And turn with me to the Gospel
according to John chapter 4. John chapter 4. I'm going to look this morning
in this first message in verses 23 and 24. And the subject of
this message is true Worship. True worship. And before I even
read these two verses, 23 and 24, I'm going to tell you that
worship, the more I look, the more I ask, the more I seek the
meaning, the depth of true worship, the more readily I admit how
little I know about this wonder of the heart, the majesty of
worship. Let's read verses 23 and 24 and
then ask the Lord's blessing. And as I preach this first message,
I'm going to just ask you to pray for me. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him." God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must
worship Him. in spirit and in truth. Let's pray together. Our Father, we are so thankful
to be able to be here this morning, to realize, to think upon, to
meditate upon the thought that You've allowed us the privilege
to be able to assemble ourselves together and to hear the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us. Help us to hear. Help us to worship. For it's in Christ's name we
pray, Amen. The Lord's discourse with the
woman at the well, the woman of Samaria, was concerning the
worship of the Father. Now her question revolved around the place of
worship. And the Lord Jesus Christ told
her that the time had come that worship would neither be in the
mountain of Samaritan superstition, all false superstitious religious
worship. But it wasn't going to be in
Jerusalem either. That was actually the place that
Almighty God had designated to be the place in type and form
of worship prior to that. God Almighty had established
the way in which the Jews would truly worship Him prior to this
time. He sent the law. They had the
signs. They had the shadows. They had
the types. They had Aaron. That was the
way God Almighty established. Now, He deals now with this woman
and with us today on the subject of true worship. Now, I want to just look at a
couple of these words in that 23rd verse. cometh, present progressive,
now, continuing now, now is when the true worshipers, true, as
opposed to counterfeit, that's what it means, that which is
not false, that which is not fake, that which is real, true
worshipers, to worship the Father in spirit, in heart, and truth. That means that anything that
has anything to do with an outward form, truth, truth. The revelation. of what the pictures
set forth. The hour cometh now is. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians
3, 3, we are the circumcision which worship God in spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. When we start talking about I
know, I'm so aware that this is a subject that absolutely
can't be taught. I can't, I don't know how to
say to myself, I know it actually happens. I know that it is absolutely
done, but how you relate that is impossible. If Almighty God permits, grants, bestows a heart of worship,
now to ask, oh, absolutely. We ask. He said, You have not
because You have not. Ask, seek, and knock. I would tell you right now as
I tell myself, Lord, would You help me to worship? Help me,
Lord, to be able in heart to do that which is absolutely impossible
for a man in himself to generate. People talk about, you know,
we're going to worship the Lord. I pray so. Oh, I pray God grant
that to us today. The Scripture says it's been
good to be in the house of the Lord. Oh, I pray that that's
so. I don't want this to be fake.
I don't want this to be ritual. I don't want to come here. I
don't desire to just show up at Katie Baptist Church and just
go through the motions. I truly, I truly want to be able
to worship Him. He said, the hour cometh and
now is. The time of true worship had
come. I know this, that if there's
going to be any worship whatsoever, I know it's going to be under
the gospel of God's grace. I know that. I know that the
gospel, the gospel of Christ, the gospel of God, The gospel
of free grace, sovereign grace. If there's going to be any worship,
it's going to be under that message. If any man preach any other gospel
than that which we've preached, let him be accursed. I know that God raises up preachers,
and I stand here this morning in a pulpit, and I realize that
Almighty God, according to His good pleasure, sends a preacher. I know that the elements, I'm
beholding the elements of God's revelation in knowing that if
there's going to be worship, God's going to send a preacher.
He's going to set forth the message that honors the Lord Jesus Christ. His people come together. And
I know that Almighty God has set forth that they're to be
comforted. Comfort my people. Tell them
their warfare has ended. I know that he said where two
or three are gathered together in my name, I'm in the midst
of you. Oh, could it be that today that
we might have worship? Could it be that Katie Baptist
Church, a little old bitty building in
the middle of nowhere, but there's a group of people that God Almighty
has everlastingly loved Could it be that God, having ordered
all these things for all these years, put all this group together
and raised up a people and would allow them the privilege to be
able to worship? Could that be? Two or three are
gathered together in His name. I'm sure of that. I'm sure that
there are. I'm in the midst of you. Oh Lord,
You said that You would send another Comforter. The Spirit
of God Himself. The Spirit of God that resides
within every one of His regenerated saints. And they hear the Gospel
preached and the Spirit of God teaches them afresh. And we need to be taught afresh.
And He brings back to their memory the things that Christ is saying. He said that. Oh, and I think
to myself, Lord, this could be the day. Who knows? Maybe God will bless the message
today to salvation with your kids. Maybe He'll save your mom, your
dad, your husband, your wife. truly worship. Maybe God Almighty
might be pleased to honor Himself today. A time of drawing near to Almighty
God in heart. True worshipers. Those who possess
a nature that truly worships their heart It's made tender. And they bow. They bow in their
heart. They give allegiance to, honor
to, praise to. True worship, I know, is only
found in those regenerated by the grace of God. I know that.
