In his sermon titled 'Avoiding Vanity in the Worship of God,' Mike Davenport explores Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 to emphasize the importance of sincerity and intentionality in worship. He begins by illustrating the concept of vanity in worship through a story about a poorly planned anniversary trip, likening it to how some approach worship without truly considering God's desires. Davenport outlines three key areas of carefulness: approach, participation, and response to worship. He stresses the need for prudence and preparation in approaching God, urging believers to come with a heart purged of sin and ready to listen to God's word. Participation in worship should involve carefulness with words and a heart aligned with God's majesty, avoiding rash or insincere expressions. In response to worship, Davenport discusses the importance of fulfilling vows made to God, warning against making hasty commitments. He concludes by urging believers to fear God, highlighting that genuine worship requires recognizing His sovereignty and our humble position, with a heart that seeks to align with His will.

Today's sermon text is from Ecclesiastes chapter 5, from verse 1 to 7. Walk prudently when you go to the house of God, and draw nearer to here rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore, let your words be few.

For a dream comes through much activity, and a fool's voice is known by his many words. When you make a vow to God, Do not delay to pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed. Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Do not let your mouth cast your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error.

Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands. For in the multitude of dreams and many wars there is also vanity. But fear God. God, we thank you, Lord, that you truly are merciful in instructing your people who you were. May your ears incline to hear your word today, Lord.

We are needed people that we need your word. Please have mercy, Lord, and teach us and guide us through your word. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, imagine with me in the midst of a conversation with another brother in the church, you find out that he is planning a surprise getaway for his and his wife's 25th wedding anniversary.

Interested in how the trip is shaping up, you ask him about his plans. He informs you that he intends to take her up to Lake Michigan in early January. The plan is to set up a tent on the frozen surface of the lake and to spend the week ice fishing. When you ask him about what they will be eating, he assures you that with the anticipated catch of fish, there will be plenty to feed them both while there and bring some home. When not fishing, he has arranged for them to spend their time snowmobiling all around the area.

Well, you leave the conversation thinking, wow, that sounds pretty interesting. I would like to do that myself. Then you get home and knowing your wife to be best friends with this brother's wife, you begin talking to her about this surprise trip. When you mention that they will be heading north, your wife says, oh, you must have misunderstood. Certainly, they will be going to a warm climate.

She absolutely hates the cold. As your wife proceeds, you discover that this sister is actually allergic to all fish and shellfish. Every time she eats it, she breaks out in hives and it messes up her digestion. And as you're listening to your wife, you suddenly remember that this same brother sold his wife's bicycle last year because she had developed a form of vertigo that comes upon her whenever she is on fast moving objects that tend to jostle and bump the rider as it moves along. All of a sudden, your conclusion about this surprise trip that is being planned begins to change.

You say to yourself, after 25 years of marriage, you would think he would know his wife well enough To plan a trip that would be to her liking Yes, he likes all those things and finds enjoyment in them, and that's fine. But this isn't some trip with the guys. This is supposed to be an anniversary trip to celebrate their 25 years of marriage. Who is he doing this for? Certainly not for her.

What conclusions would you come to? I will tell you. You would conclude that he either doesn't know his wife very well at all or he doesn't care what she thinks or feels or maybe he just flat-out doesn't love her. Well, follow me here. If those are the logical conclusions that you would come to in that scenario, What would be the logical conclusions someone would draw were they to consider the way you come to the worship service of Him whom you claim to know, whom you claim to love, to cherish, and to serve.

What if they were able to do more than just see your activity and your participation? What if they were able to discern the thoughts and the intentions of your heart? What conclusions would they draw? Today we come in our study of Ecclesiastes to chapter 5. I have entitled the message, Avoiding Vanity in the Worship of God.

We will look at this topic, Lord willing, under the following headings. First, carefulness in our approach. Carefulness in our approach. Secondly, carefulness in our participation, and thirdly, carefulness in our response. First of all, carefulness in our approach.

Verse 1, walk prudently when you go to the house of God and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Solomon's opening words of this section are an exhortation. In fact, these seven verses contain multiple exhortations. It's a change from the methods of instruction that he has previously used here in this book. We are told to walk prudently.

