2 Chronicles 26:16-20

2 Chronicles 26:16

Notice some of the ways in which the guilt of presumption in the worship of God is often incurred in modern times.

I. It ought not to provoke a smile when the first is named as that of sleeping in God's house. That man coolly insults God who needlessly composes himself to slumber when professing to be a suppliant for mercy at His feet.

II. Similar is the presumption of neglecting to participate in Divine worship when present in God's house. Negative sins are sometimes most intensely sinful; heedless sins are sometimes most fearfully fatal.

III. Presumption in worship may take the form of frequenting the house of God as a place of entertainment merely.

IV. We are guilty of presumptuous sin in worship if we endeavour to conceal from ourselves hidden sin under cover of scrupulous devotion.

V. We are guilty of presumptuous worship when we offer to God services in which any essential truth of God's being is denied or ignored. The place of worship where Christ is denied is no place for us. Prayer offered otherwise than in His name cannot be prayer for us. Our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book,p. 79.