaz who is worshiping idols who takes the vessels of the house of God and cuts them in pieces and nails the door shut. I wonder if our grandchildren are going to close this place down.

Nail the doors shut. But it's not over yet. I want you to see if you will in 2 Chronicles 28 verse 3. Moreover, we're talking about Ahaz now. He burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom and burnt his children in the fire. That's Uzziah's great-grandchildren. Burned them in the fire after the abomination of the heathen unto whom the Lord God cast out before the children of Israel. The heathen had a god named Amalek with outstretched arms and a hollowed out belly and his belly was a great furnace of fire. They would heat him up until he glowed with heat and they would take their little babies and sacrifice their babies to that deity and burn them alive in the fire. They would offer their little babies to Molek.

Can you imagine? Here's Uzziah. He loves God but he worships in a wrong way. Here's Jotham. He loves God but he has no use for the house of God. Here's his son. He has. He hates the house of God.

He nails the doors shut. Here's his son sacrificed to demon gods. We're going to see that happen to the children in America if we don't get back to the true worship of Almighty God. I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. I want my children and my children's children and my great-grandchildren to love God.

And I'm standing on a verse that says, the generation of the upright shall be blessed. Now, ever so often you hear somebody say, do whatever you want just so long as it doesn't hurt anybody else. You ever heard that?

Sure you have. Well, let me tell you something. Sin never hurts just one person. Nobody ever sins by solo.

We are linked together. Sin never, never, never hurts just one person. There is no such thing as sin only hurting but one person. The hideous result of sin shows itself up in the sinner's children.

But there's a good side to that. Go back to our text and look at it again in verse 5. Thou shall not bow down thyself to them nor serve them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquities of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. But now look in verse 6 and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

Oh, thank God for that, not just three generations but thousands. I want to look down the corridor and say, God, I want to start something growing. I want to start a fire burning that dear Lord will never stop burning and I want my influence to go on and on and on and on and we can pass it on. I love what Paul said to Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 1 verses 5 and 6. He said, When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and in thy mother Eunice and I am persuaded that in thee also. Isn't that great? It started with grandmama and then it went down to mother and then it went down to Timothy.

That's the way it ought to be. There must be a proper conception of God. There must be a powerful communication of God and then there must be a prayerful celebration of God. Do your children believe that the most important thing to you is God? Put a microphone in front of them and say, what's the most important thing to daddy? What's the most important thing to mama? I wonder how many children would say, my dad loves God with all of his heart. My mama, to her the most important thing on this earth is her relationship with God and her worship of Him.

We must celebrate God in front of our children. Let me tell you what my children, what they know. They know that their daddy is imperfect. I mean, they really know that, that I am imperfect. They do know also that I love God. They know it. I wouldn't be ashamed for you to ask them that.

You can get any one of them. Say, what's the most important thing to your dad and mom? They would tell you the most important thing to my parents is their relationship with God.

I really believe they would say that. Praying to our God alone is worthy. We need to teach our children the truth of the second commandment.

Amen. You can't teach them to love God if you don't love God. If you want to invite Jesus Christ into your heart, I'm going to help you and guide you to do it right now. Salvation is a gift and you receive it by faith. You can pray the prayer of faith right now. I promise you on the authority of the Word of God, if you're sincere and trust Christ, he will save you this moment. Pray this way, dear God, I know that you love me and I know that you want to save me. Jesus, you died to save me and you promised to save me if I would trust you.

I do trust you, Lord Jesus. I believe you're the Son of God. I believe that you paid my sin debt with your blood on the cross.

I believe that God raised you from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin. I turn from my sin. I turn to you by faith, Lord Jesus. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin and save me, Lord Jesus.

Did you ask him? Then pray this way. By faith, Lord, I receive it. I don't look for a sign.

I don't ask for a feeling. I stand on your Word. Begin now to make me the person you want me to be. And Lord Jesus, help me to make it public. Help me not to be ashamed of you because you died for me. Give me the courage to make it public. In your name I pray.

Amen. If you prayed to receive Jesus Christ, we want to celebrate with you and invite you to our Discover Jesus page. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus. You'll find answers that you might need about your newfound faith. There's a response section there as well where you can share your testimony with us or how this message has impacted you. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab that says Discover Jesus. Welcome to the family of God.

We can't wait to hear from you. If you'd like a copy of today's message, you can order one by calling 1-877-LOVEGOD. The title of the message is Learning Family Worship. This message is also part of a powerful series, a perfect 10 for homes that win. For the complete collection, all 10 insightful messages, call that number 1-877-LOVEGOD. Or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio.

Or you can write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Thanks for joining us in our study of God's Word today. Do you worship the one true God? Do you worship him in spirit and in truth? Do your children know that you love him more than anything?

Remember, true worship leads to generations of believers, each as devoted to God as the last. Be sure to tune in next time for more profound truth simply stated right here on Love Worth Finding. Well, if you haven't picked it up already, our mission at Love Worth Finding is to share the profound truth of the gospel so simply that anyone who listens can understand. That's why we're proud to tell you about our newest book, His Story. In this collection of eight powerful messages, Adrian Rogers shares the largest pieces of the Bible story from start to finish in a simple and clear way.

Learn about God's purpose and plan from Genesis to Revelation in this insightful new book, His Story. For more information or to receive a copy for a gift of any amount, go to our online store at lwf.org slash radio. Or you can call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Thanks for your continued support of Love Worth Finding.