Walk prudently. The King James Version renders it, keep thy foot. Keep thy foot. The Hebrew word here is literally foot, but it's safe to say that Steps being the activity of the feet are being implied here. Now the other Hebrew word here describes what we are to do with these steps, with our feet.

Strongs points out that the proper meaning is to hedge about with thorns, to hedge about with thorns. And when you think about hedging about with thorns, It's to keep other things from intruding. So we might rightly say that this implies a taking heed so as to guard, to protect, and preserve, to heed your steps as you prepare for the house of God in order to guard, protect, and preserve those steps. And this is very similar to how the ESV states it, guard your steps. Dear ones, coming to the house of God in and of itself is not sufficient.

Note what I say, in and of itself coming to the house of God is not sufficient. Not only could it prove to be vain, The last part of this verse declares that it is even possible to be engaged in evil in our coming. Has it ever crossed your mind that in these next 45 minutes or so before us or even the 45 minutes just past, has it ever crossed your mind that you may be currently engaged in something that could be foolish and even evil. We cannot simply waltz in here with the assumption that all is well because we're here in God's house on His own day. Matthew Poole states it in the following way, To walk prudently refers to the feet of thy soul, which are thy thoughts and affections by which men go to God, and walk or converse with Him.

Make straight steps. See that your hearts be purged from sin, and prepared and furnished with all graces or necessary qualifications as good intention, reverence, humility, etc. It refers to the feet of thy soul. When we come to the house of God, we must come paying careful attention to the way we are approaching him. Psalm 96, 1-9 describes the way that we should go to the house of God.

Oh, sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord. Bless His name. Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods, For all the gods of the people are idols, but the Lord made the heavens honor and majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength.

Give to the Lord the glory. Do his name. Bring an offering and come into his courts. Oh Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness Tremble before him all the earth. Commentator Charles Bridges says, yet even here, alas, what a mass is there of vacant service, of traditionary form, the copy, a dead invitation, no throbbing of spiritual life.

How important Therefore is the divine rule to maintain the vital sacredness of the service. Let it not be a careless step as into an ordinary house. Begin the holy exercise ere you leave your home. See that your heart is engaged not in the trifles of the moment, but in the realizing of eternity, not in company with thy friend, but in communion with thy Lord. Oh, it is awful to trifle at the church door.

Our business is with the High and Holy One. Utterly revolting, therefore, is that service which is not imbued with a reverential spirit. We are also told to draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools. Solomon here continues to address our approach. A due consideration to coming before God should cause us not only to check our hearts, but also to ready our ears.

We should draw near having heard how God would have us to draw near, and we should draw near to hear what God requires of those who come before Him." The idea behind the Hebrew word in this root word translated here, hear, is to hear intelligently with the implication of attention and obedience. Parents, we know that. We talk to our kids about it going in one ear and out the other. That's not what kind of hearing we're talking about. It's to hear intelligently with the purpose to give due attention and obedience.

We must do what God wants, when He wants it, and in the way He indicated in his infallible Word. A sacrifice of our own making, of our own inventions, though labeled a sacrifice, is nothing short of the sacrifice of a fool. It is foolish simply by reason of the fact that God has declared how he will be worshiped. He has not left it up to us. He does not want our inventions.

He does not want our imaginations. Think of the end of those fools who brought such a sacrifice. Cain. Remember what happened to Cane? Consider Nadab and Abihu.

What happened to them? God said, I will be thought holy by the people, so you be sure to come in a matter of holiness. How about Saul and his approach of worship. How about Ananias and Sapphira? Psalm 96 declares that our sacrifice must accord with the beauty found in God's holiness, and it must be brought in a spirit of trembling." Solomon declares here that the fool does not know that he does evil.

It is not specifically an ignorance that he is referring to when he says he doesn't know. What he is saying is that the fool does not even stop to consider that his sacrifice is evil. He has failed to hear. He has failed to listen. Matthew Poole describes it like this, These are not sensible of the great sinfulness of such thoughts and practices, but like fools, they think they do God good service.

Children, do you remember what happened after God told King Saul to destroy every living thing in the land of Amalek? You Remember after the battle that Samuel showed up? And what did he hear? He heard the sound of sheep bleating sheep. Saul explained, oh the sheep, the sheep are for sacrifice.

They were for sacrifice. Did God want sacrifices? Of course He did. He commanded them to sacrifice. But this was the sacrifice of a fool.

