In 'A Call to Worship Part 2', Pastor Chuck Smith emphasizes the importance of worshiping God with a heart of submission and sensitivity to His voice. He encourages believers to bow before the Lord, recognizing their relationship as His people and the sheep of His pasture. The sermon warns against hardening our hearts and highlights the necessity of a true commitment to God, contrasting the victorious life in Christ with the struggles of those who remain in spiritual wilderness. Pastor Chuck reminds us that God desires to bless us and that we should keep ourselves in His love to experience the fullness of His promises. Ultimately, he points to the future reign of Christ and the joy it will bring to all creation.

Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that mold you And His Spirit like a dove Will descend upon your life and make you whole Welcome to The Word for Today featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse venture through the entire Bible. And on today's edition of The Word for Today we'll be continuing with A Call to Worship as we pick up in the 95th Psalm, beginning with verse 6. And now, with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck Smith. O come, let us worship and bow down Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker And so, in their forms of worship there was that bowing before the Lord. Bowing in a sign of submission as a servant bows to the Lord. And I think that it's good to bow before the Lord. It sort of reminds us of relationship. Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. And again, not so that He will move in our hearts. So that He will hearken to us. But it is in response to Him. Not trying to get Him to respond to us. For He is our God. And we are the people of His pasture. And we're the sheep of His hand. We're His people. We're His sheep. Now the psalmist exhorts them to hear the Word of the Lord. Today, if you will, hear His voice. How important that we learn to be sensitive to the voice of the Lord. God has spoken to us, every one of us. The Bible is God's Word to you. And it is amazing how that as you read the Bible, God so often will personalize it. As the Scripture will just seem to come right off the pages and jump right into your heart. And you say, oh, that's for me. That's wonderful. And it's just a wonderful thing how the Word of God can just speak to our hearts. It's also wonderful how God will speak to us many times through a sermon. And how many times God speaks to our hearts directly. Today, if you will hear His voice. The psalmist encourages them, don't harden your hearts. There's always that danger of hardening our hearts to God. And to the things of God. But the encouragement and the exhortation is don't harden your heart. In the book of Jude, in verse 21, he exhorts us to keep ourselves in the love of God. By that, Jude is not saying that we should be so sweet and so kind and so precious and so loving and so generous that God can't help but love us. Because in while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's when God commanded His love. He loved you as rotten as you were. What does it mean, keep yourself in the love of God? It means this, God loves you. And because of His love, He wants to manifest or demonstrate that love to you. As it is the desire of love to demonstrate itself in giving. God wants to just give and bless you. Give to you. And so keep yourself in that place where God can do the things He's wanting to do in your life with all consistency with His nature of holiness. Keep yourself where God can work and do the things He's desiring to do. Now, He gives us examples of those who failed. And the first example is the children of Israel, who though they were delivered out of the bondage of Egypt, yet they perished in the wilderness. A tremendous example of the failure of man to enter into all that God has for them. God has a life of victory for you in Christ. An abundant life in Christ. He doesn't intend that your Christian experience be like a yo-yo just up and down all the time. He intends that you be more than a conqueror through His love. And that you live a life of radiant victory in Jesus Christ. And if you will keep yourself in the love of God, that's exactly where He will bring you. That's exactly what He will do for you. But so many times, like the children of Israel, we come out of the bondage of sin. We come out of the world. We begin our journey towards that walk and life in the Spirit. But somewhere we get short-circuited and we stop short of all that God is wanting to do for us. And many times, I see Christians just spending their entire Christian life in the wilderness. They never do enter into the full rich life of the Spirit. And so like the children in the wilderness, it's a constant struggle. It's a constant battle. One day they're near the land of promise. They come close to the borders. But then they begin journeying back towards Egypt again. And they begin to think about Egypt, you know, and that taste for the world is still in them. A desire for God, oh yes. But still that strong taste for the world and the things of the world. And thus they're pulled, they're torn. And they have too much of Jesus to be happy in the world, but too much of the world to be happy in Jesus. And that's a miserable place to be. It's like that apple tree that we told you about before. That was on the border of the orchard. And every fall, the little boys, as they would go back to school, would watch that tree to look for a little color to come in the apples. And as soon as they saw the color, they began to beat the tree to knock the apples down so they could get them before the farmer did. And the farmer, knowing what the little boys were doing, would go out every morning and take a look at that tree that was right on the edge of the orchard, part of it hanging over the fence. And he would watch carefully