I know those that are regenerated by the grace of God were regenerated
under this message. I know that, Mitch. I know that. The Lord told the woman in verse
22, He said, You worship, you know not what. There's so many systems, so many
religious systems, so there's so many different ways. And we do it this way. Well,
we do it this way. Well, we do it this way. What about scriptural authority? Let God be true. What does the
Scripture say? If man doesn't, by the grace
of God, align himself with what the Scriptures say, then a man's
a liar. If we're going to worship, if
we're going to worship God based on God's Word, in God's authority,
in God's warrant, true worshipers. Worship the Lord Jesus Christ
said, the Father in spirit and truth. They worship by the Holy Spirit. He's the only one that teaches. Someone will say, I've come to
the doctrines of grace. And that's not where you want
to go. You go to Christ to whom the
doctrines set forth Him. Anytime somebody tells you, say,
I came to the doctrines of grace years ago, well, I pray the Lord
gave you heart to come to Christ. The Spirit of God will teach
you the doctrine of Christ. We come to Christ. We don't come
from the ghetto. Don't say that. I know what you
mean. Don't say that. If we don't come
to Him, He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. True worshipers, they're quickened,
sealed, taught, and guided by the Spirit of God. It's not dead
formality. We're not here to set forth and
put pictures and statues and stamp symbols and signs. We don't
want any, no symbols, no signs, no nothing. We worship in spirit,
in heart. Well, yeah, but that helps me
remember. That's not scriptural. Spirit. The Lord, Psalm 34, 18,
is nigh unto them that are of a broken, a burdened heart, and
saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." Crushed. Crushed. Brought down. No trust in themselves. No confidence
in their flesh. True worshipers, the Lord told
this woman, should worship the Father in spirit and in truth. We worship Him who is revealed
in the truth. He who is truth. That which is absolutely according
to God's truth. That's who we worship. Think
about this. This life is but a vapor. I mean, before we know it, it's
going to be over. And you know what? A man can think whatever he wants
to of me. I mean, you know who I am? I'm just dust. I'm here for just a little while.
Time growing short. In light of eternity, just a
twinkling of an eye, just over. It's over. And then all of a
sudden, I'm going to stand before God. And you know what's going
to matter? What God said. And everything
else is going to be judged and cast out. I don't want to lie to you. I
don't want to lie to myself. I was born with a heart that'll
lie to me. I was born with a heart and you
were too that's desperately wicked. It's deceitful above all things. There's nothing that lies more
than the old carnal heart. The carnal heart, I tell you,
has a little good in all men. And Scripture says that ain't
so. There's nothing good as being born in Adam in any of us. I'm
telling you, we are putrefying sores. But to be able to be brought
by the Spirit of God and given a heart, to worship God in spirit
and in truth, When we say to worship in truth, this is what
I mean. It means without the medium of
an earthly priesthood. The priesthood of Aaron put away. We worship God in and by and
through one. There is one priest accepted
by God Almighty. There's one priest. There's one mediator. Anytime somebody tells you, you
say, well, I'm a priest. No, you're not. I don't know where you got that
idea that you were, but you are not a mediator. between me and
God. No, you're not. Any man running around here with
a long dress on that calls himself a priest, he's a liar. There's
one mediator between God and men, and it's the man, Christ
Jesus. And everybody else is a liar.
They're a liar. They're liars. We come to Almighty God and worship
by Him who is the way, the truth, the life. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him. The Father has a people. You
know that. He has a people that He will
by and through the Lord Jesus Christ are going to bring to
Himself. The Father seeketh such. Why
does He seek them? Well, first of all, they're lost.
That's the first reason. He everlastingly loves them.
He's going to have them. The Father seeketh such to worship
Him. He never waits on them to come
to Him. Why? Because they won't come.
No man seeks after God. See, man thinks that men can. We can play some soft music. I'll get Margaret over here and
play something on the organ. And just make it, you know, we
can sing some songs and maybe we can sing something real melodious. Or maybe I could tell some real
Sad story. Something that will kind of stir
your heart. And surely I can kind of, or maybe I could get
somebody, if we're going to have somebody walk down the aisle,
maybe I can put some people out there and plant them and have
them where maybe they'll make the first move. And when someone
sees one person make the first move, they'll make the first
move. Now, let me tell you this. Based on authority, the one came
back from the dead, if they don't hear Moses and the prophets,
they're not going to come. They might move 24 feet, but
not in heart. Almighty God must seek. The Father
seeketh such. The Son, the Son of Man has come
to seek and to save that which was lost. Have you ever heard of a dead
sheep? A dead sheep. seeking a shepherd. He's just
dead. Does that shepherd ever wait
for a dead sheep? You know the first thing that's
going to have to happen for that sheep to have any hope? He's
going to have to be made alive. That's the first thing the Father
seeketh. All of the objects of His mercy
separated from Him, lost, by sin and death, all that He's
everlastingly loved, all that He's chosen, Ephesians 1-4, to
show mercy to, He's going to have them. They're going to come. That's what the Lord said, John
6-37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Isn't that assuring? I don't know who His sheep are.