For God had said, destroy every living thing. Saul failed to heed what God had commanded. And what was Saul told? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. God has declared what his house is to be and what we, his people, are to be who enter it.

This is why we must hear when we draw near. And don't miss this. Where God remains silent, we must not take up the evil sacrifice of a fool. God says through the prophet Isaiah, when you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand, to trample my courts? Bring no more feudal sacrifices." And through Jeremiah, God rebukes the people for things they have brought into his worship Which things God says I did not command them Nor did it come into my mind That they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin Not only did I not tell them it didn't even cross my mind and they think they can bring it But not only our ears we must have hearts.

We must have hearts engaged in the very things God desires. If we bring the right things because we are hearing as we should but we are failing to come to His house in a way that guards, protects, and preserves our hearts in our approach, then once again our sacrifice is a sacrifice of fools, not only vain but evil. David proclaims in Psalm 24 3 to 4, Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who may stand in his holy place, He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted his soul up to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. Our worship should be shaped by the reality of who it is we have come to worship. It should be shaped by the reality of who we really are, creatures of the dust and yet sons and daughters of the Most High.

Our worship should be shaped by the reality of what His word declares that he wants in his worship what is pleasing to him. And so it should not be shaped by what pleases us or by what we think pleases Him. It's all about Him and what He desires. And that's where our hearts should be. That's where our hearts should be.

As David Gibson puts it, there is one undivided God, the Lord our God. The Lord is one. And because God is like that, then he must be approached and worshipped by an undivided person. All your heart, All your soul, all your strength. In other words, all of you.

Every single bit. God is not pulled in different directions, so neither should we be in our worship of Him. Real faith and trust in God are not compartmentalized. But not only must we exercise carefulness in our approach, But secondly, having now entered into the house of God, there must be carefulness in our participation. Carefulness in our participation, verses 2 and 3.

Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven and you on earth. Therefore, let your words be few, for a dream comes through much activity, and a fool's voice is known by as many words." Well, Having spoken about preparing our heart to worship, as well as preparing our heart to hear, Solomon here envisions us gathered with the people of God and exhorts us to go about our worship now with a carefulness, especially in the use of our words. Now, we should not run to the end of verse 2 and simply assume that we have heeded the counsel of Solomon because we have refrained from speaking before, during, or after the service. We have plenty of New Testament passages that teach us differently.

The Epistle constantly encourages us to greet one another. It takes words to do that. Being filled with the Spirit, we are to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and we are to come into God's presence with singing. When we gather together, we are to be exhorting one another, stirring one another up to love and to good works. Paul encourages Timothy to exhort men to lift up holy hands in prayer.

We are called to praise God in the sanctuary. We are to enter His gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Romans 10, 14-15 declares the centrality of preaching in the midst of God's house. Add to the weight of these exhortations the practice of the early church mentioned in Acts 2, 42. We read that the church continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, all involving words, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

So if Those are the duties that we are called to perform in the house of our God and almost all of them requiring words. How should we understand this exhortation here that our words be few? Well, I believe we have to let the context dictate this meaning. There are phrases leading up to the exhortation to let your words be few. The first, do not be rash with your mouth.

And the second, let not your heart utter anything hastily before God." Do you see the correlation that Solomon is drawing between the mouth and the heart? It's the same correlation he drew in the first verse between the ear and the heart. Now he's talking about the mouth and the heart. Hasty words given by our mouth proceed from a heart that is out of tune with God We would do well to heed the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 12 34 through 37 For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good things.

And an evil man, out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak. They will Give account of it on the day of judgment, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." We often confine that justification or condemnation of our use of words to our interactions with others here on earth. But Solomon is drawing our attention to the fact that we'll even be justified or condemned on the basis of our words used in the worship of God. Here's what Matthew Henry says about these verses, "'What we utter before God must come from the heart, and therefore we must never let our tongue outrun our thoughts in our devotions." And listen to this, thoughts are words to God.

Thoughts are words to God. He goes on to say, it is not enough that what we say comes from the heart, but it must come from a composed heart and not from a sudden heat or passion. Therefore, we must be grave, humble, serious, and reverent in speaking to him. Charles Bridges adds, but the few words implies the heart set in order before utterance, a thoughtful mind in a spiritual habit. There is more substance in a few minutes' real communion than in an hour of formal exercise.