for the apples to turn a little color so he would beat the tree to get the apples before the boys. And the farmer said as a result of that tree being right on the border of his orchard, it was the most beat tree in his entire orchard. And I've seen a lot of beat Christians. They're trying to live on the border. They try to see how much of the world they can hold on to and still maintain an experience with Christ. The children of Israel, they wandered in that wilderness. They spent their lives in that wilderness because they didn't listen to God, who said, I will go before you. I will drive out your enemies from before your face. Every place you set your foot, I have given it to you. But they said, we will be praise. They will kill us. They'll kill our children. We can't go in. There's no way we can do it. And thus they provoked God in their failure of faith to just take the word of God and the promise of God and step out and trust God. So they erred in their heart, the Lord said. That's where the commitment is really made. And they erred by not making a true commitment, full commitment, which is the commitment of your heart. The commitment of your mind is a shallow commitment. I have decided to follow Jesus. Well, that's great if it's from the heart. But if it's from the mind, tomorrow you can decide to do something else. It's very easy to change your mind. You ever notice how quickly you can change your mind? The least little difficulty can cause you to change your mind. But it takes a work of the Spirit to change the heart. Making that commitment of the heart. They've erred in their heart. Their commitment wasn't of the heart. Because the Lord said, they have not known my ways. Oh, that I might know the ways of the Lord. And so God said, I swore in my wrath that they would not enter into my rest. Hebrews chapter 4. We have an interesting commentary on this passage of Scripture as the writer of Hebrews encourages us to enter into that rest, declaring, for there is a rest for the people of God. And they that have entered into that rest have ceased from their own labors. And so he says something that sounds almost paradoxical. He said, let us therefore labor that we might enter into the rest. The rest is from a total commitment of my heart to the Lord and to Him. As I commit myself totally, I then enter into the rest because I know that at this point, my life is in God's hands and He's able to keep me. My life is in God's hands and nothing happens to me, but what God has not allowed it to happen for a good purpose. And so I rest. I don't get all frantic over the things of life. I don't begin to panic and get all upset. It's in God's hands. Win or lose, it's all in His hands. My life belongs to Him. Now, these next psalms are sometimes referred to as millennial psalms. These are the psalms that anticipate the Lord's return and His reign. And thus, in anticipation of the fulfillment of the prophecies and the promises of God, the reign of Christ upon the earth during the millennium, these psalms were written for that period of history, which is not yet history because it's still future, but one day will be. And so that glorious day when Jesus reigns. So sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. For the Bible tells us that He shall reign over all the earth. Ask of me and I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. So sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord and bless His name. That is the name of Yahweh. Show forth His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the heathen. I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance. And His wonders among all of the people as the Lord establishes His kingdom over all the earth. For the Lord is great. Again, it isn't sing and declare in order that God will do something for you. But again, it's in response to God. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be reverenced above all gods. Now in several of these psalms now in a row, we're going to find reference to these gods, small g. For all the gods of the nations are idols. But Yahweh made the heavens. The other gods are idols. That is they've been made by man. But the God we worship is the one who made man. He made the heavens. So you worship a man-made God or you worship the God who made man. Paul the apostle points out that the problem with man, the pseudo-intellectual, who has rejected the knowledge of God, did not want to retain God in his mind. Professing himself to be wise, he actually became a fool because he worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forevermore. Now the world around you is in that very position. They are worshipping and serving creature pleasures, man-made things, materialism. And man is always making new things to be worshipped. And to worship man's gods can be extremely expensive. But to worship the God who made man, that makes sense. So the gods of the nations are idols. They've made them themselves. But the Lord, He made the universe. Honor and majesty are before Him. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Oh, the strength that we find as we come into the sanctuary of God, the beauty of worshipping the Lord together. So give unto the Lord, O ye families of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory that is due unto His name. The name Yahweh is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and are safe. The name of the Lord, He exalts His name even above His word. Holy and reverend is His name. Give Him glory that is due His name. Bring an offering. Come into His courts. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Reverence Him all the earth. