content/09/04.md
---
pagetitle: Of religious worship, and the Sabbath day, part 1
date: February 19, 2020
prev_url: /westminster-daily/09/03/
prev_date: Sep 3
this_url: /westminster-daily/09/04/
short_date: "0904"
this_date: Sep 4
next_url: /westminster-daily/09/05/
next_date: Sep 5
---
#### Confession of Faith
##### Chapter 21: Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day
The light of nature showeth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and doth good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might.[^fnref:wcf1] But the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshiped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture.[^fnref:wcf2]
[^fnref:wcf1]: <div class="esv"><h5>Romans 1:20</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p45001020.01-1">For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.</p> </div><h5>Acts 17:24</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p44017024.01-2">The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,</p> </div><h5>Psalm 119:68</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19119068.01-3">You are good and do good;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>teach me your statutes.</p> </div> </div><h5>Jeremiah 10:7</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p24010007.01-4">Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?<br /> <span class="indent"></span>For this is your due;<br /> for among all the wise ones of the nations<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and in all their kingdoms<br /> <span class="indent"></span>there is none like you.</p> </div> </div><h5>Psalm 31:23</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19031023.01-5">Love the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, all you his saints!<br /> <span class="indent"></span>The <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> preserves the faithful<br /> <span class="indent"></span>but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.</p> </div> </div><h5>Psalm 18:3</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19018003.01-6">I call upon the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, who is worthy to be praised,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and I am saved from my enemies.</p> </div> </div><h5>Romans 10:12</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p45010012.01-7">For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.</p> </div><h5>Psalm 62:8</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19062008.01-8">Trust in him at all times, O people;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>pour out your heart before him;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>God is a refuge for us. <span class="selah">Selah</span></p> </div> </div><h5>Joshua 24:14</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <p id="p06024014.06-9">“Now therefore fear the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>.</p> </div><h5>Mark 12:33</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p41012033.01-10">And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div>
[^fnref:wcf2]: <div class="esv"><h5>Deuteronomy 12:32</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p05012032.01-1"> “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.</p> </div><h5>Matthew 15:9</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p40015009.01-2"><span class="woc">in vain do they worship me,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”</span></p> </div> </div><h5>Acts 17:25</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p44017025.01-3">nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.</p> </div><h5>Matthew 4:9-10</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p40004009.01-4">And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, <span class="woc">“Be gone, Satan! For it is written,</span></p> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p40004010.13-4"><span class="woc">“‘You shall worship the Lord your God<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and him only shall you serve.’”</span></p> </div> </div><h5>Deuteronomy 4:15-20</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <p id="p05004015.03-5">“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. But the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.</p> </div><h5>Exodus 20:4-6</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p02020004.01-6">“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or 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. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.</p> </div><h5>Colossians 2:23</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p51002023.01-7">These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div>