The keeping of the mind and heart with God is most valuable discipline for prayer. Any defect here restrains the holiest privileges of the gospel. A protracted exercise may be only empty formalism, prayerless prayer, the sacrifice of fools, routine, not vitality. The heart is far from God. Well how do we come about having a right heart in worship?

It comes down to this, a recognition that God is in heaven and we are on earth. This is not a mere recognition of different addresses. Different addresses. This is denoting heaven and God being there as a place of power, of authority, and of sovereignty. It is the recognition found within the Lord's prayer itself.

He is our Father who is in heaven. And in response to that fact, we pray that His name would be hallowed, that His kingdom would expand, and that His will would be done perfectly here on earth just as it is in heaven. It is these opening thoughts of God tuning our heart so that the strings of our being are in perfect harmony with who God is and the work that He is doing. It is these thoughts that set the remainder of our prayer in its proper place. It begins there.

Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." It is these very same thoughts, this very same recognition here in Ecclesiastes 5 that must guide our tongues when we are engaged in the worship of our God. Verse 3 appears to be something of an ancient proverb, Just as a multitude of dreams is the byproduct of a mind too engrossed in business, so nonsensical speech is the result of far too many unguarded words in worship. Even in the midst of the worship service, our words can be the very voice of a fool. We come away from a dream, right?

You ever had a dream? We come away from a dream feeling as though something particular just happened. Only to realize as we wake up and come to our senses that it really didn't happen. So it can be with our worship. We can come away from the time of worship feeling that we really accomplished something, that we were truly blessed, and that we truly drew near to God when in actuality it may be that the reality of those things is no more actual than the dream we had last night.

Can I ask you a question? How careful have you been about the words which you have uttered this very morning? This very morning? Have you truly reflected and are you able to grasp who God is and who you are? When you came through the door and you greeted your brother or your sister in Christ this morning, when you engaged in that brief conversation, did it reflect the glory of Jesus Christ?

Dear brother, when you stood up and prayed aloud earlier in our service, was your heart in it? Was your heart in it? Did your words reflect the fact that you get it, you get it, that God is high and lifted up and we come to Him as sinful, poor, needy, independent creatures? Or how about you, my dear brother, who may not have stood to pray and lead us? Or you, dear sister, who listened in silence when the prayer came to an end, did you give a resounding amen?

If so, was it what Bridges referred to as empty formalism? The thoughtless sacrifice of fools. Routine, not vitality, because your heart is far from God. Can you actually Recall the things prayed to which you gave your reply. May it be so, O Lord God.

How about the singing? How about the singing you engaged in? Most, if not all, joined in the singing of doctrinally rich words this morning. Can I remind you of some of the very words and thoughts that came from your mouth? You sang of the holiness of our Lord God, the Almighty One, and yet you at that very moment, may have been failing to mortify wrong thoughts or sinful desires.

You declared that this thrice holy God is a mighty fortress, a bulwark that never fails, and that because that is true you will not fear. Yet at that very moment you may have been harboring doubts and worry about a particular situation in your life. You sang that it is your aim to praise the name of the Lord Jesus Christ when you rise in the morning, when you are busy with your work, when you don't sleep well, when you are molested by evil thoughts, when your mind is filled with sadness, and when you lose the comforts of this earth Is this truly the song of your heart? May Jesus Christ be praised And is that thought preeminent in the ups and the downs of this life? These are the truths You communicated this morning These are the truths that I echoed with you in song." The words of James 3, 2 reverberate off the very walls of this passage in Ecclesiastes.

For in many, in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Oh, how out of step my heart is often with my own words. What should we do? What should we do?

We should pray that the Lord of glory who knows our hearts better than we, that He would come and show us His glory and fill us with a sense of His majesty, that He would come by His Spirit and make our hearts to walk in step with the words that we so freely declare and that our hearts rightly engaged with Jesus Christ would actually shape and form the very words of our mouths. I quote from Gibson's Living Life Backward again. Don't be too quick just to tell God what you think he wants to hear. That's what verse 2 means. Someone has said that when we pray, we tend to think it's like talking into a spiritual microphone with God, listening on the other end through a set of heavenly earphones.