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigns, the future glory when Jesus reigns. Go out and declare it. The Lord reigns. The world also shall be established when He reigns. There will be no more wars and all of the turmoil, the economies and all that are creating all of the greed and the turmoil. All be gone. The Lord reigns. The earth will be established that it will not be moved. And He will judge the people righteously. So let the heavens rejoice. And let the earth be glad. And let the sea roar and the fullness thereof. The reign of the Lord is going to affect the entire earth. And it's going to affect nature. Prior to the destruction of the world by the flood, the earth was a far different place than it is today, far more fertile than it is now. In fossil form, they have found asparagus ferns that were some 60 feet tall. Now how would you like to have that kind of asparagus fern in your garden? Man lived to be an average of 900 years old. Prior to the flood, the conditions of the earth were far different than they are today. There were mammoths that they have uncovered in the frozen tundra of Siberia with tropical vegetation in their digestive tracts. So Siberia was once a lush tropical jungle. The South Pole was covered with forest, very verdant. They have found great layers of coal, 200 feet under the ice in the South Pole, once a tropical jungle. So the whole conditions of the earth were vastly different than they are today. When Christ reigns, I believe that God is going to restore the earth to those pre-flood conditions. I believe, again, He'll put a canopy around the earth that will protect it from those ultraviolet rays. You can go out and get as dark a tan as you want without having to worry about skin cancer. Dentists won't have any work to do. Doctors will have to find a new profession. The Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Let the earth be glad. The heavens rejoice. Let the sea roar and the fullness thereof. Let the field be joyful and all that is therein, and then shall all of the trees of the wood rejoice. When Jesus comes and reigns, oh, what a new day for the earth. What a new day for man. And thus the rejoicing, even nature itself, coming alive in a greater way, rejoicing and praising God. The trees of the woods rejoice. Before the Lord, for He cometh. For He cometh to judge the earth, and He shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with His truth. Now, Jesus tells us, and as He's talking to the disciples about His return, Lord, what will be the signs of Your coming in the end of the age? He tells them about it, and then He speaks about when He comes, He will gather together the nations for judgment. He's going to judge the earth in righteousness. Then He will separate, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He'll say to those on His right side, Come, ye blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. To those on the left, depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, into Gehenna, which was prepared for Satan and his angels. Judging the earth. But He will judge it righteously. In the prophecy concerning the Messiah, it said, He shall sit upon the throne of David to order it and to establish it in justice and in judgment from henceforth even forevermore. So the Lord is coming. He's coming to reign over the earth. To judge righteously over the world and over the people with His truth. Glorious day. We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse venture through the Bible in our next lesson. As Pastor Chuck Smith continues to guide us through the study of the Psalms. And we do hope you'll make plans to join us. But right now, I'd like to remind you that if you missed any part of today's message or perhaps you'd like to order a copy for that special friend or loved one, you can do so by simply contacting one of our customer service representatives and they'd be more than happy to assist you with the ordering details. Simply call 1-800-272-WORD and phone orders can be taken Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time. Once again, our toll-free number is 1-800-272-9673. And for your added convenience, you can order online anytime when you go to the wordfortoday.org. And while you're there, be sure to browse through the additional resources that include Bible studies, commentaries, CDs, DVDs, and so much more. Once again, that's The Word for Today online at thewordfortoday.org. And for those of you who still prefer to write, you can use our mailing address, which is The Word for Today, P.O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, California, 92628. And be sure to include the call letters of this station with your correspondence. And now, on behalf of The Word for Today, we'd like to thank all of you who share in supporting this ministry with your prayers and financial support. And be sure to join us again next time as Pastor Chuck Smith continues his verse-by-verse venture through the Psalms. That's right here on the next edition of The Word for Today. Now once again, here's Pastor Chuck Smith with today's closing comments. May the Lord bless you and keep His hand upon you, guide you with His counsels, and keep you in His strength and His love. And may God help you to really come into a full understanding and knowledge where it isn't just hearing Him with the hearing of the ear, but it's really coming to apprehend, to see God, to see the truth of God, that you might be strengthened, knowing that God is with you and shall sustain you as His child. As we look around at an impatient, instant, get-it-now society, we may have those same expectations of faith. Just as Abraham's faith developed as he got to know God better, so your faith will expand and develop as you walk with God. In his new book, Faith, Pastor Chuck teaches the scriptures that will help you learn how to increase your faith. To order a copy of Pastor Chuck's new book, Faith, and to preview a chapter for free online, visit thewordfortoday.org or call 800-272-WORD. Again, that's thewordfortoday.org. This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today in Costa Mesa, California.