But I do know how He calls them. I know He calls them by the preaching
of His Son. And therefore, we will worship
God by doing that which God has ordained. We worship Him in the
preaching of the Gospel. We worship Him in the believing
of the Gospel. We worship Him in the asking
according to Christ's sake asking Him to have mercy. Thy kingdom
come. That's what the Lord taught His
disciples in that prayer after that similitude. Thy kingdom
come. I know He has a kingdom. You
know what I would desire? Because I know it's His desire.
Lord, Your kingdom is going to come. It's going to come into
existence. It's going to come into evidence. Almighty God has
a kingdom. The Lord told The Jews, he said,
my kingdom is not of this world. But He has a kingdom. He has
a people. It's the body of His Son. Thy kingdom come. I would desire. I think I do. I pray the Lord's kingdom come.
I know it's going to. I pray give me a heart to desire
it. To seek after His will. Seek after His honor. Verse 24, God is a spirit. And
they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Here's the true nature of God.
And I'm going to tell you everything I know about God's nature according
to this Word. Here it is. God is a spirit. That is absolutely beyond the
ability to comprehend the depth and the nature. I can understand
looking at someone and I can see a body. I understand that. I can look in the Scriptures
and I read where the Lord, God Almighty, was made in the likes
of sinful flesh where He took upon Himself the body, the form of His people. I can read where He walked with
His disciples. I read where He ate bread with
them and He walked on the water. And in my mind, I can perceive
something because I've looked at people before. And I understand. something about seeing a body. I understand that. But God is
a spirit. And not like we think of just
an invisible being whenever the prophet Elijah was on the mountain
and his servant saw the Syrian army. And he cried and he said,
Sid surrounded us and the prophet prayed and asked the Lord. He
said, would you open the eyes of my servant? And the Scripture
says he opened and there were chariots of fire. And the prophet
told his servant, they that be with us are more greater than
they that be with him. But they were individual. He
saw chariots of fire. I can even kind of comprehend
sort of that, but it's an entity, it's something, it's one something. Invisible, unless the Lord opens
our eyes to see, but one. But this God is Spirit. He inhabits all. By Him all things consist. He's not blood and flesh and
bones. He can't be approached in a tangible
way. I've talked to Gary. That's not the way God is approached.
He's Spirit. He's approached only in His Son. No man has seen the Father at
any time, the only begotten Son. He revealed Him, manifested Him. He's revealed to be everywhere. Pure Spirit. Dwells not in temples
made with hands. That's what Acts 17, 25. Neither worship with men's hands
as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life
and breath and all things. Spirit. I mean, just absolutely. The cause of all
things. The fountain of all perfection.
Eternal. Filling the heavens and the earth. Eternity. I think of right now. I think
of right now. Almighty God is the eternal I
Am. My mind goes backwards when I
think of the past. forward when I think of a future
and God is Spirit. It's all now with Him. And I'm starting to think I'm getting
lost in my ability to be able to comprehend. Who is a God like
unto Thee? These things are too high for
me. My attitude, my thought pad of worship is just all of a sudden
I'm thinking what a puny creature I am. I'm worshiping Him. I don't even know how to describe
Him. I don't know what to say. The
eyes of the Lord and His Spirit. The ear of the Lord. The arm
of the Lord. Those are just words that are
set forth to describe what I can comprehend. God is a Spirit and
they that worship Him must. Boy, that word. grip me. They must, they that worship
and thanks be unto God, there are some, some are permitted to. When I think about the permissiveness
of Almighty God to allow a sinner regenerated by the grace of God
inhabited by the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, allowed to
worship. We've heard what is revealed.
We believe what is revealed. We trust the One that He trusts. Yeah, that's right. The Father
first trusted in Christ. We're thankful for His good pleasure
to show mercy We reverence Him as God and we bow in heart to
Him who is just and saves righteously. Boy, when you stop for just a
minute and you want to contemplate Almighty God, then the first
thing that you want to do is be quiet and worship in heart. worship in spirit and truth,
and be silent, that all the earth keep silence before Him. God
Almighty, He must be worshiped in an acceptable way. That word,
it got me. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and truth. This is agreeable to His will. I just got a group of people
here this morning that Almighty God may be pleased to allow to
worship. And now that I've told you everything
that I know to say, I don't even know what to say.
I don't know what to say. The only thing I can say is this.
Lord, help us to worship. We're frail creatures. Teach
us to worship. We're ignorant people. Draw us
to worship in spirit and truth. And help us to understand. Lord,
thank You for mercy. Thank You for long-suffering.
Thank You for keeping us. Thank You for not dealing with
us after our ignorance disrespect. Lord have mercy on us today for
Christ's sake. Amen.