But in fact, when we pray, God is listening to us with a spiritual stethoscope, just like the doctor who says, Let me hear you breathe. And he listens in to what we cannot see and so learns the truth about us. God is in heaven. Can't you see as you look around how small you are and how big God is. So don't you think his stethoscope is always working?

Don't shoot off your mouth or speak before you think. Ecclesiastes is teaching us that what we need is God's Word. We need His revelation about who He is and what He's like in order to reverence Him properly. Brothers and sisters, him properly. Brothers and sisters, if we fail at our worship, all other spiritual endeavors will miscarry.

Let me say that again, it's so important. If we fail at our worship, all other spiritual endeavors will miscarry. Oh for carefulness in our participation in the worship of our great and holy God. But having seen how we should approach worship and how we should engage ourselves in that worship, Solomon comes thirdly to deal with how we should leave the worship of God. So look with me lastly at carefulness in our response.

Carefulness in our response. Verses 4 through 7. When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed. Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.

Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity, but fear God." And so the worship service comes to an end. Solomon here presumes that in the midst of the service, the worshiper may have taken up a vow before God. He does not go into the weeds in distinguishing whether this is a legitimate or a hasty and rash vow.

Obviously, with what he has already said, his concern lies more with the one who has spoken rashly, even though his exhortation applies to any and all who would make such a vow, whether with an informed mind and heart or simply out of the impulse of the moment. So though he may be focusing on those who make a vow rashly, not distinguishing helps us to understand that it applies to the making of any vow. When you make such a vow, pay it. Don't delay. Hasten to it.

To not do so is foolish, and God has no pleasure in fools." We read the following from our confession, the Second London Baptist Confession, Chapter 23 of Lawful Oaths and Vows, paragraph 5. Chapter 23, paragraph 5. A vow which is not to be made to any creature, but to God alone, is to be made and performed, okay, made and performed with all religious care and faithfulness. There is to be care and faithfulness in the making of a vow. And there is to be care and faithfulness in the performing of that very same vow.

Now such vows as are spoken of here and throughout most of the Old Testament, They were much more common in that day. In Scripture we read of Jacob's vow as he flees from his brother Esau. We read of Jephthah's vow as he seeks deliverance from the oppressors of Israel. We read of Hannah's vow as she seeks offspring from the Lord in the midst of her barrenness. And we read of Jonah's vow as he finds himself in the belly of the fish, down in the depths of the sea.

But in fact, the words of Solomon here, they actually echo the law of God concerning vows found in Deuteronomy 32, 21. And it says this, almost verbatim, even in the Hebrew, When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you." Now we typically are familiar with oaths and vows in our day when it comes to marriage, when it comes to enlisting into the military, or when it comes to the taking up of governmental positions, when it comes to church officers or judicial procedures. So how does this passage apply to us? Especially since Solomon is indicating here a vow taking in worship and then followed up outside of the confines of that particular service. What response should we endeavor for?

Well, brothers and sisters, I don't think it is too far a stretch to consider as a vow any determination to even act upon what we have heard in the very worship service of our God. Remember what Matthew Henry said, our thoughts are words to God. You like me, you've been there, you've been there before. Brought to conviction by the message preached, God's Word, it comes like a hammer, it comes like a sword, it comes like fire. As with the effects of a hammer, not a sword and a fire, it brings effects and so doing the Word of God brings effectual changes on our heart.

There is an impact. Even if it's momentary, there's often an impact. Do you remember that that last time when conviction fell upon your soul? Do you remember the wrestlings that you had in your heart with that preached word? Maybe it's happening right now.

You determined in the past that you would go after the service and You would find a quiet place and you would respond. You would do some soul searching. Maybe it was to get alone with God and wrestle with Him until He saved you from your sins. Maybe it was to get alone with God and to determine what areas of your life you needed to mortify sin. Maybe it was a determination to spend more time in the means of grace, in the spiritual disciplines of the Christian life.

Think about the course of direction you determined to take. Then think about how the many times that that impression just faded. It faded like the mist on an August morning when the sun rises, and as soon as the sun rises, that mist evaporates. The thing we determine to do is left undone, or at best, it's half done. God takes no pleasure in such responses.

It's a rash and hasty response, A response devoid of serious contemplation of the fact that God is in heaven and we are on earth. A response that did not take the time to count the cost. Now note that this passage is not exhorting us to take up a vow. It is simply exhorting us to pay up when and where we have made a vow. So clear is this that Solomon actually states that it is better not to vow than to vow and not pay.

Again, this echoes the words given by Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. If you abstain from vowing it shall not be sin to you. Far better, says Charles Bridges, to have refrained from the vow, which was self-imposed obligation, then from the payment, which is now a bond upon the soul, to refuse To enlist may be guiltless, but to desert the colors is to be guilty of death. We had need be cautious in making vows that we may be upright in paying them. Go onward in singleness and simplicity of heart.

There must be a living faith, not only that we may lay hold of at the beginning, but hold on to the end." All depends not only on laying hold, but holding on. Solomon says, Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error." The idea behind the word flesh in the Hebrew is your whole self, your whole being. So here we have two instances of trouble that can be set before us due to hasty vows and promises. First, the mouth signs the body up for something that is not righteous, where to keep the vow would be actual sin. Charles Bridges states, vows contrary to God's Word cannot bind a right conscience.

A vow cannot make that right which is morally wrong. What is contrary to the law can never be a legitimate engagement to the lawgiver. Know, sayeth Bishop Sanderson, know that neither oath, vow, nor other tie whatever is allowed by Almighty God to bind thee to sin." The second instance of trouble that we see here is seeking to remove ourselves from the binding nature of that vow by seeking the approval of some spiritual representative in our lives that we did indeed make a mistake and don't have to do what we said we would do. We look for a sounding board, someone to say, you don't have to do that. How very far from the blessing that Solomon referred to earlier in this book, because what does this bring?

It tells us such a response angers God and arouses Him to frustrate the very work of our hands. How very far from that blessing, then, that we saw earlier in the book of enjoying the good of all your labor as a gift from God. For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. Here Solomon addresses again the subject of dreams. He seems to be connecting once again the multitude of dreams with the multitude of words, that in both there is vanity." Matthew Henry points out the following, those that heed dreams shall have a multitude of them, but in them all there are diverse vanities.

Therefore, never heed them. Instead of repeating them, lay no stress upon them. Draw no disquieting no disquieting conclusions from them, but fear thou God." These are not things that we are to put stock in, not in dreams and not in the multitude of our own words. So what are we to do? Rather fear God.

Rather fear God. God. Rather fear God. Isaiah 8 13, the Lord of hosts, him you shall hallow. Let Let him be your fear and let him be your dread.

Let God be your very fear. Let him be your very dread. Mr. Gibson helpfully shows how applicable this reality of the vow, making it and keeping it, how applicable this reality is to everyday life, even to those who are not accustomed in our time to make vows. He says, so the principle here is very helpful.

When you speak to God or when you speak to others, simplicity safeguards your sincerity. Believers who are simply honest do not need to resort to vows or oaths of any kind. An unadorned yes or no protects the sincerity of your speaking. We become people without flowery pretense, without angles and edges that need to be negotiated by others. What you see is what you get.

We become people like this when we decide that because God sees, I am not going to live off the fact that the person I am speaking to does not see. So we can see that the issue of making vows is not irrelevant to us. It is simply an application of the reality of God to everyday life. You may not know whether I'm telling the truth, but God does. When I live with the reality of God, the God in heaven who has my heart open before Him like an open book, I stand in all of him." And this takes concrete form in the kind of words that do and do not leave my mouth.

This is what it boils down to, the answer to this question. Do you fear God? Do you fear him? Do you stand in all of him? Do you grasp the very fact that your heart, this very moment, is an open book before him?

Before him. Do you grasp what it is to be called to worship him? I close with the words I close with the words of the writer of Hebrews, Hebrews 12, 22 through 29. But you, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

For if they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns from heaven." At that time, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken, that is, things that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus, and thus, let us offer to God acceptable worship, acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. O God, humble our hearts. Draw near, we pray.

Show us where we have failed. Show us our sin. May we not stay there, O God. May we come to Jesus Christ, who obeyed you even in his worship of you while he was here on earth. O God, give us grace when we approach these hours together.

Give us grace when we participate. And Lord, as we go forth from this place even today, May we have a right response. Lord, may we not simply give into the moment and think of what it is that we shall do in response. May we have hearts that would seek to have dealings with you, the living God. Leave us not to ourselves, but help us in all of these things.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen.